FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 20)

I recently stumbled across this double pager of Little Plum in the Beano No. 929 (7th May, 1960) and it caused me to remember the episode of General Nitt and His Barmy Army from WHAM! No. 63 (28th August, 1965) that was included in one of my earlier football posts. I put the two side by side and the result was this weird example of a SPOT THE DIFFERENCE puzzle… 

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 19)

Millions of people around the Globe are crazy about football but surely there are also those who are less than keen on the game. Here are three nice episodes of Hugh Fowler – the Man Who Hates Football from SCORCHER AND SCORE, illustrated by Ken Reid.

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 28th August, 1971

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 18th September, 1971

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 9th October, 1971

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: JASPER THE GRASPER

The original Jasper The Grasper was drawn by Ken Reid and appeared in WHAM! where it occupied  two pages and had a very short run in issues 42-47 (3rd April, 1965 – 8th May, 1965). It’s hard to tell why a brilliant feature like that was dropped so quickly but my guess would be that the artist had enough work as it were drawing weekly installments of Frankie Stein. The whole original Ken Reid series was reprinted in the first COR!! annual (1972) and served as a nice introduction to the sequel in COR!! that premiered in the first issue of 1972 dated January 1st (No. 83 ). 

The opening episode of the reprint of the original series in COR!! 1972 annual

The setting was different to that of all the other COR!! strips and offered a look at Cortown as it was in the Victorian times. The first episode tells us that many many years ago there lived a man of means who was a meanie of a man. His name was J.McGrab but those who knew him called him Jasper the Grasper. The new version of Jasper was similar to the WHAM! original: the looks and habits of the tight-fisted old skinflint remained unchanged and his talent to hear the “jingle” of a fallen coin from far away was as strong as ever. Jasper was obsessed with saving and hoarding and he wouldn’t spend a penny unless he absolutely had to. Jasper never got tired of devising new and crafty money saving ideas and putting them into practice with predictably unsatisfactory results. 

Occasionally he got himself a companion: nephew Silas came to stay with Jasper starting from 20th May, 1972 (issue No. 103) but said his good-byes 10 weeks later.  In the issue dated 7th July, 1973 (No. 162) a gypsy who was retiring because his rich uncle had left him a fortune gave Jasper his monkey as a present. For a short while Jasper acquired a new partner that caused him a lot of trouble but also inspired some fresh money-making ideas.

From COR!! issue dated 17th June, 1972 (No. 107), featuring nephew Silas

Toonhound.com has an excellent profile of Jasper the Grasper with lots of trivia here. When you read it, please, be aware that it has one major error: none of the episodes in COR!! weeklies were drawn by Ken Reid, nor there were any Ken Reid reprints in the weeklies. Trevor Metcalfe who was the artist of the second series in COR!! was in charge of the feature from the very start until the last installment in the penultimate issue of COR!! with the cover date of 8th June, 1974 (No. 210), signed by the artist.

From COR!! issue dated 10th November, 1973 (No. 180)

  

Jasper the Grasper started off as a one-pager and was promoted to 1 ½ pages from the issue dated 30th December, 1972 (No. 135). It made four front cover appearances in COR!! issues dated 21st July 1973, 15th September 1973, 12th January 1974 and 4th May 1974 (issue Nos. 164, 173, 189 and 205).

From COR!! issue dated 23rd March, 1974 (No. 199)

Here are details about appearances of Jasper the Grasper outside of COR!! weeklies. As this one my favourite strips and one of the highlights in COR!!, there is a good chance to find examples of the artwork in my blogposts dedicated to the particular Holiday Specials and Annuals.

 

1972 COR!! Comic Annual – reprint of the full original Ken Reid series from Wham!

1972 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1973 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1973 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1974 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1974 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1975 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by an artist whose name I don’t know

1976 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episodes, one by Trevor Metcalfe and one by Alf Saporito

1977 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Alf Saporito

1978 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 new episode in full colour by an artist whose name I don’t know

1978 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 new episode in b/w by Les Barton

1979 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Les Barton + 1 episode by John Geering

1980 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episodes John Geering

1981 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe + one new episode by John Geering

1981 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 reprint

1982 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Frank McDiarmid + one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1982 COR!! Holiday Special – 3 reprints + a new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1983 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1983 COR!! Holiday Special – a new episode by Les Barton,

1984 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode by Les Barton

1985 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode by Les Barton

1986 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode signed by Francis Boyle

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 18)

England has now dropped out of EURO 2012, unlike Manager Matt and his Mudchester United who didn’t lose a single match during their 1971 tour of Europe.  Read on to see how they tackled Spain and then were triumphant in the finals...

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 3rd July, 1971

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 31st July, 1971

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 17)

With England now warming up to play against Italy later this afternoon, it is appropriate to remember Ken Reid’s Manager Matt and his Mudchester  Eleven and see how they tackled their Italian opponents back in 1971. From the perspective of this day and age, the set looks somewhat racist and it is difficult to imagine one like this being included in a modern comic.

Now that I come to think of it, in the light of the recent banana incident during Italy's European Championship game against Croatia, the Frankie Stein episode in one of my previous football posts also comes across as racist.

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 17th July, 1971

I know I said my football posts were going to focus on humour comics but as I was searching my collection for interesting examples to show on this blog, I found an issue of TIGER AND HURRICANE with an episode of Roy of the Rovers and most importantly – a rough copy of a letter written by a young reader and long forgotten inside the paper. The boy was so upset with the referee’s decision in that week’s installment that he had to sit down and write this angry note to the editor. Isn’t it sweet to see how strongly the kid (whose name I have whited out) felt for his favourite characters...

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: HELPFUL HETTIE

Helpful Hettie was a little girl who was always eager to lend a helping hand with predictably disastrous results. The feature originated in the pages of the short-lived GIGGLE comic in the late 60s where it had a short run in the early issues and was illustrated by Reg Parlett. The first few episodes in COR!! were also by the prolific Reg Parlett so they may very well be reprints from GIGGLE but I can’t be certain because I don’t have a full set of GIGGLE to check. Later in the series Helpful Hettie was taken over by other artists and was definitely new material. It started in COR!! on 1st January, 1972 (issue No. 83) as a half-pager, was promoted to a full page from the issue dated 5th August, 1972 (issue No. 114) and appeared quite regularly until 30th December, 1972 (No. 135).

From COR!! issue dated 8th January, 1972 (No. 84)

From COR!! issue dated 23rd December, 1972 (No. 134). It was the only episode in full colour

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 16)

Giant-size colour sets of Banana Bunch by Leo Baxendale graced the back page of the early issues of the BEEZER. This one is from issue No. 13. There is so much action going on in the last panel that I decided to split it in two to allow for a closer look at all the details.