Many if not all bloggers who write about British
comics are driven by nostalgia. I happen to be an exception because as I say in
the introduction to this blog above, I didn’t live in the UK as a kid and was almost
completely ignorant of the bustling industry that existed in the 70s when I was
of the comics reading age. Almost but not entirely because my pen friend Andrew
from Shakespeare Middle School in Leeds once sent me two comics – an issue of
WHOOPEE! AND SHIVER & SHAKE from 1975 and a TAMMY from 1977. The papers
made quite an impression on my 10- or 11-year old self, particularly WHOOPEE! which was at its prime in
the mid-70s. I found the idea of being able to follow the adventures of Scared-Stiff
Sam, Bumpkin Billionaires, Frankie Stein, Lolly Pop, Ghoul Getters Ltd on a
weekly basis mind-boggling, while the possibility to win cash prizes for Scream
Inn story ideas or World-Wide Weirdies sketches seemed absolutely staggering to me.
I was on the wrong side of the iron curtain then
and asking my parents for a regular subscription was out of question so my acquaintance with
British comics was limited to those two examples. Nonetheless, they were partly
responsible for my brief and successful career as a freelance humour comics artist 20
or so years down the line, and completely to blame for my UK comics collecting hobby
which I took up some 8+ years ago.
I am determined to do a comprehensive and detailed
overview of WHOOPEE! on my blog sometime in the future because in my opinion, the
combination of the stellar lineup of artists and excellent characters/features objectively
makes WHOOPEE! one of the best (if not the best) children’s comic of the period, and as such it deserves proper
coverage and tribute in internetland. A respectable eleven year run makes it
quite an ambitious quest but a doable one.
In the meantime, here is the complete issue of WHOOPEE!
AND SHIVER & SHAKE dated 22nd February, 1975 – the one that Andrew
sent me when I was in school. The copy that I owned as a kid got completely worn
because I read and re-read it countless times but I acquired a pristine one a
few years ago. See if you can recognise all artists whose work appeared in the comic:
I remember buying the first issue of Whoopee! and being well-impressed by a strip drawn by Bob Nixon, which is the first time I recall ever seeing his work (that I knew of anyway). The strip may have been a reprint as it looked a little dated, but it was meticulously drawn. (Set in olden times, if I remember rightly.) I would also have bought subsequent issues, but I'm unsure for how long I continued to do so. Sure was an impressive comic, as you say. Looking forward to when you get around to that series.
ReplyDeleteThat was King Arthur and his Frights of the Round Table. It was a new strip drawn especially for Whoopee! and lasted for 23 weeks from No. 1.
DeleteBelieve it or not, I thought it was about King Arthur, but I couldn't remember the full title. It surprises me to learn that it was a new strip - perhaps Bob drew it in a 'dated' style (at least, that's how I recall it) to suit the archaic theme of the strip? If you've got the first issue handy, can you take a look at it and say whether you think it matches my impression of it?
DeleteIt was definitely a new feature and one of the first ones that Bob did when he started getting work from IPC in the early 70s, hence the effort and the level of detail. I think he mentions King Arthur as an example of time-consuming work in his interview in Golden Fun but I don't have a copy here to confirm. Bob later simplified his style to increase his output and make more money - he mentions it in the interview, but this didn't happen until the end of 1976 - the beginning of 1977 so the first years of Whoopee have some sterling work by Mr. Nixon - just look at the Frankie Stein and Fun Fear pages shown above. By the way, King Arthur was reprinted in Monster Fun annuals 1979-83 so you can check your copies (or my blogposts about the MFC Annuals) to see if it is as you remember it. Please, note that a few episodes towards the end of the original run in Whoopee! were illustrated by someone else.
DeleteAn examination of Whoopee! in your usual detailed style would be great. BTW,have you ever considered doing a post or two about Lithuanian comics? I assume there were/are some! I'd be interested to see how they compare with UK titles.
ReplyDeleteComics in Lithuania were, and still are virtually non-existent. When I was a kid, we used to get one three-panel strip of piglet's adventures in the only children's monthly magazine, and that was it! Perhaps communists thought comics were bad for the young minds? I remember I had one large-size paperback reprint of Disney's Donald Duck in Lithuanian - reprints weren't common here as well. I think you can imagine the impression that the two British comics sent to me by my pen pal made on me in that context :) As for current times, I think there were two new original "graphic novels" by Lithuanian artists published during the last year, they are of the "artsy" style that I am not a fan of and to be honest, they are rather poorly drawn and written. So a post about Lithuanian comics would be a very brief one but I will see what I can come up with. I might do a post or two about my own published comics work in 1989-1991 or thereabouts :)
DeleteWhoopee!! like you is my favourite (Fleetway) comic...DC Thomson my favourite isThe Beano
ReplyDeleteI got Whoopee!! 1982 onwards..born 1974..so some nice Sweeny Toddler..enjoyed Snack=man the first one with the bubble gum...remember the Guy Falkes mask cut-out..A big moment was when Whoopee joined Wow! has I also bought Wow! very memorable cover..
The Bumpkin Billionaire are my favourite..
Also got the Holiday Special which I read of course on holiday..
so though my memory is the 80's....I love the 70's as well...
Whoopee!! was great right to the end...
I also did not like it when it joined Whizzer and chips..
I have mixed feelings about Whoopee! in the late 70s and the 80s when they scrapped many of my favourite features (Scream Inn, all four "horror" features, World-Wide Weirdies, even Scarred-Stiff Sam) and some of the replacements weren't up to the high standard of the early years.
DeleteI always thought DCT comics of the 70s looked dated and dull in comparison with those published by IPC, and I am puzzled why IPC gradually changed the successful formula and lowered their quality standards. IMHO, DCT were consistently "ordinary" and conservative throughout the 70s and the later decades, perhaps that's why their flagship children's humour titles outlived the IPC competition by so long.
DeleteI think a close examination of Whoopee is a fantastic idea, and I would certainly offer my opinions as a former reader (I started reading it from soon after the Cheeky merger in early 1980). Yes it had its occasional strip that didn’t exactly fill one with joy, such as Dick Doobie, but that’s nothing new and there were far, far more positives to offset them. Get busy!
ReplyDeletePreparations are likely to take some time, Stephen, but I hope I'll get round to it eventually.
DeleteIt's interesting that you mention Dick Doobie as a disappointment because in my opinion it was a fun experiment.
Just a question did you carry on your pen pal exchange and told him how much the comics meant to you...maybe in the future he could sent another one...its amazing how you only had one special comic and the girl comic...what did you think of Tammy? Do you have a sister or girl relative that liked reading this comic?
ReplyDeleteWe did exchange a few more letters, I think, but I don't remember asking him to send me more comics; we renewed our correspondence in the late 80s and I even met him and his wife during my first visit in Britain.
DeleteTammy was very different from Whoopee! - it was nearly all adventure (not my favourite genre), and the styles were different but I remember being impressed by Jose Casanova's work on Babe at St. Woods. There was another strip called The Dream House that I found fascinating. When I started collecting, it took me a while to retrace the title and the issue of that comic but I finally identified it as Tammy dated March 19th, 1977 and acquired a copy of the issue last year.
My younger sister wasn't fond of reading comics.
As you say, it is quite amazing how just one comic set off my interest in the medium and triggered my collecting hobby. This reminds me of my friend's case - he grew up immediately after the war and his mother could only afford to buy him one pair of shoes. Now he has a shoe room in his house :)
Didn’t read Tammy at the time, but have read the whole run at the British Library over the last two years. Pat Mills’s intention was to create a comic with stories girls would cry buckets over; this he succeeded in doing. But the biggest tearjerker of all was Tammy’s sudden demise on 23/6/84; even more heart-breaking was the appearance of its logo, and that alone, on the cover of Girl between 25/8 and 29/9/84. Not a single Tammy story made the move; after 13 successful years, tell me that’s not tragic.
ReplyDeleteThe World-wide Weirdies taking the mickey out of Buckingham Palace showed we could laugh at ourselves and people in charge also must of showed a difference between the countries at the time!
ReplyDeleteAlso Spy School must of had an effect...
ReplyDeleteBumpkin Billionaire's wasting money..
pop music advert..
King and Queen stamp collecting..
as you said Britain must of been another world to you!!
I wonder who drew that Bumpkin Billionaires it doesn't look like Mike Lacey?
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure it is by Tom Williams.
Delete