A LOOK AT SHIVER AND SHAKE STRIPS: WEBSTER

Webster was a little black spider who would spin his extra-strong web in all the wrong places and take the consequences. His web was so strong that it made objects bounce right off it. In combination with the weird places that the spider chose for his web, the bouncing trick was the source of comedy in most weekly instalments. Although occasionally he got upset and wrought vengeance upon those who disturbed him, Webster was usually an agreeable and friendly creature, willing to use his super-strong web to help others out or punish crooks and bullies. 

The list of the places Webster considered peaceful enough for him to spin his web and have a rest included a set of church bells, a cannon, a chimney, a swimming pool trampoline, a tennis racket, and all kinds of other inappropriate objects and locations; besides, he had particular fondness for musical instruments. 

Illustrated by Terry Bave, the b/w feature was launched in SHIVER AND SHAKE No. 1 and continued until the last issue, missing three numbers towards the end of the run (Nos. 74, 76 and 78). It had a permanent slot on page 5 of the paper and was part of SHIVER section but was suddenly transferred to SHAKE starting from issue 44 (cover dated 5th January, 1974 - the first issue with the page count reduced from 36 to 32). Perhaps it was not ‘scary’ enough for SHIVER, or maybe space became scarce in the section after it lost 4 pages.

 

Webster survived merger with Whoopee! and appeared there occasionally until 1976.

COR!! BOOKS OF GAGS

COR!! Books of Gags 1976 and 1977 were published as soft-cover annuals. Both volumes had bright colour covers and black and white interior pages, 128 of them each, printed on rough pulp paper. The 1976 edition cost 75 p. A year later the second edition cost 85 p

The content was a mixture of cartoons, teasers, puzzles and jokes. Cartoons occupied most of the space. I am not sure as to what age group(s) the books were targeted at: although part of the content was children-oriented, the vast majority of cartoons wouldn’t have looked out of place in a regular humour publication for grown-ups. There is barely any connection to the comic and the reasons for using COR!! logo and Gus’ face on the covers are a mystery to me.

 

It is interesting to note that nearly all cartoons were signed by artists – Whittock, Stewart, Mortimer, Leon, Rali, Cav, Chic, Baxter, Ken Pyne, David Downe, Brian Platt and others. Most of the names or pseudonyms say nothing to me, but three contributors were well-familiar to readers of COR!! publications. I am referring to Crocker, Terry Bave and Sid Burgon.

From the first part of Terry Bave’s auto-biography published in the Winter 1985 edition of GOLDEN FUN fanzine we know that he did quite a lot of cartooning before taking up a career in comics. Judging from the drawing style and the signature, some of Mr. Bave’s cartoons in COR!! Books of Gags (especially in the first one) may very well be from his pre-comics cartooning days. Here are some examples to illustrate my point:

Terry Bave signed the gags with his real name but Sid Burgon used the pen-name SWAB. My impression is that SWAB was the biggest contributor in both books. Sid Burgon’s cartooning style was different from the one he used in comics, but it is still recognisable if you take a good look. Here are some examples:

 

Crocker was the second biggest contributor after SWAB. Same as Burgon’s, Crocker’s cartooning style was different from his comics work. I doubt I’d be able to identify him as the artist if the cartoons weren’t signed:

 

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This is officially my last blogpost on COR!!

I have now also updated my earlier posts dedicated to The Gasworks Gang, Jasper the Grasper and Fiends and Neighbours by adding details about appearances of the strips outside of COR!! weeklies.

ARTIST SELF-PORTRAITS (PART 3)

In 1990 and 1991 Buster ran a Meet the ArtistS series where the then Buster artists drew themselves and provided some details about their lives and artistic careers. To the best of my knowledge, the series covered a total of twelve artists, here are the first four. Others will follow soon:

1979 COR!! HOLIDAY SPECIAL

1979 COR!! Holiday Special, 40 p., 64 pages.  

The contents were: Gus Gorilla (2 new episodes and one reprint in full colour, all by Alf Saproto), Hire a Horror (5 reprints, one in full colour), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (4 reprints, one in full colour, and 1 original episode), Puddin’ Tops (2 episodes,), Tricky Dicky, Whacky (4 reprints, one in full colour), Seaside Crossword, Benny Bendo, Patch-Eye Hooker (2 episodes), Nightmare (by Les Barton), The Gasworks Gang (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies, one in full colour), Beezz Neezz (2 episodes), Tease Break (2 instalments, one in full colour); Football Madd (1 reprint and 1 new episode by Les Barton), Tomboy, Andy’s Ants (signed by Terry Bave), Blackpool in Space (signed by Alan Hodge), Jelly Baby, Donovan’s Dad (signed by Terry Bave), Chalky, Teacher’s Pet, Willy Worry (signed by Terry Bave), 

There were three one-offs in the this Holiday Special:

Puddin’ Tops stories were reprints of a strip illustrated by Terry Bave that appeared in the early issues of Whizzer and Chips.

Beezz Neezz was a tale about a bee that suffered from a bad case of hay fever and couldn’t go near pollen.

Blackpool in Space (illustrated and signed by Alan Hodge) was a ‘SF’ tale about a holiday resort of the future and a conflict of two rock manufacturers over secrets of making bars of rock. Here are all 4 pages of the story: