MONSTER FUN COMIC SUMMER SPECIAL 1975

It’s time I got back to the mission of completing my comprehensive review of MONSTER FUN COMIC, so let’s look at the first MONSTER FUN COMIC Summer Special which came out in the summer of 1975 - the time when the early issues of the weekly went on sale, which suggests that the first issues of the weeklies and the Summer Special were put together at more or less the same time. The 80-pages magazine cost 25 p and came with an eye-catching Kid Kong cover by Bob Nixon.

Here is a summary of the contents: Tom Thumbscrew (a two-pager by Andy Christine), Cinders (a two-pager in full colour by Norman Mansbridge), The Robot Maker (5 pages of reprints from COR!! weeklies, artwork by Frank McDiarmid), Sam’s Spook (4 pages of reprints from SMASH!, artwork by Leo Baxendale), Lots O’ Laughs (2 pages of gags illustrated by Mike Lacey), Stoneage Brit Ancient Nit (4 pages of reprints from COR!!, including one episode in colour on back cover, artwork probably by Tony Goffe), Martha’s Monster Make-Up (a two-pager by Frank McDiarmid), X-Ray Specs (two episodes: a three-pager probably by Jim Watson imitating Mike Lacey, and a two-pager that appears to have been penciled by Terry Bave but inked by someone else),  Make A Date: Tarzan and the Little Bo Peep – An Imaginary Meeting of these Famous Characters (a two-pager by Trevor Metcalfe), Kid Kong (an 8-page story by Robert Nixon), Creature Teacher (a four-pager by Tom Williams), Art’s Gallery (a three pager, probably by Jim Watson), The Land That Time Forgot feature (3 pages), Cave Cackles (1 page of gags by Sid Burgon), Monster Maze on the centerspread in full colour, probably by Artie Jackson, Fred’s Fault (a two-pager by Jim Watson), Major Jump Horror Hunter (2 two-pagers by Ian Knox), Dough Nut and Rusty (a 4-pager by Trevor Metcalfe), Mummy’s Boy (a two-pager by Terry Bave, Brainy and His Monster Maker (a two-pager by I don’t know who), Frankie’s Freaky Week (2 pages of gags by Sid Burgon), Monster Mirth (one page gags feature by I don’t know who), Grizzly Bearhug… Giant (a four-pager by Andy Christine), Monster Fun-Time (2 pages of puzzles), The Earthies (a four-pager by an unknown artist), Monster Regis (one-page feature by Sid Burgon), Draculass Daughter of Dracula (a two-pager by Terry Bave in colour).

Andy Christine got 6 pages –2 of Tom Thumbscrew and 4 of Giant Grizzly… Bearhug. That's precisely 6 pages too many, IMHO.

Mike Lacey wasn’t available to draw X-Ray Specs, so Jim Watson illustrated one episode, check out these sample panels:

… and Terry Bave was asked to do the other one but it looks he only had time to submit his penciled work which was then inked by someone else, or maybe he did the set in a rush. Check out this sample page and tell me what you think:

Terry Bave drew two more features in this Summer Special – Draculass was his regular strip in MFC weeklies, while Mummy’s Boy - the second that he did for this magazine, was usually drawn by Norman Mansbridge in the weeklies.

Assuming my observation regarding Jim Watson being the artist responsible for the first set of X-Ray Specs shown above is correct, then Mr. Watson should also be credited with the artwork of Art’s Gallery:

In the case of X-Ray Specs and Art’s Gallery Jim Watson (provided it was indeed him) was under pressure to imitate Mike Lacey, but Fred’s Fault was a completely new strip, so he was free to draw it in his own style:

I like the idea of the Make a Date tale illustrated by Trevor Metcalfe which brought together two very different characters – Tarzan and Little Bo Peep, into one story. I don’t remember seeing this feature elsewhere so it was probably a one-off experiment. It’s a shame IPC editors chose not to continue with the idea because in my opinion it had good potential.

The idea of The Land That Time Forgot feature was rather clever too – it was a three-page collage of action-packed scenes from a new feature film with short bits of text, included to generate interest in the film:

Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of this Summer Special. Kid Kong is the longest story and the front cover feature. In it Granny Smith decides to take Kid Kong to the seaside. The story takes off with Kid causing havoc on the highway as he tries to find Granny’s lost pennies so she can buy their bus fares to Brightsea. They finally make it to the resort and are enjoying themselves at the fair where Kid runs into the fairground owner who used to keep him behind bars and is very keen to recapture the giant gorilla for his freak show. With Granny Smith around, this is easier said than done but the short-sighted old lady wanders off as she goes to get some ice creams. The wicked fairground owner takes the opportunity to seize Kid Kong but Kid spots Granny afloat in the sea on an inflatable mattress and breaks free to rescue her. Mayor awards him with a life saver’s badge and a cash prize for the effort.

In Creature Teacher the Massacre Street School are on their annual outing to the seaside and Creature Teacher is put in charge of the unruly class 3X who forced the locals to move away last year. Creature Teacher quickly brings the trouble-makers to heel. 3X decide to get rid of Creature Teacher first by dumping him out to sea and later by placing him under the blade in the chamber of horrors but Creature Teachers outsmarts his pupils and class 3X return from the outing “well-tanned”:

In the first episode of Major Jump Horror Hunter the brave Major and his assistant Cosmo are after the mysterious Monster Snoozlehorn. They get very disappointed when after going through a lot of trouble they find out that Monster Snoozlehorn is a musical instrument. Had they taken just a few more steps, they would have realised that their effort wasn’t in vain:

In the second episode Major Jump captures a giant worm. Major thinks it is not a very exciting monster, but still better than nothing. He probably finds the second creature whom he encounters in this episode more exciting:

In Martha’s Monster Make-Up Martha uses her magic cream on a mean participant of the Beach Beauty Queen Contest. She becomes so terrifying that another participant’s hair stands on end permanently in a “way-out new hairstyle”, making her the darling of the media, even though the scary one shocks the judges into awarding her the first prize:

My personal favourite in this first Monster Fun Comic Summer Special is this 4-pager by an artist whose name I don’t know. Any suggestions?

All Images 2014 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

A LOOK AT MONSTER FUN STRIPS: MAJOR JUMP HORROR HUNTER

Next in line is another excellent example of the comedy horror genre. In the introductory episode of Major Jump Horror Hunter in MFC No. 1 we meet Major Jump – owner of a large estate who realises that the only way he can keep it going is by opening it to the public and making it into a monster menagerie. His original idea is to catch and exhibit some big exotic animals, and in Major Jump’s vocabulary ‘monster’ means ‘big’ – at first he doesn’t even believe in real monsters. The Major owns a special flying craft that can go anywhere, now all he needs is a ‘willing lad assistant’. Enter Cosmo Crumpet – a daft bespectacled young man, and his pet Meredith – a real monster creature who looks like a big fat slug. This comes as a shock and a revelation to Major Jump – if monsters do exist, he can make it a real monster menagerie!  Meredith is hired as the keeper of the future monster zoo, while the newly-converted believer in monsters Major Jump sets off on his first monster hunt accompanied by his freshly-employed assistant Cosmo:

This looked like a nice idea for a strip but having read the second episode I was a bit disappointed: Major Jump and Cosmo got a phone call from a Scottish gent who complained there was a monster mouse lurking around his house. They rushed to Scotland and set a monster trap for the creature, only to discover the hard way it was not a giant mouse but a giant moose. The gag was OK, but I thought, oh no, are they going to screw this up by doing another version of Ghoul Getters Ltd, only with monsters instead of ghosts?!. Ghoul Getters Ltd. was a super strip that originated in SHIVER AND SHAKE and continued in the combined WHOOPEE! & SHIVER AND SHAKE, but doing another feature with ghost-/monster-busting as the main theme would be lazy, I thought. I am glad my concerns proved to be wrong. In the comming weeks Major Jump and Cosmo went on many an exciting expedition to faraway lands looking for all kinds of monsters with crazy names such as the 1003 –Eyed Monster, the Australian Elastic-Pouch Kanga-Wanga, the Blundering Backwards Galloper, the Two-Headed Bombay Pompadonkle, the Great Spotty-Nose Twittyclot, the Sneaky Wikiki-Freaki, the Great Polar Elephant Seal, the Terriblosaurus, the Nagasaki Nosher, the Fabulous Foozlum Bird, etc. The hunt involved the use of an arsenal of silly disguises and traps as well as a hypodermic syringe loaded with tranquilizer. Major Jump was usually the one who designed the wacky monster-catching schemes and the poor Cosmo had to do all the tricky work.

Although the schemes frequently misfired and landed the two monster hunters in trouble, the menagerie was soon chock-full of weird creatures. What I like about the strip is that it didn’t become repetitive by focusing on monster-hunting adventures but alternated between the expeditions and daily life at the zoo. Check out a couple of examples below. The one about benefit tourists is my favourite:

In issue 56 Major Jump and Cosmo captured the Horrendous Heeblyjeebie – the ugliest monster of them all. It was so hideous they had to keep its face covered, which prompted the announcement of a one-off participation feature offering five £1 prizes to authors of Heeblyjeebie’s best portraits. It isn’t clear who announced the competition but it looks like it was Major Jump himself. The Horrendous Heeblyjeebie was also seen in the next week’s episode (in MFC No. 57), here are both sets in sequence:

The five best portraits were printed in MFC No. 66 and the lucky winners must have been delighted to discover that for some reason their £1 prizes had been doubled:

It appears that initially the illustrator was Ian Knox, although none of the episodes were signed (as opposed to Terror TV – Ian Knox’s other strip in MFC, of which only a few episodes weren't signed). Starting from issue No. 34 another artist who I believe is Barrie Appleby took over. The one-pager ran in MFC issues 1 – 72 and missed issue Nos. 15, 25, 31, 39, 51, 52, 55, 58, 61 and 65. All sets were in black and white except for the full-colour episode on the back cover of MFC issue No. 67.

All in all, Major Jump Horror Hunter was a witty, well-written and beautifully presented strip but there are two things I find disappointing about it. Firstly – I think it deserved a proper ending (the feature did not make it to the combined BUSTER AND MONSTER FUN and disappeared without a warning after the penultimate MFC edition).  Secondly, I think it would have been great if they had shown the Horrendous Heeblyjeebie’s real face…

Come back soon for a look at the hideous Creature Teacher!