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Before comics, there were story papers. Story papers were
long text stories with the occasional illustration. Britain has a rich
tradition of story papers and any talk of story papers would have to
include one the most famous ones, 'The Magnet Library'. Magnet was the
sister paper to 'The Gem' and was edited by Percy Griffiths. Magnet is most
famous for it's story of Greyfriars School and its students, notably
Billy Bunter of the lower fourth. The story of Greyfriars was written by the
author Charles Hamilton under the pen name Frank Richards. Billy Bunter
would eventually go on to become a comic strip star in 'The
Knockout Comic'.
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Billy Bunter
Contemplating the unthinkable - being Late for pudding with lashings
of custard. |
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George Orwell wrote an article about story papers
including Magnet and Gem, such was the popularity and interest in them. There
were 1683 issues of Magnet published before it's demise in 1940 which was
due to a combination of low sales, paper shortages and the emergence of
comics. |
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