A LOOK AT MONSTER FUN STRIPS: TERROR TV

Terror TV pull-out poster from MFC No. 60

Terror TV was 'the channel of chills’ run by the gloomy skeleton Magnus Murkysome (named after TV presenter Magnus Magnusson, who presented the BBC's Mastermind – thanks to Raven for this piece of info!) and his team of telly fiends. The channel broadcast from an eerie castle which sat on hilltop in the middle of a normal suburban neighbourhood.

Advertisement in MFC No. 49 the week before the premiere

The arrival of Terror TV was celebrated by putting the strip on the cover for two consecutive weeks and moving Gums inside for a while. Here is the first episode as it appeared in MONSTER FUN COMIC issue No. 50:

It is common knowledge that the rise of television was one of the factors which affected comics industry and the last frame of the first episode got me thinking perhaps scaring readers away from their TVs so that they had more time to read comics was one of the script-writer’s ideas...

The strip about the TV channel with a mission to terrify its viewers offered weekly monstrous parodies of popular TV shows. Initially it ‘monstrified’ generic shows without naming them specifically, e.g. a quiz show, a programme for gardeners, a spooky cooky programme, etc. Terror TV was the darkest strip in MFC and I suspect some of those early episodes might have looked really chilling to the young reader:

Terror TV also lampooned real TV shows. I managed to identify a few but not all of them because I didn’t watch British TV in the seventies. Below is the complete list of Terror TV shows from the MFC run of the strip, some with their real-life equivalents noted in red. UPDATE: Raven and Uncle Jesse have identified quite a few more for me, they are marked in blue:

* Quiz Show

* Programme for Gardeners (probably the BBC's Gardeners World)

* That was Your Life (This Is Your Life)

* Grave News at Ten (ITV's nightly News at Ten)

* Chill-a-Minute Competition “Shock of the Week”

* Celebrity Scares (Celebrity Squares)

* Horrorday ’76 (programme about holidays) (The BBC's Holiday '76) 

* General Horrorspital (General Hospital)

* Spooky Cooky Programme with the Galloping Ghoulmet (The Galloping Gourmet - ITV weekday afternoon cookery programme)

* Advertisement + Tasting Competition

* Sports Fright with Ghoulman (Sportsnight With Coleman - BBC series with David Coleman)

* Supercronic Pop Show (Supersonic - ITV children's pop show with Mike Mansfield)

* Terror TV Football Competition “Ghoul of the Month” (Goal of the Month - a feature in BBC1's football series Match of the Day)

* Doctor Whooooo (Doctor Who). Here is the complete episode:

* Blow Peter Up (Blue Peter - long-running BBC children's magazine series; started in the late 1950s and still going)

* A Day at the Races

* The Ghoulies (The Goodies). Here is the episode in full:

* Whooooo Do You Booo! – programme of impersonations starring Brute Force (Bruce Forsyth, perhaps?), K.O.Jack, Jerry Wigan (Who Do You Do - ITV's comedy impressionist series)

* Horror-Tunity Shocks! (Opportunity Knocks)

* TV Cops with Throbak the Zombie Cop (Kojak), Scareski and Lurch (Starsky and Hutch), the Headless Marshall MacGhoul (Marshall McCloud from McCloud) and Frank Furter – the fattest freak in TV Detectivedom (Frank Cannon from Cannon)
* Hag-Pie with Susan Shrieks (Magpie with host Susan Stranks)

Can you identify the few remaining shows?

The two-pager ran in MFC issues 50 – 73 and didn’t miss a single week. Initially the illustrator was Ian Knox who signed or initialled the majority of his sets. Barrie Appleby took over starting from issue 67 and continued to the end of the series in MFC. His version of Terror TV was more cartoony and certainly not as depressing and frightening as Ian Knox’s. The strip received a pull-out poster in MFC No. 60 (31st July, 1976). After MONSTER FUN COMIC folded, Terror TV was transferred to the combined BUSTER AND MONSTER FUN where it shrunk to a single page and was drawn by Barrie Appleby. The BUSTER run of Terror TV expired on 18th February 1978.

Terror TV completes the series of reviews of the strips ‘proper’ which appeared in MONSTER FUN COMIC. I am not done with the weeklies yet: there are quite a few interesting things remaining, including the famous Badtime Bedtime Books, before I move on to MONSTER FUN Holiday Specials and Annuals.

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: THE GOODIES

The Goodies was a British television comedy series during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy. It was created and written by a trio of British comedians Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie; the three of them also starred in the TV series. Here are a couple of screenshots from the TV episode entitled Camelot, in which Bill Oddie is reading a copy of COR!! Thanks to Niblet for the images!

Here is a piece of information on the appearance of the Goodies in COR!! that I found on a fansite of the TV series: “licensed for just the one year, The Goodies were unique in the fact they were the only adapted characters featured with the comic's pages with copyright credit being given to Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke Taylor and Graeme Garden. According to Robert Ross' book "The Complete Goodies" the strips were all authorised and approved by The Goodies prior to publication and Tim still displays an original Cor!! strip in his study”.

I watched a couple of episodes of the TV series recently and frankly wasn’t impressed. I guess you had to live in the 7os Britain and be of a certain age to fully appreciate the humour. The comic version in COR!!, however, works really well for me – the stories are well-written and, most importantly, beautifully rendered by the always excellent Joe Colquhoun. In his interview for the Fantasy Express fanzine in the early 80s the artist said it would have been nice if he could find the opportunity to do more humour work, just to relieve the tension of drawing somber war comics.

The arrival of the Goodies was announced by the Editor in COR!! News Sheet in the issue dated 30th December, 1972 (issue No. 135): 

The strip occupied two pages for the whole of 1973 (issue dates 6th January, 1973 – 29th December, 1973 (Nos. 136 – 187)) which amounted to 52 episodes. There was also a 4-pager in the 1974 COR!! annual but nothing in the 1973 COR!! Holiday Special. The Goodies made four font page appearances in full colour in COR!! issues dated 6th January 1973, 28th April, 1973, 7th July, 1972 and 27th October, 1973 (Nos. 136, 152, 162 and 178):

Below is a reference list of the weekly episodes marked with COR!! issue numbers and dates.

1) In the opening episode in COR dated 6th January, 1973 (issue No. 136) Lord Lolly gives the Goodies a job – he tells them to go to Africa and bring him back a load of wild animals because his stately home is the only one in the district that doesn’t have a safari park. Instead of going to Africa the Goodies kidnap animals from the zoo but end up in a cage in Lord Lolly’s safari park.

2) The Goodies invent a thing which removes noise. 13th January, 1973 (issue No. 137)

3) The Goodies train for a boxing championship match. 20th January, 1973 (issue No. 138)

4) The Goodies start a Lost and Found office in their home. 27th January, 1993 (issue No. 139)

5) The Goodies wear kilts and take part in Highland Games. 3rd February, 1973 (issue No. 140)

6) The Goodies start a free winter sports centre (because many people can’t afford to go abroad for a skiing holiday) but fail spectacularly. 10th February, 1973 (issue No. 141)

7) The Goodies entertain the queues waiting to see the doctor. 17th February, 1973 (issue No. 142)

8) The Goodies are broke and ride into town to advertise. 24th February, 1973 (issue No. 143)

9) The Goodies sample Health Farm Holiday. 3rd March, 1973 (issue No. 144)

10) The Goodies clean up the town from litter. 10th March 10, 1973 (issue No. 145)

11) The Goodies save Britain from a power-mad scientist who has invented a shrinking ray and is holding the country to ransom. 17th March, 1973 (issue No. 146)

12) The Goodies play Three Musketeers in a new film production. 24th March, 1973 (issue No. 147)

13) The Goodies are assigned to deliver vital information to MI13 ½ secret headquarters. 31st March, 1973 (issue No. 148):

14) The Goodies try to bring back the sense of values in people but are fined for violating parking rules and then accidentally help the police to catch a notorious criminal. 7th April, 1973 (issue No. 149)

15) The Goodies invent a time machine and travel back in time; they even meet Jasper the Grasper and land up on the back of a dinosaur. 14th April, 1973 (issue No. 150)

16) The Goodies help in staging International Easter Sport. 21st April, 1973 (issue No. 151).

17) The Goodies travel to Sahara to look for Dr. Livingrock who disappeared 25 years ago. 28th April, 1973 (issue No. 152).

18) The Goodies fetch the engine so that the local train branch line can be opened. 5th May, 1973 (issue No. 153)

19) The Goodies travel to search for Aladdin and his magic lamp. 12th May, 173 (issue No. 154)

20) The Goodies go door-to-door selling brooms. 19th May, 1973 (issue No. 155)

21) The Goodies start a local newspaper The Goodies Gazette. 26th May, 1973 (issue No. 156)

22) An artist hires the Goodies to deliver his paintings to the gallery because a gang of rival artists are out to steal them so that they can have their work exhibited instead. 2nd June, 1973 (issue No. 157)

23) Farmer hires the Goodies as rainmakers. 9th June, 1973 (issue No. 158)

24) The Goodies go on holiday to the seaside and are hired to find the pier that’s disappeared. 16th June, 1973 (issue No. 159)

25) The Goodies are hired to get rid of a ghost that haunts a country house. 23rd June, 1973 (issue No. 160)

26) The Goodies set on a mission to revive traditional British summer holidays and get holiday makers to travel to the British seaside instead of going abroad. 30th June, 1973 (issue No. 161)

27) The Goodies are persuaded to be rodeo riders. 7th July, 1973 (issue No. 162)

28) The Goodies sell ironing boards for surfboards to British holiday makers on the coast of the English Channel. 14th July, 1973 (issue No. 163),

29) The Goodies try out their boring machine and meet a gang of crooks who call themselves Escapologists. 21st July, 1973 (issue No. 164)

30) The Goodies move an old equestrian statue to a new site. 28th July, 1973 (issue No. 165)

31) The Goodies track down an escaped abominable snowman. 4th August, 1973 (issue No. 166)

32) The Goodies set out on a mission to rescue Princess Nockness who is held captive in Sheikh Mustapha’s harem. 11th August, 1973 (issue No. 167)

33) The Goodies are on a mission to rescue a bloke marooned in the south seas. 18th August, 1973 (issue No. 168)

34) The Goodies dive looking for treasures. 25th August, 1973 (issue No. 169)

35) The Goodies assist Wuzzy Wiz the master magician in his magic act. 1st September, 1973 (issue No. 170)

36) Manager hires the Goodies to make Gentle George the wrestler angry enough to flatten his opponent in tonight’s match. 8th September, 1973 (issue No. 171)

37) The Goodies join the country’s first astronaut training programme. 15th September, 1973 (issue No. 172)

38) The Goodies help Colonel Swamplimper trace the source of the river Ooze. 22nd September, 1973 (issue No. 173)

39) The Goodies are commissioned to re-decorate a hut that the Army’s taken over. 29th September, 1973 (issue No. 174)

40) The Goodies set on a mission to trace down a phantom barber. 6th October, 1973 (issue No. 175)

41) The Goodies try to win a prize of 1,000 pounds for flying the Channel on a man-powered aeroplane. 13th October, 1973 (issue No. 176)

42) The Goodies take up the task of attracting more people to the town park by staging a show. 20th October, 173 (issue No. 177):

43) The Goodies test the time machine at the request of its inventor Prof. Crankhandle. 27th October, 1973 (issue No. 178)

44) A gangster uses his gun to persuade the Goodies to be Baddies and help him pull some jobs while his gang are in jail. 3rd November, 1973 (issue No. 179)

45) The Goodies take up the task of guarding a dog from a rival owner who is trying to stop him winning the big prize at the dog show. 10th November, 1973 (issue No. 180)

46) The Goodies examine some young trees that don’t look very well. 17th November, 1973 (issue No. 181)

47) The Goodies fulfill their duty to provide means to a company of hungry soldiers arriving back from manoeuvres. 24th November, 1973 (issue No. 182)

48) The Goodies fell under the spell of a vicious hypnotist Dr. Hypno who turns them into Baddies and tells them to cause havoc in Cortown, rob a jeweler and bring the loot back to him. 1st December, 1973 (issue No. 183)

49) The police ask the Goodies to capture the Baddies from the previous week’s episode. 8th December, 1973 (issue No. 184)

50) The Goodies go to the woods to deal with a loose dragoon. 15th December, 1973 (issue No. 185)

51) The Goodies help Cinderella get to the ball. 22nd December, 1973 (issue No. 186)

52) Santa’s reindeer have escaped so the Goodies deliver Christmas presents for him and are declared national heroes. Last episode in the issue dated 29th December, 1973 (issue No. 187).

In the 4-page episode in COR!! 1974 annual the Goodies save an airshow by providing their new wizard-fuel Goody Goo and earn themselves a reputation of good flying stunt men in the process.

Grom COR!! issue dated 3rd November, 1973 (No. 179)

 

If you like the Goodies, you might very well enjoy visiting the excellent Official Goodies Rule-OK! Fan Club Website. It has loads of information about the TV series and related stuff but this link takes you straight to the page where you will find scans of each weekly episode of the strip in COR!!, complete with detailed summaries, interesting notations, tidbits and things to look for in the various issues.