COR!! COMIC ANNUAL 1986

COR!! Comic Annual 1986, £2.50, 112 pages. The fifteenth and the last COR!! Annual was the first and the only COR!! publication with a barcode on the back cover.

Contents: Chalky (2 episodes), Nightmare (4 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Teacher’s Pet (3 reprints), Young MacDonald and His Farm (2 episodes), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (4 episodes by Sid Burgon, one signed + Ivor  & Tony’s Lucky ABC DEF Dip! Board game), Puzzles 1 (5 pages), Hire A Horror (2 episodes both signed by Trevor Metcalfe), Jack Pott (2 episodes both signed by Crocker), The Gasworks Gang (2 new episodes by Frank McDiarmid, both signed), Krazy Korner (jokes, riddles, cartoons - 3 instalments, signed by Melvin), Gus (2 episodes), Jasper the Grasper (signed by Francis Boyle), Wilfred the World’s Worst Wizard (2 episodes), Football Madd (3 reprints),  Fiends and Neighbours (by Nigel Edwards), Jungle Bells Jungle Bells gags, Puzzle Section 2 (4 pages), Donovan’s Dad, Lucky Charmer, Jelly Baby.

The last COR!! annual was again rich in non-comic content: a total of 15 pages (including 3 pages of Krazy Korner signed by Melvin) were allocated to puzzles, games, jokes, riddles, cartoons, etc.

All 4 episodes of Ivor Lott and Tony Broke were illustrated by Sid Burgon who had never done an episode of the strip in a COR!! publication before.

Trevor Mercalfe tried his hand drawing both episodes of Hire a Horror:

Frank McDiarmid contributed two new stories of the Gasworks Gang. Here are a couple of panels from one. Is it the artist himself having a cuppa in the foreground?

Jasper the Grasper travelled to the USA to visit his cousin Titus T.Tightfist and became a celebrity in New York City for being the first man to row the Atlantic, and in record speed too. Assuming the miser stayed in America for good, this episode (illustrated and signed by a new artist - Francis Boyle) can be regarded as a proper ending of Jasper the Grasper saga.

The last eposide of Fiends and Neighbours was illustrated by Nigel Edwards:

So that’s all of fifteen COR!! comic annuals accounted for! You can go through the whole COR!! annuals sequence by clicking here or by choosing the COR!! Annuals label in the column on the right.

P.S. It appears Fleetway had plans to publish one more annual for the X-mas of 1986 (COR!! Comic Annual 1987) but the book was scrapped at the last moment. You can read more about it HERE. 

1982 COR!! HOLIDAY SPECIAL

1982 COR!! Holiday Special, 50 p., 64 pages

Contents: Chalky (2 new episodes and 1 reprint), Hire A Horror (3 reprints from old COR!! weeklies, including 1 in full colour), Ivor Lott and Tony Broke, Tomboy (4 reprints, including 2 in full colour), Whacky (2 reprints), Young MacDonald and His Farm (2 episodes by  Ron Turner), Andy’s Ants (2 reprints), Donovan’s Dad (3 reprints including one in full colour), Nightmare (2 reprints from old COR!! weeklies), Benny Bendo (3 episodes), Jack Pott (one reprint from an old COR!! weekly), Tricky Dicky (2 reprints), Football Madd (a new episode by Les Barton  + 2 more episodes by other artists), Jasper the Grasper (1 reprint from an old COR!! weekly and a new 3-page episode by Trevor Metcalfe), The Gasworks Gang (new episode by McDiarmid), Gus Gags (2 episodes), If You Go Down to the Woods Today (join the dots colour centrespread by Ron Turner), Tease Break, Fiends and Neighbours (3-pager by Nigel Edwards).

The Special was unusual in that it featured two stories on the front cover: a dramatic panel offering a taste of the Young MacDonald and His Farm adventure strip appeared alongside with the regular cover stars Ivor Lott and Tony Broke. There were two 4-pagers of Young MacDonald inside, both illustrated by the ever-excellent Ron Turner. As I said before, the feature was a recurrent one in COR!! annuals and holiday specials and will receive its own dedicated post later on, so I won’t discuss the instalments here but they stood out prominently in this COR!! Special. Ron Turner also contributed the centrespread with a join-the-dots puzzle. The young owner did the puzzle in my copy many years ago, but that’s what it was there for, so I hope you won’t mind :)

There was only one episode of Ivor Lott and Tony Broke. It was illustrated by an artist whose name I don’t know but I am sure he drew a lot for IPC comics in the 80s. I hope someone will identify him for me. Here are two panels:

Frank McDiarmid drew a nice three-pager of The Gasworks Gang with a holiday theme. Here is a taste (the first panel and the last):

Trevor Metcalfe was back on Jasper the Grasper once again. It is interesting to note that a reprint of an episode from an old COR!! weekly was also included. Metcalfe’s style had changed almost beyond recognition over the decade, Jasper the Grasper became a cuddly character, nothing like the version in the early COR!! episodes. Here is a fragment of the reprint, followed by half a page of Metcalfe’s new version: 

Les Barton took a break this time and his contribution was limitd to just one new episode of Football Madd. It was good to see another artist illustrate Fiends and Neighbours for a change and the artist was Nigel Edwards whose beautiful three-pager is another highlight in this 1982 edition of COR!! Holiday Special. Here it is in its entirety:

In combination with some nice reprints from old COR!! weeklies this edition made quite an appealing package and I would probably rate it as my favourite COR!! Holiday Special.

A LOOK AT COR!! STRIPS: JASPER THE GRASPER

The original Jasper The Grasper was drawn by Ken Reid and appeared in WHAM! where it occupied  two pages and had a very short run in issues 42-47 (3rd April, 1965 – 8th May, 1965). It’s hard to tell why a brilliant feature like that was dropped so quickly but my guess would be that the artist had enough work as it were drawing weekly installments of Frankie Stein. The whole original Ken Reid series was reprinted in the first COR!! annual (1972) and served as a nice introduction to the sequel in COR!! that premiered in the first issue of 1972 dated January 1st (No. 83 ). 

The opening episode of the reprint of the original series in COR!! 1972 annual

The setting was different to that of all the other COR!! strips and offered a look at Cortown as it was in the Victorian times. The first episode tells us that many many years ago there lived a man of means who was a meanie of a man. His name was J.McGrab but those who knew him called him Jasper the Grasper. The new version of Jasper was similar to the WHAM! original: the looks and habits of the tight-fisted old skinflint remained unchanged and his talent to hear the “jingle” of a fallen coin from far away was as strong as ever. Jasper was obsessed with saving and hoarding and he wouldn’t spend a penny unless he absolutely had to. Jasper never got tired of devising new and crafty money saving ideas and putting them into practice with predictably unsatisfactory results. 

Occasionally he got himself a companion: nephew Silas came to stay with Jasper starting from 20th May, 1972 (issue No. 103) but said his good-byes 10 weeks later.  In the issue dated 7th July, 1973 (No. 162) a gypsy who was retiring because his rich uncle had left him a fortune gave Jasper his monkey as a present. For a short while Jasper acquired a new partner that caused him a lot of trouble but also inspired some fresh money-making ideas.

From COR!! issue dated 17th June, 1972 (No. 107), featuring nephew Silas

Toonhound.com has an excellent profile of Jasper the Grasper with lots of trivia here. When you read it, please, be aware that it has one major error: none of the episodes in COR!! weeklies were drawn by Ken Reid, nor there were any Ken Reid reprints in the weeklies. Trevor Metcalfe who was the artist of the second series in COR!! was in charge of the feature from the very start until the last installment in the penultimate issue of COR!! with the cover date of 8th June, 1974 (No. 210), signed by the artist.

From COR!! issue dated 10th November, 1973 (No. 180)

  

Jasper the Grasper started off as a one-pager and was promoted to 1 ½ pages from the issue dated 30th December, 1972 (No. 135). It made four front cover appearances in COR!! issues dated 21st July 1973, 15th September 1973, 12th January 1974 and 4th May 1974 (issue Nos. 164, 173, 189 and 205).

From COR!! issue dated 23rd March, 1974 (No. 199)

Here are details about appearances of Jasper the Grasper outside of COR!! weeklies. As this one my favourite strips and one of the highlights in COR!!, there is a good chance to find examples of the artwork in my blogposts dedicated to the particular Holiday Specials and Annuals.

 

1972 COR!! Comic Annual – reprint of the full original Ken Reid series from Wham!

1972 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1973 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1973 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1974 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1974 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1975 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by an artist whose name I don’t know

1976 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episodes, one by Trevor Metcalfe and one by Alf Saporito

1977 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Alf Saporito

1978 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 new episode in full colour by an artist whose name I don’t know

1978 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 new episode in b/w by Les Barton

1979 COR!! Comic Annual – 1 episode by Les Barton + 1 episode by John Geering

1980 COR!! Comic Annual – 2 episodes John Geering

1981 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe + one new episode by John Geering

1981 COR!! Holiday Special – 1 reprint

1982 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Frank McDiarmid + one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1982 COR!! Holiday Special – 3 reprints + a new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1983 COR!! Comic Annual – one new episode by Trevor Metcalfe

1983 COR!! Holiday Special – a new episode by Les Barton,

1984 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode by Les Barton

1985 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode by Les Barton

1986 COR!! Comic Annual – a new episode signed by Francis Boyle