1982 COR!! HOLIDAY SPECIAL

1982 COR!! Holiday Special, 50 p., 64 pages

Contents: Chalky (2 new episodes and 1 reprint), Hire A Horror (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies, including 1 in full colour), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke, Tomboy (4 reprints, including 2 in full colour), Whacky (2 reprints), Young MacDonald and His Farm (2 episodes by  Ron Turner), Andy’s Ants (2 reprints), Donovan’s Dad (3 reprints including one in full colour), Nightmare (2 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Benny Bendo (3 episodes), Jack Pott (one reprint from an old COR!! weekly), Tricky Dicky (2 reprints), Football Madd (a new episode by Les Barton  + 2 more episodes by other artists), Jasper the Grasper (1 reprint from an old COR!! weekly and a new 3-page episode by Trevor Metcalfe), The Gasworks Gang (new episode by McDiarmid), Gus Gags (2 episodes), If You Go Down to the Woods Today (join the dots colour centrespread by Ron Turner), Tease Break, Fiends and Neighbours (3-pager by Nigel Edwards).

The Special was unusual in that it featured two stories on the front cover: a dramatic panel offering a taste of the Young MacDonald and His Farm adventure strip appeared alongside with the regular cover stars Ivor Lott and Tony Broke. There were two 4-pagers of Young MacDonald inside, both illustrated by the ever-excellent Ron Turner. As I said before, the feature was a recurrent one in COR!! annuals and holiday specials and will receive its own dedicated post later on, so I won’t discuss the instalments here but they stood out prominently in this COR!! Special. Ron Turner also contributed the centrespread with a join-the-dots puzzle. The young owner did the puzzle in my copy many years ago, but that’s what it was there for, so I hope you won’t mind :)

There was only one episode of Ivor Lott and Tony Broke. It was illustrated by an artist whose name I don’t know but I am sure he drew a lot for IPC comics in the 80s. I hope someone will identify him for me. Here are two panels:

Frank McDiarmid drew a nice three-pager of The Gasworks Gang with a holiday theme. Here is a taste (the first panel and the last):

Trevor Metcalfe was back on Jasper the Grasper once again. It is interesting to note that a reprint of an episode from an old COR!! weekly was also included. Metcalfe’s style had changed almost beyond recognition over the decade, Jasper the Grasper became a cuddly character, nothing like the version in the early COR!! episodes. Here is a fragment of the reprint, followed by half a page of Metcalfe’s new version: 

Les Barton took a break this time and his contribution was limitd to just one new episode of Football Madd. It was good to see another artist illustrate Fiends and Neighbours for a change and the artist was Nigel Edwards whose beautiful three-pager is another highlight in this 1982 edition of COR!! Holiday Special. Here it is in its entirety:

In combination with some nice reprints from old COR!! weeklies this edition made quite an appealing package and I would probably rate it as my favourite COR!! Holiday Special.

COR!! COMIC ANNUAL 1982

COR!! Comic Annual 1982 £1.95, 128 pages.

Contents: Teacher’s Pet (3 episodes, one new by Mike Lacey), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (4 episodes – one new by Robert Nixon), The Gasworks Gang (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies and  1 new episode signed by Frank McDiarmid), The Slimms (2 episodes by Terry Bave, one signed), Chalky, Football Madd (3 episodes), Gus Gorilla (4 episodes), Teasers, Jelly Baby (2 episodes), Hire A Horror (5 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Val’s Vanishing Cream (by Mike Lacey), Donovan’s Dad (signed by Terry Bave), Wilfred the World’s Worst Wizard, Helpful Hettie (by Tom Williams), Cowboy Quiz, Young MacDonald and his Farm, Snakes Alive jokes, Smartie Artie (2 episodes), Tomboy (2 episodes), Jack Pott (2 episodes), Andy’s Ants, Cats and Dogs jokes, Jasper the Grasper (two brand new episodes – one by Frank McDiarmid and one by Trevor Metcalfe), Puzzle Fun Time, You Can’t Make Monkeys Out of Us! Jokes, Fiends and Neighbours (two episodes – one by Les Barton and one by another artist who also drew a couple of episodes in old COR!! weeklies), Whacky (4 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Spotter (by Tom Williams), Benny Bendo, Caw!! Jokes, A Quick and Easy Puzzle Page!, General Knowledge Quiz, Try Again Len, Riddles, Swopper Stan, Nightmare (a new episode by Les Barton).

It is good to see original artists drawing new sets of their old characters in a COR!! publication again: Robert Nixon contributed a nice 4-pager of Ivor Lott and Tony Broke, Mike Lacey illustrated a new episode of Val’s Vanishing Cream and Frank McDiarmid drew a new set of The Gasworks Gang after quite some time. Here is Ivor Lott and Tony Broke by Bob Nixon:

Two features were drawn by illustrators other than their usual ones: there is an episode of Teacher’s Pet by Mike Lacey (the only one so far, as far as I can tell) and a 3-pager of Jasper the Grasper by Frank McDiarmid (also the only one that I’ve come across).

A panel from the set of Jasper the Grasper by Frank McDiarmid

Les Barton’s Fiends and Neighbours didn’t have a new masthead this time but there were one or two large dramatic panels showing Jonses’ sufferings, here is a nice one:

Try Again Len was the only one-off in the Annual. It looks rather uninspired to me... 

COR!! HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1981

COR!! Holiday Special 1981, price: 45 p., 64 pages.

Contents: Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (2 new episodes including one in full colour and one reprint), Andy’s Ants (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies by Terry Bave), Whacky (4 reprints from COR!! weeklies by Mike Lacey, 1 in full colour), Tomboy (3 episodes, 1 in colour), Jasper the Grasper (a reprint of an old episode from COR!!), Hire A Horror (3 reprints including 2 in full colour), Gus Gorilla (by Tom Williams), The Gasworks Gang (2 reprints), Nightmare (illustrated by Les Barton), Val’s Vanishing Cream (2 episodes by Tom Williams), Teacher’s Pet (2 reprints, one in full colour), Just Joking, Fiends and Neighbours (brand new story illustrated by Les Barton), Football Madd (2 reprints), Donovan’s Dad (2 reprints by Les Barton), Chalky (3 episodes, one signed by Dick Millington), Benny Bendo, Tricky Dicky (reprint), Tease Break (2 instalments), Young Macdonald and his Farm (signed by Parko), Gus Gags, Jelly Baby, The Slimms (by Terry Bave).

Three stories had original mastheads that I mentioned in the previous post, two by Les Barton and one by Dick Millington: 

Here is one of the three sets of Ivor Lott and Tony Broke from the Special. I believe it is an original story, not a reprint, and the illustrator is probably Crocker. 

The episode of Gus Gorilla was a bit unusual because it was illustrated by Tom Williams:

COR!! COMIC ANNUAL 1981

 COR!! COMIC ANNUAL 1981. £1.50, 128 pages.

The contents: Val’s Vanishing Cream (3 episodes), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (6 episodes: 5 reprints from old COR!! weeklies and one new episode by Crocker), Fiends and Neighbours (2 episodes illustrated by Les Barton), Jelly Baby (3 episodes), Spotter (2 episodes), Whacky (4 reprints of original Mike Lacey’s episodes from old COR!! weeklies), Benny Bendo (3 episodes), Nightmare (3 episodes by Les Barton), Jasper the Grasper (2 brand new episodes), The Gasworks Gang (4 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Gus Gorilla (3 episodes), Wilfred the World’s Worst Wizard (2 episodes), Football Madd (3 episodes, one by Les Barton), Hire A Horror (2 reprints), Spaghetti Sid puzzle, Young Macdonald and his Farm, The Slimms (illustrated by Terry Bave), Tease Break (2 instalments), Willy Worry (2 episodes, one by Terry Bave and one by David Jenner), Donovan’s Dad (by Terry Bave), Tomboy, Prehistoric Maze puzzle, Helpful Hettie (2 episodes), Andy’s Ants (by Terry Bave), Teacher’s Pet, Gus Gags, Chalky.

The artist who I believe is Tom Williams contributed quite a large number of pages in this edition (Val’s Vanishing Cream, Spotter and Helpful Hettie – 2 episodes of each). Here is a set of Helpful Hettie. Could someone confirm it is indeed by Tom Williams please?

The book contained two different versions of Jasper the Grasper - one by Trevor Metcalfe (the original artist who illustrated the story in COR!! weeklies) and one by John Geering. 

What I like about Fiends and Neighbours is that from this edition onwards Les Barton started drawing large original mastheads that sometimes served as opening panels of the story: