'Roy of the Rovers' Annual

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Following the closure of the weekly title in 1993, [8] the strip appeared in a relaunched monthly publication in September that year, with grittier storylines intended to attract teen and young adult fans who had read the weekly comic in their youth. Between January 1994 and January 1995, the monthly strips were mirrored by a weekly edition in Shoot magazine, [9] which had in the late 1980s published a parody called Ray of the Rangers. [10] The relaunched Roy of the Rovers comic ended in 1995. Football-themed stories were a staple of British comics for boys from the 1950s onwards, and Roy of the Rovers was the most popular. [1] The strip usually saw Rovers competing for honours at the top of the English and European game, although in some years the storylines would see the club struggle for form, including a relegation from the First Division in the early 1980s. As well as dealing in on-pitch action, Roy of the Rovers featured high drama off the pitch, with kidnapping storylines a recurring feature of its early decades. From the 1970s onwards, stories included a shooting, a terrorist atrocity, and several celebrity guest appearances. Rovers played in a fictional universe made up of invented teams; however, real-life players including Emlyn Hughes, Bob Wilson and Malcolm Macdonald made appearances in the strip, as did former England manager Alf Ramsey. Even before the establishment of the weekly comic, Tiger published Roy of the Rovers annuals every year from 1958 onwards. In 1958, the annual was simply known as the Roy of the Rovers Football Annual. For 1959 and 1960, the title changed to Tiger Book of Roy of the Rovers, and after that the titles would be Tiger Roy of the Rovers Annual (or slight variations thereon) until the last one in 1975, after which the Roy of the Rovers Annuals themselves would begin, to tie in with the standalone comic. The final three annuals of this iteration, however, would change their title to Roy of the Rovers Yearbook.

Dawkes, Phil (21 January 2021). "Roy of the Rovers: How has Melchester striker stayed relevant 67 years on?". BBC . Retrieved 25 March 2022. The short-lived Egmont Classic Comics reprints first appeared in 2009 and this collection (01/04/09 – 23/06-09) launched the line, which like the others was only on sale through WHSmiths, included a number of sports-related strips as well as “Roy of the Rovers”–“Billy’s Boots”, “The Hard Man”, “Mighty Mouse” and a few more. a b Wilson, Chris (23 March 2009), "Roy of the Rovers profile: All You Need to Know About the Classic Football Comic", Daily Mirror , retrieved 10 June 2010 The issues were unnumbered; the total of 853 issues is given in Duncan McAlpine's Comic Book Price Guide 1996/97 Edition. [4] Former stars Bob Wilson and Emlyn Hughes come out of retirement to play for Melchester. Martin Kemp and Steve Norman, of the pop group Spandau Ballet, join the board in the same year. Eight members of the Melchester team are killed in a bungled act of terrorism in war-torn Basran.Egmont published a Roy of the Rovers special, distributed only to WHSmith, edited by Steve MacManus, in 2009. It was one of four specials featuring classic characters from the company’s archive. A number of official Melchester Rovers Subbuteo teams were produced in the 1980s and 1990s. There was also an officially licensed board game in the 1980s, which saw players take on the role of Roy Race and manage the club. [74] Replica Melchester Rovers shirts have been available at various stages of the series' life, up to and including a strip designed and produced by Hummel for the 2018 reboot. After 22years of continued popularity, the strip was judged successful enough to sustain its own weekly comic, the eponymous Roy of the Rovers, launched on 25 September 1976. The comic ran for 851issues, until 20 March 1993, [a] and included other football strips and features. In 2016, the rights to Roy of the Rovers and the rest of the Fleetway comics library were acquired by Rebellion Developments, [17] [18] who subsequently rebooted the series to follow the modern-day adventures of Roy as a teenager. A series of hardcover graphic novels began publication in 2018, written by Rob Williams and drawn by Ben Willsher, running in parallel with a series of novels for younger readers written by Tom Palmer with illustrations by Lisa Henke. [19] Plot [ edit ] The first ever appearance of a youthful Roy Race They said, 'This is football! You're not interested in football' and I said, 'No I can draw anything.' People are people, figures are figures– just put a football shirt on them or whatever! Now of course I was sworn to secrecy and couldn't tell the Sunday papers that I didn't like football when I was doing the national footballing hero in comics! Obviously I've played it, but I'm a doer not a watcher. I loved playing football at school and in later years." [62]

Collectors Corner – Memorabilia", Roy of the Rovers.com, archived from the original on 15 July 2011 , retrieved 16 June 2010 The Best of Roy of the Rovers: The 1980s collected the very best of Roy’s thrilling escapades, featuring the cream of Roy’s matches and adventures from the 1980sMcAlpine, Duncan (1996), Comic Book Price Guide 1996/97 Edition, Titan Books, ISBN 978-1-85286-675-4 In the interests of keeping the strip exciting, it seemed that no season for Melchester Rovers could ever consist of mid-table obscurity. Almost every year, the club was either competing for the major honours at the top of the domestic and European game, or struggling against relegation to lower divisions. Often, such spells of good and bad fortune and form would directly succeed one another—a Rovers team that won the European Cup one year could find itself struggling to stay in Division One the next. [45] [d] TOFFS produced a range of replica Meclchester Rovers shirts in recent years, but these are no longer available. The 2018 revival series of graphic novels and younger reader novels follows 16-year-old Roy Race as he attempts to earn a trial at Melchester Rovers, a once-proud club that now sit down in League One. Roy divides his time between college and looking after his disabled father, but dreams of playing for Melchester as a striker. He impresses Melchester manager Kevin "Mighty" Mouse and coach Johnny "Hard Man" Dexter at his trial, and is signed on as a trainee – but suddenly finds himself, along with the rest of the youth team, promoted to the first team squad when the club's entire roster of professional players are sold to ensure Melchester's financial survival. The first season follows Roy and the Melchester squad as they strive to qualify for the playoffs and gain promotion to the Championship. Roy of the Rovers is a British comic strip about the life and times of a fictional footballer and later manager named Roy Race, who played for Melchester Rovers. The strip first appeared in the Tiger in 1954, before giving its name to a weekly (and later monthly) comic, published by IPC and Fleetway from 1976 until 1995, in which it was the main feature.