Classics from the Comics

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Classics from the Comics is a UK comic, first published in March 1996. Published monthly, it is D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd's third all-reprint comic, collecting archive comic strips from eight of their comics- the still going The Beano and The Dandy, and the defunct Beezer, Topper, Nutty, Sparky, Cracker, and Buzz. It replaced The Best of Topper and The Best of Beezer which had reprinted old strips for some years.

The comic has 64 pages, which are prefaced with a contents page (Classic Contents) and until 2007 were followed by an advert for the next month's issue, with the back cover showing original strips starring Roger the Dodger, Little Plum, Plug, Beryl the Peril amongst others, drawn by Gordon Bell or Keith Reynolds.

In 2007, the cover was redesigned to show "Classics from the Comics" with a roundel containing Korky the Cat's head and the words Classics Collection, and a large illustration by Ken Harrison. The new editor started penning a letter to the readers on the contents page, and the advert and original strip on the inside and back covers were replaced by further reprinted strips, which are always Korky the Cat and Biffo the Bear.

A small notice is published on all the pages, identifying which comic the strip comes from (Classic Beano, Classic Dandy, etc). Near the end of each issue, a "Readers Requests" postal address is displayed, so readers can write to DC Thomson and request other archive strips to go in a future issue. Occasional bumper-size anthologies are also produced of around 300 pages.

Free gifts in the form of The Fun Size Beanos or The Fun Size Dandys are featured in some issues. Other issues use free gifts originally given away with The Beano or The Dandy. In July 2004 it celebrated its 100th issue, revamping the front cover at the same time, changing the logo from a plain serif font to a sans-serif one with a 3-D effect.

The Golden Years/60 Years/70 Years books are effectively it's annual, although they started in 1988, eight years before Classics launched.

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