THE CHRISTMASES OF SWEENY TODDLER – PART TWO

Terwhang! – here comes part two of Sweeny Toddler’s Christmases from the X-mas issues of Whoopee! published in 1978 and 1979. Both covers are by Robert Nixon, and they are the only two examples of Mr. Nixon drawing Sweeny. I wouldn’t be so confident crediting Robert Nixon with the second cover but initials “R N” beneath the sock confirm it was him.  Inside pages are by Tom Paterson (as if you needed me pointing this out to you :) )… Enjoy! 

THE CHRISTMASES OF SWEENY TODDLER – PART ONE

Sweeny Toddler the infamous demonic baby first appeared in the first issue of SHIVER AND SHAKE in March 1973. The paper lasted for less than two years, so there was only enough time for one X-mas episode of Sweeny Toddler. Script and artwork by Leo Baxendale:

SHIVER AND SHAKE was merged into WHOOPEE! in October 1974. It sounds quite surprising, but Sweeny didn’t make a straightforward leap to the new combined comic. It had to prove its strength by participating in a poll: WHOOPEE! editor selected 8 strips and invited readers to vote in a Pick-A-Strip competition that ran in the Autumn of 1974. Sweeny was declared victor in WHOOPEE! AND SHIVER & SHAKE cover-dated 22nd March, 1975, and his regular appearances recommenced a week later. This means that Sweeny Toddler would have missed the X-mas of 1974 even if WHOOPEE! hadn’t been affected by industrial action in the end of that year and the X-mas issue of the paper  had been published (WHOOPEE! missed the last week of 1974 and the first two weeks of 1975).

Leo Baxendale stopped drawing Sweeny Toddler in June 1975, and was succeeded by the excellent Tom Paterson who imitated Mr. Baxendale’s style very well indeed. Here are the next three festive episodes from the 1975, 1976 and 1977 X-mas issues of WHOOPEE! :

Come back soon for more X-mas stories featuring the little pest!

X-MAS EPISODES – GUESS WHO??

Regular followers of KAZOOP!! know that @ about this time of the year this blog has the fine tradition of running a series of X-mas episodes of a landmark UK comics character… I have covered Frankie Stein, Buster, Faceache and Scream Inn so far. 

Any guesses who I might show this year? If you want some hints, the character enjoyed one of the longest runs in UK comics; created by Leo Baxendale, it started in Shiver and Shake, rose from the ashes in the pages of Whoopee! and eventually migrated to Whizzer and Chips. I have made it a really easy guess for you, haven’t I? :)

Do come back soon for the quite obvious answer - I won't take long with my next article because I don't like blogposts without illustrations (like this one). 

P.S. -  having checked the statistics of KAZOOP!! over the recent two or three months I was genuinely surprised to discover that the vast majority of regular visits come from the USA and... Russia.  I'd be delighted to hear from my readers over there and learn more about their interest in UK comics! Unless you are some disappointing  bots, of course...

GUEST APPEARANCES AT SCREAM INN – SMILER

The series of guest appearances of fellow-Whoopee! characters in Scream Inn concludes with an episode featuring Smiler – the boy with a permanent smile. Drawn by Nick Baker, the character first appeared in 1976 in Whoopee! issue No. 102 (March 6, 1976) and ended in 1983 in issue No. 475 (June 25, 1983 – the last one before WHOOPEE! absorbed WOW!). 

Here is the two-pager, followed by the episode of Smiler from the same issue of WHOOPEE! Note how Brian Walker credited Nick Baker in the opening panel of Scream Inn. Quite unusual, isn't it? 

 

Scream Inn is a great strip and one of my favorite ones in British comics so I will surely return to it in the future…

THE MOONSTERS COVERS OF SPARKY - PART TWELVE

Here comes the twelfth and final part of SPARKY Moonsters covers gallery that I started back in May earlier this year. The final appearance of The Moonsters on the front cover of SPARKY was in issue No. 139 (Sept 16th, 1967).

Starting from issue 140, The Moonsters were given the back cover again, ousted from the front page by what is now perceived as the politically incorrect version of Sparky the character. Check out front and back covers of SPARKY issue No. 140:

The Moonsters continued to feature on the back page of the comic until issue 199: