COR!! HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1981

COR!! Holiday Special 1981, price: 45 p., 64 pages.

Contents: Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (2 new episodes including one in full colour and one reprint), Andy’s Ants (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies by Terry Bave), Whacky (4 reprints from COR!! weeklies by Mike Lacey, 1 in full colour), Tomboy (3 episodes, 1 in colour), Jasper the Grasper (a reprint of an old episode from COR!!), Hire A Horror (3 reprints including 2 in full colour), Gus Gorilla (by Tom Williams), The Gasworks Gang (2 reprints), Nightmare (illustrated by Les Barton), Val’s Vanishing Cream (2 episodes by Tom Williams), Teacher’s Pet (2 reprints, one in full colour), Just Joking, Fiends and Neighbours (brand new story illustrated by Les Barton), Football Madd (2 reprints), Donovan’s Dad (2 reprints by Les Barton), Chalky (3 episodes, one signed by Dick Millington), Benny Bendo, Tricky Dicky (reprint), Tease Break (2 instalments), Young Macdonald and his Farm (signed by Parko), Gus Gags, Jelly Baby, The Slimms (by Terry Bave).

Three stories had original mastheads that I mentioned in the previous post, two by Les Barton and one by Dick Millington: 

Here is one of the three sets of Ivor Lott and Tony Broke from the Special. I believe it is an original story, not a reprint, and the illustrator is probably Crocker. 

The episode of Gus Gorilla was a bit unusual because it was illustrated by Tom Williams:

COR!! COMIC ANNUAL 1981

 COR!! COMIC ANNUAL 1981. £1.50, 128 pages.

The contents: Val’s Vanishing Cream (3 episodes), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (6 episodes: 5 reprints from old COR!! weeklies and one new episode by Crocker), Fiends and Neighbours (2 episodes illustrated by Les Barton), Jelly Baby (3 episodes), Spotter (2 episodes), Whacky (4 reprints of original Mike Lacey’s episodes from old COR!! weeklies), Benny Bendo (3 episodes), Nightmare (3 episodes by Les Barton), Jasper the Grasper (2 brand new episodes), The Gasworks Gang (4 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Gus Gorilla (3 episodes), Wilfred the World’s Worst Wizard (2 episodes), Football Madd (3 episodes, one by Les Barton), Hire A Horror (2 reprints), Spaghetti Sid puzzle, Young Macdonald and his Farm, The Slimms (illustrated by Terry Bave), Tease Break (2 instalments), Willy Worry (2 episodes, one by Terry Bave and one by David Jenner), Donovan’s Dad (by Terry Bave), Tomboy, Prehistoric Maze puzzle, Helpful Hettie (2 episodes), Andy’s Ants (by Terry Bave), Teacher’s Pet, Gus Gags, Chalky.

The artist who I believe is Tom Williams contributed quite a large number of pages in this edition (Val’s Vanishing Cream, Spotter and Helpful Hettie – 2 episodes of each). Here is a set of Helpful Hettie. Could someone confirm it is indeed by Tom Williams please?

The book contained two different versions of Jasper the Grasper - one by Trevor Metcalfe (the original artist who illustrated the story in COR!! weeklies) and one by John Geering. 

What I like about Fiends and Neighbours is that from this edition onwards Les Barton started drawing large original mastheads that sometimes served as opening panels of the story:

YET MORE DETECTIVE WORK

Lew Stringer recently wrote a blogpost dedicated to WHAM! No. 67 that came out this week in 1965, you can read it here. A sharp-eyed commentator was quick to observe that the episode of The Tiddlers on the front cover was another of Leo Baxendale’s remakes of his own Bash Street Kids stories from The BEANO. The original set of The Bash Street Kids was in THE BEANO No. 960 with the cover date of 14th May, 1960. It was also included in Leo Baxendale’s book A Very Funny Business to illustrate how the pressures of the production line were distorting his drawing style.

So that’s another ‘remake’ accounted for. Thanks to Lew Stringer for the blogpost and the commentator NP for the heads-up!

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: