A LOOK AT SHIVER & SHAKE STRIPS: HIRE A HORROR

Hire A Horror was a strip that originated in COR!! and appeared there regularly throughout the run of the paper from 1970 until 1974, running up to 200+ episodes. Those of you who followed the COR!! series on this blog last year may very well remember the post that I did on the feature. If you didn’t follow the series, you may wish to check the post out because in addition to factual details and my babble, it also includes some nice examples from the hand of the original artist Reg Parlett and his successor Bob Nixon, and even some images of original artwork by Reg Parlett.  Click HERE for the old post.

When COR!! comic merged into BUSTER on June 22nd, 1974, Hire A Horror didn’t make it to the combined paper. However, a week after the merger the strip reappeared in SHIVER AND SHAKE No. 69 with the cover date of June 29th, 1974. The ‘spooky’ SHIVER section of the paper was a natural home to the strip that was an excellent example of the horror comedy genre. On the occasion of the transfer to SHIVER AND SHAKE, the strip was given a small face-lift with an excellent new logo by Robert Nixon.

Hire A Horror ran in SHIVER AND SHAKE for ten weeks until the penultimate issue. We’ll never know if the brief run in SHIVER AND SHAKE was part of a plan to transfer it to WHOPPEE! (if it was, the plan didn’t materialize in the end, although Hire A Horror did appear in WHOOPE AND SHIVER & SHAKE just one more time as part of the mini book in the issue dated October 26ht, 1974 ), or was it simply the case of artwork being submitted by the artist prior to the decision to put COR!! to rest. In any event, the last episodes of the series are a treat to the eye, as illustrated by the examples shown in this post. All but one were drawn by Bob Nixon and one (in No. 74) was by Tomboy artist (Mike Atwell?). Mr. Nixon proudly signed all of his sets.

For the sake of accuracy it has to be noted that on two occasions Hire a Horror made guest appearances in SHIVER AND SHAKE in the Star Guest from COR!! feature (issue No. 17 (June 30th, 1973) and issue No. 67 (June 15th, 1974)).  Both were nice sets by Bob Nixon; here is one: