A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: PERCY GROWER AND HIS FANTASTIC FERTILISER

Phil Millar did one more strip in COR!! publications and the title was Percy Grower and his Fantastic Fertiliser. It appeared in the 1982 COR!! Holiday Special and COR!! Annuals 1983 and 1984, one episode in each. 

Percy was one of those kids with gimmicks, his was a spray container of super fertiliser that made plants grow to enormous size. Percy put the fertiliser to good use helping folks and punishing Christmas-tree pinching bullies: as many as two episodes involved tricks with Christmas trees.

Here is the first episode from the 1982 COR!! Holiday Special. Percy doesn’t have a spray container yet and keeps his fertiliser in a simple bottle:

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: BENNY BENDO

Next in line is Benny Bendo – a humour strip about a lad who had a super-power to bend objects with his hypnotic glance. The illustrator was Phil Millar. Benny Bendo appeared in COR!! annuals and specials from 1978 until 1985.

It’s interesting to note how the editor experimented with the subtitle of the strip trying to find the perfect one: the opening episode was entitled Benny Bendo - His Hypnotic Glance Has an Amazing Effect on Things. The next two episodes in the 1979 Annual had two different versions of the title: one was Benny Bendo – His Hypnotic Glance Has Amazing Effect on Things, and the other one was Benny Bendo - His Uncanny Hypnotic Powers Bend Anything! A year later it was modified slightly to become Benny Bendo - His Uncanny Powers Bend Anything! Starting from the 1980 Holiday Special it became Benny Bendo - His Strange Powers Bend Anything. Apparently, the editor was satisfied with the version because it was kept until the very end (except that one or two episodes had no subtitle at all and were simply entitled Benny Bendo).

Here is an account of all Benny Bendo’s appearances:

1978 Annual (one episode of 4 pages). In fact it was a series of short adventures. Here are the first two pages:

Quite possibly the strip also appeared in the 1978 COR!! Holiday Special but I just don’t have a copy to check yet…

1979 Annual (two episodes, 4 pages each). The first episode was actually another series of short adventures. In the second Benny Bendo visits a Fun Fair. 

1979 Special (one episode of 2 pages). Benny Bendo goes to the seaside. Here is the full episode:

1980 Annual (one episode of 4 pages). Benny’s adventures in winter.

1980 Special (one episode of 4 pages). Benny goes on holiday to the lousy Mudsea Holiday Camp.

1981 Annual (3 episodes). Benny meets smash-and-grab raider Sam-the-Snatch (2 pages); Benny visits the Zoo (1 page) and Benny takes a winter holiday (4 pages).

1981 Special (one episode of 2 pages). Benny’s adventures on his uncle’s farm.

1982 Annual (one episode of 3 pages). Benny plays golf;

1982 Special (two episodes, two pages each). In the first episode Benny takes a day trip to the sea and entertains his mates in poor weather. In the second Benny goes fishing and meets a bloke who is swimming where it’s not allowed.

1983 Annual (2 episodes).  The first one is another winter fun episode in which Benny makes an artificial ski-run in the park (2 pages); in the second episode Benny  helps a family travelling by car (3 pages). Here's the second page of the first episode:

1983 Special (one 1-pager). Benny helps a lady get her dog back without paying a reward to the crook.

1984 Annual (one episode of 2 pages). Benny helps carol singers get a sledge for the children’s home:

1985 Annual (one episode of 2 pages). Benny helps catch a bank thief and then saves a Lord Lummy’s son and heir from the kidnapper.

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: SOLDIER SPOON

Soldier Spoon was a simple strip about private Spoon and his antics in the army camp. Suspiciously like Corporal Clot of the Dandy. 

Soldier Spoon appeared in 1975 and 1976 COR!! Summer Specials (4 one-page episodes in each) and in 1976, 1977 and 1978 COR!! Annuals (3, 4 and 4 episodes respectfully, all of them two-pagers). I don’t know the artist’s name.

First episode in COR!! 1975 Holiday Special

From 1978 COR!! Comic Annual

COR!! HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1983

COR!! Holiday Special 1983, 50 p., 64 pages

Contents: Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (3 new episodes illustrated and signed by Crocker), Val’s Vanishing Cream (3 Mike Lacey reprints), Night Mare (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Tease Break (2 instalments), Football Madd (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Benny Bendo, Gus-On Holiday gags, Tomboy (2 reprints + one new in full colour), Yong MacDonald and his Farm (illustrated by Ron Turner), Donovan’s Dad (two new episodes by Terry Bave in full colour + one more in b/w), Chalky (reprint of an old episode from a COR!! weekly), Teacher’s Pet (2 reprints), Jasper the Grasper (a new story by Les Barton), Whacky (Mike Lacey reprint), Jelly Baby (3 reprints), Percy Puffer (reprint), Gus-Back Home gags, Hire A Horror (in colour), The Gasworks Gang (a new 4-pager by Frank McDiarmid + 1 reprint from an old COR!! weekly), Jeannie’s Genie (reprint), The Slimms (reprint), Jack Pott, Fiends and Neighbours (a new 3-pager), Gus, Gus Gags, Tell-Tale Tess (reprint).

This was the last COR!! Holiday Special. It was quite remarkable that the Specials lasted so long after the paper folded in 1974.

I may be imagining things, but I get an impression that whoever was responsible for compiling this last edition, he thought it appropriate to include a large number of old reprints of the various strips from the weeklies, some of which had been out of print for more than a decade since their original appearance in COR!!: the long forgotten original episodes of Tell-Tale Tess, Jeannie’s Genie and Percy Puffer from the old weeklies appeared alongside with strips that were reprinted on a regular basis.

That said, the Special was another successful combination of reprints and some high-quality new material: Terry Bave drew a couple of new sets of Donovan’s Dad, Crocker contributed three brand new sets of Ivor Lott and Tony Broke, Ron Turner illustrated another nice episode of Young MacDonald and Frank MacDiarmid drew and signed a new set of the Gasworks Gang’s antics:

Les Barton contributed three pages of Jasper the Grasper’s miserly adventures:

The episode of Fiends and Neighbours was by a new artist whose name is unknown to me:

And with this I’ll close the last chapter of COR!! Holiday Specials. You can go through the whole COR!! specials sequence by clicking here or by choosing the COR!! Holiday Specials label in the column on the right.