A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: MIKE'S MAGIC MOULD

Mike's Magic Mould was another extremely short-lived feature about a little lad Mike and his lump of magic modelling mould that could change its shape and size.  In part 2 of the article A Line in Chuckles in the Summer 1986 edition of GOLDEN FUN Terry Bave recalled that the idea was conceived by his wife Sheila but had never been taken beyond a simple sketch until Bob Paynter invited the Baves to create the necessary characters for COR!! They submitted the first scripts but having by then committed themselves to taking two other weekly strips in COR!! they reluctantly handed Mike’s Magic Mould over to another artist. I wonder who that artist was?

From COR!! issue dated 20th June, 1970 (No. 3)

Mike's Magic Mould started in the first issue of COR!! and mustered only 12 episodes. It bowed out on 26th September, 1970 (No. 17), having missed the following dates: 25th July 1970, 1st and 22nd August 1970, 5th and 19th September, 1970 (Nos. 8, 9, 12, 14, 16).

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: STOWAWAY STEVE

Stowaway Steve was a very short-lived series about a boy who always stowed himself away in different places and objects. In all likelihood the editors didn’t think much of the series and stowed it away for good after just eleven episodes. The feature occupied 2/3 of one page (the remaining 1/3 was allocated to Kids’ Problem Column). The last episode appeared on 12th September, 1970 (No. 15). Stowaway Steve missed the following weeks: 8th, 15th and 29th August and 5th September, 1970 (Nos. 10, 11, 13 and 14). It was illustrated by several artists including Mike Lacey and Norman Mansbridge.

From COR!! issue dated 1st August, 1970 (No. 9)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: FOUR ALONE

Four Alone on the Abandoned Island was an adventure serial that occupied two pages and lasted from the first issue of COR!! until 31st October, 1970 (issue No. 22). According to a post in Lew Stringer’s excellent blog, it was illustrated by Mike Noble (at least initially). The script-writer was Scott Goodall who wrote all adventure serials for COR!!

The scene was set in a remote part of Northern Wales at the Moordale Medical Research Centre. Three boys (Barry Norton, Fleshpot Farraday (“Fleshpot”) and Beanpole Baines (“Beanpole”) and a girl (Vera Miles) participate in an unusual scientific experiment to study the effects of exercise and controlled diet on children of different physical appearance. The three boys hate each other and keep trying to knock each other about, so scientists send the four on a four-week survival course in the mountains, hoping they might learn to get along. Curious about a strange red glow in the sky, the Four return to civilization and find that Britain has been taken over by weird soggy creatures called Spungees. The aliens are made of sponge and they fire soggy gas-bombs that stun people. The children discover that the landing of the aliens and their fake radiation blanket threat has prompted the government to issue emergency evacuation orders and the whole population has been transported to Europe. Spungees need water to thrive, they plan to flood the whole of Britain and use it as a base to conquer the planet. The Four soon learn how to repel the monsters with fire because Spungees dread heat and dryness. The children find alien HQ in the marshes on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon County. After a long sequence of cliff-hangers and multiple fallings into alien captivity and breakings back into freedom, the Four finally defeat the aliens, first by spilling oil into the river, setting fire to it and burning to death the army of aliens traveling upstream to establish more posts, then by grabbing the king of Spungees and demanding unconditional surrender from the aliens. British Army pilots are amazed to discover that liberation was achieved by four children who become national heroes and celebrities. The four stopped hating each other. They promise to stick together from now on.

From COR!! dated 3rd October, 1970 (No. 18)

IMHO the story suffered from overuse of manufactured cliff-hangers alongside with pointless strife and name-calling between the children. Nonetheless, it was quite an OK adventure serial, particularly in comparison with the sequel …

The second serial ran from 1st May, 1971 until 18th September, 1971 (issue Nos. 48 – 68) and was called Four Alone Fight Formula X. The foursome are sent on a special mission to Castle Blaney Boarding School in the Scottish Highlands to investigate strange reports of rumblings in the night and farmhouses vanishing without a trace. The children find out that Herman Sourkraut, the school science master, has been secretly experimenting with Formula X that makes plants and living creatures turn into giant monsters. His experiments now complete, the evil scientist is ready to strike. Stage one of his sinister plan involves unleashing a swarm of bees that have their feet dipped in Formula X in order to make every plant they land on grow to giant size and cause chaos. Sourkraut’s plan is so cunning and devious that it takes readers and the four children a while to realise that the bee attack on a plant nursery in the village is only a diversion and that the evil scientist’s final mission is, lo and behold! to wreck Britain’s naval power by destroying the top-secret Holyoak Nuclear Submarine Base! Four Alone bravely deal with every giant monster that the evil scientist sends their way. Sourkraut’s plot is finally foiled and Fleshpot prevents him from escaping on board a pinched navy helicopter. The menace of Herman Sourkraut and Formula X is over at last.

From COR!! dated 21st August, 1971 (No. 64)

The quick summary of the plot makes it appear as if it was quite an exciting story to follow but IMHO it would have benefited a lot if the weekly cliff-hangers were just a tiny bit less made-up. To me the script clearly abused the possibility of introducing endless giant monsters many of whom came and went hardly contributing to the development of the story.

The two serials were the only ones that appeared in COR!! weeklies but there were four more stories in COR!! Annuals and one in a COR!! Holiday Special over the years. Here is the list:

COR!! 1972 Annual: Four Alone in the Castle of Fear (8 pages) – the foursome foil the plot of an evil scientist Llewelyn to launch a missile attack on London from his secret base in a crumbling castle in Wales.

COR!! 1973 Annual: Four Alone and the Alpine Adventure (8 pages) – British intelligence sends the Four to an Austrian ski resort on a mission to escort to London a Hungarian scientist who has defected to the West.

COR!! 1974 Annual: Four Alone and the Sky Jackers (8 pages) – Four Alone are on their way to visit Vera’s brother in the Middle East when a gang of terrorists hi-jack the airliner and demand money for their political cause.

COR!! 1975 Holiday Special: Four Alone Beside the Seaside (5 pages) - Four Alone help catch a gang of thieves who pinched plans of a new boat design from Russell Wolf, boat designer. It appears that the episode was illustrated by the same artist who drew Rat Trap and whose name is unknown to me. Here is the last page of the episode:

From COR!! 1975 Holiday Special

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: DOGSBODIES ACADEMY

Dogsbodies Academy was a very short series and the only one in COR!! illustrated by Angel Nadal. The feature was about a school for dogs where Mr. Bull-Dog the teacher suffered all kinds of disasters as he tried to give young puppies some useful lessons. Some of the suffering came at the hands of the naughty pupils. A traditional classroom humor strip, except that here it was animals rather than school kids. The series lasted until 14th October, 1970 (issue No. 21) and missed a few weeks towards the end of its modest run – it did not appear on 5th September 1970, 3rd and 10th October 1970 (issue Nos. 14, 18 and 19).

From COR!! dated 15th August, 1970 (No. 11)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: JEANIE AND HER GENIE

Jeanie and her Genie began in a remote Oriental town where a sweat-shop genie-packer ran out of lamps for packing genies, so he put one in a torch. An English sailor buoght the torch in a souvenir shop and sent it to his niece Jeannie in England as her birthday present. The Genie could be summoned by turning the torch on. He granted Jeanie all sorts of wishes. Being very clumsy, the Genie often found himself in different awkward situations. The short series illustrated by an artist whom I can’t identify lasted from the first issue of COR!! until 31st October, 1970 (issue No. 22).

From COR!! dated 11th July, 1970 (No. 6)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: LITTLE GEYSER

Little Geyser was a story about a kid-geyser and his quest for home. The lovable Little Geyser jumped out of hot springs in New Zealand and landed in the radiator of a tourist car. Separated from his home and Pa Geyser, he set to travel the World. He spent a few episodes on a luxury liner hoping it will take him home to New Zealand but ended up in England instead. There the poor Little Geyser spent some time with a dim English family who thought he was a fountain. Feeling sad and lonely, he tried to find another geyser that he could talk to. Later in the run he forgot all about New Zealand and concentrated on a search for a body of water to call home or simply chill – a pond, a canal, a stream, a sink full of water, a bucket, a soda pop dispenser, a washing machine, anything went. Needless to say his weekly experiments put him in all kinds of humorous situations.

From COR!! issue dated 26th December, 1970 (No. 30)

The feature ran from the first issue until 21st August, 1971 (issue 64) and missed a few weeks towards the end of its run (it did not appear on 19th September 1970, 15th May 1971, 29th May 1971, 19th June – 3rd July 1971, 17th July 1971, 31st July 1971 and 14th August 1971 (issue Nos. 16, 50, 52, 55-57, 59, 61 and 63)). Does anyone recognize the artist?

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: BARNEY'S BRAINBOX

Barney’s Brain Box was a series about an absent-minded boy Barney Biggs who was able to concentrate on only one thing at a time. The problem with Barney was that he frequently fell into a state of dopiness. As a result, Barney’s fantasies and daydreams pushed reality to the back of his mind making him forget all about his errands and commitments. COR!! readers could see what went on inside Barney’s head. Barney’s “brainwaves” were portrayed as little creatures (brain-bods) inside his brain box. The conflicting nature of the brainwaves inevitably resulted in battles and humorous clashes between reality “brain-bods” and fantasy “brain bods” as the former struggled to win Barney’s attention back from the latter. To make things even more complicated, the setting kept alternating between reality and Barney’s brain box as goings-on in the real World altered the course of events in Barney’s head. Luckily for Barney, reality “brain-bods” usually prevailed, and just in time for him to avoid trouble

From COR!! dated June 20th, 1970 (No. 3)

The feature only lasted for 31 weeks from the first issue until the first issue of 1971 in which Barney made a New Year resolution to think of only one thing a time and thus put an end to his problems.

The concept of Barney’s Brain Box was similar to that of a number of older UK strips such as The Nervs, Georgie’s Germs, Numskulls, maybe even Buster’s Daydreams, but it was a scrumptious feature nonetheless. The short-lived series occupied two pages (except in the issues dated 11th July 1970, 15th August 1970 and 3rd October 1970 (Nos. 5, 11 and 18) where it was 1 and ½ pages long). It was illustrated by several artists such as Mike Lacey and Tony Goffe, but the majority of the episodes were by the unconfirmed illustrator who drew Football Madd and some other strips in COR!!, Peter Davidson perhaps?

From COR!! dated 8th August, 1970 (No. 10)