1976 COR!! HOLIDAY SPECIAL

1976 COR!! Holiday Special still had the cover price of 25 p but the page count came down to 64.  It was the first one to feature Ivor Lott and Tony Broke on the front cover (signed by Robert Nixon). The characters remained cover stars of all COR!! specials and annuals from this edition onwards.

Here is the lineup of strips and features: Gus Gorilla (3 new episodes by Alf Saporito), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (2 Reg Parlett reprints from old COR!! weeklies and one new episode by Robert Nixon in full colour on the centrespread), Andy’s Ants (new episode by Terry Bave), Tomboy (new episode), Mike’s Magic Mould (4 reprints from old COR!! weeklies, two in full colour), Hire A Horror (4 Reg Parlett reprints from old COR!! weeklies, two in full colour), Donovan’s Dad (new episode by Terry Bave), Dial “T” for Twit (2 pages by Tom Paterson, signed), Soldier Spoon (4 episodes), Football Madd (4 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Whacky (new episode), The Gasworks Gang (one reprint from an old COR!! weekly and one new episode by Frank McDiarmid), Look… Look… Look..! puzzle (by Les Barton), The Slimms (new episode), Jack Pott (new episode), Tease Break feature  (3 pages), Travel Ticklers gags (2 pages), Teacher’s Pet (new episode), Jollidays jokes (2 pages), Night Mare (new episode by Les Barton), Tricky Dicky (new episode), Jelly Baby (new episode), Willy Worry (signed by Terry Bave), Chalky (by Les Barton).

The special had only one one-off and it was a set of Dial “T” for Twit drawn and signed by Tom Paterson. It was one of those special agent comedy strips that were so common in British comics in the 60s and the 70s. Clumsy Sam Twitt and his assistant Cyril deal with enemy agents Ivan and Otto (an unlikely duo of a Russian and a German, unless he was from East Germany…) who attempt to steal a secret shrinking device invented by Prof. Klott:

Terry Bave and Les Barton drew quite a few pages for this edition. Here are three puzzle pages by Les Barton. Note Les Barton’s versions of many COR!! star characters in the Tease Break feature (pages 2 and 3 below):