Four
Alone on the Abandoned Island was an adventure
serial that occupied two pages and lasted from the first issue of COR!! until 31st
October, 1970 (issue No. 22). According to a post in Lew Stringer’s excellent
blog, it was illustrated by Mike Noble (at least initially). The script-writer
was Scott Goodall who wrote all adventure serials for COR!!
The
scene was set in a remote part of Northern Wales at the Moordale Medical
Research Centre. Three boys (Barry Norton, Fleshpot Farraday (“Fleshpot”) and
Beanpole Baines (“Beanpole”) and a girl (Vera Miles) participate in an unusual
scientific experiment to study the effects of exercise and controlled diet on
children of different physical appearance. The three boys hate each other and keep
trying to knock each other about, so scientists send the four on a four-week
survival course in the mountains, hoping they might learn to get along. Curious
about a strange red glow in the sky, the Four return to civilization and find
that Britain has been taken over by weird soggy creatures called Spungees. The
aliens are made of sponge and they fire soggy gas-bombs that stun people. The
children discover that the landing of the aliens and their fake radiation
blanket threat has prompted the government to issue emergency evacuation orders
and the whole population has been transported to Europe. Spungees need water to
thrive, they plan to flood the whole of Britain and use it as a base to conquer
the planet. The Four soon learn how to repel the monsters with fire because
Spungees dread heat and dryness. The children find alien HQ in the marshes on
the edge of Dartmoor in Devon County. After a long sequence of cliff-hangers
and multiple fallings into alien captivity and breakings back into freedom, the
Four finally defeat the aliens, first by spilling oil into the river, setting
fire to it and burning to death the army of aliens traveling upstream to
establish more posts, then by grabbing the king of Spungees and demanding
unconditional surrender from the aliens. British Army pilots are amazed to
discover that liberation was achieved by four children who become national
heroes and celebrities. The four stopped hating each other. They promise to
stick together from now on.
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| From COR!! dated 3rd October, 1970 (No. 18) |
IMHO the story suffered from overuse of manufactured
cliff-hangers alongside with pointless strife and name-calling between the
children. Nonetheless, it was quite an OK adventure serial, particularly in
comparison with the sequel …
The
second serial ran from 1st May, 1971 until 18th September, 1971 (issue Nos. 48
– 68) and was called Four Alone Fight Formula X. The
foursome are sent on a special mission to Castle Blaney Boarding School in the
Scottish Highlands to investigate strange reports of rumblings in the night and
farmhouses vanishing without a trace. The
children find out that Herman Sourkraut, the school science master, has been secretly
experimenting with Formula X that makes plants and living creatures turn into
giant monsters. His experiments now complete, the evil scientist is ready to
strike. Stage one of his sinister plan involves unleashing a swarm of bees that
have their feet dipped in Formula X in order to make every plant they land on
grow to giant size and cause chaos. Sourkraut’s plan is so cunning and devious
that it takes readers and the four children a while to realise that the bee
attack on a plant nursery in the village is only a diversion and that the evil
scientist’s final mission is, lo and behold! to wreck Britain’s naval power by
destroying the top-secret Holyoak Nuclear Submarine Base! Four Alone bravely deal
with every giant monster that the evil scientist sends their way. Sourkraut’s plot
is finally foiled and Fleshpot prevents him from escaping on board a pinched
navy helicopter. The menace of Herman Sourkraut and Formula X is over at last.
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| From COR!! dated 21st August, 1971 (No. 64) |
The
quick summary of the plot makes it appear as if it was quite an exciting story
to follow but IMHO it would have benefited a lot if the weekly cliff-hangers
were just a tiny bit less made-up. To me the script clearly abused the
possibility of introducing endless giant monsters many of whom came and went
hardly contributing to the development of the story.
The
two serials were the only ones that appeared in COR!! weeklies but there were four more stories in COR!! Annuals and one in a COR!! Holiday Special over the years. Here is the list:
COR!!
1972 Annual: Four Alone in the Castle of Fear (8 pages) – the foursome foil
the plot of an evil scientist Llewelyn to launch a missile attack on London
from his secret base in a crumbling castle in Wales.
COR!!
1973 Annual: Four Alone and the Alpine Adventure (8 pages) – British
intelligence sends the Four to an Austrian ski resort on a mission to escort to
London a Hungarian scientist who has defected to the West.
COR!!
1974 Annual: Four Alone and the Sky Jackers (8 pages) – Four Alone are on
their way to visit Vera’s brother in the Middle East when a gang of terrorists
hi-jack the airliner and demand money for their political cause.
COR!! 1975 Holiday Special: Four Alone Beside the Seaside (5 pages) - Four Alone help catch a gang of thieves who pinched plans of a new boat design from
Russell Wolf, boat designer. It appears that the episode was illustrated by the
same artist who drew Rat Trap and whose name is unknown to me. Here is the last page of the episode:
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| From COR!! 1975 Holiday Special |
