First, it launched the weekly teen girls' magazine Boyfriend in 1959, which featured a mix of text stories and comics.
In the period 1961 to 1965, City Magazine published licensed comics based on the Hanna-Barbera animation properties Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear[2] (with the odd Flintstones one-off thrown in).
Leonard Matthews, a longtime editor at Amalgamated Press and its successor Fleetway Publications, seems to have taken over City Magazines in early 1969.
[3] Along with Alf Wallace, another former editor at Fleetway Odhams Press, Matthews opened Martspress,[3] which took over the packaging and publishing of the remaining City Magazines titles.
Men Only was sold in 1971 to Paul Raymond Publications, who relaunched it as the start of a top-shelf publishing empire (competing with Mayfair as well as US magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse during the 1970s and 1980s).
Early issues featured a romance comic strip on the cover, whose story continued on the interior pages.
[13] In the period 1961 to 1965, City Magazine published licensed comics based on the Hanna-Barbera animation properties Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear (with the odd Flintstones one-off thrown in).
The company's first (and longest-running) title, TV Century 21, aimed at teenage boys, debuted on 23 January 1965; featured strips included Stingray, Supercar, Fireball XL5, and the aristocratic Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds.
The publication extended its licensing beyond the Anderson productions, as well, publishing strip adventures based on the extraterrestrial Doctor Who villains the Daleks, in addition to adaptations of the popular television series My Favourite Martian and Burke's Law.
While the general format of the old comic was preserved, the Thunderbirds and Joe 90 strips were now printed in black-and-white in favour of the new colour favourites Star Trek and Land of the Giants.
Billing itself as "the comic for girls who love television," Lady Penelope also included strips based on popular television programs of the era, including Bewitched, The Monkees, The Beverly Hillbillies, Crossroads, Daktari, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.. Other strips published in Lady Penelope connected with other Century 21 Productions.
After the company's success with weekly comics aimed at teenagers, Century 21 Publications' third ongoing title, Candy, was a "nursery-type" magazine marketed to younger children.
Launched mid-January 1967, the stars of the title were Anderson's puppet characters Candy and Andy (the female one being the magazine's namesake).
Early issues of the series featured photographic covers of Anderson's puppets; in addition to the main Candy and Andy strip, other strips were based on popular television children's programs like Winnie-the-Pooh, William Timym's Bengo the Boxer Pup, Maria Perego's Topo Gigio, and Associated Television's koalas Tingha and Tucker.
True to its name, TV Tornado, which was edited by Mick Anglo, featured comics based on popular television properties, including Lone Ranger, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Tarzan, The Saint, Bonanza, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Other strips and characters that appeared in TV Tornado included Batman, Superman, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, the Green Hornet, Magnus, Robot Fighter, and The Invaders.
With the success of TV Century 21, City Magazines published a number of related annuals and specials, two of them featuring Stingray.
From 1969 to 1972, City Magazines also published Once Upon a Time, packaged by Martspress, which was an educational comic in the vein of Look and Learn,[3] featuring artists like Don Lawrence, Jesús Blasco, and Ron Embleton.