FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 23)

Here’s the second batch of examples of football strips by Ken Reid.

From SCORCHER dated 14th March, 1970

From SCORCHER dated 17th October, 1970

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 4th November, 1972

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 9th December, 1972

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 27th October, 1973

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 17th August, 1974

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 21st September, 1974

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 29th July, 1972

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: CHIP

Chip was another reprint strip in COR!! about a mischievous naughty little kid desperate to have some fun in his life. The feature was drawn by Graham Allen and originally appeared under the name of Kicks in POW! some five years prior. COR!! reprints started in the issue with the cover date of 15th April, 1972 (No. 98). A total of 22 episodes of the original series were reprinted with some long intervals, the last one appearing in the issue of 15th September, 1973 (No. 172)

From COR!! issue dated 14th July, 1973 (No. 163)

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 22)

Flag flies half-mast over my house because the team that I supported dropped out yesterday. Next time maybe... Hats off to super-Balotelli!

The next two football posts will be dedicated solely to those rarely-seen and nearly forgotten Ken Reid footy strips from SCORCHER (and later SCORCHER AND SCORE) in the period from 1970 until 1974 - Sub, Football Forum, Manager Matt, Hugh Fowler, The Soccernauts, Harry Hammertoe, Jimmy Jinks and Triptoe Triers.

From SCORCHER dated 31st January, 1970

From SCORCHER dated 22nd August, 1970

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 24th June, 1972

From SCORCHER AND ASCORE dated 30th September, 1972

From SCORCEHR AND SCORE dated 28th October, 1972

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 13th October, 1973

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 20th October, 1973

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 24th August, 1974

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 21)

Having won their fortune in the football pools, Bumpkin Billionaires were great fans of the game, willing to pay any price to see their favourite team. Followed by another two nice examples of the Match of the Week from SHIVER AND SHAKE. All by Mike Lacey. The bottom one is particularly interesting because the opponents are Mirth Shaking Inventions and Creepy Creations. Both were reader participation features in Shiver and Shake. The former were humorous inventions drawn to readers’ ideas, and the latter were comical monster creatures drawn by Ken Reid based on sketches submitted by the young readers.

From SHIVER AND SHAKE dated 8th September, 1973 (No. 27)

From SHIVER AND SHAKE dated 23rd February, 1974 (No. 51)

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: LUCKY CHARMER

Lucky Charmer was about a girl by the name of Lucy, better known to her friends and family as Lucky. She was a strong believer in horoscopes, lucky numbers, charms and all sorts of superstitions and they usually did her good. Lucky had a horse-shoe knitted on her jersey and her bed cover was decorated in a horseshoe pattern. Lucy’s parents never thought much of her silly superstitions but Lucy usually was the winner in the end.

The feature was launched in the New Year issue of 1972 dated January 1st (No. 83) and had a short run of 30 episodes until the issue dated 22nd July, 1972 (No. 112). The main artist was the same who illustrated Football Madd and the Chumpions. Unconfirmed information says it was Peter Davidson. Other artists stepped in on several occasions.

From COR!! issue dated 20th May, 1972  (No. 103)

From COR!! issue dated 22nd July, 1973 (No. 112) - last episode

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 20)

I recently stumbled across this double pager of Little Plum in the Beano No. 929 (7th May, 1960) and it caused me to remember the episode of General Nitt and His Barmy Army from WHAM! No. 63 (28th August, 1965) that was included in one of my earlier football posts. I put the two side by side and the result was this weird example of a SPOT THE DIFFERENCE puzzle… 

FOOTBALL THEME IN BRITISH HUMOUR COMICS TO CELEBRATE EURO 2012 (DAY 19)

Millions of people around the Globe are crazy about football but surely there are also those who are less than keen on the game. Here are three nice episodes of Hugh Fowler – the Man Who Hates Football from SCORCHER AND SCORE, illustrated by Ken Reid.

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 28th August, 1971

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 18th September, 1971

From SCORCHER AND SCORE dated 9th October, 1971

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: JASPER THE GRASPER

The original Jasper The Grasper was drawn by Ken Reid and appeared in WHAM! where it occupied  two pages and had a very short run in issues 42-47 (3rd April, 1965 – 8th May, 1965). It’s hard to tell why a brilliant feature like that was dropped so quickly but my guess would be that the artist had enough work as it were drawing weekly installments of Frankie Stein. The whole original Ken Reid series was reprinted in the first COR!! annual (1972) and served as a nice introduction to the sequel in COR!! that premiered in the first issue of 1972 dated January 1st (No. 83 ). 

The opening episode of the reprint of the original series in COR!! 1972 annual

The setting was different to that of all the other COR!! strips and offered a look at Cortown as it was in the Victorian times. The first episode tells us that many many years ago there lived a man of means who was a meanie of a man. His name was J.McGrab but those who knew him called him Jasper the Grasper. The new version of Jasper was similar to the WHAM! original: the looks and habits of the tight-fisted old skinflint remained unchanged and his talent to hear the “jingle” of a fallen coin from far away was as strong as ever. Jasper was obsessed with saving and hoarding and he wouldn’t spend a penny unless he absolutely had to. Jasper never got tired of devising new and crafty money saving ideas and putting them into practice with predictably unsatisfactory results. 

Occasionally he got himself a companion: nephew Silas came to stay with Jasper starting from 20th May, 1972 (issue No. 103) but said his good-byes 10 weeks later.  In the issue dated 7th July, 1973 (No. 162) a gypsy who was retiring because his rich uncle had left him a fortune gave Jasper his monkey as a present. For a short while Jasper acquired a new partner that caused him a lot of trouble but also inspired some fresh money-making ideas.

From COR!! issue dated 17th June, 1972 (No. 107), featuring nephew Silas

Toonhound.com has an excellent profile of Jasper the Grasper with lots of trivia here. When you read it, please, be aware that it has one major error: none of the episodes in COR!! weeklies were drawn by Ken Reid, nor there were any Ken Reid reprints in the weeklies. Trevor Metcalfe who was the artist of the second series in COR!! was in charge of the feature from the very start until the last installment in the penultimate issue of COR!! with the cover date of 8th June, 1974 (No. 210), signed by the artist.

From COR!! issue dated 10th November, 1973 (No. 180)

  

Jasper the Grasper started off as a one-pager and was promoted to 1 ½ pages from the issue dated 30th December, 1972 (No. 135). It made four front cover appearances in COR!! issues dated 21st July 1973, 15th September 1973, 12th January 1974 and 4th May 1974 (issue Nos. 164, 173, 189 and 205).

From COR!! issue dated 23rd March, 1974 (No. 199)

Here are details about appearances of Jasper the Grasper outside of COR!! weeklies. As this one my favourite strips and one of the highlights in COR!!, there is a good chance to find examples of the artwork in my blogposts dedicated to the particular Holiday Specials and Annuals.

 

1972 COR!! Comic Annual – reprint of the full original Ken Reid series from Wham!

1972 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1973 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1973 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1974 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1974 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1975 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by an artist whose name I don’t know

1976 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episodes, one by Trevor Metcalfe and one by Alf Saporito

1977 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Alf Saporito

1978 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 new episode in full colour by an artist whose name I don’t know

1978 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 new episode in b/w by Les Barton

1979 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Les Barton + 1 episode by John Geering

1980 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episodes John Geering

1981 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe + one new episode by John Geering

1981 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 reprint

1982 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Frank McDiarmid + one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1982 COR!! Holiday Special – 3 reprints + a new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1983 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1983 COR!! Holiday Special – a new episode by Les Barton,

1984 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode by Les Barton

1985 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode by Les Barton

1986 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode signed by Francis Boyle