1979 COR!! COMIC ANNUAL

1979 COR!! Comic Annual. £1.10, 144 pages,

Here is a summary of the contents:  Jack Pott’s Jackpot game, Football Madd (1 new episode by Les Barton + 2 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Helpful Hettie, Nightmare (new episode by Les Barton), Tomboy (3 episodes), Fiends and Neighbours (2 new episodes by Les Barton, both signed + 1 reprint from an old COR!! weekly), Tease Break feature (2 instalments), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (6 reprints and 1 new episode), Teacher’s Pet (2 episodes), Jack Pott (2 episodes), Benny Bendo! (2 episodes), The Slimms (2 episodes + The Slimms Weight For it Game), The Gasworks Gang (4 reprints), Jelly Baby (2 episodes), Hire A Horror (5 reprints and 1 new episode), Whacky (5 episodes), Spotter, Jasper the Grasper (two original episodes, one by Les Barton and one by John Geering), Donovan’s Dad, Swopper Stan, Tricky Dicky (2 episodes), Football Quiz (by Les Barton), Wilfred the World’s Worst Wizard, Football Funnies (by Les Barton), Xmas Word puzzle, Val’s Vanishing Cream (2 episodes), Chalky, Patch-Eye Hooker, Mike’s Magic Mould, Gus Gorilla (3 episodes), "The Stairs” … A Silly Story, The Way-Out West jokes (by Jack Clayton), Willy Worry (2 episodes).

The annual was the first one that had no ‘proper’ colour pages but was probably still advertised as a full-colour book because all of its pages were presented in three-colours (save for a few pages that had no white or no black).

Two episodes of Tomboy were signed by Jim Watson:

The annual contained two new Jasper the Grasper stories: a two-pager by Les Barton (shown below in its entirety) and a 6-pager by John Geering (illustrated below with one panel):

The one-off The Stairs... A Silly Story, doesn't really qualify as a comic strip and is poorly drawn but here it is anyway:

 Jack Clayton contributed two nice pages of Wild West jokes:

What I like best about this annual is that it has as many as two original episodes of Fiends and Neighbours by Les Barton whose style suits the strip very well indeed. The level of detail suggests that the artist enjoyed drawing it. Editors must have liked Mr. Barton’s version because the two sets were the first out of many episodes of Fiends and Neighbours illustrated by Les Barton in subsequent COR!! holiday specials and annuals. Here is one of the two stories from the annual:

1977 COR!! COMIC ANNUAL

1977 COR!! Comic Annual cost £1 and had 144 pages.

Strips and features: Willy Worry (4 episodes, one in full colour), Give A Dog A Bone (6 episodes, one in full colour), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (3 episodes, two in full colour), Gus Gorilla (3 episodes), The Return of Spooky-Spokes (6 pages), Soldier Spoon (4 episodes), Footbal Madd (2 episodes by Les Barton + 1 reprint from an old COR!! weekly), Whacky (2 episodes, one in full colour), Hire A Horror (4 Reg Parlett reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Teacher’s Pet, Tricky Dicky, Jelly Baby (2 episodes), Donovan’s Dad (two episodes, one in full colour), Party ‘Spot The Changes’ puzzle, The Gasworks Gang (two new episodes by Frank McDiarmid), The Slimms (three episodes, one signed by Terry Bave), Tomboy (2 episodes), Night Mare (2 episodes by Les Barton), Gus Gags (6 pages), Jasper the Grasper (by Alf Saporito), Hugh Reka (2 episodes), Jack Pott (2 episodes), Andy’s Ants (2 episodes), “Young” MacDonald and his Farm, Snow ‘Spot the Changes’ puzzle, Tease Break puzzles, Teacher’s Pet, Val’s Vanishing Cream (signed by Terry Bave), Tricky Dicky, Fiends and Neighbours (4 pages signed by Tom Paterson).

There were two one-offs in the Annual:

The Return of Spooky-Spokes was a detective comedy strip starring an invisible poltergeist, formerly known as the fiendish Ponsonby Prenderghast, and a spook detective, formerly the world-famous detective Deadlock “Spooky” Spokes. They team up with Arnold Twinge, the friendly Neighbourhood Detective, and round up a gang of jewellery shop robbers. Here are the opening two pages:

Hugh Reka was a tale about a boy who had a knack for inventions. In the two episodes included in the Annual he experimented with his ‘grow little’ and ‘grow big’ powders. Here are both episodes from the Annual side by side:

IPC in-house artists had become quite good at cutting up old COR!! artwork, resizing panels and constructing two-pagers out of original one-pagers. Give a Dog a Bone and Hire A Horror stories have been definitely tampered with and there are a few more that may have been re-shuffled as well (The Slimms, Willy Worry, Tricky Dicky). The rest are all original pages, as far as I can tell. Here are two examples of new sets by Les Barton:

I am a bit confused as to who illustrated Jasper the Grasper and Gus Gorilla in this Annual. Was it still Alf Saporito?  The style looks somewhat different from the previous years. Here is the last page of Jasper the Grasper and one episode of Gus Gorilla side by side (I believe both were by the same artist):

Finally, here is a 4-page treat of Fiends and Neighbours drawn and signed by Tom Paterson:

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: FIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS

The appearance of Fiends and Neighbours in COR!! issue dated 24th November, 1973 (No. 182) was probably the last good thing that happened to COR!!  Alfred Jones and his wife (whose name I haven’t found mentioned in the strip), a childless mid-aged traditional couple, got new neighbours Mr. and Mrs. Really-Ghastlies and their two kids – daughter Bella and son ‘Orrid (who had tiny horns and slept hanging down from the curtain rail). Later in the series the Joneses discovered that their neighbours also had a giant baby who used to go missing for weeks on end hiding in the bushes. Mister Really-Grastly’s name was Igor and the Mrs. was never addressed by name (as far as I can tell). 

In the opening episode the nosey Mrs. Jones is eager to meet their new neighbours so she pops round and pretends she wants to borrow a cup of flour. The lady is in for a series of shocks at the peculiar looks and ways of the new neighbours as she makes their acquaintance:

First episode in COR!! issue dated 24th November, 1973 (No. 182)

The Really-Ghastlies were a strange lot indeed, without any doubt they were close relatives of the famous Adams Family in America (no direct references were made in the strip though) and they also had family in Transylvania (we know that Bella’s grandmother lived there). The chambers of their crumbling mansion were decorated with coffins, skulls and old family portraits of witches, devils and fiends. The family’s favourite pet was a monster-octopus by the name of Cyril who appeared in many episodes. Little ‘Orrid had a pet vampire bat Grockle. Other pets included meat-eating fish and a jelly-monster by the name of Fido who fed on ant eggs. Besides, the Really-Ghastlies had a baby dragon and a vulture named Vernon, not to mention a whole swarm of other small creepy creatures that inhabited the mansion and the hideous man-eating plants that grew in the garden. Over the weeks the unfortunate Joneses also got to know their neighbours’ visiting relatives such as gnome cousins from the haunted wood and the giant cousin Boris. To make things even more exciting, in the last COR!! episode ‘Orrid made himself a Frankenstein friend by the name of Clunk-Click.

The comedy of the strip was created by “cultural differences” between the neighbours who never ceased to shock and surprise each other. There is probably no need to say which family always fell victim to the ‘shocks’ part of the bizarre neighbourly relationship. The Really Ghastlies, however, were also puzzled at the ways of the Jonses who they thought were a couple of very weird neighbours...

From COR!! issue dated 8th December, 1973 (No. 184)

The feature was beautifully illustrated by Graham Allen who drew all but one of the 30 episodes in COR!! weeklies (the episode in the issue with the cover date of 18th May, 1974 (No. 207) was by another artist). During the short run of the strip the Really Ghastlies appeared on two front covers of COR!! issues dated 1st December, 1973 and 2nd March, 1974 (Nos. 183 and 196). They also led the crowd of COR!! characters on the front cover of the last issue of COR!! marching to join the lineup of BUSTER. 

The feature survived merger with BUSTER and continued there until 22nd November, 1975. Ray Moore’s BUSTER index says that the script writer was Les Lilley, so I believe it is safe to assume that the same writer also contributed scripts for the COR!! episodes. 

I saw some Fiends and Neighbours reprints in the short-lived SCREAM horror comic of the 80s.

From COR!! issue dated 11th May, 1974 (No. 206)

Here are details about appearances of Fiends and Neighbours outside of COR!! weeklies. As this is one my favourite strips and a highlight in COR!!, there is a good chance to find examples of the artwork in my blogposts dedicated to the particular Holiday Specials and Annuals.

1974 Special – 2 episodes by an artist whose name I don’t know

1975 Annual – 1 episode by an artist whose name I don’t know

1976 Annual – 1 episode by an artist whose name I don’t know

1977 Annual – 1 episode signed by Tom Paterson

1978 Annual – 1 new episode by Graham Allen

1979 Annual – 2 episodes by Les Barton (one signed) + 1 reprint

1980 Annual – 2 episodes by Les Barton

1981 Annual – 2 episodes by Les Barton

1981 Special – 1 episode by Les Barton

1982 Annual – 2 new episodes, one by Les Barton and one by an artist whose name I don’t know

1982 Special – 1 episode by Nigel Edwards

1983 Annual – 1 episode Les Barton

1983 Special – 1 new episode by an artist whose name I don’t know

1984 Annual – 1 new episode by Les Barton

1985 Annual – 1 new episode by Les Barton

1986 Annual – 1 new episode by Nigel Edwards