1980 COR!! COMIC ANNUAL

1980 COR!! Comic Annual was priced £1.25 and was 144 pages thick.

Here is a summary of the contents:  Val’s Vanishing Cream (2 episodes), Football Madd (5 episodes including 3 by Les Barton and 1 reprint from an old COR!! weekly), Teacher’s Pet (4 episodes), Night Mare (3 episodes by Les Barton), Fiends and Neighbours (2 episodes by Les Barton), Swopper Stan (2 episodes), Tomboy (2 episodes), Jasper the Grasper (2 episodes by John Geering), Hire A Horror (2 episodes), Helpful Hettie (2 episodes), Donovan’s Dad (3 episodes), Jelly Baby (3 episodes), Wilfred Wizard, Tricky Dicky (3 episodes), Croc, Chalky (2 episodes), “Young” MacDonald and his Farm, The Superwits, The Slimms, The Gasworks Gang (2 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Animal Jokes, Tease Break, Gus Gorilla (5 episodes), Our Amazing Maze feature, Benny Bendo, Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (3 episodes, including 2 reprints), Injun Trouble jokes (by Jack Clayton), Joker, Jack Pott, Patch-Eye Hooker, Spotter, Fun of A Gun jokes (by Jack Clayton), Andy’s Ants.

There were three one-off strips in the Annual:

The Superwits was illustrated by Nigel Edwards and would have been appropriate in my series of Olympic posts this summer. Here are all three pages of the set:

Joker was a guest strip that originated in Knockout and appeared for many years in Whizzer and Chips:

Croc was probably also a reprint from another IPC comic but I am not sure which. Whizzer and Chips?

The Annual had two sets of Jasper the Grasper by John Geering. Here is one:

My personal highlights in the 1980 COR!! Comic Annual are two sets of Fiends and Neighbours by Les Barton. Here is one: 

1979 COR!! HOLIDAY SPECIAL

1979 COR!! Holiday Special, 40 p., 64 pages.  

The contents were: Gus Gorilla (2 new episodes and one reprint in full colour, all by Alf Saproto), Hire a Horror (5 reprints, one in full colour), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (4 reprints, one in full colour, and 1 original episode), Puddin’ Tops (2 episodes,), Tricky Dicky, Whacky (4 reprints, one in full colour), Seaside Crossword, Benny Bendo, Patch-Eye Hooker (2 episodes), Nightmare (by Les Barton), The Gasworks Gang (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies, one in full colour), Beezz Neezz (2 episodes), Tease Break (2 instalments, one in full colour); Football Madd (1 reprint and 1 new episode by Les Barton), Tomboy, Andy’s Ants (signed by Terry Bave), Blackpool in Space (signed by Alan Hodge), Jelly Baby, Donovan’s Dad (signed by Terry Bave), Chalky, Teacher’s Pet, Willy Worry (signed by Terry Bave), 

There were three one-offs in the this Holiday Special:

Puddin’ Tops stories were reprints of a strip illustrated by Terry Bave that appeared in the early issues of Whizzer and Chips.

Beezz Neezz was a tale about a bee that suffered from a bad case of hay fever and couldn’t go near pollen.

Blackpool in Space (illustrated and signed by Alan Hodge) was a ‘SF’ tale about a holiday resort of the future and a conflict of two rock manufacturers over secrets of making bars of rock. Here are all 4 pages of the story:

 

1979 COR!! COMIC ANNUAL

1979 COR!! Comic Annual. £1.10, 144 pages,

Here is a summary of the contents:  Jack Pott’s Jackpot game, Football Madd (1 new episode by Les Barton + 2 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Helpful Hettie, Nightmare (new episode by Les Barton), Tomboy (3 episodes), Fiends and Neighbours (2 new episodes by Les Barton, both signed + 1 reprint from an old COR!! weekly), Tease Break feature (2 instalments), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (6 reprints and 1 new episode), Teacher’s Pet (2 episodes), Jack Pott (2 episodes), Benny Bendo! (2 episodes), The Slimms (2 episodes + The Slimms Weight For it Game), The Gasworks Gang (4 reprints), Jelly Baby (2 episodes), Hire A Horror (5 reprints and 1 new episode), Whacky (5 episodes), Spotter, Jasper the Grasper (two original episodes, one by Les Barton and one by John Geering), Donovan’s Dad, Swopper Stan, Tricky Dicky (2 episodes), Football Quiz (by Les Barton), Wilfred the World’s Worst Wizard, Football Funnies (by Les Barton), Xmas Word puzzle, Val’s Vanishing Cream (2 episodes), Chalky, Patch-Eye Hooker, Mike’s Magic Mould, Gus Gorilla (3 episodes), "The Stairs” … A Silly Story, The Way-Out West jokes (by Jack Clayton), Willy Worry (2 episodes).

The annual was the first one that had no ‘proper’ colour pages but was probably still advertised as a full-colour book because all of its pages were presented in three-colours (save for a few pages that had no white or no black).

Two episodes of Tomboy were signed by Jim Watson:

The annual contained two new Jasper the Grasper stories: a two-pager by Les Barton (shown below in its entirety) and a 6-pager by John Geering (illustrated below with one panel):

The one-off The Stairs... A Silly Story, doesn't really qualify as a comic strip and is poorly drawn but here it is anyway:

 Jack Clayton contributed two nice pages of Wild West jokes:

What I like best about this annual is that it has as many as two original episodes of Fiends and Neighbours by Les Barton whose style suits the strip very well indeed. The level of detail suggests that the artist enjoyed drawing it. Editors must have liked Mr. Barton’s version because the two sets were the first out of many episodes of Fiends and Neighbours illustrated by Les Barton in subsequent COR!! holiday specials and annuals. Here is one of the two stories from the annual: