First Issue: 4th May 1968
Last Issue: 29th March 1969
Copyright: Fleetway
The tabloid sized Jag comic roared on to our shelves on the 4th May 1968. Jag, short for Jaguar, was the third and final Fleetway title to be named after a big cat, the other two elder siblings being Lion and Tiger. The first issue included a free gift of ‘Bobby Moore’s book of the FA Cup’. Also with issue one came ‘The Mouse Patrol’ by Eric Bradbury, Custer (The story of lieutenant General Custer) by Geoff Campion and the adventures of ‘The Indestructible Man’ by Jesus Blasco. ‘The Indestructible Man’ told the story of an innocent Egyptian man who had been falsely accused of murdering his father and sentenced to death by way of being buried alive. Dead for many centuries, the cavalry captain during the time of Pharaoh Rameses II, burst back to life on 4th May 1968 with the aid of the archaeologist Professor Abercrombie. With a new identity, the power of invisibility and the secret of eternal life, Mark Dangerfield vowed to fight evil.
One of the most notable stories from Jag was ‘Football Family Robinson’. Thatchem United in the fourth division were a football team with a difference, the only people allowed to play for Thatchem United were Robinsons. With the aid of the club president ‘Ma Robinson’ and top goal scorer ‘Grizzly Bear’ Robinson, the football club soon found themselves in the third division.
In terms of production values, the sixteen paged tabloid sized Jag, was of a higher quality than its stable mates but sales struggled and by February 22nd 1969 the comic was re-launched in a smaller, thirty two page format. Unfortunately, the trials and tribulations of Thatchem United were not enough to ward of the equivalent of comic death, the merger. With a familiar cry of ‘exciting news for readers’, After 48 issues Jag comic merged with Tiger comic on 5th April 1969 taking the ‘Football Family Robinson’ with them.
The Bobby Moore F.A. Cup Book
free with the first issue of Jag comic
