Wonder Worm was the last of reprints in COR!! The original series appeared in BUSTER in 1966-1968
where it lasted 129 weeks. Wonder Worm was a strong little
fella who could “wiggle his way out of anything”. At one point he took a “Through-the-World” holiday when every week he burrowed underground and made
random surfacings without knowing where he will pop up – Wild West, Mexico (where
he performed in a bull-ring), Tibet (where he defeated the abominable snowman),
southern USA, Venice Italy, China, Arabian desert, Swiss Alps, a beach in the
West Indies, a football pitch, etc.
Here is the first episode from COR!! issue dated 18th November, 1972 (No. 129) in which Wonder Worm discovers his strength. This was also the first episode of the original series in BUSTER dated 12th February 1966:
Here is the first episode from COR!! issue dated 18th November, 1972 (No. 129) in which Wonder Worm discovers his strength. This was also the first episode of the original series in BUSTER dated 12th February 1966:
The feature was illustrated by no less
than two different artists, the name of the main one is unknown to me, while
later in the run illustrator’s duties were given to the prolific Reg Parlett.
Both the original BUSTER series and the COR!! reprints were in black and white
but in COR!! a number of the episodes towards the end of the run were in full
colour, including the three-part serial by Reg Parlett shown below in which Wonder
Worm searches for the missing ravens from the Tower of London.
Wonder Worm reprints in COR!! began on 18th November,
1972 (issue No. 129) and appeared weekly (with a few exceptions) until the
very last issue with the cover date of 15th June, 1974 (No. 211). All episodes
were one-pagers except the one on 10th March, 1973 (No. 145) where the strip
was given two pages. Wonder Worm made three front cover appearances
in the issues dated 9th June 1973, 15th September 1973 and 16th February 1974 (Nos.
158, 172 and 194).
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| A little serial in COR!! issues dated 18th May 1974, 25th May 1974 and 15th June 1974 (Nos. 207, 208 and 211) |
Doesn’t seem like it made it to Cor!!, but Wonder Worm’s last months in Buster were spent on an errand of mercy. Between 2/3/68 and 20/7/68, WW tried to prevent a nasty kid from using a fellow worm to fish with by quoting several tales (reasonably farfetched) about the heroism of his wormy ancestors! The end of the fishing season fianlly put paid to the brat!
ReplyDeleteClearly recall reading a Sqworm strip in Buster in ’86 featuring a familiar boxing kangaroo. Took only a few seconds to compare it with a Wonder Worm story from the 1975 or ’76 Cor Annual to see that the stories were identical. It stands to reason all Sqworm’s strips were the same, although he may well have been conceptualised as an original character.
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