Roger Harris Presents
THE MODERN BOY DOT COM
Click here to view
all 22 original Modern Boy annuals
The web site displays all 610 covers of
the Modern Boy and features information about content by W. E. Johns
|
From 11th Feb 1928 to 19thJan 1929 |
From 19th Jan 1929 to 4th Jan 1930 |
From 4th Jan 1930 to 20th Dec 1930 |
From 20th Dec 1930 to 5th Dec 1931 |
From 5th Dec 1931 to 19th Nov 1932 |
|
From 19th Nov 1932 to 4th Nov 1933 |
From 4th Nov 1933 to 20th Oct 1934 |
From 20th Oct 1934 to 5th Oct 1935 |
From 5th Oct 1935 to 19th Sep 1936 |
From 19th Sep 1936 to 4th Sep 1937 |
|
Issue
324
|
ISSUES
500 – 523
From 4th Sep 1937 to 12th Feb 1938 (Missing
no issues) Issues 1
– 87 (of the “NEW” series) From 19th Feb 1938 to 14th Oct 1939 (Missing
no issues)
|
Issue 356 |
First launched on 11th
February 1928 and always costing just 2d - two old pence (click here for information about issues
costing 4d!) - the
magazine ran initially for 523 weekly issues until 12th February
1938. The following week, 19th
February 1938 it was re-launched in a new size and this new “Modern Boy” was
re-numbered from issue one again. It ran
until issue 87 was published on 14th October 1939. Production then
ceased due to wartime paper shortages.
The beauty of “The Modern Boy” to W.
E. Johns fans is the amount
of work he did for it.
Initially submitting artwork – Johns
first painted the cover for the 21st December 1929 issue – issue 98.
His first signed article was published
in the 6th December 1930 issue (called ‘The Plane Smashers’) – in
issue 148
- but it is believed that
he wrote articles prior to that as “Our Air Expert”.
He then contributed various articles
until issue 257 when his “Biggles” stories commenced publication in serialised
form. Firstly, all the
individual stories from ‘The Camels are Coming’ until eventually his new books
were first published in “The Modern Boy” in episodic format. The true first editions!
It is very interesting to note the
changes in the text on publication in book form.
The Modern Boy was also the place where
new and original Biggles stories were published, later collected in the two “Boy’s
Friend Library” books –
BIGGLES LEARNS TO FLY and
BIGGLES IN FRANCE
All five of the original John Hamilton
first published Biggles books were serialised in the Modern Boy
and
then the first twelve Oxford published Biggles books - up to ‘Biggles – Secret
Agent’
(which was
published in ‘The Modern Boy’ as “Castle Sinister” – as a number of the story
titles were changed when they were published as books).
VISIT MY W.E. JOHNS WEB SITES AT
Acknowledgments
to “W.E. Johns & Modern Boy – An Index” published
in 1994
By Norman
Wright – which inspired me to collect “The Modern
Boy”
THIS
WEB SITE WAS BUILT DURING APRIL, MAY AND JUNE 2010 AND COMPLETED ON 21st
JUNE 2010 – THE 42nd ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF W.E. JOHNS
It
has been visited by this many people