This was the first one to come out after the weekly
had folded. The book had a lovely cover by Robert Nixon, the page-count
was 144 and the price was £1.15.
Contents:
Freaky Farm (a 4-pager in full colour and a 3-pager in b/w with spot green, both by Jim Watson), Hot
Rod (5 reprints from WHIZZER AND CHIPS, including one in colour, artwork
by Alf Saporito), Dough Nut and Rusty’s Twin Teaser
(1 page in colour), Meanie McGenie (1 page by Tom Williams), Monster Mirth (2 pages of
jokes), Mummy’s Boy (two 2-pagers, one by Norman Mansbridge and one by
Paul White), Tom Thumbscrew (a 2-pager by Norman Mansbridge), Draculass (two 2-pagers and
a 3-pager by Terry Bave), Brainy and His Monster Maker (two
2-pagers), Major Jump Horror Hunter (three 2-pagers most probably by Barrie
Appleby), Dough Nut and Rusty (a 3-pager
by Trevor Metcalfe and a 3 pager by someone else, possibly Artie Jackson
imitating Trevor Metcalfe), Kid Kong’s Double Decker (spot-the
difference puzzle), Ticklish Allsorts (two 2-pagers by Les Barton), Teddy Scare (a 2-pager, most likely by
Jim Watson), The Robot Maker (2 reprints from COR!!, including one in full
colour, artwork by Frank McDiarmid), Stoneage Brit Ancient Nit (4
reprints from COR!!, including one in colour), The Little Monsters (1
page by Sid Burgon), X-Ray Specs (a 3-pager and a 4-pager
by Tom Williams and a 3-pager in colour by someone else), Gums (a 4-pager by Robert
Nixon), Cave Raves (2 page of jokes), Kid Kong (a 3-pager by
Robert Nixon and a 3-pager by someone else, possibly Artie Jackson imitating
Robert Nixon), Terry and the ‘Dactyl (adventure story, 8 pages by the artist whose name will be revealed in the second part of the article,
signed), Puppet Puzzle (Creature Teacher spot-the-difference puzzle), The Menace of Formula X (adventure thriller,
20 pages in two parts of 10 pages each, reprinted from COR!! weeklies), Terror TV (a 3-pager by Ian Knox), Badtime Bedtime Annual Story Starchy and
Butch (8 pages by Mike Brown), Soccer Shocker (Major Jump spot-the-difference puzzle), Badtime Bedtime Story – The Story
of Traffic Island (8 pages), Dough Nut’s Dilema
(spot-the-difference puzzle).
This is a lovely book with lots of excellent art by
IPC’s top artists. In fact, it has so much good stuff that I will make it a
two-part article to cover most of it…
Tom Williams contributed the episode of Meanie McGenie in which the grumpy genie is summoned by a butterfly enthusiast:
It’s a shame the Annual does not include a new episode of Tom Williams’ most successful MFC strip Creature Teacher. The teach and Class3X only feature in Puppet Puzzle – a spot-the-difference type of puzzle.
Robert Nixon contributed the bright cover, the episode of Gums in which Bluey uses a dummy of a gorgeous she-shark to get the false fangs off the “fiercest fish in the sea” but the crafty shark recovers them in the end...
… and an episode of Kid Kong in which the mighty
brute has cold which then develops into cough; both the sneezing and the coughing
translate into destruction for the villagers:
Interestingly, the second episode of Kid Kong was illustrated by another artist who I think was Artie Jackson trying
to ghost Mr. Nixon:
The same artist ghosted Trevor Metcalfe on one of the
two sets of Dough Nut and Rusty:
Terry Bave drew both episodes of Draculass. The one with
the giraffe is a classic example of the technique which Mr. Bave described in
his interview for the Summer 1986 edition of GOLDEN FUN. The point was not to
show the actual moment of the vampire bite:
In the first episode of Freaky Farm road builders
made another failed attempt to construct a road across the spooky farm. The
last panel suggests they may have finally realized this wasn’t such a good idea
and abandoned it for good:
In the second episode the trespasser is Major Mindup,
the famous short-sighted ghost hunter who has volunteered to look around Freaky Farm for a TV show and check whether it really is haunted. I like the
ending of this one:
Both Freaky Farm stories were by Jim
Watson who also drew the episode of Teddy Scare (at least I think it was
him):
The Annual offers a triple helping of Major Jump Horror Hunter. First Major Jump and Cosmo meet the sneaky Monster
Arctic Snow Tortoise who steals their hover-sleigh and leaves them stranded in
the Arctic:
... then the inhabitants of Major Jump’s menagerie arrange
a surprise birthday party for their master:
... and finally we see Major Jump and Cosmo in the jungle
where they meet a lone explorer who turns into Moon Monster at night. Another lone
explorer saves them but they soon find out that their defender turns into Sun
Monster when the sun comes up…
I think Barrie Appleby was the artist on all three Major Jump sets.
I will save Terror TV by Ian Knox and both Badtime Bedtime Stories for part two in which I will also reveal the name of
the artist behind Terry and the ‘Dactyl who illustrated quite a few adventure
serials in IPC comics, including Rat Trap in COR!!
All Images 2014 © Egmont UK
Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with
permission.
Interesting to note that the Monster Fun Annuals must've sold quite well to keep going until '84 (for '85), whereas the weekly was regarded as a poor seller. (By today's standards, it would probably be at number one in the sales charts.) An excellent Annual, and I still have my original copy.
ReplyDeleteActually, this is the second Monster Fun annual, The first one (published in 1976 for 1977) features Kid Kong visiting Santa's Grotto, with a lengthy list of things he wants (Bananas). the image appears here: http://images.brucelaing.id.au/ipc/monsterfun/m/monsterfunann1977.jpg
ReplyDeleteYes, it is. I covered the first one a few posts back. The first sentence of this article says this 1978 Annual was the first one published when the weekly had already folded, not that it was the first one ever :)
Delete"This was the first one to come out after the weekly had folded..." would probably avoid any confusion, Irmantas, if you don't mind me suggesting it.
DeleteThanks, I will go ahead and correct the sentence to spare my readers the confusion :)
DeleteSorry bout that. Should never have posted while I'm half asleep.
DeleteAnother essential IPC annual of the time. It's good to look back after all this time, now, knowing the names of many of the artists who didn't sign, and to be able to piece together who was ghosting who. I've had a few "ah, yes, of course!" moments looking back on these.
ReplyDeleteTerry Bave always did so many pages and the quality and energy never dropped - and I think I'd have given Tom Williams as much work as he could handle. What a great roster of talent.
Kid, you may know for sure, but I've sometimes wondered if Monster Fun - which seemed very fresh at the time; I loved it as a kid and thought it probably got better as it went on - was actually selling quite well, and it was Buster that was flagging a bit in sales and needed the boost. They probably would have wanted to keep Buster as a flagship title; as a non-themed comic it might have been seen to have the longer-lasting potential. Just a theory.
Raven, I very much agree with you regarding Tom Williams. And guess what, they did give him as much work as he could handle in the next MFC annual which I will cover in a week or two!
DeleteAh, yes, we have both X-Ray Specs and Creature Teacher from him in that one, don't we - though I assume the Ghost Town is a Whizzer and Chips reprint. I'll look forward to your analysis!
DeleteThat's certainly possible, Raven, but the honest answer is I don't really know. However, if MF sold more, I'd be surprised if it was much more. The cost of launching a new comic back then was a lot of dosh, and it took at least 2 years to recoup that investment. Buster had more than paid for itself by then, and if it was seriously on the wane, well, IPC were always ruthless when it came to cancelling or merging poor-selling comics. (Although what they regarded as poor-selling back then would be a sure-fire success today.) When two comics merged, it was unlikely that every single reader of the junior comic would jump over to the merged title - some would just jump ship. However, al lot of readers would continue buying the merged comic and thus sales would be increased (at least for a short while).
DeleteTherefore, if MF was still selling well (by their standards), I doubt that IPC would merge it with another title as the subservient comic. (Although they'd certainly have done so as the senior title, i.e Monster Fun & Buster.) They'd be more likely to give Buster a push by free gifts, new strips and some extra promotion in other comics. Therefore, I'd suggest that things were probably exactly as they appeared - MF on the wane (which is not to say that Buster might not have been in exactly the same position - although not to the same degree) and was therefore merged with the senior, slightly better-selling comic.
That's a bit long-winded, isn't it? In short, if MF was still selling well (above what normally led to a title being merged), I don't think that IPC would have incorporated it into Buster just to give Buster a boost - they'd have first tried another way. However, if MF's sales were in serious decline, they'd have merged it with Buster, whether Buster needed a boost or not. And if both titles were in decline, Buster - as the senior title - would get top billing in a merger - unless it was selling far, far less than MF. However, depending on the exact circumstances, your theory is a reasonable one.
DeleteWhat made me think it was hearing that Starlord was selling better than 2000AD, apparently, when those two combined, because it was felt that 2000AD had more potential as a long-term "product" ("an identifiable brand", as they'd say today); costing less to produce on its newsprint was probably a factor, too.
ReplyDeleteI'd pondered it with Whizzer and Chips and Krazy, too, as W+C was seeming a little tired and out of steam by 1978, while Krazy still seemed a very fresh, vibrant, exciting title.
Of course, things may well have been exactly as they appeared. Less daring titles can often do much better (Beano = huge success, Sparky = cancelled). And IPC seemed fond of that policy of combining comics, then launching new ones, anyway (I'd assumed it was because sales were best in a comic's initial months - but you saying that they took at least two years to recoup their launch investment has made me reconsider that; maybe all the mergers were a last resort, after all).
As you rightly suggest, the sales figures would probably be considered a big success - phenomenal, even - today.
IPC MANAGER: "Hmm, sales figures for this one have dropped just below 150,000. Ah, well, better bring it to an end ... "
What a funny business.
Sales were usually at their highest in the first few weeks of a comic's launch and would steady off as the months went by, so it was 'successful' comics that took around two years to recoup their investment. If a comic was cancelled or merged after just a few months, it was either stillborn or died pretty soon after. IPC would have realized pretty quickly that it was never going to recoup its money and that there was no point throwing good dosh after bad. "On to the next one" was their philosophy. That wasn't one that Robert Maxwell seemed to share.
DeleteFound my copy (which is missing pages 139-142, but never mind!) Teddy Scare was drawn by Barrie Appleby, and as you say, he also did the three Major Jump stories as well as the Soccer Shocker on page 109.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andy, I did have doubts about Teddy Scare artist.
Delete