Roy of the Rovers Roy of the Rovers Roy of the Rovers is a British comic strip about the life and times of a fictional footballer named Roy Race, who played for Melchester Rovers. The strip first appeared in the "Tiger" in 1954, before giving its name to a weekly (and later monthly) comic magazine, published by IPC and Fleetway from 1976 until 1995, in which it was the main feature. The weekly strip ran until 1993, following Roy's playing career until its conclusion after he lost his left foot in a helicopter crash. When the monthly comic was launched later that year the
Roy of the Rovers (comic) of the Rovers and Hot Shot", but reverted to its original title shortly afterwards. The comic was relaunched as a monthly in September 1993, but finally closed in March 1995, after a further 19 issues. On 19 March 2012 The Royal Mail launched a special stamp collection to celebrate Britain's rich comic book history. As well as "Roy of the Rovers", the collection also featured "The Beano", "The Dandy", "Eagle", "The Topper", "Bunty", "Buster", "Valiant", "Twinkle" and "2000 AD". The magazine's circulation for the six months ending June 1981 was 122,118. A readership survey carried out in 1982 revealed that