Victor Comics

Victor  number one appeared on 25th February 1961 and lasted for 1558 issues. The first issue saw the appearance of "I Flew with Braddock" (George Bourne).  "I flew with Braddock" was the story of war hero, Sergeant - Pilot Matt Braddock whose wartime exploits had won him the Victoria Cross and Bar amongst many other medals. With the aid of pictures, the Victor brought to life the famous story of Matt Braddock as told by his flight navigator, Sergeant George Bourne.

The story of Matt Braddock had originally first appeared in Rover no. 1414 (2nd August 1952) as a text story. Although highly decorated for his valiant deeds, Braddock was only interested in getting on with the war and winning it.

The use of Rover text stories as strips in Victor was not just confined to "I flew with Braddock". Rover (1949) saw the appearance of "The Tough of the Track" in serial form. Alf Tupper (Pete Sutherland), as he was better known, was a welder's apprentice who loved to run. Alf, who came to Victor in 1962, would often go running in odd running shoes which he would buy out of his meagre earnings. Alf's prowess at running soon made itself apparent when he won the mile for Greyshire in the Inter Counties Contest at the White city.

The Victor had numerous war and sport related stories and a number of humorous stories including "Cecil the Stone-age Scrapper" (Bagnall) which told the story of Pete Pringle who found a stone - age man frozen in a block of ice. Pete thawed out the stone - age man, named him Cecil and taught him to box.. Yaroosh!

The Victor ran for 1657 issues. . "The Tough of the Track" is unequivocally the finest athletics cartoon story ever told. Alf Tupper had all the qualities any top athlete could wish for: working class background, firm grasp of non-standard English (as in "I run the toff"), steady proletarian job (welding beneath the railway arches), economical and unvaried diet (fish and chips), deep rooted hatred of the upper classes, strong reservations about any foreigner especially eastern Europeans, and complete disrespect for authority whether British or eastern European. .

Gorgeous Gus. Gus was grotesquely rich but nevertheless favoured a career in first division football. Not for him the usual ninety minute drudgery: sporting a hand-made silk kit, Gus would only deign to come on the pitch to take free kicks or penalties. As possessor of a literally net-breaking shot, these brief appearances guaranteed victory after victory. He was assisted at all times by a personal valet who cleaned his boots on the touchlines and provided refreshments from a silver tray.