By the late 1930s the circulation for both "The Gem" and "The Magnet" had declined, partly because of competition by publications by D.C. Thomson. In December 1939 "The Gem" was cancelled in the traditional manner of British comics by being merged with another paper, the "Triumph". There is reason to believe that the same fate would have overtaken "The Magnet" in the summer of 1940, but in the event a sudden shortage of paper, caused by the progress of the war, led to its ceasing publication abruptly and without notice in May of that year. The final issue contained the opening story of a new series.