Wilfred the World’s Worst Wizard was a story that only appeared in COR!! annuals and was illustrated by Alan
Rogers. The title says it all – the loony wizard’s spells usually went wrong
and put him in trouble, most frequently with his wife. The scene of the Wilfred
tales was set in Medieval times.
Here is a quick account of all Wilfred the
Wizard tales:
1979 Annual: two 3-page episodes, one immediately after the other. Wilfred tries to get a job as a court
wizard with one of the local kings but fails his audition; then he comes across
a mean princess in distress whom he saves from the dragon and marries but soon comes
to regret it.
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| Wiflred's first encounter with his future wife |
1980 Annual: a 4-page episode (the only one with the short version of the title, Wilfred
Wizard) in which Wilfred Wizard tries to help Peterkin find a wife to look after him and
tidy his cottage.
1981 Annual: two 4-page episodes. In the first Wilfred Wizard tries to make
the King’s sad-faced daughter (probably his wife’s little sister) laugh and win
a reward of 100 crowns. For once he succeeds but only thanks to his clumsiness,
not the magic. In the second episode (signed by the artist) Wilfred tries being
a knight-errant but ends up on his usual night errand when his beefy wife
refuses to move off her sofa to make him supper.
1982 Annual: one 4-page episode signed by the artist. Wilfred Wizard sparks a
war between the King and his nasty neighbour Baron Wasteland. All turns out
well in the end thanks to Wilfred’s spells that actually work but the King and
his men still prefer to excuse themselves when the Wizard wants to demonstrate
more of his tricks.
1983 Annual: two 4-pagers. In the first one the King makes Wilfred Wizard take
the place of his knight whom the nit renders unfit for the jousting tournament.
In the second tale (signed by the artist) Wilfred decides to make himself big
and strong so that he can run all the errands and appease his mean wife. Here
is the whole episode:
1984 Annual: two 4-pagers. In the first Wilfred goes to cut himself some wood
to warm his chambers and brings home a dragon who is grateful to the daft
wizard for (accidentally) lighting his fire with a Roman candle and saving his
life. In the second episode Wilfred uses his magic to get a new cart so that he
and his wife can make it to Aunt Griselda’s castle on time for lunch:
1985 Annual: two 4–page episodes, both signed by the artist. In the first story
Wilfred joins the King’s court on their way to the picnic at the sea-side. When
the tide washes the cart out to sea, Wilfred Wizard transports the King and his
party home on an improvised flying carpet, without realising it is tartan cloth
that will take them to Scotland. In the second tale Wilfred Wizard tries to
please his wife and get her a bearskin coat like the one her sister has. The missus
is in for a shock when Wilfred’s spell makes all of her clothes disappear
leaving her bare-skin:
1986 Annual: two 4-page episodes, both signed by the artist. In the first
tale Wilfred is the only one in the castle who is not ill with cold and
succeeds in repelling the attack of the army of the King’s enemy Baron McBadd.
In the last tale Wilfred tries his best entertaining auntie Groanface at the
King’s banquet. It turns out he picked a cook book to learn his tricks from while the cook used Wilfred’s
spell book to make his special soup that turned all the guests into frogs…
