A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: THE SLIMMS

The Slimms. This was the last long-running IPC strip originally created for COR!! by Sheila and Terry Baves. In the second part of his article in the Summer 1986 edition of GOLDEN FUN Terry Bave recalls that slimming was a popular theme of the day, so his wife Sheila suggested that there might be makings of a good fun feature with slimming as the central theme. After some thought and some sketches, they came up with what they believed was one of their most successful features – The Slimms. It proved very popular with COR!! readers. The Baves supplied scripts for many weeks until other IPC writers took over; Terry Bave continued to draw The Slimms week by week until the paper folded.

From COR!! issue dated 19th January, 1974 (No. 190)

Little boy Sammy Slim has a problem and it’s his parents who are obese and Sammy is always ridiculed by other kids because of this. So he finally decides they can’t go on eating like this and will have to go on a diet, starting immediately. But Mum and Dad always manage to outwit Sammy and stuff themselves silly because they like being fat and enjoy grub too much to slim. Sammy is very persistent and schemes all kinds of plots to get his parents to diet or exercise. From what we can tell, Mum and Dad are unemployed so Sammy even tries to fix some jobs for them so that they can work off some of their weight

From COR!! dated 16th February, 1974 (No. 194)

The feature premiered in COR!! issue with the cover date of 1st January, 1972 (No. 83) and continued until the last edition of the paper dated 15th June, 1974 (No. 211).  A good share of the episodes were in colour, besides, The Slimms made as many as five front cover appearances on 23rd June, 1973 (No. 160), 10th November, 1973 (No. 180), 5th January, 1974 (No. 188), 20th April, 1974 (No. 203) and 18th May, 1974 (No. 207). 

Such was the popularity of the feature that after the demise of COR!! Terry Bave didn’t find it hard to persuade Bob Paynter that The Slimms be transferred to WHIZZER AND CHIPS where weekly appearances of the strip continued through to mid-1979. 

From COR!! dated 1st June, 1974 (No. 209)

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 14)

Here is a triple helping of Dennis the Menace footy action by David Law:

From BEANO No. 858 (27th December, 1958)

From Dennis the Menace 1962 Annual

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 13)

I find it interesting that many DC Thomson characters were so broke that the majority of  football strips I managed to find in my collection show their efforts to see a match for free… 

From BEANO No. 896 (19th September, 1959)

From BEANO No. 750 (1st December, 1957)

From BEANO No. 765 (16th March, 1957)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: THE ADVENTURES OF SONNY STORM

The Adventures of Sonny Storm. In the opening episode Sonny comes across an old cupboard in the attic and finds a photograph and a funny-looking rattle. The man in the photo is his Mom’s great-uncle Ebeneezer who spent many years living with the Sioux Indians in America and he must have brought the rattle back with him. Inscribed on the handle are the words: By Medicine-Man and Sacred Feather, Repeat These Words and Ask for Weather. Sonny soon discovers that the mysterious artifact is a magic weather stick which enables him to create his own private weather. Sonny can now control different atmospheric phenomena and cause them at will; occasionally he gets a chance to use the weather stick to catch some evil-doers and crooks. The two-pager ran for 45 weeks from 25th  September, 1971 (No. 69) and was given a proper ending in the issue dated 22nd July, 1972 (No. 112) in which Sioux Indians came to Sonny’s town as part of a travelling circus and reclaimed the artifact. Sonny gladly returned it to the rightful owners. Artist unknown.

From COR!! issue dated 27th May, 1972  (No. 104)

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 12)

SMASH! No. 3 (19th February, 1966) had as many as four strips with the footy theme! Plus a nice Bad Penny rugby set signed by Leo Baxendale, but this is a football post, so it doesn’t count :)

Percy's Pets was drawn by Cyril Price, Tellybugs by George Parlett, Charlie's Choice by Brian Lewis. Absence of Leo Baxendale’s signature in The Swots and the Blots set suggests it may be by one of his ghosters...

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 11)

My last two football posts contained back covers of JAG with official team photos. Below is a take on the “genre” by Ken Reid. The Were’Wolves’ United was the last in the long-running series of World-Wide Weirdies monster pin-ups in Whoopee!  It appeared in the issue dated 21st October, 1978. The only other football-themed World-Wide Weirdies poster (The Mid-‘Freak’ Match) was in Whoopee! issue dated 24th April, 1978. 

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: NIPPY NIBBS

Nippy Nibbs was a feature about daily life and antics of an ordinary boy. Illustrated by Eric Roberts, it was in fact a reprint (with a full-colour face-lift) of Niblo Nibbs from Film Fun. It first appeared in the issue dated 28th August, 1971 (issue No. 65). The total number of appearances in COR!! was 22, the last one (½ page only) on 11th March, 1972 (issue No. 93).

First appearance in COR!! dated 28th August, 1971 (No. 65)

From COR!! issue dated 30th October, 1971 (No. 74)