COR!! 1980 SUMMER SPECIAL

COR!! 1980 Summer Special. 45p, 64 pages

Here's the summary of the contents: Andy’s Ants (3 episodes – 1 new and 2 reprints), The Gasworks Gang (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (4 episodes – 1 new and 3 reprints), Whacky (2 episodes in b/w and 2 episodes in full colour), Teacher’s Pet (2 episodes), Football Madd (new episode, initialled C.W.), Jelly Baby, Hire A Horror (5 reprints from old COR!! weeklies – 3 in full colour and 2 in b/w), Tomboy, Tease Break puzzles, Just Joking (3 instalments),  Nightmare (new episode by Les Barton), Donovan’s Dad, Benny Bendo, Val’s Vanishing Cream (in full colour), Tricky Dicky, The Slimms, Gus Gags, The Hand, Chalky, Webster.

There’s hardly anything interesting about the Special at all. There were two one-offs: The Hand and The Webster, both familiar to readers of Shiver and Shake.  The Webster set is drawn so poorly that it deserves a place in the gallery of the worst artwork ever to have appeared in a COR!! comic. Here is the beginning of the 4-pager:

The quality of new artwork contrasted sharply with reprints from old COR!! weeklies included in the Special. Here are some examples:

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: