Saturday, December 31, 2016
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
THE CHRISTMASES OF SWEENY TODDLER – PART THREE
Below are the next four Christmassy
episodes of Sweeny Toddler from WHOOPEE! period, years 1980 to
1983. The one from 1983 is a black and white reprint of the story that first
appeared in 1977, in full colour. Scroll down two posts for the much nicer colour
version and be sure to come back soon for the absolutely brilliant two-pager from
WHOOPEE’s last X-mas issue. The panel at the top of this post is a taste :) ....
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
THE CHRISTMASES OF SWEENY TODDLER – PART TWO
Terwhang! – here comes part two of Sweeny Toddler’s
Christmases from the X-mas issues of Whoopee!
published in 1978 and 1979. Both covers are by Robert Nixon, and they are the
only two examples of Mr. Nixon drawing Sweeny. I wouldn’t be so confident
crediting Robert Nixon with the second cover but initials “R N” beneath the sock confirm it was him. Inside pages are by Tom Paterson (as if you
needed me pointing this out to you :) )… Enjoy!
Thursday, December 8, 2016
THE CHRISTMASES OF SWEENY TODDLER – PART ONE
Sweeny Toddler the infamous demonic baby first
appeared in the first issue of SHIVER AND SHAKE in March 1973. The paper lasted
for less than two years, so there was only enough time for one X-mas episode of
Sweeny
Toddler. Script and artwork by Leo Baxendale:
SHIVER AND SHAKE was merged into
WHOOPEE! in October 1974. It sounds quite surprising, but Sweeny didn’t make a straightforward
leap to the new combined comic. It had to prove its strength by participating
in a poll: WHOOPEE! editor selected 8 strips and invited readers to vote in a Pick-A-Strip competition that ran in the Autumn of 1974. Sweeny was declared
victor in WHOOPEE! AND SHIVER & SHAKE cover-dated 22nd March, 1975, and his
regular appearances recommenced a week later. This means that Sweeny
Toddler would have missed the X-mas of 1974 even if WHOOPEE! hadn’t
been affected by industrial action in the end of that year and the X-mas issue
of the paper had been published (WHOOPEE! missed the last week of 1974
and the first two weeks of 1975).
Leo Baxendale stopped drawing Sweeny
Toddler in June 1975, and was succeeded by the excellent Tom Paterson who
imitated Mr. Baxendale’s style very well indeed. Here are the next three festive
episodes from the 1975, 1976 and 1977 X-mas issues of WHOOPEE! :
Come back soon for more X-mas
stories featuring the little pest!