welcome and enjoy!

Hi and welcome to my blog about comics from other people’s childhood! It is dedicated primarily to British humour comics of the 60s and 70s. The reason they are not from my childhood is simply because I didn’t live in the UK back then (nor do I live there now). I knew next to nothing about them until fairly recently but since then I’ve developed a strong liking for the medium and amassed a large collection, including a number of complete or near complete sets. My intention is to use this blog as a channel for sharing my humble knowledge about different titles, favourite characters and creators as I slowly research my collection.

QUICK TIP: this blog is a sequence of posts covering one particular comic at a time. The sequence follows a certain logic, so for maximum results it is recommended that the blog is read from the oldest post up.

Copyright of all images and quotations used here is with their respective owners. Any such copyrighted material is used exclusively for educational purposes and will be removed at first notice. All other text copyright Irmantas P.



Wednesday, June 5, 2013

A LOOK AT SHIVER & SHAKE STRIPS: CREEPY CREATIONS



Creepy Creations pioneered the fine tradition of monster-themed back page pinups in IPC children’s comics of the seventies. The editor of SHIVER AND SHAKE probably came up with the idea in order to utilise Ken Reid’s talent for drawing monsters and freaks. Readers of SHIVER AND SHAKE were invited to send their sketches and each week one lucky entrant whose idea was selected and redrawn by a “not-so-tame Shiver and Shake artist” received a prize of £1. Creepy Creations had very exotic names (e.g. The Rustington Webbed-Footed Wriggling Flu Germ or The Long-Haired Luvvaduck from Liverpool, etc.). I wonder if they were suggested by readers or made up in house?

The large number of entries for Creepy Creations contest soon prompted the addition of a Creepy Creations Runners-Up page presenting a weekly selection of the entries that didn’t quite make it to the star-spot on the back page but fully deserved to appear in print and attract a prize of 50 p. Creepy Creations Runners-Up first appeared in SHIVER AND SHAKE issue No. 7 (21st April, 1973) and occupied a full page until issue No. 47 (26th January, 1974). You can view some nice examples in an earlier post of the series here. From issue 48 it was reduced to half a page and found itself sharing the space with Cackles feature. Towards the end of the paper's run Creepy Creations Runners-Up shrank to a mere quarter of a page and the entries became ever-less inspired. Perhaps the Editor was saving the good ones for World-Wide Weirdies in WHOOPEE! Nonetheless, the feature continued until the very last edition of the paper.

The Creepy Creations proper appeared on the back cover of every single issue of SHIVER AND SHAKE. Just like many IPC comics, SHIVER AND SHAKE didn’t have issue numbers but Creepy Creations were numbered and therefore provide a convenient way of identifying individual issues. Ken Reid contributed the vast majority of the illustrations but several drawings were by other artists. Two early ones were in fact taken from Reg Parlett’s Hire A Horror strip in COR!! comic: the horror from COR!! issue of 11th July 1970 (No. 6) reappeared as The Chip Chomping Tater Terror of Tring (Creepy Creation No. 2) in Shiver and Shake dated 17th March, 1973:


…and Igor from COR!! issue of 7th August, 1971 (No. 62) re-emerged as The Cowley Cowdog (Creepy Creation No. 9) in Shiver and  Shake dated 5th May, 1973:


A few other Creepy Creations were drawn by someone else, or perhaps they were good quality sketches sent by the readers?  Here are two examples:



Below is the index of all Creepy Creations:
Issue No. 1 March 10th, 1973 The One-Eyed Wonk of Wigan
Issue No. 2 March 17th, 1973 The Chip Chomping Tater Terror of Tring – by Reg Parlett from Hire A Horror (COR!!)
Issue No. 3 March 24th, 1973 The Hooter-Hiker of Harrogate
Issue No. 4 March 31st, 1973 The Fanatical Fungus-Grower of Frogpool
Issue No. 5 April 7th, 1973 The Trumpington Trumpeter
Issue No. 6 April 14th, 1973 The Manchester Aqua-Kwak


Issue No. 7 April 21st, 1973 The Boggle-Eyed Butty-Biter of Sandwich
Issue No. 8 April 28th, 1973 The Long-Haired Luvvaduck from Liverpool
Issue No. 9 May 5th, 1973 The Cowley Cowdog – by Reg Parlett from Hire A Horror (COR!!)
Issue No. 10 May 12th, 1973 The Horrible Hobble of Harrow


Issue No. 11 May 19th, 1973 Dripula the Monster from the Swamp
Issue No. 12 May 26th, 1973 The Turkish Turn-Eyed Twitter
Issue No. 13 June 2nd, 1973 The Five-Footed Fiend From Fleet
Issue No. 14 June 9th, 1973 The Sunningdale Golf Ball Bat – this one doesn’t look like Ken Reid at all
Issue No. 15 June 16th, 1973 The Green Groper – this one too doesn’t look like Ken Reid
Issue No. 16 June 23rd, 1973 The Gruesome Ghoul From Goole
Issue No. 17 June 30th, 1973 The Flying Freak of Fife
Issue No. 18 July 7th, 1973 A Scottish Spook From Selkirk


Issue No. 19 July 14th, 1973 The Many-Headed Monster From Monmouth – Not by Ken Reid
Issue No. 20 July 21st, 1973 The Rustington Webbed-Footed Wriggling Flu Germ
Issue No. 21 July 28th, 1973 The Goggle-Eyed Goon of Gloucester. A friend of this blog Kid Robson shared some interesting details about this particular instalment in his post here.
Issue No. 22 August 4th, 1973 The Money-Grabber of Montrose
Issue No. 23 August 11st, 1973 The Clacton Candy Shop Monster
Issue No. 24 August 18th, 1973 The Great Train Horror – Not by Ken Reid
Issue No. 25 August 25th, 1973 The Pear-Drop Pincher from Paddington
Issue No. 26 September 1st, 1973 The Disco-Tec. What's with the Sherlock Holmes image of the DJ?


Issue No. 27 September 8th, 1973 The Fork-Eating Spaghetti Spook
Issue No. 28 September 15th, 1973 Frankinspider
Issue No. 29 September 22/1973 The Marrow Chiller of Charlton
Issue No. 30 September 29th, 1973 The Gruesome Green-Fingered Gardener of Greenwich
Issue No. 31 October 6th, 1973 The Fanged Fiend from Finland
Issue No. 32 October 13rd, 1973 The Fearsome Food Muncher of Snortlewick
Issue No. 33 October 20th, 1973 The Two-Handed High Eye Bird
Issue No. 34 October 27th, 1973 The Creepy Fly-Swatter from Swattington
Issue No. 35 November 3rd, 1973 The Prune-Eating Plonk From Perivale
Issue No. 36 November 10th, 1973 The Hairy Horror of Hengoed
Issue No. 37 November 17th, 1973 The Gruesome Grannie of Grantham


Issue No. 38 November 24th, 1973 The Double-Winged Wimble of Wallasey
Issue No. 39 December 1st, 1973 The Flying Haggis from Hamilton
Issue No. 40 December 8th, 1973 The Horrid Hand from Hull
Issue No. 41 December 15th, 1973 The Vampire Banana
Issue No. 42 December 22nd, 1973 The Wart Trunk Terror of Teesside
Issue No. 43 December 29th, 1973 The Horrible Estate-Eater from Eaton
Issue No. 44 January 5th, 1974 The Terrible Twig of Truro


Issue No. 45 January 12th, 1974 The Amazing Electric Light Blob
Issue No. 46 January 19th, 1974 The Chelmsford Chaser
Issue No. 47 January 26th, 1974 The Longford Lolly Licker
Issue No. 48 February 2nd, 1974 "Gork" the Slimming Instructor
Issue No. 49 February 9th, 1974 The Geordie Mining Monster from Newcastle
Issue No. 50 February 16th, 1974 The Freaky Fried Fish Finger from Frome
Issue No. 51 February 23rd, 1974 The Mischievious Mousey Monster from Manchester
Issue No. 52 March 2nd, 1974 The Barmy Birmingham Banjo Basher
Issue No. 53 March 9th, 1974 The Venomous Vacuum from Ventnor + two extra Mini Monsters in Frankie Stein Mini pull-out book: The Horrific Hot Water Bottle from Formby and Ye Olde Tower of Haunts; you can see both Mini Monsters in an earlier post of this series here. 


Issue No. 54 March 16th, 1974 A Crab-Nosed Clodhopper from Cleethorpes
Issue No. 55 March 23rd, 1974 The Soggy Seaweed Monster of Southsea
Issue No. 56 March 30th, 1974 The Huge Humbug-Hugging Honey Sucker from Hampton
Issue No. 57 April 6th, 1974 The Grub-Grabbing Gourmet from Glutton
Issue No. 58 April 13rd, 1974 The Mug-Eyed Moon Watcher
Issue No. 59 April 20th, 1974 The Barmy Wellington Boot Bee Monster of Barnsley
Issue No. 60 April 27th, 1974 The Feathered Flop from Filey
Issue No. 61 May 4th, 1974 Hans Eyeboot - the Gruesome Guard
Issue No. 62 May 11st, 1974 The Horrific Horror Chess Men
Issue No. 63 May 18th, 1974 The Rolling Wheeler from Skeleton Rock
Issue No. 64 May 25th, 1974 Lamplight Larry from Lichfield
Issue No. 65 June 1st, 1974 The Tee-Caddy Terror
Issue No. 66 June 8th, 1974 Terry the Terrible
Issue No. 67 June 15th, 1974 The Phantom Highland Mummy


Issue No. 68 June 22/1974 The Pugnacious Piano of Peterborough
Issue No. 69 June 29th, 1974 The Monster Map of England and Wales
Issue No. 70 August 3rd, 1974 The Rumbling Raspberry from Rustington
Issue No. 71 August 10th, 1974 The Terrifying Toadstool Terror of Torquay
Issue No. 72 August 17th, 1974 The Three Legged Eyeball
Issue No. 73 August 24th, 1974 Nelly the Kneecap-Nipping Telly from Newcastle
Issue No. 74 August 31st, 1974 Triclopus
Issue No. 75 September 7th, 1974 The Abominable Hairy-Plane
Issue No. 76 September 14th, 1974 The Terrible Tortoise from Terrindon
Issue No. 77 September 21st, 1974 The Slippy Sloppy Horror Soap
Issue No. 78 September 28th, 1974 The Mersey Tunneller
Issue No. 79 October 5th, 1974 Bartholomew The Low-Flying Crocodile Catching Bluebottle


Creepy Creations in Shiver and Shake Holiday Specials
The Decoration Demon
The Gift Wrapped Ghoul (in black and white)
The Plum Pudding Thingy
Ronnie the Rampaging Reindeer

Creepy Creations in Shiver and Shake Annuals
The Snowmanosaurus of Winterton
The Slippery Slyder of Sledmere

1975 calendar (4 pages)

Ken Reid must have enjoyed drawing the feature and in all likelihood it was hugely popular with the readers because one year after its premiere in the first issue of SHIVER AND SHAKE a similar feature was launched in the new WHOOPEE! comic where it was called Wanted Posters. When the two comics merged in 1974, the feature was renamed as World-Wide Weirdies and continued until October of 1978.

This post rounds up my reviews of the strips that started in the first issue of SHIVER AND SHAKE. That’s roughly a half of all SHIVER AND SHAKE strips accounted for. Although the comic’s main strips (Frankie Stein, Scream Inn, Lolly Pop, Sweeny Toddler) have already been covered, there is still a lot of goodness ahead, including Grimly Feendish, Wizards Anonymous, Ghouldilocks and others, so stay tuned for more :)

Sunday, June 2, 2013

A LOOK AT SHIVER & SHAKE STRIPS: YE HAUNTED LAKE


Ye Haunted Lake was another weird but short-lived strip from SHIVER section. The lake was a dangerous body of water and a little girl was the only one who knew that disturbing it meant asking for trouble. In the first panel of each episode we see some unsuspecting stranger who is about to do something on the lake. The girl tries to warn him/her/them about the danger but is always brushed aside and the stranger faces the consequences. Interestingly, the lake was so full of tricks and surprises that you could never know what to expect… 





Ye Haunted Lake ran in SHIVER AND SHAKE issues 1 – 26 and missed Nos. 8, 14, 22, 24, 25. It was illustrated by the same artist who drew the later episodes of the Hand.

Ye Haunted Lake was on the last inside page of the first issue of SHIVER AND SHAKE. In a few days’ time I’ll take a look at Creepy Creations pin-ups on the back page of the paper.