[1] AP's first response was the entertainment personality-focused Radio Fun,[2] and after it launched well Harmsworth assigned editor Edward Holmes to craft a second title, this time freed from the celebrity format, with Leonard Matthews as sub-editor.

Drawn initially by Joseph Walker (with Norman Ward later taking over); AP's stalwart detective Sexton Blake, even then 45 years old, tackled the Hooded Stranger; and the National Editorial Association's syndicated Red Ryder cowboy strip was licensed and modified.

[3] At this point, the strips featured speech bubbles for dialogue but utilised large narrative captions under each frame; indeed, these were added to "Red Ryder" for British readers.

[4] Text stories were instead equally represented, consisting of "The Runaway Orphans" (introducing Tod and Annie, who would appear often over the next twenty years), "The King's Horses" and "Mickey's Pal, the Wizard".

The remainder of the 28 pages were given over to a variety of cartoons, including "Our Crazy Broadcasters" (a celebrity strip originally intended for Radio Fun) and the mishaps of greedy public schoolboy Billy Bunter.

Like Sexton Blake, Bunter already a staple of AP's older story papers, and was ripe for the cartoon format, with initial episodes of 'the fattest boy on Earth' drawn by Charles H.

[a] In order to tempt in new readers, Amalgamated Press funded an attractive scheme of free gifts to boost the first month's appeal; the first issue included either a 'Tuck Hamper' of sweets or a paint-box and brush, depending on the copy; the second came with a painting book; the third a 'zoo album' with four printed cards to stick into it, and the fourth the remaining quartet of animal portraits.

Initially this meant little change to the comic, which debuted "Buffalo Bill" and "The Queer Adventures of Patsy and Tim" in place of the Steam Man and Red Ryder.

[6] The war also had an effect on the stories themselves; "The Happy Vakkies", a cartoon depicting evacuees enjoying fun adventures, debuted in the first Knock-Out Comic and Magnet while Sexton Blake would put his skills at the disposal of the Special Service Brigade until 1944.

Matthews introduced the likes of "Kit Carson", spy story "Captain Phantom" and the return of the runaway orphans in "Tough Todd and Happy Annie"[4] while hiring a fresh wave of artists including Sep E. Scott, H. M. Brock, D. C. Eyles and Geoff Campion.

The character had been created for an "American-style" title bearing his name for AP's line in Australia and New Zealand; his antipodean escapades had been printed in a 'Mighty Midget' comic insert given away with the July 1957 issues of Knockout.

The latter pair featured artwork from Francisco Solano López, one of several Spanish artists hired by Fleetway at the time who would go on to greatly contribute to British comics over the next decade.

Kraken appeared in further serials until September 1964, Tim Kelly would have more than a decade of further adventures and Billy Hunter would remain with Valiant until it was subsumed itself by Battle Picture Weekly in 1976.