welcome and enjoy!

Hi and welcome to my blog about comics from other people’s childhood! It is dedicated primarily to British humour comics of the 60s and 70s. The reason they are not from my childhood is simply because I didn’t live in the UK back then (nor do I live there now). I knew next to nothing about them until fairly recently but since then I’ve developed a strong liking for the medium and amassed a large collection, including a number of complete or near complete sets. My intention is to use this blog as a channel for sharing my humble knowledge about different titles, favourite characters and creators as I slowly research my collection.

QUICK TIP: this blog is a sequence of posts covering one particular comic at a time. The sequence follows a certain logic, so for maximum results it is recommended that the blog is read from the oldest post up.

Copyright of all images and quotations used here is with their respective owners. Any such copyrighted material is used exclusively for educational purposes and will be removed at first notice. All other text copyright Irmantas P.



Monday, November 12, 2012

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: SUPER SPOOK



This is the first post in the series dedicated to features that only appeared in COR!! annuals and holiday specials.

Let me start with SUPER SPOOK - a superhero tale that appeared in three COR!! annuals, one story in each. It was about a mighty muscular miner Jeremiah Smith who was crushed to death in a mine beneath a mountain during Gold Rush while trying to save other people. His selfless courage and bravery were rewarded by the gift of eternal life and supernatural powers such as flying. He travelled the World wearing a silly skin-tight costume and doing good deeds as the invisible Super Spook. The illustrator was probably Ron Turner (I am sure about the last story, not so much about the first two).


The first story was a six-pager in COR!! annual 1975. It started with an intro that told readers about Jeremiah Smith who was one of the best and the biggest miners during Gold Rush in Canada in the year 1896. The blond-haired giant of a man was known and loved by everyone, especially children. Sadly, he perished in a crumbling cavern sacrificing himself in order to save villagers during a terrible storm that caused Yellowrock mountain to collapse. Jeremiah Smith finally broke free from under the mountain into the modern world. Miner of old, now an invisible ghost, Jeremiah Smith, aka Super Spook, saw much that he did not understand – National Junior Racing Car Championships, for example. In this first adventure after his return he helped Gary Johnson win the Championships and taught the rich foul-player Jack Schneider a lesson. Here is a taste:


The second story was 8 pages long and appeared in COR!! annual 1976. Once again, readers were given a quick reminder about the origins of Super Spook and his dedication to helping people (those in the right, that is). In this episode Super Spook helps a bunch of kids who call themselves Dirty Hands Gang catch Simple Simon Snell and solve the robbery of the local bank. Here are the last two pages of the episode:


The third and last story appeared two years later in COR!! Annual 1978 and was an eight-pager. Quite unusually for a British comic story, this episode came with a splash panel in the vein of American comics:


In this episode Super Spook, righter of wrongs, ghostly guardian of peace and justice, is on the side of Ginger Thomas and other proprietors of a little family fairground who are bullied by villainous Vic Finesilver and his black leather cronies. The thugs want the fairground to move in order to have all the business to themselves. Super Spook uses his special sleep suggestion and plants an idea of resistance in Ginger Thomas’ brain. The villains stand no chance and loose their business in the end. Here are two pages of the story:



1 comment:

  1. I quite liked super spook as a kid..was very drawn to the first story and how he died saving others..as you say the costume was funny..

    There is a 60's song a bit like that..about a strong mean miner who saved everyone from the mine and everyone liked him after that as it costed his life..
    Just got the title its Big Bad John sang by
    Jimmy Dean.




    Big John
    Big John
    Every morning at the mine you could see him arrive
    He stood six-foot-six and weighed two-forty-five
    Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip
    Everybody knew you didn't give no lip to Big John

    Big John
    Big John
    Big Bad John
    Big John

    Nobody seemed to know where John called home
    He just drifted into town and stayed all alone
    He didn't say much, kinda quiet and shy
    If ya spoke at all, ya just said hi to Big John

    Somebody said he came from New Orleans
    Where he got in a fight o'er a cajun queen
    And a crashin' blow from a huge right hand
    Sent a Lousianna fella to the promised land, Big John

    Big John
    Big John
    Big Bad John
    Big John

    Then came the day at the bottom of the mine
    When a timber cracked and men started cryin'
    Miners were prayin' and hearts beat fast
    And everybody thought they'd breathed their last, 'cept John

    Through the dust and the smoke of this man-made hell
    Walked a giant of a man that the miners knew well
    Grabbed the saggin' timber and gave out with a groan
    And like a giant oak tree, just stood there alone, Big John

    Big John
    Big John
    Big Bad John
    Big John

    And with all of his strength he gave a mighty shove
    Then a miner yelled out, there's a light up above
    And twenty men scrambled from a would-be grave
    now there's only one left down there to save, Big John

    With jacks and timbers they started back down
    Then came that rumble way down in the ground
    As smoke and gas belched outta the mine
    Everybody knew it was the end of the line for Big John

    Big John
    Big John
    Big Bad John
    Big John

    Now, they never re-opened that worthless pit
    They just placed a marble stand in front of it
    These few words are written on that stand,

    At the bottom of this mine lies one Hell of a man, Big John

    Big John
    Big John
    Big Bad John
    Big John
    Source(s):
    Lyrics link

    http://www.lyricsdepot.com/jimmy-dean/bi…

    ReplyDelete