text: Self-titled weekly comic After 22 years of continued popularity, the strip was judged successful enough to sustain its own weekly comic, the eponymous Roy of the Rovers, launched on 25 September 1976. The comic ran for 851 issues, until 20 March 1993, and included other football strips and features.
  At the peak of the comic's success, about 450,000 copies were sold each week. There were also hardback annuals and holiday specials featuring a mix of reprinted and original content, and for a brief period, starting in 1986, Roy of the Rovers was serialised in the now-defunct Today newspaper. The strip concluded abruptly, mid-story, on 29 August 1987. These were all-new strips, focusing largely on the relationship between Roy and his wife Penny, rather than the action on the pitch. A new strip was launched in the Daily Star on 13 November 1989, written by regular writer Tom Tully and drawn by veteran Roy artist Yvonne Hutton. Hutton's final Roy of the Rovers artwork appeared on 17 January 1992, with Mike Western debuting on the art the following day. The strip concluded on 14 May 1993, two months after the cancellation of the weekly comic. Between 1988 and 1993, a Best of Roy of the Rovers monthly comic was published, reprinting older stories.