1985 SHIVER & SHAKE ANNUAL

1985 SHIVER & SHAKE ANNUAL didn’t lose any more pages (the page-count is 96 as before) but the price went up by 30 p, reaching £2.25. On the positive side, the proportion of pages printed on quality paper got bigger.

CONTENTS: Sweeny Toddler (2 episodes by Tom Paterson), Blunderpuss (2 sets by Terry Bave, one in full colour), The Duke’s Spook (2 reprints), Lolly Pop (one in full colour and one in b/w), Webster (two episodes: a reprint and one possibly new, both by Terry Bave), Ghoul Getters Ltd (2 episodes by Trevor Metcalfe, one in full colour), Are You’re a Scaredy Cat (rating game with art by J. Edward Oliver), Puzzles and Posers (4 one-page instalments), Frankie Stein (2 episodes by Brian Walker: a 3-pager and a 4-pager), Shake (3 sets by Terry Bave and one in full colour by Mike Lacey (reprint)), Ghouldilocks (2 reprints, art by Stan McMurtry), Toby’s Timepiece (a 5-pager), Horrornation Street (2 sets – one by Tom Williams and one in full colour by Crocker), The Hand (2 episodes by Les Barton), Moana Lisa (2 sets by Peter Davidson), Desert Fox (2 episodes by Terry Bave), Ghost’s Revenge (2 episodes), Sports School (2 sets by Jim Watson), Grimly Feendish (2 episodes by Martin Baxendale, one in full colour), Shiver’s Ghoul School (2-pages, a text story with illustrations by Terry Bave), ‘Orrible Hole (2 episodes by Jim Crocker), Shake Your Memory puzzle (art by J. Edward Oliver), Tough Nutt and Softy Centre (reprint, art by Norman Mansbridge), The Forest Legion (4 pages), Shiver (in full colour by Terry Bave), A Haunting Experience dice game.

I find it strange they were still putting out annuals 10 years after SHIVER AND SHAKE weekly folded… The editors, however, deserve praise for not relying on reprints too much.

The book had bright colourful inside covers: a busy set with lots of elephants and ghosts (i.e. Shakes and Shivers) drawn and signed by Mitch:

… and A Haunting Experience dice game:

Let’s take a quick look at some of the features included in this Annual.  

Ghoul Getters Ltd. got rid of two ghosts – first an old lady ghost that haunted a nice gentleman’s house, and then a skeleton in a lady’s closet.

In Lolly Pop Archie asks Dad for a pocket calculator but gets a broken abacus that is good for nothing else but playing marbles; some counting beads fly over the fence, hit Lolly Pop’s central computer and drive all factory production lines mad. 

In the second episode Archie wishes he had a record player but gets an old-fashioned wind-up gramophone instead; he then tries to get some decent records at Pop’s Record Factory, with the usual outcome. Sid Burgon drew the first set and I believe Nigel Edwards is the artist responsible for the other one, check out the last page below:

In Frankie Stein Professor Cube is still trying to get rid of Frankie. He pretends he’s caught a rare disease and tells Frankie that the only cure is in the leaves of a small plant found only in the South American jungles. Manipulative Dad knows that Frankie will immediately volunteer to fetch some to cure him, and will hopefully disappear forever.  But Frankie returns much sooner than Prof. Cube hoped he would…

In the second episode Prof. Cube takes Frankie on a skiing holiday in Switzerland hoping to loose him on a bob-sleigh run, a ski-slope or during a mountain climbing trip. Not this time either…

Prof. Cube enjoys a rare and brief moment of happiness,
believing he's finally got rid of Frankie.
I love Brian Walker's clean and bold brushstrokes!

In Toby’s Timepiece Toby is on a bus, he is on his way to play football in another town. The bridge across the river is down and the sudden jolt of the stopping bus sets the time piece into operation. The boy finds himself in a Plymouth-to-London stage-coach, sharing it with a posh couple. The stage-coach is stopped by Black Jake the highway man who robs the couple and grabs Toby to shake some sense into him. The two of them have a quick journey across time until they land in the age of the dinosaurs. The macho highwayman panics and runs away, dropping the loot. One jolt of the magic watch later Toby is back at the stage-coach where he returns the valuables to the rich couple who repay him with a free ride to the destination of his choice. The stage-coach takes Toby to the town of the football game where he travels back to his own time in 1985 and joins his team.

The Forest Legion drive out a team of tree fellers and road builders from their forest. The strip got a new artist again, but I don’t know his name.

I will finish this blogpost about 1985 SHIVER AND SHAKE Annual with Grimly Feendish. Both sets were by Martin Baxendale and it is nice to see Leo Baxendale’s son take over the strip created by his Dad two decades ago. 

In the first episode Grimly’s aides kidnap Santa and Grimly goes live on TV to demand lots of money in exchange for his freedom. Unfortunately for Grimly, his silly assistants hid Santa’s sleigh in the police car park thinking that there could be no safer place for it… The cops follow the tracks in the snow, find Grimly’s hideout and set Santa free. As his punishment, Grimly has to go down millions of chimneys across the land to deliver presents on Santa's behalf.

The second episode is called Grimly Feendish’s Circus of Crime. Here it is in full:

1982 SHIVER & SHAKE ANNUAL

1982 SHIVER AND SHAKE Annual cost 1.95 pounds and was 128 pages thick.

Contents: The Ghost’s Revenge (2 sets, one probably by Trevor Metcalfe and one definitely by Jim Crocker), Webster (4 sets: two by Terry Bave, one by an unknown artist and one possibly by Frank McDiarmid), The Duke’s Spook (2 sets, one by Frank McDiarmid and one by Terry Bave), Ghouldilocks (three episodes: two by Stan McMurtry and one by Tom Williams),  Lolly Pop (5 episodes: 4 by Sid Burgon (including at least one reprint) and one by Frank McDiarmid), Chupmions (3 reprints from COR!!, art by Peter Davidson), Tough Nutt and Softy Centre (3 sets by Norman Mansbridge), Shiver (by Terry Bave), Spot the Difference (3 installments with old Shiver and Shake weekly covers by Mike Lacey), Ghoul Getters Ltd. (by Trevor Metcalfe), Sports School (probably by Trevor Metcalfe), The Desert Fox (2 sets, one by Terry Bave and one by an unknown artist), Sweeny Toddler (three episodes: 1 by Tom Paterson and 2 by Paul Ailey), Moana Lisa (three episodes: 2 by Peter Davidson and 1 by Tom Williams), Frankie Stein (3 episodes: a new 5-page set by Bob Nixon, a new 2-pager by Frank McDiarmid and a reprint an episode by Bob Nixon from an early issue of WHOOPEE!), Grimly Feendish (2 sets: a reprint and one new episode by Paul Ailey), The Hand (by Terry Bave), Toby’s Timepiece (6 pages), Witch Wit (gags), Shake (2 sets, one by Mike Lacey and one by Terry Bave), Wizard Prang and Demon Druid (new by an unknown artist), Elephant Jokes by Shake (gags by Jim Crocker), The Fixer, It’s A Shivery Puzzle for You! (1 page of puzzles by Cliff Brown) Ghost Jokes by Shiver (2 pages of gags), William the Conk (8 pages, reprint from Monster Fun Comic No. 28, art by Leo Baxendale), The Great Emerald Eye of the Great Yellow God Maze! (maze by Cliff Brown), Horrornation Street (by Tom Williams), A Ghastly Ghoulish Picture Crossword! (by Cliff Brown).

It is good to see Terry Bave illustrate Webster after a longish break. All in all, Terry Bave drew 12 pages for this Annual, including some strips that he hadn’t illustrated before (at least not in the Annuals), such as the Duke’s Spook and the Hand:

Frank McDiarmid also drew two strips that were usually given to other artists to illustrate. He contributed one set of the Duke’s Spook:

...and one set of Lolly Pop:

He is also responsible for one Frankie Stein tale in which Prof. Cube sends Frankie on a ‘package’ holiday packed in a box and loaded onto a submarine; sure enough, Frankie causes a lot of trouble Jonah-style:

The theme of sea adventures also permeates another new Frankie Stein story in this Annual, this one by Bob Nixon whose style has changed a great deal since the days of Shiver and Shake weeklies.

In Wizard Prang and Demon Druid Wizard Prang goes carol singing but Demon Druid isn’t impressed with the racket and changes Wizard Prang into a song-bird and then back into his own self, causing him to fall and hurt himself.  Wizard Prang gets his revenge by turning Demon Druid into Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. They suffer an accident on their way back to town and Wizard Prang’s magic wand snaps off, so a bit of the spell that he cast on his fellow wizard doesn’t change back, leaving Demon Druid red-nosed for now… Can anyone identify the artist for me please?

There is quite a lot of Lolly Pop in this Annual. In the first set that is definitely a reprint Archie asks Pop for a new sledge because the old tin tray that he uses has seen better days... In the second episode Archie wants to enter for a piano smashing contest with one of Dad’s old pianos. Then Archie gets a piece of a jig-saw puzzle as a Christmas present so he decides to help himself to a little toy at Pop’s factory.  In the fourth episode Pop makes Archie trim the hedge at Lolly Pop Zoo without providing him with proper tools, and finally in the fifth installment Archie asks Pop for a new cricket set, only to hear another NO. Each time Pop’s miserly treatment of his lad turns against him, costing Pop fortunes in the end. Here is one complete episode from the Annual:

In Toby’s Timepiece Toby comes to the town store to exchange his faulty water pistol. Spoilt brat Horace ridicules Toby and shows off his ‘supah dupah’ space suit that his Mater has just bought him. Toby snaps back with a witty comment and upsets Horace’s Mother who assaults him with an umbrella… As Toby races down the stairs, he accidentally activates his magic timepiece and finds himself centuries ahead of his time. In the world of the distant future the society is divided into the haves and the have-nots, or sub-standards, who are kept in a hole awaiting deportation to another planet. Toby is thrown with them and wastes no time in freeing the lot but he is captured by guards who decide to deport him without any delay. They make him put on a space suit and hurtle him into a rocket ship but Toby activates his timepiece and returns to the town store where Horace turns green with envy at the sight of the smashing space suit that Toby is wearing…

Cliff Brown contributed three horror-themed pages of puzzles, crosswords and mazes that I think are really nice. Here are two:

Speaking of puzzles, all three Spot the Difference puzzles in this Annual are in fact old cover illustrations of Shiver and Shake weeklies. Check out a pair side by side:

Badtime Bedtime Books were the highlight of Monster Fun Comic in the seventies and Leo Baxendale’s swan song in comics industry. William the Conk included in this 1982 SHIVER AND SHAKE Annual is a reprint of the BB Book No. 25 from MONSTER FUN COMIC No. 28 cover dated 20th December, 1975 where it appeared in full colour. Below are the opening pages of the reprint from the Annual and the original from MFC: