The Penny Popular launched on 12th Oct 1912. It was an unusual venture as there was no original material, stories were all reprints of earlier AP publications. The first issue featured stories from St Jim's, Sexton Blake and Pete of Jack, Sam and Pete fame. This format continued for about four years then Sexton Blake and Pete were dropped in favour of Greyfriars and Rookwood. From issue 237 the Popular advertised itself as "the All-School story Paper".

The Penny Popular closed for a short time in 1918 due to the paper shortage but the second series appeared on 25th Jan 1919. You can see a scan of the first issue of the new series here and issue 204 here.

The 'Penny Popular' became the 'Popular' with issue 85 of the new series.

The Popular finally ceased publication in 1931, being reborn as the Ranger.

An detailed article on the history of the Popular by Eric Fayne was published in the Collectors Digest, you can read it here.

Greyfriars in the Penny Popular.

The early Greyfriars stories were reprints of earlier stories but were badly abridged and disjointed and proved rather disappointing. In 1919 the Popular announced that it was discontinuing the reprint policy and all Greyfriars material would be original. Hamilton was unavailable so the new stories were all written by Samways. However Samways was unable to keep up with his workload so the reprints returned within a couple of years. The reprints continued until 1931 when the Popular was reborn as the Ranger.

An article by Bill Lofts on the Magnet in the Popular can be found here.

St Jim's in the Penny Popular.

The St Jim's stories started with issue 1 but, like the Magnet, they were badly abridged and disjointed. In 1919 the reprints stopped and new stories were specially written, mostly by John Nix Pentelow. The reprints returned within a few years and continued until Christmas 1929 when the last St Jim's tale appeared in the Popular. In 1931 the Popular was reborn as the Ranger.

An article by Bill Lofts on the Gem in the Popular can be found here.

Rookwood in the Penny Popular

In 1917 the Editor was getting complaints from Rookwood fans who could remember the original tales from the 'Boys' Friend', as the saga only began in 1915. Some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to take Hamilton's Cliveden tales from the 'Boys' Herald' of 1907 and 1908 but convert them to Rookwood! It didn't really work as the characters were completely different. Also Hamilton's style changed tremendously from 1907 to 1915. It didn't help that they also drastically edited the length too.

Thanks to Michael Bailey you can read scans of issues 237 and 239 and judge for yourself!

The Rio Kid in the Popular

Hamilton was asked to write a new story for the Popular so on the 21st Jan 1928 the Rio Kid was born under the new pen name Ralph Redway. To quote Eric Fayne "Nothing better ever appeared in the Popular or any other paper for that matter. The Rio Kid stories were grand. Completely convincing, geographically correct to the last detail, original in plot and full of thrills these wild west tales had unforgettable charm" You can read Eric's CD article on the Rio Kid in full here.

The Rio Kid also made an appearance in the Popular, Ranger, Modern Boy, Billy Bunter's Own, Tom Merry's Own and Boys Friend Library.

Thanks to Nandu all of the Rio Kid tales are available for download from the links below.

The Rio Kid Issues 469-474 Story Front Pages

The Rio Kid's Revenge 475-478 Story Front Pages

The Capture of the Rio Kid 479-482 Story Front Pages

The Rio Kid's Goldmine 483-490 Story Front Pages

The Rio Kid in Love 491-493 Story Front Pages

The Sparshott Feud 494-496 Story Front Pages

The Scapegoat 497-500 Story Front Pages

The Escobar Mine 501-504 Story Front Pages

Rounding up the Rustlers 505-509 Story Front Pages

Trailing back to Texas 510-513 Story Front Pages

The Vengeance of Chief Many Ponies 514-517 Story Front Pages

The Cattle Thieves 518-519 Story Front Pages

Shanghaied 520-521 Story Front Pages

The Rio kid on the Run 522-525 Story Front Pages

The Rio Kid Wins Through 526-527 Story Front Pages

The Unknown Raider 528-533 Story Front Pages

The Rio Kid in Mexico 534-551 (102 pages, 15mb) Story Front Pages

Cactus Pete's Capture 552-553 Story Front Pages

Cornering the Kid 554-555 Story Front Pages

The Puncher of Blue Bird Ranch 556-557 Story Front Pages

Rio Kid - Rancher 558-566 Story Front Pages

The Rio Kid's Christmas 567-570 Story Front Pages

The Marshal of Kicking Mule 571-576 Story Front Pages

Rio Kid at the Bar One Ranch 577-583 Story Front Pages

The Peril Trail 584-587 Story Front Pages

The Rio Kid - Sheriff! 600-612 Story Front Pages

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