1978 SHIVER AND SHAKE ANNUAL

1978 Shiver and Shake Annual was a 144-page book priced one pound.

Contents: Sweeny Toddler (four episodes by Tom Paterson, 3 signed); Ghoul Getters Ltd (two  episodes by Trevor Metcalfe and one by someone else), The Desert Fox (one episode by Terry Bave and one by someone else), Shiver (2 episodes by Terry Bave), Shake (5 episodes by Terry Bave), Scrapper’s Scrapbook (5 reprints of a strip by Leo Baxendale but I don’t know where from), The Hand (two episodes, one by Les Barton and one by someone else), Frankie Stein (three sets - one by Frank McDiarmid and two by someone else, possibly Alf Saporito), Blunder Puss (2 episodes by Jim Crocker), Webster (two episodes – one by Les Barton and one by someone else but not Terry Bave), The Duke’s Spook (2 episodes), The Shake Squad (4 reprints of The Lion Lot by Leo Baxendale from LION comic), Toby’s Timepiece (8-pager, adventure), Sports School (2 episodes by Jim Watson, signed), Horrornation Street (two 3-pagers by Tom Williams), The Ghost’s Revenge (two episodes, most probably by Crocker), Tough Nutt and Softy Centre (two 3-page sets by Norman Mansbridge), Robby Hood and His One Man Band (reprint from COR!! weeklies); Webster, Lolly Pop (three sets, two signed by Les Barton and one drawn by someone else, possibly Arthur Martin), Grimly Feendish (a 4-pager by Paul Ailey); Creepy Car (most probably by Reg Parlet), Scream Inn (reprint of the episode from SHIVER & SHAKE No. 4), ‘Orrible Hole (a strip from WHOOPEE! that hasn’t been seen in Shiver and Shake before), The Forest Legion (8 pages), Space Jinx spot-the-difference puzzle; Mirth Shakers (gags, 2 pages by Tony Goffe), Revolt of the Robomen (space adventure by Ron Turner, 6-pages).

This was the first SHIVER AND SHAKE Annual that stopped pretending it was a two-comics-in-one package, and the first without blocks of full-colour pages. That said, the Annual was an “all-colour book” in the tradition of IPC comics of the seventies when all pages were printed in b/w with added red, yellow, orange, green or blue.

Both mascots were on the cover but inside SHAKE outdid SHIVER by good margin: there were as many as five Shake sets as opposed to merely two of Shiver.

Now let us take a look as some of the familiar strips.

Ghoul Getters Ltd rid a quaint English Inn of a spooky highwayman who always scared the tourists away; then they dealt with an interfering spooky fireman and hired him out to a car wash; in the third story they handled a phantom painter who painted in all the wrong places until Ghoul Getters found him the right job painting traffic lane line markings.

There were three new sets of Frankie Stein. In the first one Professor Cube tried to get rid of Frankie with the aid of a radio-controlled robot fly but it accidentally disturbed a bee-hive and the bees turned against the poor Professor. In the second episode Prof. Cube came up with an idea to build a monster wooden puppet and bring it to life with the potion he brought Frankie to life with, hoping that the puppet will then help him get rid of the ‘useless twerp’. Frankie derailed the plan by spilling the potion and bringing furniture and floor boards to life instead. In the third story Prof. Cube pretended to be Santa and sent Frankie off on a rocket-powered armchair by persuading him it was a sledge driven by Rudolph. Frankie ended up in the town shop and picked lots of presents while Prof Cube had to pick the bills for the toys and damages… The first set was by Frank McDiarmid but I don’t know who did the other two, Alf Saporito, perhaps?

Those of you who read the previous two SHIVER AND SHAKE blogposts will remember that I didn’t think much of the adventure tale Toby’s Timepiece. Well, I have to say that the 8-pager in this annual is definitely an improvement because it tells quite an agreeable story. Toby’s magical pocket watch transports him to a distant future in which his house as well as the whole neighbourhood has been enclosed under a dome and become part of the Museum of Ancient Culture. This time Toby helps law-enforcement (securobots) and a vigilant local boy Kyton to catch two crooks who stole some antiques (a kettle and a mixer) from Toby’s house. Toby himself is under suspicion at first but he soon demonstrates his good intentions. By now Toby appears to have learnt to operate the timepiece – he knows he’s got to wind it to put it into action. The only weak point in this particular instalment is that Toby does this without a reason, as if in an urge to get his fix of random time-travelling without a particular aim or purpose. This is how the story began:

The 4 pager about the rottenest crook in the World is in fact two stories connected by the same instrument of crime - a giant bubble that Grimly Feendish blows with the chewing gum he pinched from a bubble gum machine; in the first story Grimly uses the bubble gum bubble in yet another failed attempt to steal money from the bank, and in the second story he uses the bubble to let himself into Lord Moneybag’s party but ends up behind bars, together with all of his aides. Artwork is again by Paul Ailey, I believe:

In the episode of the Forest Legion Boss and Basher are looking for a hidden treasure with a map they stole from the local museum. They come well-prepared but stand no chance against the Forest Legion who outsmart them and pass the treasure to the local forest tramp Smokey Joe so that he can claim a reward for finding it. I would very much like to find out the artist’s name:

The Annual had an unusually large proportion of adventure stories. In addition to 8 pages of the Toby’s Timepiece tale mentioned above, it also contained two adventure stories illustrated by Ron Turner:  16 pages of Robby Hood and His One Man Band (originally from COR!! Nos. 29 – 36; you can read my review of the story in an old blogpost from my COR!! series HERE) and 6 pages of Revolt of the Robomen – most likely new work drawn especially for the Annual (although I remember seeing many such space adventure tales by Ron Turner in the early years of WHIZZER AND CHIPS). Here is the opening page with a splash panel:

Leo Baxendale was represented with 4 pages of The Shake Squad that were reprints of The Lion Lot from LION comic. Each instalment had a headline: The Shake Squad… Really Dig Doing the Garden, …Having a Fair Old Time, …Running Their Indoor Sports, …Driving a Dad with their Zoo. Did the original episodes in LION have these? 

The Annual also has 5 episodes of Scrapper’s Scrapbook that are also reprints of Leo’s illustrations but I don’t know where from, although I am positive I’ve seen them somewhere… Can anyone help please?

Finally, here is Space Jinx – a spot the difference puzzle that looks like a reprint too but I don’t know where from or who the illustrator was:

For dessert, here is one of the four episodes of Sweeny Toddler by Tom Paterson (all were two-pagers):

1977 SHIVER & SHAKE HOLIDAY SPECIAL

The 1977 Sh&Sh Holiday Special cost 30 p. It sported a busy cover by Mike Lacey and was 64 pages thick. Here’s what was inside: Shiver by Terry Bave, Horrornation Street by Tom Williams, The Hand by Les Barton, Mirth Shakers gags (two 2-pagers, some gags signed by Crocker), The Ghost’s Revenge, Grimly Feendish (2 sets, a two-pager signed by Paul Ailey and one reprint from Smash!), Desert Fox (by someone else rather than Terry Bave), The Shake Squad (2 sets,  reprints of The Lion Lot by Leo Baxendale from Lion comic), Freddie Fang the Werewolf Cub (reprints from COR!! comic, two in full colour and two in b/w, all by Reg Parlet), Wizard Prang and Demon Druid (2 reprints from Smash!/Pow! by Mike Brown); Memory Game puzzle by Terry Bave featuring different Shiver and Shake characters, The Duke’s Spook, Sports School by Jim Watson, Scatty Bat (2 reprints from Whizzer and Chips), Lolly Pop by Sid Burgon, Beach Baffler spot-the-difference puzzle by Tom Williams featuring Horrornation Street characters and more, Webster by Terry Bave; Sweeny Toddler centresperead in full colour by Tom Paterson, Spot the Difference puzzle, Toby’s Timepiece (adventure tale, 5 pages), Moana Lisa, Ghouldilocks,  Frankie Stein in “Air Crafty” (4-pager), Fixer, Mirth-Shaking Inventions, Tough Nutt and Softy Centre (a three-pager by Norman Mansbridge), Shake by Terry Bave.

There was a number of small surprises in the magazine. Paul Ailey illustrated and signed one episode of Grimly Feendish and did quite a good job drawing it, IMHO:

 

As many as three strips – Moana Lisa, Ghouldilocks and Fixer (six pages all together) were drawn by a new artist whose style I haven’t seen in Shiver and Shake before. Was it Barrie Appleby?

Moana Lisa

Ghouldilocks

Fixer

The 4-page set of Frankie Stein (in which Professor Cube tried to sneak off for his holiday while Frankie played with model planes) is by an artist whose name I don’t know:

This Holiday Special includes the second story of Toby’s Timepiece – the adventure tale about a boy who owned an amazing watch which held the secret of time travel. The crazy story of how he came to possess the timepiece had appeared half-a-year ago in 1977 Shiver and Shake annual and I covered it in detail in my previous post HERE. In this one Toby’s class go on a treasure hunt arranged by their teacher but Toby suddenly finds himself in the past and runs into some serious pirates and a real treasure. The trouble with the timepiece is that Toby appears to have no clue how it works – this time its magical powers are activated by an accidental jolt against a rock. One gets an impression that once the magical powers are at work, they can transport Toby anywhere they want in time and space, the clueless boy has no control over them whatsoever. On the other hand, he can easily return to the place and time where he left from. Anything can happen in the bizarrely illogical world of poorly-written children’s mystery adventure comics…

Both instalments of The Shake Squad were reprints from Lion where the single-panel full-pagers were drawn by Leo Baxendale. I haven’t seen originals in Lion but I doubt if they were in colour. They do look very nice in this Holiday Special. I showed one last year in my London Olympics series HERE, and here is the other one:

 

I will finish this post about 1977 Shiver and Shake Holiday Special with the Memory Game puzzle. Terry Bave drew this large panel with lots of different Shiver and Shake characters. See how many you can recognise:

As an off-topic post scriptum, I will mention that the recently closed Compal auctions offered one Shiver and Shake-related item - the original of the cover illustration for the issue dated 14th September, 1974 (No. 76).  Indian ink on cartridge paper. 17 x 16 ins. ONCE AGAIN, it was incorrectly described as something that Bob Nixon drew for WHOOPEE! in the early 80s.  The buyer paid £72 and I happen to be the unhappy underbidder… Here is the artwork and its printed version: