1985 SHIVER & SHAKE ANNUAL didn’t lose any more pages (the
page-count is 96 as before) but the price went up by 30 p, reaching £2.25. On
the positive side, the proportion of pages printed on quality paper got bigger.
CONTENTS: Sweeny Toddler (2 episodes by Tom
Paterson), Blunderpuss (2 sets by Terry Bave, one in full colour), The
Duke’s Spook (2 reprints), Lolly Pop (one in full colour and one in b/w), Webster (two episodes: a reprint and
one possibly new, both by Terry Bave), Ghoul Getters Ltd (2 episodes by Trevor
Metcalfe, one in full colour), Are You’re a Scaredy Cat (rating
game with art by J. Edward Oliver), Puzzles and Posers (4 one-page instalments),
Frankie
Stein (2 episodes by Brian Walker: a 3-pager and a 4-pager), Shake
(3 sets by Terry Bave and one in full colour by Mike Lacey (reprint)), Ghouldilocks
(2 reprints, art by Stan McMurtry), Toby’s Timepiece (a 5-pager), Horrornation
Street (2 sets – one by Tom Williams and one in full colour by Crocker),
The
Hand (2 episodes by Les Barton), Moana Lisa (2 sets by Peter
Davidson), Desert Fox (2 episodes by Terry Bave), Ghost’s Revenge (2 episodes),
Sports
School (2 sets by Jim Watson), Grimly Feendish (2 episodes by
Martin Baxendale, one in full colour), Shiver’s Ghoul School (2-pages, a
text story with illustrations by Terry Bave), ‘Orrible Hole (2 episodes
by Jim Crocker), Shake Your Memory puzzle (art by J. Edward Oliver), Tough
Nutt and Softy Centre (reprint, art by Norman Mansbridge), The
Forest Legion (4 pages), Shiver (in full colour by Terry Bave),
A
Haunting Experience dice game.
I find it strange they were still putting out annuals 10
years after SHIVER AND SHAKE weekly folded… The editors, however, deserve
praise for not relying on reprints too much.
The book had bright colourful inside covers: a busy set
with lots of elephants and ghosts (i.e. Shakes and Shivers) drawn and signed by
Mitch:
… and A Haunting Experience dice game:
Let’s take a quick look at some of the features included
in this Annual.
Ghoul Getters Ltd. got rid of two ghosts – first an old lady
ghost that haunted a nice gentleman’s house, and then a skeleton in a lady’s
closet.
In Lolly Pop Archie asks Dad for a
pocket calculator but gets a broken abacus that is good for nothing else but
playing marbles; some counting beads fly over the fence, hit Lolly Pop’s
central computer and drive all factory production lines mad.
In the second
episode Archie wishes he had a record player but gets an old-fashioned wind-up
gramophone instead; he then tries to get some decent records at Pop’s Record
Factory, with the usual outcome. Sid Burgon drew the first set and I believe
Nigel Edwards is the artist responsible for the other one, check out the last
page below:
In Frankie Stein Professor Cube is
still trying to get rid of Frankie. He pretends he’s caught a rare disease and tells
Frankie that the only cure is in the leaves of a small plant found only in the
South American jungles. Manipulative Dad knows that Frankie will immediately
volunteer to fetch some to cure him, and will hopefully disappear forever. But Frankie returns much sooner than Prof.
Cube hoped he would…
In the second episode Prof. Cube takes Frankie on a
skiing holiday in Switzerland hoping to loose him on a bob-sleigh run, a
ski-slope or during a mountain climbing trip. Not this time either…
|
Prof. Cube enjoys a rare and brief moment of happiness,
believing he's finally got rid of Frankie.
I love Brian Walker's clean and bold brushstrokes! |
In Toby’s Timepiece Toby is on a bus,
he is on his way to play football in another town. The bridge across the river
is down and the sudden jolt of the stopping bus sets the time piece into
operation. The boy finds himself in a Plymouth-to-London stage-coach, sharing
it with a posh couple. The stage-coach is stopped by Black Jake the highway man
who robs the couple and grabs Toby to shake some sense into him. The two of
them have a quick journey across time until they land in the age of the dinosaurs.
The macho highwayman panics and runs away, dropping the loot. One jolt of the
magic watch later Toby is back at the stage-coach where he returns the valuables
to the rich couple who repay him with a free ride to the destination of his
choice. The stage-coach takes Toby to the town of the football game where he travels
back to his own time in 1985 and joins his team.
The Forest Legion drive out a team
of tree fellers and road builders from their forest. The strip got a new artist
again, but I don’t know his name.
I will finish this blogpost about 1985 SHIVER AND SHAKE Annual with Grimly Feendish. Both sets were by Martin Baxendale and it is nice to see Leo
Baxendale’s son take over the strip created by his Dad two decades ago.
In the
first episode Grimly’s aides kidnap Santa and Grimly goes live on TV to demand
lots of money in exchange for his freedom. Unfortunately for Grimly, his silly
assistants hid Santa’s sleigh in the police car park thinking that there could
be no safer place for it… The cops follow the tracks in the snow, find Grimly’s
hideout and set Santa free. As his punishment, Grimly has to go down millions
of chimneys across the land to deliver presents on Santa's behalf.
Colour Lolly Pop is by Barry Glennard, and B&W one is by Vic Neill.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great annual, no doubt - always a treat to see ANYTHING by Brian Walker, especially on a character that isn't usually "his".
ReplyDeleteAlthough Frankie Stein of the 70s and 80s is mostly associated with Robert Nixon, Brian Walker stepped in quite regularly as the substitute artist in Whoopee weeklies. Frankie Stein episodes drawn by Walker started popping up in 1976 and appeared from time to time until the paper was put to rest in 1985.
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