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…

SHIVER AND SHAKE 1975 HOLIDAY SPECIAL

The third SHIVER AND SHAKE Holiday Special came out in the Summer of 1975. It cost 25 p and boasted “80 pages of fun for Boys and Ghouls”.

Here is the account of the contents (strips that didn’t appear in Sh&Sh weeklies, annuals and other holiday specials are marked in bold): The Duke’s Spook, Frankie Stein by Bob Nixon, Grimly Feendish (6 reprints from SMASH!), Memory Game, Creepy Car (2 episodes, one looks like Tom Paterson’s work), The Hand,  Horrornation Street by Frank McDiarmid, Evil Eye (Star Guest from Whoopee!), Sweeny Toddler by Leo Baxendale, Shake (4 episodes – 3 by Terry Bave and one by by Mike Lacey), Lolly Pop (2 episodes by Sid Burgon), Scatty Bat (4 reprints from Whizzer and Chips), Wizard Prang and Demon Druid (4 reprints from SMASH!/POW! by Mike Brown), The Desert Fox (2 episodes by Terry Bave), Blunder Puss (2 episodes by Jim Crocker), Tough Nutt and Softy Centre by Norman Mansbridge, The Fixer, Tin Tramp and Tinker (2 episodes in full colour), The Webster by Terry Bave, Sports School by Jim Watson, The Ghost’s Revenge, Buy Buy Birdy by Peter Davidson, The Ghoul Getters, Oswald by Tomboy artist (Mike Atwell?), Harry’s Haunted House (Guest star from Whizzer and Chips by Les Barton), Frankie Fun, Scream Inn – 4 pages by Brian Walker, Demon Differences puzzle.

The 1975 Holiday Special didn’t follow the structure of the weeklies by pretending to be a two-comics-in-one package so strips from both the spooky Shiver and the more traditional Shake sections of the weekly appeared at random. It was the first Sh&Sh Holiday Special without an adventure ingredient, so no more remakes of Maxwell Hawke from Buster...  Like the weeklies, the magazine included star guest appearances of strips from sister publications, i.e. Evil Eye from Whoopee! (drawn by a substitute amateurish artist) and Harry’s Haunted House from Whizzer and Chips (illustrated by the strip's regular artist Les Barton).

The 1975 edition sported a nice cover by Robert Nixon – the last one that he did and signed for a Sh&Sh Holiday Special. Bob Nixon also contributed a 4-pager of Frankie Stein’s antics at the seaside but the artwork seems rushed and rather basic, which is quite strange because 1975 was the time when he was still doing brilliant detailed sets in WHOOPEE! Here is the opening page of the set from the Special:

Frankie Stein also appeared on Frankie Fun page drawn by I don’t know who: 

This is a Summer Holiday Special, so it is no surprise that holidays on the beach are the dominant theme:

The Ghost's Revenge

Lolly Pop

Tough Nutt and Softy Centre

The Webster

Creepy Car

The Duke's Spook

Lolly Pop

Sports School

One of the two Blunder Puss episodes drops out of the summer context when Puss’ guardian angels suggest this is not the right time to look for butterflies. It looks like the episode was intended for an annual and found itself in the Summer Holiday Special by mistake…

As seen from the account of the contents, the Holiday Special offered no big surprises in terms of who drew what – many sets were by their regular artists (Leo Baxendale on Sweeny Toddler, Terry Bave on the Webster and the Desert Fox, Sid Burgon on Lolly Pop, Jim Watson on Sports School, Jim Crocker on Blunder Puss and Brian Walker on Scream Inn). As usual, some strips were by second-rate ghost artists. Two interesting exceptions were the Horrornation Street by Frank McDiarmid and a Creepy Car set that I think may have been drawn by Tom Paterson. Here are two panels that look like Tom’s artwork to me:

There were three strips that weren’t familiar to readers of the weeklies or earlier editions of Shiver and Shake specials and annuals. Tin Tramp and Tinker was one of those crudely drawn page-fillers that popped up from time to time in IPC publications. For some weird reason, this one was given full-colour privileges:

Ossy was a one-pager about a gluttonous and crafty ostrich:

… and Buy Buy Birdy was another one-off about the World’s most impulsive spender Birdy, illustrated by Peter Davidson. I find the idea quite amusing:

There were two puzzles in the magazine. One was a memory game that consisted of a full-page drawing of SHIVER & SHAKE characters enjoying themselves at the fairground, 20 questions about details of the drawing inviting readers to check their memory (What was the colour of Sweeny’s outfit? How many coconuts were there in the picture?, etc.) and correct answers to the questions tucked away at the bottom of one of the pages. Here is the fairground scene of the feature: The second one was a spot-the-differences type puzzle – a weak attempt to imitate Ken Reid’s World-Wide Weirdies: Now for the highlights of the magazine: my personal favourites are the three-pager of Horrornation Street by Frank McDiarmid: … and the episode of Scream Inn – four pages of excellent artwork by Brian Walker in which Mrs. Grumble, President of the Irate Landladies’ Association, has a go at the million quid. The set really shines and stands out amongst other strips in the Holiday Special: Reprints of Grimly Feendish and Wizard Prang and Demon Druid from Odham’s Power Comics are also a nice addition to the package. Check out examples of both below. Grimly is probably by Leo Baxendale and Wizards is by Mike Brown (as confirmed by his signature in one of the panels):