British Comic Stamps: Valiant

Here's the eighth of our ten posts to mark the release of the Royal Mail's Comic Collection, celebrating 75 years of British comics. The Royal Mail have kindly sent us large versions of each stamp, so we thought we'd show them off in all their glory, in the order of first comic publication.

Valiant was a British boys’ adventure comic which ran from 1962 to 1976. It was published by IPC Magazines (but ended up at Egmont) and was one of their major adventure titles throughout the 1960s and early 1970s.

Aside from World War II characters like Captain Hurricane, Valiant ran innovative science fiction strips like the Steel Claw, an assistant to a scientist rendered invisible by his artificial hand. At first something of an anti-hero, he went on to work undercover for a British secret service, battling aliens and villains across the globe.

• Stamps and stamp products are available at all Post Office branches, online at www.royalmail.com/personal/comic-stamps-and-collectibles, the Royal Mail eBay shop: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Royal-Mail-Stamp-Collections and from Royal Mail Tallents House (tel. 08457 641 641), 21 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9PB.