TAMMY NOSTALGIA

Further to the previous post about my very limited exposure to UK comics as a kid, I thought I might also say a few words about the issue of TAMMY that I received together with that WHOOPEE! The scans used in this post are made from a replacement copy that I bought some time ago.

The impression that it made on me wasn’t as deep as that created by the other comic, but I distinctly recall being fascinated by two strips. I remember I was mighty impressed by the artwork on Babe at St. Woods that occupied the first three pages of the comic. I now know the illustrator’s name was Jose Casanovas and IMHO he was an outstanding artist – the quality of his artwork and the level of detail are quite extraordinary. I now know he illustrated numerous features in TAMMY throughout the 70s, also a few in JINTY and JUNE so he was predominantly a girls’ comics artist. Mr. Casanovas also did some sporadic Sci-Fi work in 2000AD and STARLORD and even one horror tale in the short-lived SCREAM!, but that’s another story. Here is the episode of Babe at St. Woods from TAMMY cover-dated 19th March 1977:

The other strip that stuck in my memory was The Dream House – a mystery tale about a family whose members somehow turned into dolls one-by one and were trapped in a huge dolls’ house. All those years later, I wouldn’t mind reading the whole story. Below is the three-pager from the issue that I had as a kid. I wonder who the artist was. Mike White, maybe?

For some reason I also found this adverts page very intriguing:

All Images 2015 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

A CASE OF WHOOPEE! NOSTALGIA

Many if not all bloggers who write about British comics are driven by nostalgia. I happen to be an exception because as I say in the introduction to this blog above, I didn’t live in the UK as a kid and was almost completely ignorant of the bustling industry that existed in the 70s when I was of the comics reading age. Almost but not entirely because my pen friend Andrew from Shakespeare Middle School in Leeds once sent me two comics – an issue of WHOOPEE! AND SHIVER & SHAKE from 1975 and a TAMMY from 1977. The papers made quite an impression on my 10- or 11-year old self, particularly WHOOPEE! which was at its prime in the mid-70s. I found the idea of being able to follow the adventures of Scared-Stiff Sam, Bumpkin Billionaires, Frankie Stein, Lolly Pop, Ghoul Getters Ltd on a weekly basis mind-boggling, while the possibility to win cash prizes for Scream Inn story ideas or World-Wide Weirdies sketches seemed absolutely staggering to me.

I was on the wrong side of the iron curtain then and asking my parents for a regular subscription was out of question so my acquaintance with British comics was limited to those two examples. Nonetheless, they were partly responsible for my brief and successful career as a freelance humour comics artist 20 or so years down the line, and completely to blame for my UK comics collecting hobby which I took up some 8+ years ago.

I am determined to do a comprehensive and detailed overview of WHOOPEE! on my blog sometime in the future because in my opinion, the combination of the stellar lineup of artists and excellent characters/features objectively makes WHOOPEE! one of the best (if not the best) children’s  comic of the period, and as such it deserves proper coverage and tribute in internetland. A respectable eleven year run makes it quite an ambitious quest but a doable one.

In the meantime, here is the complete issue of WHOOPEE! AND SHIVER & SHAKE dated 22nd February, 1975 – the one that Andrew sent me when I was in school. The copy that I owned as a kid got completely worn because I read and re-read it countless times but I acquired a pristine one a few years ago. See if you can recognise all artists whose work appeared in the comic: