A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: NIGHT MARE

Night Mare told the adventures of an over-energetic ghost horse who was always looking for action. The kind-hearted mare took every opportunity to help out her suffering living fellow horses by taking their place.

Night Mare started in COR!! issue dated 6th October, 1973 (No. 175) and continued without a break for 37 weeks until the last issue dated 15th June, 1974 (No. 211). The character made two front page appearances, one on 19th January, 1974 (No. 190) and then in the penultimate COR!! issue with the cover date of 8th June, 1974 (No. 210). Night Mare was the last of Reg Parlett’s many contributions in COR!! Later in the run illustrator’s duties were handed over to Arthur Martin.

From COR!! issue dated 3rd November, 1973 (No. 179)

From COR!! issue dated 26th January, 1974 (No. 191)

From COR!! issue dated 16th February, 1974 (No. 194)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: WONDER WORM

Wonder Worm was the last of reprints in COR!! The original series appeared in BUSTER in 1966-1968 where it lasted 129 weeks. Wonder Worm was a strong little fella who could “wiggle his way out of anything”. At one point he took a “Through-the-World” holiday when every week he burrowed underground and made random surfacings without knowing where he will pop up – Wild West, Mexico (where he performed in a bull-ring), Tibet (where he defeated the abominable snowman), southern USA, Venice Italy, China, Arabian desert, Swiss Alps, a beach in the West Indies, a football pitch, etc.

Here is the first episode from COR!! issue dated 18th November, 1972 (No. 129) in which Wonder Worm discovers his strength. This was also the first episode of the original series in BUSTER dated 12th February 1966:

The feature was illustrated by no less than two different artists, the name of the main one is unknown to me, while later in the run illustrator’s duties were given to the prolific Reg Parlett. Both the original BUSTER series and the COR!! reprints were in black and white but in COR!! a number of the episodes towards the end of the run were in full colour, including the three-part serial by Reg Parlett shown below in which Wonder Worm searches for the missing ravens from the Tower of London.

Wonder Worm reprints in COR!! began on 18th November, 1972 (issue No. 129) and appeared weekly (with a few exceptions) until the very last issue with the cover date of 15th June, 1974 (No. 211). All episodes were one-pagers except the one on 10th March, 1973 (No. 145) where the strip was given two pages. Wonder Worm made three front cover appearances in the issues dated 9th June 1973, 15th September 1973 and 16th February 1974 (Nos. 158, 172 and 194). 

A little serial in COR!! issues dated 18th May 1974, 25th May 1974
and 15th June 1974 (Nos. 207, 208 and 211)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: WELL, WHAT DO YOU KNOW???

Well, What do you Know??? Every installment of the funny facts feature consisted of a number of panels, each made up of two parts – there was a serious fact on the left hand side and its humorous interpretation on the right. It started in COR!! with the cover date of 5th August, 1972 (No. 114) and appeared irregularly until 15th September, 1973 (No. 172). 

From COR!! issue dated 12th August, 1972 (No. 115)

From COR!! issue dated 28th October, 1972 (No. 126)

I may be wrong but irregular appearances, varying size (sometimes a half-pager and sometimes a full one-pager) as well as something about the general “feel” suggests it may have been a reprint from an older comic. As for the artist, I am tempted to say it was Reg Parlett but after the confusion with the authorship of the Shiver and Shake strip covered in my previous post I am not so sure :) Besides, the name of the feature is not mentioned in the account of Reg Parlett’s work in the Winter 1979 issue of the Golden Fun fanzine – another argument in favour that it was by a different artist, unless the feature had originally appeared under a different name. 

I've seen reprints of the feature in a KRAZY annual. 

From COR!! issue dated 30th December, 1972 (No. 135)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: HELPFUL HETTIE

Helpful Hettie was a little girl who was always eager to lend a helping hand with predictably disastrous results. The feature originated in the pages of the short-lived GIGGLE comic in the late 60s where it had a short run in the early issues and was illustrated by Reg Parlett. The first few episodes in COR!! were also by the prolific Reg Parlett so they may very well be reprints from GIGGLE but I can’t be certain because I don’t have a full set of GIGGLE to check. Later in the series Helpful Hettie was taken over by other artists and was definitely new material. It started in COR!! on 1st January, 1972 (issue No. 83) as a half-pager, was promoted to a full page from the issue dated 5th August, 1972 (issue No. 114) and appeared quite regularly until 30th December, 1972 (No. 135).

From COR!! issue dated 8th January, 1972 (No. 84)

From COR!! issue dated 23rd December, 1972 (No. 134). It was the only episode in full colour

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: SPORTING SUE AND HER TRAINER PRUE

Sporting Sue and her Trainer Prue was a strip about an aspiring athlete Sue who was coached by Prue, her unfortunate trainer. The half-pager was a reprint of the Reg Parlett feature from the early years of Buster (1962 – 1963). A total of 14 episodes were reprinted in COR!! from 21st November, 1970 until 8th May, 1971 (issue Nos. 25 – 49). 

From COR!! issue dated 21st November, 1970 (No. 25)

From COR!! issue dated 23rd January, 1971 (No. 34)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: FREDDIE FANG THE WEREWOLF CUB

Freddie Fang the Werewolf Cub - he does a bad deed every day. Another nice series in COR!! from the hand of IPC’s prolific artist Reg Parlett. Obeying the orders of his evil Werewolf Scoutmaster, Freddie Fang has to play foul and do a bad deed every day but always fails because his attempts keep resulting in good deeds or backfiring on himself or the Scoutmaster. Later in the run Freddie Fang became a willing accomplice and perpetrator of bad deeds, very eager to earn his bad conduct badge. 

Both Freddie's parents were normal human beings, nothing was said about when and how he became a werewolf and there was no apparent reason why the editors wanted him to be one. The only explanation I can think of is that it was because of the Scoutmaster: it would have been strange for a normal scoutmaster to act as the instigator of Freddie’s evil deeds. He had to be made something sinister so IPC scriptwriters decided to portray both main characters as werewolves.

The series ran for 112 weeks from the first issue until 22nd July, 1972 (No. 112).

From COR!! issue dated 29th August, 1970 (No. 13)

From COR!! issue dated 28th November, 1970  (No. 26)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: IVOR LOTT AND TONY BROKE

Judging by the length of the run, Ivor Lott and Tony Broke was easily the most successful strip that originated in COR!! Not only did it survive COR’s!! merger with BUSTER but also continued there for many years to come and spawned a bunch of imitators in other IPC comics.

Early episodes from COR!! issues dated 2nd June, 1970
and 21st November, 1970 ( Nos. 2 and 25)

The series exploited the simple theme of class warfare between the haves and the have-nots, the former represented by Ivor Lott and the latter by Tony Broke. An offspring of wealthy parents, Ivor Lott was a spoilt brat who lived in luxury, treated his butler and servants like a slave driver and looked down upon other kids, Tony Broke in particular. Tony was a poor kid, often referred to as Riff Raff by Ivor. Mean rotter that he was, Ivor Lott usually came off worst in the end. His megalomanic ways often resulted in destruction of his Father’s property – mansion (Lott Hall), car, helicopter, plane, motorboat, etc. The punishment at the hands of Pater Lott was merciless and Ivor often got whacked in every imaginable way. A good deal of whacking also came from Ivor’s teacher. Together with Whacky and Patsy (of The Teacher’s Pet), he was one of the characters who suffered the most in COR!! – and deserved every single moment of it. Speaking of Pater Lott, he often sympathised with Tony who sometimes malevolently lent a hand in Ivor’s punishment.

From COR!! issue dated 24 April, 1971 (No. 47)

The original illustrator was Reg Parlett. The feature (as well as Reg Parlett’s other work for COR!! and other comics in the end of the 60s onward) was a product of his adapting to the modern style of the 70s. In his interview for the Winter 1979 edition of GOLDEN FUN Reg Parlett said he had no trouble adapting, it had happened fairly naturally over a period of time.  The big change for him was that he no longer did his own lettering which he wasn’t particularly keen on. He also said he had probably been doing more actual artwork in the 1970s then he had ever before: in the old days he did everything himself – script, art, lettering, everything. In the 70s he was given scripts by IPC and had more time to devote purely to drawing then.

From COR!! dated 14th August, 1971 (No. 63).
At the time of writing page one of the episode is available
on eBay at the Buy-it-Now price of £39.99

Ivor Lott and Tony Broke started off as a one-pager in the premiere issue of COR!!  In response to a very positive reader feedback, a few months into the run of COR!! the Editor began dropping hints about his intentions to promote the feature to two full pages. Starting from 20th March, 1971 (No. 42) he made good on his promises and the strip was given 1 ½ pages, then two full pages starting from 25th December, 1971 (No.  82). A further promotion took effect from the issue dated 22nd April, 1972 (No. 99) when the strip was moved to the centre pages and became a three-colour affair. Robert Nixon began drawing the odd weekly episode at about then.  Starting from 30th December, 1972 (No. 135) Reg Parlett handed over his illustrator’s duties permanently to Bob Nixon who remained in charge of the strip until COR!! folded (and for some time after merger with Buster). Terry Bave and Mike Lacey also contributed the odd episode in COR!!

From COR!! dated 1st April, 1972 (No. 96), still illustrated by Reg Parlett

Ivor Lott and Tony Broke made three front page appearances in full colour in COR!! issues dated 5th May 1973, 2nd June 1973 and 11th August 1973 (Nos. 153, 157 and 167). In his book The Comic Art of Reg Parlett Alan Clark writes that the characters were so popular that at the time of writing the book in the 80s there had been talk of a Christmas Annual devoted exclusively to Ivor and Tony. Apparently, this didn’t go beyond talk but the two favourite characters were cover stars in every single COR!! Annual from 1977 until 1986 and COR!! Holiday/Summer Special from 1976 until 1983.

An episode by Robert Nixon from
COR!! issue dated 14th July, 1973 (No. 163)

From COR!! issue dated 20th October, 1973  (No. 177)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: HIRE A HORROR

Hire a Horror was another long-running strip that continued throughout the entire run of COR!! Late 60s and early 70s saw the rise of comedy horror genre in British comics and Hire a Horror is a perfect example. The weekly one-pager was named after an agency that hired out all sorts of monsters to all kinds of clients who wanted them for various personal reasons. Customers’ schemes frequently backfired. The horrors occasionally fell victim to their own terror plots when things didn’t go as planned. Except for its services, the agency was a normal company in every respect: it had an office with a sign, a casual daily routine, a miserly boss and a gorgeous receptionist, a pool of secretaries, a cashier and a team of workers who sometimes grumbled about pay. The strip survived until the demise of COR!! and would have probably made it to the combined BUSTER AND COR!! but due to the similarity of the theme the editors had to choose between Hire a Horror and Rent A Ghost (an old-timer in BUSTER) and their decision was in favour of the latter.

Reg Parlett was the regular artist who worked on the strip until the issue of 8th April, 1972 (issue No. 97). All of his sets were in black and white. Starting from the issue dated 15th April, 1972 (No. 98) Reg Parlett was permanently replaced by Robert Nixon and Hire a Horror became a full-colour feature (with the odd b/w episode). In his interview in the Winter 1981 edition of GOLDEN FUN Robert Nixon recalls that Hire a Horror was his first IPC work after he quit DC Thomson and began to work for IPC exclusively. The first episode of the strip by Bob Nixon (in b/w) was in COR!! 29th January, 1972 (No. 87).

It’s interesting to note that as the comedy horror genre grew more popular, a number of ideas used in weekly Hire a Horror episodes were later developed into regular features for other IPC comics. Hideous Hole that appeared in COR!! issue of 17th October, 1970 (No. 20) later became ‘Orrible Hole in Whoopee! and Monster Hhand from COR!! dated 27th November, 1971 (No. 78) was developed into The Hand in Shiver and Shake. An attentive COR!! reader wrote in to tell the Editor that at the beginning of the tale the hand was a left hand, while in all other frames in was a right (I took the trouble to check and found out that it was actually the other way round – first right, then left…).

More trivia stuff: two horrors later appeared as Creepy Creations in Shiver and Shake. The one from COR!! issue of 11th July 1970 (No. 6) reappeared as The Chip Chomping Tater Terror of Tring (Creepy Creation No. 2) in Shiver and Shake dated 17th March, 1973 and Igor from COR!! issue of 7th August, 1971 (No. 62) re-emerged as The Cowley Cowdog (Creepy Creation No. 9) in Shiver and Shake dated 5th May, 1973.  

Hire a Horror made three front cover appearances in COR!! issues dated 21st April 1973, 25th August 1973 and 22nd December 1973 (Nos. 151, 169 and 186). Terry Bave, another IPC great, contributed three episodes towards the end of the run (issues 9th March 1974, 16th March 1974 and 23rd March, 1974 (Nos. 197, 198, 199)). Robert Nixon signed his Hire a Horror set in the issue dated 1st June, 1974 (No. 209) - it was one of the very few signed pages in COR!!

As I was preparing to start this blog, I accidentally bumped into a piece of Reg Parlett’s original Hire a Horror artwork on eBay and couldn’t resist bidding on it. In his interview for the Winter 1979 edition of Golden Fun Reg Parlett told Alan Clark that his favourite materials were half and half – a heavy fashion board. He said he preferred this kind of board for two reasons – the first being that it was easier to work on and allowed a lot of errors to be corrected easily, and secondly because it was easier for packing when he sent work to IPC. The two photos below show the artwork beside the printed page in the paper (the original is 4 times the size of the comic) and the back of one of the halves with the issue number and date marked. Note the hand-written text and corrections of the caption. I have also scanned a couple of frames so that you can appreciate the linework close-up. Marvellous!