SPORTS THEME IN BRITISH COMICS TO CELEBRATE LONDON OLYMPICS 2012

Having enjoyed doing the series of football posts during the recent EURO 2012 (all 24 entries can be viewed by clicking here), I now intend to run another one to celebrate London Olympics.

Sports theme was of course a very prominent one in British comics over the years and my intention is to find and show illustrations for every single modern Olympic sport. I’m not sure if this is a feasible mission but I will give it a try anyway :) Failing that, there are lots of interesting sports-related strips by many of my favourite artists to show and enjoy until the end of the Games on August 12th.

The series will run concurrently with my COR!! posts of which there are only a few left…

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: WILLY WORRY

Willy Worry was a strip about a kid who always worried himself sick over nothing. Willy worried about all kinds of things and when he became worried about something, he’d start daydreaming and imagining the consequences of the idea or phrase that got him worried. In the opening episode Mum tells Dad (whose name is Bert) to tidy up the garden because if it carries growing wild, it’ll be like living in a jungle. The words trigger Willy’s worries and he imagines his family living in a jungle.

Willy’s worries began in COR!! issue dated 6th October, 1973 (No. 175) and continued regularly until the very last issue. After COR!! folded, Willy Worry found a new home in the pages of Whoopee! where the strip continued for as long as until the middle of 1978. Quite a large number of weekly episodes in COR!! were in full colour, besides Willy made one front cover appearance in the issue dated 28th January, 1974 (No. 191). The illustrator was David Jenner.

From COR!! issue dated 18th May, 1974 (No. 207)

From COR!! issue dated 25th May, 1974 (No. 208)

A LOOK AT COR STRIPS: VAL'S VANISHING CREAM

Val's Vanishing Cream joined the lineup of COR!! strips thanks to the readers’ vote in the COR-medy choice competition (first series). The pilot episode in which Val found a jar of vanishing cream in the bag of old cosmetics that her Mom asked her to pop in the bin appeared in COR!! issue dated 12th May, 1973  (No. 154). It started as a regular feature in COR!! issue with the cover date of 1st September, 1973 (No. 170) that also reprinted the pilot episode (in mini-format). Val used the vanishing cream to make things and people invisible. Illustrated by Mike Lacey, the strip ran regularly until the last issue of COR!! dated 15th June, 1974 (No. 211) and survived merger with BUSTER where it continued until the end of October, 1976. It made three front cover appearances in COR!! issues dated 1st September 1973, 23rd February 1974 and 27th April, 1974 (Nos. 170, 195 and 204). 

From COR!! issue dated 8th September, 1973 (No. 171)

From COR!! issue dated 22nd December, 1973 (No. 186)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: MY FAVOURITE ENTRIES IN THE COR-MEDY CHOICE FEATURE

In response to Peter’s request, below are full versions of my personal favourite entries in the first series of COR-medy Choice competition. 

As I have written in my reply to Peter's comment, had I had an opportunity to cast my vote, I would have been in the minority: I’d have been interested to see more of Sheik Oleg. I find the absurdity of this first episode quite amusing and wonder what would have followed. IMHO, Professor Potty, Fun-Time Machine and Snappy Sam were quite robust ideas with development potential. 

Of course, this is all from my current perspective as an adult; kids probably saw things differently. Seeing that Val’s Vanishing Cream and The Pipes of Stan got the majority of the votes, I find it a bit surprising how children wanted to see more of “kids-with-gimmicks” – type strips, despite having so many of them already in the pages of COR!! as well as other companion and rival comics.

A LOOK AT COR! STRIPS: COR-MEDY CHOICE, FIRST SERIES

COR-Medy Choice feature was introduced in the issue dated 21st April, 1973 (No. 151) to give readers an opportunity of selecting a new fun-series from ten brand new comedy ideas presented over a period of ten weeks. Here is how the idea was packaged in the header and the footer of the weekly instalments:

Here are brief synopses and the opening panels of all ten entries:

The Fun-Time Machine, 2 pages, 21st April, 1973, issue No. 151: Boy and girl use a Fun-Time Machine invented by their Grandfather. They travel to Roman times and find themselves in the middle of a Roman arena facing a gladiator. They cause mayhem in the arena and return home safely. Illustrated by by Les Barton:

Scarey Crow, 2 pages, 28th April, 1973, issue No. 152: A crow is sick and tired of people trying to scare his kind with scarecrows, etc., so he decides to give humans a taste of their own medicine. His first attempt fails but he declares he is not done scaring humans yet... Illustrated by Terry Bave:

Seymore Son of Tarzan, 2 pages, 5th May, 1973, issue No. 153: Seymore who is a fat bald kid tries to build a new do-it-yourself tree house together with his assistants – a dumb-looking ape Cyril and an exotic animal that most probably is a wild boar; the effort involves a series of accidents and ends in destruction of the tree house and the tree. Illustrated by Stan McMurtry:

Val's Vanishing Cream, 2 pages, 12th May, 1973 , issue No. 154: Val finds a jar of vanishing cream in the bag of old cosmetics that her Mom asks her to pop in the bin. Val uses it well: she makes the teacher’s cane vanish and class is over without a single caning. Illustrated by Mike Lacey:

Snappy Sam and Flash Harry, 2 pages, 19th May, 1973, issue No. 155:  Snappy Sammy and Flash Harry are cameramen working for two competing papers – Morning Piffle and Daily Bilge. Sammy is a bespectacled kid and Harry is an evil grown-up who plays tricks on his rival and interferes with his job; in this episode they both have an assignment to take some pictures of a famous football player. Illustrated by Graham Allen:

Sheik Oleg, 2 pages, 26th May, 1973, issue No. 156: Sheik Oleg is a fat and short bloke who walks around with a pet – a strange rodent. He buys an old camel from Cyril Swindle (used camels salesman who looks a lot like Grimly Feendish) so that he can ride home in style; the camel immediately goes missing  and Sheik Oleg goes looking for it in a rubbish dump. He then takes the ponging camel to a camel wash but gets scrubbed himself instead. Illustrated by Stan McMurtry:

My Old Man's A Junkman, 2 pages, 2nd June, 1973, issue No. 157: Dusty Binn, Rag and Bone merchant, and his son Rusty live at the end of the posh Ritzy Avenue and run a scrap business to the great dissatisfaction of their wealthy neighbours. I don't know who the illustrator was. Any suggestions, please?

Professor Potty and Son, 2 pages, 9th June, 1973, issue No. 158: Professor Potty is a crazy scientist (who looks a lot like an older and bald version of Valiant’s Billy Bunter) tries to prove that well-accepted theories are wrong. In this episode he challenges two theories: the one that elephants don’t forget, and the one that sound vibrations can shatter things. Illustrated by Les Barton:

Doctor Quackpot, 1 page, 16th June, 1973, issue No. 159: A tale about a daft doctor who receives weird patients. In this episode the patient is a guy with a cowboy hat only he is not a cowboy. He uses the hat to cover his hair because he suffers from multiple dandruff. The whole room gets filled up with dandruff in a few moments and Dr. Quackpot calls his mate Vet for assistance. The Vet who appears to be just as daft brings penguins along so that they can enjoy themselves in the “snow”… Illustrated by Tony Goffe:

The Pipes of Stan, 1 page, 23rd June, 1973, issue No. 160: Stan has a pipe which turns people to stone while the second blow brings them back to their selves and so forth any number of times. This again looks like the work of Tony Goffe to me:

Voting coupon was included in COR!! issue dated 30th June, 1973 (No. 161), alongside with a recap of all 10 competition entries:

Results of the vote and the winner were announced in COR!! issue dated 18th August, 1973 (No. 168): 

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD WOLF?

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. 

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.

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).

From COR!! issue dated 4th August, 1973 (No. 166)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: 5 MINUTE WANDA

5 Minute Wanda was a strip about a loopy lass who could do things for only 5 minutes because she got bored very quickly. It was illustrated by Graham Allen and had a very short run of just 15 weeks from 6th January, 1973 until 14th April, 1973 (Nos. 136 – 150).

First episode

From COR!! issue dated 24th February, 1973 (No. 143)