Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? was a violent strip in the vein of some of those old Looney Tunes animated cartoons. Big
Bad Wolf forever tried to get Granny but she always beat him down in all kinds
of violent ways. In the opening episode she unleashed a herd of bulls on the
poor Wolf and they trampled him to pulp. Every week the hungry Wolf would drool
over his fantasies of how he will feast on Granny. His two regular props included
a copy of Granny Cook Book and a bag of disguises. He used a different disguise every week in
hope to delude the crafty Granny and persuade her to open the door of her
cottage for him. The Wolf’s weekly disguises and excuses prompted to the old lady
the ways of dealing with him, e.g. if he pretended to be a Council Rat Catcher,
she politely declined his services by saying she’d already got a cat in the
house and unleashed a lion who crushed the plotter. Or if he disguised himself
as a plumber who wants to have a look in her tank, the Granny rolled out a tank
that bashed the Wolf with its gun. The Wolf always looked very menacing and
aggressive in the beginning of the episode but inevitably ended up in miserable
condition.
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| From COR!! issue dated 16th June, 1973 (No. 159) |
Here is the list of the Wolf’s disguises and Granny’s violent responses
over the weeks: door to door salesman – twister; TV rental man – Tube
(underground train); interviewer from radio bore – huge rolling rock; the
gasman – electrical discharge; fly spray salesman – giant spider; furniture
salesman – Knights of the Round Table; salesman offering light romantic novels
– heavy oversized books; greengrocer – a few cannon shells; ladies’ hairdresser
– a swarm of bees; keep fit instructor –
a caravan of cartwheels; all-round sportsman who brings tickets to ten-pin
bowling – draught; film director – stage coach; St. Louis Joe, the riverboat
gambler – monster-size crocodile; ladies outfitter – kangaroo; Famous French
chef – banging cannons; local MP – air balloon; Joke book salesman – a pack of
howlers; Beevon with lots of lovely make-up for the mature lady – handgun with
a lot of powder.
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| From COR!! issue dated 7th July, 1973 (No. 162) |
The artist’s name is unknown to me. The strip ran for 24 weeks
from 21st April, 1973 until 29th September, 1973 (Nos. 151 – 174) and made one front cover
appearance in full colour in COR!! issue dated 12th May, 1973 (No. 154).
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| From COR!! issue dated 4th August, 1973 (No. 166) |
