It’s
time I got back to the mission of completing my comprehensive review of MONSTER
FUN COMIC, so let’s look at the first MONSTER FUN COMIC Summer Special which
came out in the summer of 1975 - the time when the early issues of the weekly
went on sale, which suggests that the first issues of the weeklies and the
Summer Special were put together at more or less the same time. The 80-pages magazine
cost 25 p and came with an eye-catching Kid Kong cover by Bob Nixon.
Here
is a summary of the contents: Tom Thumbscrew (a
two-pager by Andy Christine), Cinders (a two-pager in full colour by Norman Mansbridge), The Robot Maker (5 pages
of reprints from COR!! weeklies, artwork by Frank McDiarmid), Sam’s
Spook (4 pages of reprints from SMASH!, artwork by Leo Baxendale), Lots
O’ Laughs (2 pages of gags illustrated by Mike Lacey), Stoneage Brit Ancient Nit (4 pages of reprints from COR!!, including one episode
in colour on back cover, artwork probably by Tony Goffe), Martha’s Monster Make-Up (a
two-pager by Frank McDiarmid), X-Ray Specs (two episodes: a
three-pager probably by Jim Watson imitating Mike Lacey, and a two-pager that
appears to have been penciled by Terry Bave but inked by someone else), Make A Date: Tarzan and the Little Bo Peep –
An Imaginary Meeting of these Famous Characters (a two-pager by Trevor
Metcalfe), Kid Kong (an 8-page story by Robert Nixon), Creature Teacher (a four-pager by Tom Williams), Art’s Gallery (a three
pager, probably by Jim Watson), The Land That Time Forgot feature (3
pages), Cave Cackles (1 page of gags by Sid Burgon), Monster
Maze on the centerspread in full colour, probably by Artie Jackson, Fred’s
Fault (a two-pager by Jim Watson), Major Jump Horror Hunter (2
two-pagers by Ian Knox), Dough Nut and Rusty (a 4-pager by Trevor
Metcalfe), Mummy’s Boy (a two-pager by Terry Bave, Brainy and His Monster Maker
(a two-pager by I don’t know who), Frankie’s Freaky Week (2 pages of
gags by Sid Burgon), Monster Mirth (one page gags feature
by I don’t know who), Grizzly Bearhug… Giant (a four-pager
by Andy Christine), Monster Fun-Time (2 pages of puzzles), The Earthies (a
four-pager by an unknown artist), Monster Regis (one-page feature by
Sid Burgon), Draculass Daughter of Dracula (a two-pager by Terry Bave in
colour).
Andy Christine got 6 pages –2 of Tom Thumbscrew and 4 of Giant Grizzly… Bearhug. That's precisely 6 pages too many, IMHO.
Mike Lacey wasn’t available to draw X-Ray Specs, so Jim Watson illustrated one episode, check out these sample
panels:
… and Terry Bave was asked to do the other one but it
looks he only had time to submit his penciled work which was then inked by
someone else, or maybe he did the set in a rush. Check out this sample page and
tell me what you think:
Terry Bave drew two more features in this Summer
Special – Draculass was his regular strip in MFC weeklies, while Mummy’s Boy - the second that he did for this magazine, was usually drawn by
Norman Mansbridge in the weeklies.
Assuming my observation regarding Jim Watson being the
artist responsible for the first set of X-Ray Specs shown above is correct,
then Mr. Watson should also be credited with the artwork of Art’s Gallery:
In the case of X-Ray Specs and Art’s Gallery Jim Watson (provided
it was indeed him) was under pressure to imitate Mike Lacey, but Fred’s Fault was a
completely new strip, so he was free to draw it in his own style:
I like the idea of the Make a Date tale illustrated
by Trevor Metcalfe which brought together two very different characters –
Tarzan and Little Bo Peep, into one story. I don’t remember seeing this feature
elsewhere so it was probably a one-off experiment. It’s a shame IPC editors chose
not to continue with the idea because in my opinion it had good potential.
The idea of The Land That Time Forgot feature
was rather clever too – it was a three-page collage of action-packed scenes
from a new feature film with short bits of text, included to generate interest
in the film:
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of this
Summer Special. Kid Kong is the longest story and the front cover feature. In
it Granny Smith decides to take Kid Kong to the seaside. The story takes off
with Kid causing havoc on the highway as he tries to find Granny’s lost pennies
so she can buy their bus fares to Brightsea. They finally make it to the resort
and are enjoying themselves at the fair where Kid runs into the fairground
owner who used to keep him behind bars and is very keen to recapture the giant
gorilla for his freak show. With Granny Smith around, this is easier said than
done but the short-sighted old lady wanders off as she goes to get some ice
creams. The wicked fairground owner takes the opportunity to seize Kid Kong but
Kid spots Granny afloat in the sea on an inflatable mattress and breaks free to
rescue her. Mayor awards him with a life saver’s badge and a cash prize for the
effort.
In
Creature Teacher the Massacre Street School are on their annual outing to the
seaside and Creature Teacher is put in charge of the unruly class 3X who forced
the locals to move away last year. Creature Teacher quickly brings the trouble-makers
to heel. 3X decide to get rid of Creature Teacher first by dumping him out to
sea and later by placing him under the blade in the chamber of horrors but
Creature Teachers outsmarts his pupils and class 3X return from the outing “well-tanned”:
In
the first episode of Major Jump Horror Hunter the brave
Major and his assistant Cosmo are after the mysterious Monster Snoozlehorn.
They get very disappointed when after going through a lot of trouble they find
out that Monster Snoozlehorn is a musical instrument. Had they taken just a few
more steps, they would have realised that their effort wasn’t in vain:
In
the second episode Major Jump captures a giant worm. Major thinks it is not a
very exciting monster, but still better than nothing. He probably finds the
second creature whom he encounters in this episode more exciting:
In
Martha’s Monster Make-Up Martha uses her magic cream on a mean participant of
the Beach Beauty Queen Contest. She becomes so terrifying that another
participant’s hair stands on end permanently in a “way-out new hairstyle”,
making her the darling of the media, even though the scary one shocks the
judges into awarding her the first prize:
My
personal favourite in this first Monster
Fun Comic Summer Special is this 4-pager by an artist whose name I don’t
know. Any suggestions?
All Images 2014 © Egmont UK
Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with
permission.
