A LOOK AT MONSTER FUN STRIPS: MEANIE MCGENIE

Meanie McGenie was a funny little strip about a mean kilt-wearing highlander genie known by the name of Meanie McGenie. Like all genies, he lived in a magic oriental lamp and emerged from it when someone rubbed on it. What made Meanie McGenie different from his kind was that he hated being disturbed and would only grant one wish. Furthermore, Meanie McGenie annoyed his “customers” by always finding a cheap way to fulfil their wishes and thus lived up to his name. It is no surprise that the folks who found the lamp didn’t hesitate to toss it away for someone else to find (and get disappointed) in the next episode.

From MFC No. 70. Art by Mike Lacey

The modest 17-episode run of Meanie McGenie started in MFC No. 2. The strip then disappeared for nearly 6 months and was re-introduced in issue 27 but failed to keep a regular schedule and ended in issue 70. Here is the list of MFC issues where Meanie Mcgenie can be found: 2, 27, 28, 30-33, 35, 38, 40, 43, 47, 53, 59, 64 and 70. All the episodes were 1/2 page long.

From MFC No. 61. Art by Mike Lacey

12 episodes of Meanie McGenie were illustrated by Mike Lacey. Tom Williams drew the episodes in issues No. 38 and 43, and the sets in Nos. 40, 59 and 64 were by yet another artist whose name I don’t know. Here are examples of Tom Williams’ and the other artist’s work:

 

A LOOK AT MONSTER FUN STRIPS: MUMMY’S BOY

Mummy’s Boy was a strip about the most possessive Mum that ever was, and her nine-year old son whom she treated as a baby and wouldn’t let him engage in normal kids’ stuff because she thought her Choochkins was too delicate. She wheeled him in a pram, dressed him in baby clothes, made him wear nappies and a silly baby bonnet, go to bed at 5:30, drink milk from a baby bottle and do all the other baby stuff which a grown lad like him found very embarrassing. Mumsy never addressed her boy by his proper name (it’s not even clear if he had one) and embarrassed him even further by calling him Diddums, Babykins, Kiddiwinky, Darling Duck, Cherub, Cutie Pie, Oody Boody Baba, Cuddlekins, Choochiface, etc.

Mumsy’s little treasure hated being treated like a baby, especially in public. He often ran away from ‘the silly old fusspot’ and acted naughty but she always tracked him down and re-organized things her way. 

Sometimes ‘the cherub’ was glad that he just couldn’t loose with Mum around:

In fact, Mummy’s Boy was a naughty little devil and a nuisance – a kind of Sweeny Toddler brought to heel, but with a crazy Mum like his that’s hardly surprising. I am trying to picture Mumsy’s relationship with her husband - yes, Diddums did have a Dad but in MFC he was only seen once, in issue No. 21; perhaps he took every opportunity to be away from home and his nutty spouse… I am sure Mumsy would have made an ideal Mum-and-son pair with WHOOPEE!’s Scared-Stiff Sam. This cross-over never happened but there were a couple others that did – in issue 33 Babykins tried using Teddy Scare’s tactics and in No. 51 he got some help from Brainy and his Monster Maker (in case you didn’t know, I’ll mention that Teddy Scare and Brainy and His Monster Maker were concurrent MFC strips).

Mummy’s Boy is one of the few strips in MFC with a dubious connection to the horror theme. On the other hand, come to think of it, having a Mum like this would certainly be a nightmare, so the strip takes horror comedy to the dimension of psychological terror.

Mummy’s Boy started in MFC issue No. 2 and continued till the last number (missing issues 16, 25, 47 and 57 in-between); all episodes were in b/w, except for the full-colour one in issue No. 33. The main artist was Norman Mansbridge; Terry Bave stepped in for him in issues 7 and 8. Mummy’s Boy made the jump to BUSTER when MFC was merged into it in 1976. The strip must have done really well in the popularity charts: it continued for more than a dozen years and was last seen in BUSTER cover-dated 12th September 1987. Of all the strips which originated in MFC, Mummy’s Boy came second only to X-Ray Specs in terms of the length of the run.

A LOOK AT MONSTER FUN STRIPS: CINDERS

Cinders was a tale about the adventures of two strange characters: Cinders, the romantically disposed she-dragon, and a cowardly knight who was the object of her affection. Cinders always tried to look her very best to make sure she was ready to meet the man of her dreams – the dishy and noble handsome knight in shiny armour on a gallant steed. She lived in a boudoir-like cave decorated with flowers and curtains and spoke in heart-shaped red speech balloons. The knight was a cissy coward who nonetheless sought a fiery dragon to fight; he was unaware that the lady dragon had a crush on him whereas Cinders considered his failed weekly attempts to fight her to be signs of his warm feelings towards her.

First episode, art by Norman Mansbridge

Cinders had the shortest run of all MFC strips: it appeared in issues 1 – 12 and missed issue No. 9 in between. The main artist was Norman Mansbridge with Alf Saporito substituting him in issues 7 to 11. All 11 episodes of Cinders were on the rear cover in full colour.

From MFC No. 11. Art by Alf Saporito

Cinders concludes the series of reviews of the strips that appeared in the first issue of MONSTER FUN COMIC. I have omitted one participation feature (Monster Hits) and the Badtime Bedtime Storybook (‘Jack the Nipper’s Schooldays’) but that’s because I am saving them for later.

A LOOK AT MONSTER FUN STRIPS: THE INVISIBLE MONSTER

Portrait of the Invisible Monster on front cover of MFC No. 8

The Invisible Monster was a part-serialised humour strip. Its short 19-week run consisted of four ‘chapters’: 

Chapter one – introductory episode in MFC No. 1;

Chapter two – the Invisible Monster meets Tich and together they are on the run from the authorities (MFC issues 2 – 10);

Chapter three – the Invisible Monster stays with Tich’s family in London (non-serialised episodes in MFC issues 11 – 17);

Chapter four – Tich takes the Invisible Monster out of London and the story reaches a satisfactory conclusion (MFC issues 18 and 19).

Here is a summary of the story: the Invisible Monster emerged from the sea one dark night and made headlines nationwide when he picked up a lighthouse and used it as a torch as he walked to London.

Tich heard about the Invisible Monster on the radio while camping with his pal, right before the giant showed up at their campsite and burned his foot on the campfire. Tich came to his aid, offered him some bandages and befriended the mystery talking giant.

The police and the army are after the invisible menace and the bandaged giant foot makes him easy to spot. Tich and his new friend spend the next few episodes running away from pursuers.

The Army have tied the Invisible Monster to a train in his sleep

In issue 8 the Invisible Monster Task Force (I.M.5) send Colonel Crumpet – the most famous big-game hunter in the World, on the mission of catching the IM. Colonel Crumpet dopes the monster with a fake giant lollipop and then lures him into Monster Cavern, but to no avail – the luck is always on the side of Tich and the IM; they finally make it to London where the Invisible Monster has a show-down with another monster whom Colonel Crumpet and I.M.5 retrieved from the Monster Cavern and brought to the city believing it was the IM.

The Invisible Monster bashes his oponent with Nelson's Column

The next few non-serialised episodes show the IM’s antics during his stay with Tich and his parents in London, spiced-up with the odd attempt of I.M.5 to capture the giant. Tich realises that London is no longer a safe place for the Invisible Monster so he takes him to Scotland. Tich finds him a secluded lake where the IM meets ‘a female monster’ who gives him a nasty black eye. The black eye spreads all over the Invisible Monster's body and finally makes him visible:

The weekly episodes were two-pagers (except in issues 14 and 17 where they were 1 ½ pages long). All were illustrated and signed by Sid Burgon (except in issue 17 where Terry Bave may have had a hand). The Invisible Monster featured on the cover of MFC issue No. 8.

The strip was tied-in with a participation feature. The invisibility of the main character was a good reason to invite the readers to send-in their drawings of how they pictured the hero of the story and collect cash prizes:

The Invisible Monster prize winning pictures appeared in MFC issues 8 to 19 and were presented in b/w, except in issues 11 and 14 where they were in full colour: