A LOOK AT MONSTER FUN STRIPS: THE LITTLE MONSTERS

British comics had a long-time tradition of busy single-frame strips about naughty kids. From Casey Court in Chips in the 40s to Hoot Squad in HOOT in the 80s, with many memorable offerings in-between (such as the early Banana Bunch sets in the BEEZER, Terrors of Tornado Street in BUSTER, Lion Lot in LION, Moonsters in SPARKY, etc.), they gave readers lots of pleasure in studying all the gags and details.   

MFC provided the entertainment by way of The Little Monsters – a strip about the antics of a crowd of little green creatures.  It was added to the package from issue No. 16 and landed straight on the cover. Here are some examples:

The Little Monsters appeared on the front cover of nearly every issue until No. 35 when the front page was permanently reserved for Gums. More often than not, the headline of the strip came with a by-line, such as The Little Monsters visit the Motor Show (…in Outer Space, …go Mountaineering; …in Oil Strike, etc. etc.).

When the strip was moved inside to make room for Gums, it became a half-pager and looked like this:

Another transformation took effect starting from issue No. 46 when The Little Monsters  were given a full page and became more like a ‘normal’ strip with several introductory frames and the final large panel with all the action which Sid Burgon did so well.  

Sid Burgon was the main artist but a number of episodes were drawn by someone else. The style that Sid Burgon used to draw his little green monsters was easy to imitate so it is sometimes difficult to tell which sets were by the other artist. Mr. Burgon liked to sign his work, so if in doubt, look for the signature, and if it’s not there then it is most definitely drawn by someone else (both half-pagers shown above appear to be ghosted). The rule isn’t universal because the set below is definitely by Mr. Burgon but his signature is absent:

The Little Monsters first appeared in MFC issue No. 16 and lasted until No. 70. Here is the list of issue Nos. without the Little Monsters: 37, 39, 41, 56 and 66.  The monstrous midgets received their own pull-out poster in issue No. 63 (21st August, 1976).