Knockout (UK comics)
Knockout may refer to one of two British comics. The original series, published by the Amalgamated Press (later Fleetway Publications), started on 4 March 1939 and ended on 16 February 1963, when it merged with "Valiant". The second series, published by IPC Magazines, ran from 12 June 1971 to 23 June 1973, when it merged with "Whizzer and Chips". First series. The first series, titled "Knockout Comics", was launched by editor Percy Clarke and sub-editor Leonard Matthews in 1939 to compete with "The Dandy" and "The Beano" (launched by DC Thomson in 1937 and 1938 respectively ). Like its rivals, it featured a mixture of humour and adventure strips and illustrated prose stories. Matthews recruited Hugh McNeill, a former "Beano" artist, as the title's main humour artist, and his strips "Our Ernie" and "Deed-a-Day Danny" were very popular. Two characters were imported from the prose story papers — Billy Bunter, formerly of "The Magnet", initially drawn by C. H. Chapman, later by Frank Minnitt, and Sexton Blake, initially drawn by Jos Walker, later by Alfred Taylor, Roland Davies and definitive Blake illustrator Eric Parker. After the Second World War the title featured more adventure strips , and Matthews, who was promoted to editor in 1948, recruited artists including Sep E. Scott, H. M. Brock, D. C. Eyles and Geoff Campion to draw them. The title lasted 1251 issues, from (cover dates) 4 March 1939 to 16 February 1963, absorbing "The Magnet" in 1940 (becoming "Knockout and Magnet" until 1945) and "Comic Cuts" in 1953, before being merged into "Valiant" (which became "Valiant and Knockout" for 53 issues from 23 February 1963 to 22 February 1964). "Knockout" also published 16 "Fun Books" from 1941 to 1955, and 6 annuals from 1956 to 1961. Other strips included: Second  series. The second series ran 106 issues from (issues dates) 12 June 1971 to 23 June 1973, when it merged with "Whizzer and Chips". Its strips included: