Wednesday, December 17, 2014

MONSTER FUN COMIC SUMMER SPECIAL 1975



It’s time I got back to the mission of completing my comprehensive review of MONSTER FUN COMIC, so let’s look at the first MONSTER FUN COMIC Summer Special which came out in the summer of 1975 - the time when the early issues of the weekly went on sale, which suggests that the first issues of the weeklies and the Summer Special were put together at more or less the same time. The 80-pages magazine cost 25 p and came with an eye-catching Kid Kong cover by Bob Nixon.

Here is a summary of the contents: Tom Thumbscrew (a two-pager by Andy Christine), Cinders (a two-pager in full colour by Norman Mansbridge), The Robot Maker (5 pages of reprints from COR!! weeklies, artwork by Frank McDiarmid), Sam’s Spook (4 pages of reprints from SMASH!, artwork by Leo Baxendale), Lots O’ Laughs (2 pages of gags illustrated by Mike Lacey), Stoneage Brit Ancient Nit (4 pages of reprints from COR!!, including one episode in colour on back cover, artwork probably by Tony Goffe), Martha’s Monster Make-Up (a two-pager by Frank McDiarmid), X-Ray Specs (two episodes: a three-pager probably by Jim Watson imitating Mike Lacey, and a two-pager that appears to have been penciled by Terry Bave but inked by someone else),  Make A Date: Tarzan and the Little Bo Peep – An Imaginary Meeting of these Famous Characters (a two-pager by Trevor Metcalfe), Kid Kong (an 8-page story by Robert Nixon), Creature Teacher (a four-pager by Tom Williams), Art’s Gallery (a three pager, probably by Jim Watson), The Land That Time Forgot feature (3 pages), Cave Cackles (1 page of gags by Sid Burgon), Monster Maze on the centerspread in full colour, probably by Artie Jackson, Fred’s Fault (a two-pager by Jim Watson), Major Jump Horror Hunter (2 two-pagers by Ian Knox), Dough Nut and Rusty (a 4-pager by Trevor Metcalfe), Mummy’s Boy (a two-pager by Terry Bave, Brainy and His Monster Maker (a two-pager by I don’t know who), Frankie’s Freaky Week (2 pages of gags by Sid Burgon), Monster Mirth (one page gags feature by I don’t know who), Grizzly Bearhug… Giant (a four-pager by Andy Christine), Monster Fun-Time (2 pages of puzzles), The Earthies (a four-pager by an unknown artist), Monster Regis (one-page feature by Sid Burgon), Draculass Daughter of Dracula (a two-pager by Terry Bave in colour).

Andy Christine got 6 pages –2 of Tom Thumbscrew and 4 of Giant Grizzly… Bearhug. That's precisely 6 pages too many, IMHO.


Mike Lacey wasn’t available to draw X-Ray Specs, so Jim Watson illustrated one episode, check out these sample panels:



… and Terry Bave was asked to do the other one but it looks he only had time to submit his penciled work which was then inked by someone else, or maybe he did the set in a rush. Check out this sample page and tell me what you think:


Terry Bave drew two more features in this Summer Special – Draculass was his regular strip in MFC weeklies, while Mummy’s Boy - the second that he did for this magazine, was usually drawn by Norman Mansbridge in the weeklies.

Assuming my observation regarding Jim Watson being the artist responsible for the first set of X-Ray Specs shown above is correct, then Mr. Watson should also be credited with the artwork of Art’s Gallery:


In the case of X-Ray Specs and Art’s Gallery Jim Watson (provided it was indeed him) was under pressure to imitate Mike Lacey, but Fred’s Fault was a completely new strip, so he was free to draw it in his own style:


I like the idea of the Make a Date tale illustrated by Trevor Metcalfe which brought together two very different characters – Tarzan and Little Bo Peep, into one story. I don’t remember seeing this feature elsewhere so it was probably a one-off experiment. It’s a shame IPC editors chose not to continue with the idea because in my opinion it had good potential.


The idea of The Land That Time Forgot feature was rather clever too – it was a three-page collage of action-packed scenes from a new feature film with short bits of text, included to generate interest in the film:


Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of this Summer Special. Kid Kong is the longest story and the front cover feature. In it Granny Smith decides to take Kid Kong to the seaside. The story takes off with Kid causing havoc on the highway as he tries to find Granny’s lost pennies so she can buy their bus fares to Brightsea. They finally make it to the resort and are enjoying themselves at the fair where Kid runs into the fairground owner who used to keep him behind bars and is very keen to recapture the giant gorilla for his freak show. With Granny Smith around, this is easier said than done but the short-sighted old lady wanders off as she goes to get some ice creams. The wicked fairground owner takes the opportunity to seize Kid Kong but Kid spots Granny afloat in the sea on an inflatable mattress and breaks free to rescue her. Mayor awards him with a life saver’s badge and a cash prize for the effort.


In Creature Teacher the Massacre Street School are on their annual outing to the seaside and Creature Teacher is put in charge of the unruly class 3X who forced the locals to move away last year. Creature Teacher quickly brings the trouble-makers to heel. 3X decide to get rid of Creature Teacher first by dumping him out to sea and later by placing him under the blade in the chamber of horrors but Creature Teachers outsmarts his pupils and class 3X return from the outing “well-tanned”:



In the first episode of Major Jump Horror Hunter the brave Major and his assistant Cosmo are after the mysterious Monster Snoozlehorn. They get very disappointed when after going through a lot of trouble they find out that Monster Snoozlehorn is a musical instrument. Had they taken just a few more steps, they would have realised that their effort wasn’t in vain:


In the second episode Major Jump captures a giant worm. Major thinks it is not a very exciting monster, but still better than nothing. He probably finds the second creature whom he encounters in this episode more exciting:


In Martha’s Monster Make-Up Martha uses her magic cream on a mean participant of the Beach Beauty Queen Contest. She becomes so terrifying that another participant’s hair stands on end permanently in a “way-out new hairstyle”, making her the darling of the media, even though the scary one shocks the judges into awarding her the first prize:


My personal favourite in this first Monster Fun Comic Summer Special is this 4-pager by an artist whose name I don’t know. Any suggestions?




All Images 2014 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

11 comments:

  1. I remember buying this when it first came out and being surprised at how soon it appeared after the launch of the weekly. (Managed to get a replacement 2 or 3 years back.) Can't help you with any names, I'm afraid - my eyes are too blurred at the moment to see clearly. Was glad to see them reprint the first Sam's Spook, but they forgot to remove the 'Starts Today!' blurb from the title.

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  2. The Earthies is great! Where there ever any more episodes? I recognise the style on the "pest", so a bit of digging might come up with an answer, perhaps...

    The Land That Time Forgot feature's a good one - one of my favourite films that one is, so ANY sort of promotional material for it's interesting. Looks like it's another one for my eBay list.

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    1. I think there were one or two more in the next special or perhaps the early annuals. I will show the episodes when I cover them here.
      I haven't seen The Land That Time Forgot but your comment makes me want to track it down.

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  3. Hi Irmantas, The Earthies was drawn by Mike Green, who previously had drawn Snip no Snap for Sparky, and who later drew Weedy Willy for Oink!

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  4. I remember buying this great special at the time.

    The Earthies artist looks to me like Mike Green, who drew tearaway terriers Snip and Snap for Sparky. There's a similar four-pager, same artist, in the Whizzer and Chips Annual 1977: The Curse of Operation Cabbage!

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  5. I hadn't seen your reply, which mysteriously wasn't there when I was filling in mine, Lew - I think I left it a while before posting to do a bit of checking!

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    1. Hi, Raven, and thanks for your input. The reason Lew's reply wasn't visible at the time when you submitted yours was because I have enabled comment moderation on this blog and publish comments after I make sure they aren't spam. Once they are published, they appear in the order they were submitted, so there's no mystery about it :)

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  6. Lew and Raven, thanks for the artist's name. Interestingly, I used to have a mate with the same name who was an active member of Questors Theatre in Ealing, London and the author of a number of books, including The Art of Coarse Acting, The Art of Coarse Rugby and quite a few more.

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  7. Great art by Robert Nixon insideand on cover..

    Could you please show the whole of make a date by Trevor please would love to read more...thanks...great seeing one offs..

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  8. Snip and Snap, of course! Knew I recognised the style, somehow or other...

    And as for The Land That Time Forgot - don't go into it expecting a masterpiece, but it IS a lot of fun. There was a DVD box set released a couple of years ago, containing that film as well as Warlords of Atlantis and At The Earth's Core - Doug McClure's Lost Worlds is what it was called.

    Love your festive background here, by the way.

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