SERIALISED FACEACHE STORIES – PART FOUR: PIED PIPER

Faceache story arch No. 4 can be found in BUSTER issues for 9 and 16 September 1978. The story is drawn and written by Ken Reid.

Sanitary inspector is coming to inspect the premises and the school cellar is infested with mice. Faceache volunteers to get rid of them. He scrunges into Pied Piper, lures the mice to the moor and traps them inside a cave. 

Faceache heads back to school still playing his tune that attracts attention of a plague of frogs that follows him to Belmonte school.

Faceache dances his way to Belmonte school unaware that he is luring a colony of frogs that are following his heavenly tune. Faceache gets an uncontrollable urge to follow the echo of his own tune and falls into the river... 

Frogs overhear him say that he has ridden Belmonte cellar of mice and rush to occupy the vacant damp cellar that is just the place for them to hibernate in. Sanitary inspector comes to inspect the premises. He says he can tolerate mice but can’t stand horrid slimy frogs. He quickly discovers that the cellar is full of the croaking creatures. Faceache scrunges into a mouse-faced kid in hope that the sanitary inspector who is fond of mice will protect him from the enraged Headmaster.

Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd

Click on the POWER PACK banner in the right-hand column and get your copy of the POWER PACK OF KEN REID - the deluxe two-volume set of Ken’s strips in WHAM!, SMASH! and POW! comics of the ‘60s.

FIREWORK COVER - BIG ONE

THE BIG ONE was a Fleetway comic that lived up to its name and championed in terms of size. Its short run of 19 weeks (from 17 October 1964 till 20 February 1965) included GRAND FIREWORK NUMBER. Collectors will know THE BIG ONE is quite difficult to come by, so there's a good chance you haven't seen this explosive front cover before. Enjoy!

FACEACHE HALLOWEEN!

With Halloween fast approaching, I will take a short break from Faceache story arches, and show two complete one-page sets of the feature – the only ones mentioning Halloween over the long run of the strip. 

We all know Ken was fond of creepy things, and his son Antony recalls that the Reid household used to celebrate Hallowe’en with gusto long before it became what it is today (you can read all about it in Antony’s intro to Vol. One of THE POWER PACK OF KEN REID)…

The first Halloween story can be found in BUSTER cover-dated 30 October 1976 - the issue that nearly marked the end of Faceache because BUSTER + MONSTER FUN COMIC merger took place a week later and the ‘lad with a bendable bonce’ was replaced by Martha’s Monster Make-Up. Luckily, he returned to the pages of the combined comic 15 weeks later thanks to popular demand.

The second Halloween tale of Faceache can be found in BUSTER issue of 31 October 1981. The two stories were drawn a few years apart, and the second one shows signs of the artist growing a bit tired. Ken wrote scripts for both episodes (he stopped writing his Faceache stories in the beginning of February 1982 when BUSTER absorbed JACKPOT).

Click on the POWER PACK banner in the right-hand column and get your copy of the POWER PACK OF KEN REID - the deluxe two-volume set of Ken’s strips in WHAM!, SMASH! and POW! comics of the ‘60s.

Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd

SERIALISED FACEACHE STORIES – PART THREE: THRASHBOTTOM SLEEPWALKING

It took Ken two months to come up with his next Faceache story arch, this one spanning two weeks, in BUSTER cover dated 6th May and 13th May, 1978.

Little Timothy Twadle receives a food parcel from home. He and Faceache decide to have a midnight feast while all other kids are asleep. Anxious not to wake Mr. Thrashbottom, they tie pillows to their feet... 

...Faceache is heating food tins on the stove; Alfie Skunk starts to snore and they put a clothes peg on his nose. But the snoring noise has already got Thrashbottom out of bed and he’s coming downstairs to check…

Thrashbottom catches the boys red-handed and prepares to thrash them but Faceache runs a couple of scrunges at him and discovers that the Headmaster has been walking in his sleep! Faceache instructs Timothy to keep an eye on the grub while he leads the fool back to bed. All is well until the tinned food explodes on the stove because they forgot to punch holes in the tins before heating...

...This time Thrashbottom comes down wide awake and the boys suffer a thrashing.

Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd

Click on the POWER PACK banner in the right-hand column and get your copy of the POWER PACK OF KEN REID - the deluxe two-volume set of Ken’s strips in WHAM!, SMASH! and POW! comics of the ‘60s.

SERIALISED FACEACHE STORIES – PART TWO: ONE-BOY SURVIVAL COURSE ADVENTURE

The next story arch was the longest of all - it spanned six weeks and can be found in BUSTER issues cover-dated 28th January, 1978 to 4th March, 1978. It is one of the craziest of the lot and is a favourite of mine…

Headmaster sends Faceache for 7 days to Bleak Rock Island on a one-boy survival course. Mr. Snipe gets an assignment to go together. Headmaster leaves the pair on the island without food or drink. The engine and the steering wheel of Mr. Thrashbottom's boat break and he heads for America. Headmaster is the only one who knows that Faceache and Mr. Snipe are all alone on the rock island.

Mr. Snipe only has one can of beans but his tin opener is in the pack that’s left on Headmaster’s boat. Mr. Snipe discards the beans but Fecache picks up the tin… 

Faceache scrunges sharp gnashers and opens the tin; he then scrunges into mouse-size so that he can survive on the beans for weeks. Unable to find Faceache on the island, Mr. Snipe thinks he must have plunged from the cliff to destruction. 

Meanwhile, headmaster’s boat runs out of fuel and he is now helpless and adrift, with nothing to eat but canned custard. A large ship appears on the horizon. It’s a luxury liner with Dad on board. Dad thinks Mr. Thrashbottom is too enjoying life on a long cruise, and sails off, never to be seen again. 

Dad's last ever appearance in the Faceache saga

Mr. Thrashbottom tries to force himself to eat the canned custard but it turns out that Mr. Snipe has stowed the wrong cans aboard because they contain Matron’s Bests Pimple Lotion for Schoolboys.

Starved Mr. Thrashbottom

Mr. Snipe gone potty...

Seven weeks pass; Mr. Snipe and the headmaster are starved, ravenous and barmy, while Faceache has grown fat from eating beans. Headmaster’s boat drifts back to Bleak Rock Island...

Headmaster and Mr. Snipe have turned cannibalistic and threaten to eat each other. Witnessing the frightful sight of their encounter, Faceache scrunges into a monster and makes the two jump into sea. Concerned that they will drown, Faceache saves them and flies them back to the school clinic for medical attention. 

Back at Belmonte, trouble is brewing: an official from the educational authority comes to see how the school is run… 

Inspector Snoop sees that Mr. Snipe's class are like mad beasts in their teacher’s long absence. Meanwhile, Faceache lands in the school grounds with Mr. Snipe and the Headmaster in his claws... 

The two teachers are starved and look like pipe-cleaners, while the unscrunged Faceache resembles a suet dumpling. Inspector canes Mr. Thrashbottom for being incapable of fending for himself on the island while the bright boy thrived on beans.

Headmaster has an idea to regain lost weight feeding his students on porridge for weeks and guzzling all the school grub himself. Fed up with porridge, Faceache frightens the school cook, who then mishandles the porridge dispenser and gets himself plastered in oatmeal. 

The cook rushes to Mr. Thrashbottom to report a monster in the dining hall but gets fired for wasting tons of porridge... 

With no more porridge left, Headmaster has no choice but to feed kids on what’s left of his grub.

Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd

Click on the POWER PACK banner in the right-hand column and get your copy of the POWER PACK OF KEN REID - the deluxe two-volume set of Ken’s strips in WHAM!, SMASH! and POW! comics of the ‘60s.