First Issue: 20th January 1979
Last Issue: 26th January 1980
Copyright: DC Thomson
The Crunch…Is Now
Crunch or to give it it’s full title ‘The Crunch’, crunched it’s way onto news-agent’s shelves dated 20th January 1979 with it’s humble claim, ‘The sensational new paper with the most dynamic bunch of stories ever!’
It’s first issue free gift was ‘The Black Band with 6 Super Crunch Stickers’. The bunch of stories inside included ‘Arena’ (Alcatena), ‘The Mantracker’ (Salinas), ‘The Kyser Experiment’, ‘Here Come The Walking Bombs’, ‘Hitler Lives’ (Pat Wright) and ‘Who Killed Cassidy?’
‘The Crunch’ is famous for introducing ‘Ebony’ (Magallanes), who was not only the first female action heroine in a boys’ comic but was also black, which was groundbreaking stuff at the time. Ebony, agent in the ‘British Special Mission Squad’, used her expert karate skills to free her partner, Bleak, from Merando in Italy where he was being held by Nazi war criminals.
‘The Crunch’ which many believe to be DC Thomson’s answer to 2000AD didn’t capture the readers’ imagination in the same way and more importantly the sales to compete with it’s IPC rival.. ‘The Crunch’ managed only 54 issues before merging, with a dull thud, to it’s much more conservative and older stable-mate ‘The Hotspur’.
Hotspur and Crunch First Issue
Super Free Competition In This Great 2 in 1 Paper
King Cobra Is Back!
He Battles Against The Bogus Beefeaters!
Every Thursday
1059
February 2nd 1980
10p