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, July 8, 2013

DANDY’S KORKY SPENDS A NIGHT AT SCREAM INN...



Now that I have your attention with an unlikely headline, I would like to share an interesting find from a joblot of Dandy comics that I won on eBay a few weeks ago. 

Who could deny that sporting this nice cover in the Summer of 1975 was not an attempt by DC Thomson to benefit from the theme of the then successful strip (Scream Inn) in a rival publisher’s comic (Whoopee and Shiver & Shake)?


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10 comments:

  1. Peter GrayJuly 8, 2013 at 11:43 PM

    Its a great cover by Charles...he could of done a great comic horror strip in his own right..

    Nice find..you are right..
    You've seen my post on Beryl the Peril doing The Avengers tv series of the 60's..

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  2. KidJuly 9, 2013 at 12:06 AM

    I think I'd have to at least question it rather than outright deny it, and here's why. It's not definitely established that the room is genuinely supernatural - the fact that the landlord has a secret panel suggests he may have something to do with the proceedings. So I'm afraid any resemblance to Scream Inn is merely superficial.

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  3. KidJuly 9, 2013 at 9:42 AM

    (I know I left a comment, but you don't appear to have published it. Let's try again.) I'd have to say that I doubt it's an attempt to cash in on the success of Scream Inn because if it was that, DCT would've created a similar, regular strip, not just turned out a single page for one issue. Also, the similarities are superficial, as it's not even definite that the 'ghosties' and whatnot are meant to be a genuine supernatural phenomena or merely artificial constructs of the landlord, as suggested by the secret viewing panel. (And it looks as if he's fiddling with controls in picture 6, not just opening a panel.) So...case not proven, I'm afraid.

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    Replies
    1. IrmantasJuly 9, 2013 at 9:48 AM

      Kid, I have to admit I used the vague connection to Scream Inn as an excuse to show this nice cover :)
      I'm afraid I haven't received your first comment, and yes, I did check all folders of my inbox. That's weird...

      Delete
    2. KidJuly 9, 2013 at 10:50 AM

      See, there's my pedant's mind at work again, taking you literally. When I left my first comment, it did say it would be visible after approval, so the Twilight Zone must've hijacked it.

      Delete
  4. RavenJuly 10, 2013 at 11:15 AM

    That's one of the best Korkys I've seen.

    Although maybe not a direct attempt to benefit from Scream Inn's success, D.C. Thomson may well have been inspired by the increasing
    success of IPC's horror humour strips - a theme they'd tended to completely avoid themselves (except for just Topper's Ghastly Manor?)- at the time, to dip their toes into those creepy waters with a cover strip like this, though the spooks here are notably fake.

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  5. RavenJuly 10, 2013 at 12:07 PM

    PS: Oh, yes, there was also Spookum School and Spookie Cookie from Cracker, the same year, Thomson's not great attempt, it seemed, to try to do an IPC-type comic.

    I wonder if death-related topics had previously been somewhat officially taboo there.

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    Replies
    1. IrmantasJuly 10, 2013 at 12:20 PM

      I’m afraid my knowledge about DCT children’s comics of the 70s is rather patchy but reading your comments, I find it quite surprising they didn’t try to imitate IPC by exploiting the horror comedy genre that appeared to be doing so well in the rival’s publications.

      Delete
    2. RavenJuly 10, 2013 at 12:40 PM

      You might find it interesting to take a look at Cracker, some time, and see if you agree this was an attempt to "do an IPC", who must have been increasingly seeming the 'cutting edge' producers of humour comics.

      It also had Little 'Orror (a male version of Monster Fun's Draculass):

      http://home.btconnect.com/thetopper/littleorror.php

      and Ghastly Geezer Gallery, which seemed a kind of riff on the Ken Reid horror galleries from IPC:

      http://home.btconnect.com/thetopper/ghastlygeezers.php

      Here are Spookum School:

      http://home.btconnect.com/thetopper/spookumskool_cracker.php

      and Spookie Cookie:

      http://home.btconnect.com/thetopper/spookiecookie.php

      Jimmy Jest: His Shadow's a Pest seems a direct copy of Me and My Shadow from Whizzer and Chips:

      http://home.btconnect.com/thetopper/jimmyjest.php

      and Fiends Beans seems a take on the same comic's Jimmy Jeckle and Master Hide:

      http://home.btconnect.com/thetopper/fiendsbeans.php


      All these links are to a very fine Buzz/Cracker fan site.


      Delete
    3. IrmantasJuly 10, 2013 at 1:17 PM

      Thanks, I'll definitely take a look.

      Delete

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