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):
