SPORTS THEME IN BRITISH COMICS TO CELEBRATE LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 (DAY 10)

Here are more of those excellent crowded Moonsters sets by Bill Ritchie from the front and back pages of SPARKY. 

SPORTS THEME IN BRITISH COMICS TO CELEBRATE LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 (DAY 9)

I will close this three-part mini series about sporty Frankie Stein with another WHAM! episode by Ken Reid in which the ‘friendly monster’ turns into a runner. I happen to be the proud owner of the original artwork for this episode, so below are several blown-up scans of individual panels for your enjoyment  :) 

From WHAM! No 59 dated 31st July, 1965

 

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: THE SPECTRE INSPECTOR

The Spectre Inspector was one of the two winners of COR-medy Choice competition, second series. It was introduced as a regular weekly strip in COR!! issue dated 20th April, 1974 (No. 203) and ran for 9 weeks until the last issue of the paper. It migrated to BUSTER and continued there until September 1975.

In the first episode the Spectre Inspector disguises himself as a tourist and checks on the ghost at the ruins. The Inspector finds the ghost in a miserable condition and doing his job poorly so he shows how it should be done. The Inspector overdoes it when demonstrating a proper howl and reduces the ruins to a pile of rubble. In the further episodes the Inspector puts on different disguises and carries on with his job as a ‘mystery client’ making sure that members of the Ghouls Guild keep up their bad work in a proper way. Illustrated by Jim Watson.

From COR!! issue dated 27th April, 1974 (No. 204)

From COR!! issue dated 8th June, 1974 (No. 210)

SPORTS THEME IN BRITISH COMICS TO CELEBRATE LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 (DAY 8)

In this episode from 1980 Frankie Stein Holiday Special officials from the British Selection Board invite Frankie to train for the Olympics. Illustrator is probably John Geering.

If there are any Ken Reid fans reading this blog, be sure to come back tomorrow for the final part of this three-part mini-series about Frankie Stein the athlete because I have a special treat lined up :)

 

SPORTS THEME IN BRITISH COMICS TO CELEBRATE LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 (DAY 7)

Frankie Stein tried his hand at different sports. Here are his attempts at boxing and football during the early years in WHAM! when the strip was illustrated by Ken Reid:

From WHAM! No. 33, 30th January, 1965

From WHAM! No. 60, 7th August, 1965

Now let’s see what happened when Frankie Stein tried playing tennis. The episode is from WHAM! during the period when Ken Reid was ill or otherwise unable to work and another artist took over. It's a great pity that the 20-week period of Mr. Reid’s absence coincided with Frankie’s stay in the weird wilds of Scotland at Madam McAbre’s Academy for Frustrated Freaks (or Monster Manor) that was full of fiendish characters. One can only imagine how brilliant the episodes would have been, had they been illustrated by Frankie Stein’s original artist… 

From WHAM! No. 101, 21st May, 1966

Robert Nixon’s version of Frankie Stein was different but also nice in its own way, particularly in Shiver and Shake and the early issues of the combined WHOOPEE! and SHIVER AND SHAKE. In this “Big News Issue” of Shiver and Shake Frankie takes part in an International Athletics Meeting…

From SHIVER AND SHAKE dated 5th October, 1974 (No. 79, last issue)

 

Come back tomorrow to see what happened when Frankie Stein was officially invited to join Team GB for 1980 Olympics…

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

Having witnessed the success of COR-medy Choice feature in 1973, the Editor made good on his promises and offered the readers another opportunity to choose new strips. COR-medy Choice, second series, started in the first issue of 1974 dated 5th January (No. 188) and continued for 6 weeks. This time a choice of only six new comedy ideas was offered. Here are brief synopses and the opening panels of all six entries:

No. 13 Jinx Street, 2 pages, 5th January, 1974 (No. 188): The Jinxes live in house No. 13 where things always go wrong, only not for the Jinxes who are a nice family but for their mean next door neighbour.

Hickory Dickory Doc., 2 pages. 12th January, 1974 (No. 189): A tale about a doctor who travels the Wild West in his horse-drawn wagon, gets attacked by Indians and robbers and defends himself with the help of his pills and bandages.

Willy - the World's Worst Werewolf, 2 pages, 19th January, 1974 (No. 190): The title says it all really: the tale is about a sorry kid werewolf who tries to scare poor living mortals out of their living daylights. The story is presented in the form of the werewolf’s letter to his uncle Dracula worded carefully to spruce up the truth and make a good impression on the mighty relative. The strip was reprinted in full colour in 1980 KRAZY annual.

Our Kid, 2 pages, 26th January, 1974 (No. 191): Adventures of a rough little kid who upsets his family and breaks things.

Wally's Weirdies, 2 pages, 2nd February, 1974 (No. 192): A tiny alien spaceship full of creatures (that look like pets of the Really-Ghastlies) lands in the garden of Wally’s violent fat neighbour who takes them for garden pests. Wally makes friends with the creatures. He finds out they can speak human language and one of them can turn himself into anything. Illustrated by Stan McMurtry.

The Spectre Inspector, 2 pages, 9th February, 1974 (No. 193): Chief inspector of the Ghouls Guild visits a Creepy Castle to check their haunting arrangements; threatening to have the lazy ghouls thrown out of the Ghouls Guild, he makes them do their ghosting job properly and the Creepy Castle is back in business big time. Illustrated by Jim Watson.

Voting coupon was printed in the issue dated 16th February, 1974 (No. 194) and results of the vote were announced in COR!! issue with the cover date of 30th March, 1974 (No. 200). 

It is interesting to note that the overall number of votes was about half the number cast in the first series. Was it a sign of declining sales, or was it simply because readers found the competition entries less exciting? Probably a combination of both.

The second series had not just one but two winners. The Spectre Inspector and Wally’s Weirdies both made their first appearance as regular weekly features in COR!! issue dated 20th April, 1974. Both survived merger with BUSTER only a few weeks later. Wally’s Weirdies continued in BUSTER until the beginning of 1975 and The Spectre Inspector – until September 1975.

The concept of allowing readers to choose strips for their comic was also used in other IPC companion comics: in the end of 1974 WHOOPEE! ran a similar feature called Pick-A-Strip.

SPORTS THEME IN BRITISH COMICS TO CELEBRATE LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 (DAY 6)

The Moonsters in Sparky took their sports very seriously. They are a great help in my search for examples of different Olympic sports to show on KAZOOP!! I don’t think it would be easy to find fencing, water polo or judo elsewhere…