''Classics from the Comics'' was a British comics magazine, published from March 1996 until October 2010. Published monthly, it was D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd's third all-reprint comic. It replaced '' The Best of Topper'' and '' The Best of Beezer'', which had reprinted old strips for some years. ''Classics from the Comics'' collected archive

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

s from eight comic titles – the still going ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and ...

'' and ''

The Dandy ''The Dandy'' was a Scottish children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The first issue was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after '' Il Giornalino'' (cover dated 1 Oc ...

'', and the defunct '' Beezer'', '' Topper'', ''

Nutty ''Nutty'' was a British comic magazine that ran for 292 issues from 16 February 1980 to 14 September 1985, when it merged with ''The Dandy''. Published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, ''Nutty'' was an attempt to create a more lively and chaotic com ...

'', '' Sparky'', '' Cracker'', and '' Buzz''. During its later issues, adventure comics from the likes of '' The Victor'', '' The Wizard'', '' The Rover'', ''

The Hotspur ''The Hotspur'' was a British boys' paper published by D. C. Thomson & Co. From 1933 to 1959, it was a boys' story paper; it was relaunched as a comic in October 1959, initially called ''The New Hotspur'', and ceased publication in January 19 ...

'' and '' The Hornet'' were used. It also started using '' Hoot!'' shortly before it ended. The comic had 64 pages, and the front cover depicted many of the characters in one group activity, drawn from September 1997 to May 2006 by Anthony Caluori. The reprints inside were prefaced with a contents page ("Classic Contents") and until 2007 were followed by an advert for the next month's issue, with the back cover showing original strips starring

Roger the Dodger Roger the Dodger is a comic strip character from the comic magazine '' The Beano''. He first appeared in his eponymous comic strip in 1953, and is one of the longest-running characters, characterised by his tactics for avoiding responsibility a ...

, Little Plum, Plug, Beryl the Peril, and

Desperate Dan Desperate Dan is a wild west character in the now-defunct Scottish comic magazine '' The Dandy''. He made his appearance in the first issue which was dated 4 December 1937 and became the magazine's mascot. He is apparently the world's stro ...

amongst others, drawn by

Gordon Bell Chester Gordon Bell (August 19, 1934 – May 17, 2024) was an American electrical engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), from 1960–1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later served as ...

, Anthony Caluori, or Keith Reynolds. In 2006, the cover was redesigned to show "Classics from the Comics" with a roundel containing Korky the Cat's head and the words Classics Collection, and a large illustration by Ken H. Harrison. The new editor started penning a letter to the readers on the contents page, and the advert and original strip on the inside and back covers were replaced by further reprinted strips, which are always Korky the Cat and Biffo the Bear. A small notice was published on all the pages, identifying which comic the strip comes from (Classic ''Beano'', Classic ''Dandy'', etc.). Near the end of each issue, a "Readers Requests" postal address was displayed, so readers could write to DC Thomson and request other archive strips to go in a future issue. Free gifts in the form of '' The Fun Size Beanos'' or ''The Fun Size Dandys'' were featured in early issues, plus free gifts originally given away with ''The Beano'' or ''The Dandy''. In July 2004 ''Classics from the Comics'' celebrated its 100th issue, revamping the front cover at the same time, changing the logo from a plain

serif In typography, a serif () is a small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol within a particular font or family of fonts. A typeface or "font family" making use of serifs is called a serif typeface ( ...

font to a sans-serif one with a 3-D effect. The August 2008 issue was a ''Beano'' special, featuring only characters from that 70-year-old comic. It featured the oldest ( Ping the Elastic Man and Deep Down Daddy Neptune, 1938), and most recent stories (specifically the picture of

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is some ...

, Gnasher, Wallace & Gromit from the ''Beano'' printed only the previous day; the most recent actual story was " Crazy for Daisy" from 2003) ever used. For this issue, the usual Korky roundel was replaced with the logo from the ''70 Years of Fun'' collector's edition. 'D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd's ''Golden Years''/''60 Years''/''70 Years'' books, which are brought out each Christmas, are effectively ''Classic From the Comics annual, although they started in 1988, eight years before Classics launched. Despite a further 'retro' relaunch in the spring of 2010, ''Classics from the Comics'' ended that October, the final issue being number 175.

References

{{Beano DC Thomson Comics titles Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom British humour comics 1996 comics debuts 2010 comics endings Magazines established in 1996 Magazines disestablished in 2010 Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom