Roy of the Rovers
Roy of the Rovers is a British comic strip about a fictional footballer and later manager named Roy Race. The strip first appeared in the Tiger in 1954, before giving its name to a weekly comic, published by IPC and Fleetway from 1976 until 1995. In 2016, Rebellion acquired the rights to the comic strip and the rest of the Fleetway library, and subsequently rebooted the modern day series to follow the adventures of a modern-day Roy of Rovers in the 21st century.
About Roy of the Rovers in brief
Roy of the Rovers is a British comic strip about a fictional footballer and later manager named Roy Race. The strip first appeared in the Tiger in 1954, before giving its name to a weekly comic, published by IPC and Fleetway from 1976 until 1995. The comic ran until 1993, following Roy’s playing career until its conclusion after he lost his left foot in a helicopter crash. The adventures of the Race family were subsequently featured in the monthly Match of the Day football magazine, in which father and son were reunited as manager and player respectively. In 2018, following the acquisition of the strip’s rights by comic book publisher Rebellion, a brand new rebooted Roy of theRovers story, following a 16-year-old Roy in the present day, began publication as a series of original graphic novels and prose novels. In 2016, Rebellion acquired the rights to the comic strip and the rest of the Fleetway library, and subsequently rebooted the modern day series to follow the adventures of a modern-day Roy of Rovers in the 21st century. The stock media phrase “real ‘Roy of The Rovers’ stuff” is often used by football writers, commentators and fans when describing displays of great skill, or surprising results that go against the odds. The strips 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.
Real-life players including Emlyn Hughes, Bob Wilson and Malcolm Macdonald made appearances in the strip, as did former England manager Alf Ramsey. From the 1970s onwards, stories included a shooting, a terrorist atrocity, and several celebrity guest appearances. At the peak of the comic’s success about 450,000 copies were sold each week. There were also hardback annuals and holiday specials featuring a mix of reprinted and original content, and for a brief period, starting in 1986, Roy ofTheRovers was serialised in the now defunct Today newspaper. In April 2009, Egmont published a 64-page edition of a number of strips from the 1980s and 1970s, featuring successive runs of the Roy of TheRovers comic Best of the Best. These strips ran until the magazine’s demise in May 2001. This series ran until April 2009 when Egmont-rights holder Egmont issued a 64 page edition of the best of Roy The Rover’s Best of The Best Of The Best comic, featuring a new set of stories from the 1950s and 1960s. In June 2008 and June 2009, respectively, the strip was published in June 2008, June 2009 and June 2008 in June 2009 in June 2010 in June 2011 in June 2012 in June 2013 in June 2014 and June 2014 in June 2015 in June 2016 in June and July 2014 in July 2015 in July and August 2014 in August 2015 in August and August 2015. In July 1997, the strips were printed as short features in the BBC’s monthly Match Of The Day magazine.
You want to know more about Roy of the Rovers?
This page is based on the article Roy of the Rovers published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
