GUEST APPEARANCES AT SCREAM INN - WIZARDS ANONYMOUS

The very first time when characters from another strip showed up at Scream Inn was in Shiver and Shake issue No. 37 (17th November, 1973). That week the guests were Treacle and Brimstone from the excellent albeit short-lived Wizards Anonymous feature from the “Shake” section of the paper. I covered the strip in detail HERE, and even showed both pages of the episode, but I want this to be a complete series so I will show them again. 

The first guest appearance was quite disastrous for Innkeeper and Co. because the potty sorcerers outsmarted the hosts and walked home with one million pounds. This, however, wasn’t the end for Innkeeper who made his own guest appearance in the pages of Wizards Anonymous in the very same issue, outfoxed Treacle and Brimstone and got his dough back. Here’s the complete story from Shiver and Shake issue No. 37 (17th November, 1973), drawn by Brian Walker, written (I suppose) by the usual writer, Brian Walker’s neighbour and mate Cliff Brown. Excellent stuff!

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS AT SCREAM INN - PART ONE

At about this time each year I do a retrospective of Xmas episodes of my favourite characters in UK comics.  I have covered Buster, Faceache and Frankie Stein so far; you are welcome to revisit the posts by clicking on the “Christmas issues” tag in the labels column on the right.

In keeping with the fine tradition of this blog, this time I decided on Scream Inn by the excellent Brian Walker. In an unlikely event if you aren’t familiar with this brilliant feature, I covered it in detail in my SHIVER AND SHAKE series a couple of years ago. Click HERE to access the post.

Here is the first festive episode from the only X-mas number of Shiver and Shake weekly (Dec. 29th, 1973, No. 43):

In 1973 Shiver and Shake also surprised fans with a Christmas Holiday Special. Summer Specials were a norm back then but a X-mas Holiday Special was something out of the ordinary. It included this nice 4-pager of Scream Inn:

There was also a 4-page episode in SHIVER AND SHAKE  Annual 1974 that came out for the X-mas of 1973:

Part two of X-mas celebrations at Scream Inn will be up soon…

All Images 2015 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

THE CHRISTMASES OF FRANKIE STEIN - PART TWO

Frankie Stein had quite a long life period for a comics character; weekly strips began in the 4th issue of WHAM! in the summer of 1964 and ended in the last issue of WHOOPEE! in March 1985. That’s almost 21 years, minus the period when he disappeared from the pages of WHAM! in 1967 and was reintroduced in SHIVER AND SHAKE in 1973. For me, the “lifetime” of the friendly monster clearly falls into three periods, each defined by distinctively different quality of the stories and especially the artwork. X-mas episodes are as good an example as any to illustrate this.

The first period is of course the original run in WHAM!  (1964 – 1967) by the unsurpassed Ken Reid. Go to Part One of Frankie Stein Christmases for all four Christmas episodes of that period.

The second period is different but equally good. In 1973 the illustrator’s duties were given to Robert Nixon who remained the main artist of the strip until the very end in 1985. The period lasted from March 1973 (the first issue of SHIVER AND SHAKE) till approximately the end of 1978 and coincided with the time when Mr. Nixon spent more time on his pages and drew first rate detailed sets (increasingly less so towards the end of the period).

In the late seventies and at the turn of the decade Frankie Stein and Prof. Cube mutated into cuddly Smurf-like figures and continued like that throughout the remaining part of the eighties. This third period is my least favourite of the three.

Let’s take a look at Frankie’s Christmases of the second period that was also the time when Mr. Nixon drew some memorable front covers of X-mas editions featuring Frankie Stein:

1973 (SHIVER AND SHAKE):

By the X-mas of 1974 SHIVER AND SHAKE merged into WHOOPEE! By unfortunate coincidence, very soon the new title suffered from what is sometimes referred to as production difficulties and sometimes - as industrial action, and missed three weeks in the end of December 1974 / the beginning of January 1975. Hence no 1974 X-mas number. I have absolutely no doubt it would have been a really excellent one because WHOOPEE! was a first-rate packege in its early years.

1975:

1975 was the year when Frankie also appeared on the cover of the X-mas edition of Monster Fun Comic:

I’ve shown it before, but the gallery of Frankie Stein’s Christmases would be incomplete without this marvellous cover of SHIVER AND SHAKE 1976 Annual. In his interview for GOLDEN FUN (Winter 1981) the artist tells that it took him about a day and a half to draw the cover, which was "a fair amount of time". He used air-brush and it was done from a broad idea sent to him by Bob Paynter.

1976:

1977: