Active throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Thorpe & Porter were a distributor of American comics in the UK, and also published a number of original titles mostly using reprinted American material from various publishers, including the misadventures of Laurel & Hardy. They are also notable for having published The Avengers, a 68 page one-off title based on the cult TV show in 1966, as well as repackaging unsold copies of American titles as Double Double Comics. From 1959, they also published the British edition of Mad Magazine. They were eventually bought by the distribution arm of America's DC Comics, one of the companies which they had formerly handled UK distribution for. Top Sellers (publishers of Super DC, Miracle Man, Psycho and Nightmare) and Strato Comics were also oringinally imprints of Thorpe & Porter (Top Sellers was active well into the 1970s).