Roy of the Rovers (comic) occasional "cross-overs" between strips in the weekly comic—for instance, in an early episode of "The Legend", lead character and superstar player Agostina Da Silva was shown playing against Melchester. Roy of the Rovers (comic) The Roy of the Rovers comic was launched as a weekly on 25 September 1976, named after the established comic strip of the same name that first appeared as weekly feature in the "Tiger" on 11 September 1954. The title ran for 853 issues, until 20 March 1993 (industrial action prevented publication of 3 issues in December 1978 and a further 5 in May and June
Roy of the Rovers anchormen making appearances was a later development. When Roy announced his resignation as Rovers manager in 1992, he did so live on Sky Sports in front of shocked presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray. Roy was created by the author Frank S. Pepper, who had created the similar strip, Danny of the Dazzlers, but he only wrote four instalments of Roy of the Rovers, because of his commitments to another of his characters, Captain Condor. His role was taken by the strip's first artist Joe Colquhoun, who used the pen-name "Stewart Colwyn". He was replaced after four-and-a-half years by Derek