Load Runner: The Galaxy's First Computer Comic

Ever heard of LOAD RUNNER? I certainly hadn't. It's a real curiosity. A computer-themed comic aimed at 9-16 year olds and featuring a mix of stories told with artwork, photographs, and text. LOAD RUNNER was published fortnightly by ECC Publications who also made WHICH COMPUTER PRACTICAL COMPUTING, IBM USER, and SINCLAIR PROGRAMS and SINCLAIR USER; until they sold the last two to EMAP in September 1984. LOAD RUNNER arrived on 23rd June 1983 and ran for 13 issues, with the last issue dated December 8th 1983.

Mosaic Publishing

187 Upper Street, London N1 1RQ

"What's the oldest computer game based on a book? This is obviously a trick question because I expect people to say The Hobbit (Melbourne House 1982) or if they are feeling clever Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Supersoft, 1981) which was released with the permission of Pan Books. The actual boring correct answer is probably Space War which was inspired by science fiction stories including the Lensmen series by E. E. "Doc" Smith. This game was playable on a PDP-1 mainframe and written in 1961; I said it was a trick question [1].