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 Whizzer and Chips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whizzer and Chips. Show all posts

Saturday, December 31, 2016

THE CHRISTMASES OF SWEENY TODDLER – PART FIVE



A little bit behind schedule, here are the first X-mas episodes of Sweeny Toddler in Whizzer and Chips after it absorbed Whoopee!  

Happy New Year everybody, hope to see you in 2017!

 

 


Tuesday, August 16, 2016

GHOUL GETTERS LTD. TURN GHOST GETTERS



It’s time I took a break from the alternating routine of SPARKY/The Moonsters and Scream Inn  and did something else I enjoy in my quest of researching British comics. 

The theme of this post was suggested by Stephen Archer – a long-time friend of this blog. When commenting on my 2013 article about Ghoul Getters Ltd. (a SHIVER & SHAKE strip that made a jump to WHOOPEE! AND SHIVER & SHAKE when the two papers were merged in 1974) he mentioned reprints in 1984/1985 WHIZZER AND CHIPS with nice alterations to original artwork. 

It’s not often that you find those done nicely, so when Stephen mentioned them to me for the first time, I suspected they might be new material by Trevor Metcalfe (whom I’m also proud to have in my followers list). I only have two issues of WHIZZER AND CHIPS with the reprints (Stephen thinks they ran from 24/11/84 till 23/3/85) but having pulled out my WHOOPEE! collection, I soon found that Stephen was right and they were indeed reprinted from the WHOOPEE! run.



My original article mentions similarities between Ghoul Getters Ltd. (1974) and the American supernatural film Ghostbusters (1984). When the film was released and became a blockbuster in 1984, it was only natural for IPC to revive Ghoul Getters Ltd., renamed as Ghost Getters, in one of their comics. IPC also made sure the heroes were more ‘Ghostbuster-like’, hence alterations and additions (Dad wears a crash helmet and Arnold’s cap has an aerial, etc.). Check out two samples of the two versions below. What do you think of the alterations?



Monday, December 9, 2013

ARTIST SELF-POTRAITS (Part 10)



Next up are two strips with self-portraits of Sid Burgon – one from WHIZZER AND CHIPS cover-dated 24th October, 1981, and one from THE DANDY No. 2550 cover-dated 6th October, 1990. The first example is very unusual for UK children’s humour comics because it credits the artist and the writer, American-style.


This set of Double Trouble from BUSTER dated 3rd November, 1990 includes a self-portrait of the most effective family duo in British comics – Terry and Sheila Bave:



As a matter of fact, this episode of Double Trouble is the first in a long sequence that lasted until approximately the middle of 1991 in which Terry Bave discretely included his self-portraits, sometimes together with his wife Sheila. Thanks to George Shiers for the tip! Here are some examples:



P.S. Here is a more recent image of the Baves. It is from Winker Watson strip in The Dandy of 2001. Thanks, THB, for the tip and the link!