welcome and enjoy!

Hi and welcome to my blog about comics from other people’s childhood! It is dedicated primarily to British humour comics of the 60s and 70s. The reason they are not from my childhood is simply because I didn’t live in the UK back then (nor do I live there now). I knew next to nothing about them until fairly recently but since then I’ve developed a strong liking for the medium and amassed a large collection, including a number of complete or near complete sets. My intention is to use this blog as a channel for sharing my humble knowledge about different titles, favourite characters and creators as I slowly research my collection.

QUICK TIP: this blog is a sequence of posts covering one particular comic at a time. The sequence follows a certain logic, so for maximum results it is recommended that the blog is read from the oldest post up.

Copyright of all images and quotations used here is with their respective owners. Any such copyrighted material is used exclusively for educational purposes and will be removed at first notice. All other text copyright Irmantas P.



Showing posts with label Reg Parlett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reg Parlett. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

1976 SHIVER & SHAKE HOLIDAY SPECIAL



1976 SHIVER AND SHAKE Holiday Special cost 25 p. and was 64 pages thick. Here’s what was inside. Again, red marks the strips that weren’t familiar to readers of Sh&Sh weeklies, earlier annuals or holiday specials.

Freddie Fang the Werewolf Cub (5 reprints from COR!! including two in full colour); Shiver (2 episodes by Terry Bave, including one in full colour); Ghouldilocks, The Hand; Scatty Bat (4 reprints from WHIZZER AND CHIPS); Frankie Stein by Frank McDiarmid; The Ghost’s Revenge; Shake by Terry Bave (3 episodes, including two in full colour); Moana Lisa by Alf Saporito; Mirth Shakers (5 pages of gags illustrated by Mike Lacey); Wizard Prang and Demon Druid (4 reprints from SMASH!/POW!); The Desert Fox by Terry Bave; International Street by Joe Colquhoun; Sports School by Jim Watson; Webster by Terry Bave; Brain Raiders puzzles centrespread; Tough Nutt and Softy Centre by Norman Mansbridge; Fixer by Les Barton; Grimly Feendish (reprint from SMASH!); Blunder Puss by Jim Crocker (signed); Horrornation Street by Tom Williams; Which Witch is Which? by Ken Reid; Ghoul Getters Ltd. by Les Barton; Ring the Changes puzzle by Tom Williams featuring Horrornation Street; The Duke’s Spook.

Terry Bave was the biggest contributor with 9 pages of Shake, Shiver, The Desert Fox and Webster artwork. Here is a large colour panel from one of his Shake sets:


The second largest input was by Mike Lacey who drew the cover and 5 pages of Mirth Shakers gags.

A number of sets were drawn by substitute artists, such as Frank McDiarmid on Frankie Stein:


… Alf Saporito on Moana Lisa:


… and Les Barton on Fixer and Ghoul Getters Ltd.



By this time regular readers of Shiver and Shake annuals and holiday specials were well familiar with Scatty Bat and Wizard Prang and Demon Druid that were in fact reprints from older comics. In this edition the roster of reprints was supplemented with another feature - Freddie Fang the Werewolf Cub, originally from COR!! I covered the strip last year in my COR!! series, you can read the review HERE. The 5 episodes included in the 1976 Shiver and Shake holiday special were by the brilliant Reg Parlett. The original sets were in black and white but two of the reprints were coloured in. Check out an original and its coloured version side by side. This happens to be the first episode of Freddie Fang from the first issue of COR!!



As can be seen from the list of the strips above, the special had no Scream Inn that was always the feature to look for in Shiver & Shake publications but the two surprise one-offs included in the edition are more than enough to make up for the omission.

The first one is International Street from the hand of Joe Colquhoun. It may very well be a reprint but if it is, I don’t know where from and would be delighted if someone told me the source and whether it was part of a series:


And if you thought International Street was the highlight of the 1976 SHIVER AND SHAKE holiday special, think again because the magazine also included Which Witch is Which? – a two-pager by no less than Mr. Ken Reid. We’ll probably never know if this was a test episode for a series that was never followed up, or perhaps something that Mr. Reid drew for his own enjoyment and the editor though it was too good not to be printed. Either way, it is an excellent set showing the master at his very best… 


Saturday, August 3, 2013

A LOOK AT SHIVER & SHAKE STRIPS: CREEPY CAR



Advertisement in SHIVER AND SHAKE No. 70

Creepy Car was a motor ghost and the spirit of an old car that was sent to the scrapyard. Here is the first episode that tells us about its origins:


The car ghost that we know from the brief run in SHIVER AND SHAKE wasn’t one of those spooks that were fond of scaring people. It was a weak little phantom that saw no fun in being one because other cars would drive right through it so it was always in search for a quiet place where it wouldn’t be bothered. Being a ghost, it preferred to ‘park’ inside other vehicles. Needless to say, it always chose the wrong places.


Creepy Car was introduced in SHIVER AND SHAKE 71 and lasted for 9 weeks until the final issue. It was part of SHIVER. The illustrator was the excellent Reg Parlett. The strip made it to the combined new paper and enjoyed a long run in WHOOPEE!  until the first issue of 1980, first as a weekly strip, and from 1979 – as part of the Ghostly Go Round feature that was introduced as the popularity of the horror comedy genre began to fade and the weekly rotation of the once-popular strips Evil Eye, Fun Fear, Creepy Car and ‘Orrible Hole started.


Creepy Car is also the last on the list of 'proper' strips in SHIVER AND SHAKE which means that all of the paper’s features have now been accounted for in this blog! The next post will deal with the Star Guest feature and a few remaining bits and bobs, and then it I will turn to SHIVER AND SHAKE holiday specials and annuals.