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:

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: JASPER THE GRASPER

The original Jasper The Grasper was drawn by Ken Reid and appeared in WHAM! where it occupied  two pages and had a very short run in issues 42-47 (3rd April, 1965 – 8th May, 1965). It’s hard to tell why a brilliant feature like that was dropped so quickly but my guess would be that the artist had enough work as it were drawing weekly installments of Frankie Stein. The whole original Ken Reid series was reprinted in the first COR!! annual (1972) and served as a nice introduction to the sequel in COR!! that premiered in the first issue of 1972 dated January 1st (No. 83 ). 

The opening episode of the reprint of the original series in COR!! 1972 annual

The setting was different to that of all the other COR!! strips and offered a look at Cortown as it was in the Victorian times. The first episode tells us that many many years ago there lived a man of means who was a meanie of a man. His name was J.McGrab but those who knew him called him Jasper the Grasper. The new version of Jasper was similar to the WHAM! original: the looks and habits of the tight-fisted old skinflint remained unchanged and his talent to hear the “jingle” of a fallen coin from far away was as strong as ever. Jasper was obsessed with saving and hoarding and he wouldn’t spend a penny unless he absolutely had to. Jasper never got tired of devising new and crafty money saving ideas and putting them into practice with predictably unsatisfactory results. 

Occasionally he got himself a companion: nephew Silas came to stay with Jasper starting from 20th May, 1972 (issue No. 103) but said his good-byes 10 weeks later.  In the issue dated 7th July, 1973 (No. 162) a gypsy who was retiring because his rich uncle had left him a fortune gave Jasper his monkey as a present. For a short while Jasper acquired a new partner that caused him a lot of trouble but also inspired some fresh money-making ideas.

From COR!! issue dated 17th June, 1972 (No. 107), featuring nephew Silas

Toonhound.com has an excellent profile of Jasper the Grasper with lots of trivia here. When you read it, please, be aware that it has one major error: none of the episodes in COR!! weeklies were drawn by Ken Reid, nor there were any Ken Reid reprints in the weeklies. Trevor Metcalfe who was the artist of the second series in COR!! was in charge of the feature from the very start until the last installment in the penultimate issue of COR!! with the cover date of 8th June, 1974 (No. 210), signed by the artist.

From COR!! issue dated 10th November, 1973 (No. 180)

  

Jasper the Grasper started off as a one-pager and was promoted to 1 ½ pages from the issue dated 30th December, 1972 (No. 135). It made four front cover appearances in COR!! issues dated 21st July 1973, 15th September 1973, 12th January 1974 and 4th May 1974 (issue Nos. 164, 173, 189 and 205).

From COR!! issue dated 23rd March, 1974 (No. 199)

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

 

1972 COR!! Comic Annual – reprint of the full original Ken Reid series from Wham!

1972 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1973 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1973 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1974 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1974 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

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

1976 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episodes, one by Trevor Metcalfe and one by Alf Saporito

1977 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Alf Saporito

1978 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 new episode in full colour by an artist whose name I don’t know

1978 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 new episode in b/w by Les Barton

1979 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Les Barton + 1 episode by John Geering

1980 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episodes John Geering

1981 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe + one new episode by John Geering

1981 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 reprint

1982 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Frank McDiarmid + one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1982 COR!! Holiday Special – 3 reprints + a new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1983 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1983 COR!! Holiday Special – a new episode by Les Barton,

1984 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode by Les Barton

1985 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode by Les Barton

1986 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode signed by Francis Boyle