COR!! COMIC ANNUAL 1982

COR!! Comic Annual 1982 £1.95, 128 pages.

Contents: Teacher’s Pet (3 episodes, one new by Mike Lacey), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (4 episodes – one new by Robert Nixon), The Gasworks Gang (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies and  1 new episode signed by Frank McDiarmid), The Slimms (2 episodes by Terry Bave, one signed), Chalky, Football Madd (3 episodes), Gus Gorilla (4 episodes), Teasers, Jelly Baby (2 episodes), Hire A Horror (5 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Val’s Vanishing Cream (by Mike Lacey), Donovan’s Dad (signed by Terry Bave), Wilfred the World’s Worst Wizard, Helpful Hettie (by Tom Williams), Cowboy Quiz, Young MacDonald and his Farm, Snakes Alive jokes, Smartie Artie (2 episodes), Tomboy (2 episodes), Jack Pott (2 episodes), Andy’s Ants, Cats and Dogs jokes, Jasper the Grasper (two brand new episodes – one by Frank McDiarmid and one by Trevor Metcalfe), Puzzle Fun Time, You Can’t Make Monkeys Out of Us! Jokes, Fiends and Neighbours (two episodes – one by Les Barton and one by another artist who also drew a couple of episodes in old COR!! weeklies), Whacky (4 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Spotter (by Tom Williams), Benny Bendo, Caw!! Jokes, A Quick and Easy Puzzle Page!, General Knowledge Quiz, Try Again Len, Riddles, Swopper Stan, Nightmare (a new episode by Les Barton).

It is good to see original artists drawing new sets of their old characters in a COR!! publication again: Robert Nixon contributed a nice 4-pager of Ivor Lott and Tony Broke, Mike Lacey illustrated a new episode of Val’s Vanishing Cream and Frank McDiarmid drew a new set of The Gasworks Gang after quite some time. Here is Ivor Lott and Tony Broke by Bob Nixon:

Two features were drawn by illustrators other than their usual ones: there is an episode of Teacher’s Pet by Mike Lacey (the only one so far, as far as I can tell) and a 3-pager of Jasper the Grasper by Frank McDiarmid (also the only one that I’ve come across).

A panel from the set of Jasper the Grasper by Frank McDiarmid

Les Barton’s Fiends and Neighbours didn’t have a new masthead this time but there were one or two large dramatic panels showing Jonses’ sufferings, here is a nice one:

Try Again Len was the only one-off in the Annual. It looks rather uninspired to me... 

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: TEACHER'S PET

Teacher’s Pet was a long-running series in COR!! about an annoying school-girl named Patsy and her never-ending attempts to get into her teacher’s (Miss’) good books. Patsy’s efforts usually backfired and infuriated the teacher, besides she often suffered at the hands of her classmates for being a sneak. Miss’ real name was Miss Fortune and according to the piece of information shared in the Postbag section by the Editor, she’d been trying to change it ever since Patsy joined her class. The strip enjoyed full-colour treatment and often occupied the prime slot on the back of the paper, especially in the early months. It didn’t miss a single week and made 3 front cover appearances in COR!! issues dated 15th December 1973, 9th February 1974 and 11th May, 1974 (Nos. 185, 193 and 206). The artist was Norman Mansbridge but there was also another illustrator who stepped in quite frequently. I don’t know the name but he also drew Boney in Knockout and Whizzer and Chips.

Episode drawn by Norman Mansbridge from COR!! issue dated 12th December, 1970 (No. 28)

Episode by another artist from COR!! issue dated 23rd February, 1974 (No. 195)

This post covers the last feature that appeared in the first issue of COR!! The total number of different strips over the relatively short lifetime of COR!! came to sixty, not counting reader participation features, “guest star” appearances, “cor-medy choice” features and a few series that only appeared in COR!! annuals and specials that I hope to cover in due course. Teacher’s Pet was No. 27 so less than half of the strips have been covered so far.