MONSTER FUN ANNUAL 1980, PART ONE

The fourth MF Annual was the first without Kid Kong on the cover; the big ape was replaced by Frankie Stein the friendly monster, drawn and signed by Robert Nixon. The book is 144 pages thick. My copy is price clipped, but looking at other Fleetway annuals released that year I think it will be safe to assume that the price was still £1.25.

Contents: Draculass (two 2-pagers in colour by Terry Bave, including one on front endpapers), Kid Kong (two 4-pagers by Bob Nixon, including one in colour), Hot Rod (6 reprints from Whizzer and Chips, including one in colour; artwork by Alf Saporito, Cyril Price and possibly someone else), Creature Teacher (two 3-pagers by Tom Williams), Teddy Scare (two 2-pagers),  The Little Monsters (two 2-pagers by Ed McHenry), Dough Nut and Rusty (two 4-pagers by Jim Crocker), George and his Magic Dragon (a 3-pager by Alan Rogers), Terror TV (two 3-pagers), A Christmas Phanto-Mime (a 4-pager, probably by  Mike Brown), Puzzles feature (a 2-pager), Art’s Gallery (a 2-pager by Terry Bave), Tom Thumbscrew (two 2-pagers), Frankie Stein (a 3-pager by John Geering and a 4-pager by Robert Nixon), Major Jump (a 4-pager), Badtime Bedtime Book – Second Showing – Robinson Gruesome (8 pages by Leo Baxendale, reprint of BBB No. 2 from MFC), Gums (two 3-pagers by Tom Williams and a 2-pager by Alf Saporito), Freaky Farm (two 3-pagers and a 4-pager, all by Jim Watson), Martha’s Monster Make-Up (two 2-pagers by Ken Reid), Brainy’s Monster Maker (two 2-pagers, including one in colour back endpapers),  King Arthur and his Frights of the Round Table (3 reprints from WHOOPEE!, artwork by Robert Nixon); Little Devil (a 2-pager by Tom Williams), Alfie’s Alphabet feature (2 pages by Mike Brown), Freaky Fairy Tales gags (1 page by Jack Clayton), Monster Maze puzzle (1 page), Animal Antics (2 pages of gags by Jack Clayton), The Haunted Wood (a 2pager by Les Barton), Dino-Sore spot the difference puzzle (by Cliff Brown), Dragon Fry! spot-the-difference puzzle (by Cliff Brown), X-mas Crossword (2 pages), Badtime Bedtime Story: Aladdin (8 pages by Mike Brown), X-Ray Specs (a 3-pager in colour by Mike Lacey).

Frankie Stein was the front cover star, so first let’s look at the two episodes of his adventures in this Annual. John Geering illustrated the one in which Prof Cube builds a robot programmed to destroy Frankie. “Robbie” serves his purpose and Frankie is smashed to bits. What Prof Cube hasn’t foreseen is that the robot will want to take Frankie’s place as Cube’s son. When the cruel scientist turns his back on him, the robot puts Frankie back together, brings him to life again and then self-destructs.

The gory sight of Frankie's body parts lying about

In the 4-pager by Bob Nixon Prof Cube gets an idea that perhaps if he persuaded Frankie he had double vision, the stupid lunk would go to hospital and Prof Cube could enjoy peace and quiet. Just as the plan is about to succeed, Frankie causes a traffic accident, Prof Cube suffers concussion and starts seeing double…

Kid Kong, the ousted cover star, features in two stories in this Annual, both drawn by Robert Nixon (although one is unsigned). In the first one Kid gets a Christmas job to earn some money to buy Gran a prezzy (just like last year, remember?).  He fails as a postman, then as a supermarket hand and finally as Santa in a department store but is rewarded in the end for giving presents to poor children rather than the rich ones who have plenty already.

In the second story Gran makes Kid Kong exercise because he is too heavy. Gran looses her temper in the end and Kid takes shelter in sauna baths for a few hours:

Tom Williams is an important contributor to this book. He illustrated two Creature Teacher tales. In the first one Teach’s temper is put to test during a craft lesson and he (or is Teach an “it”?) has to transform into a giant mole to restore order:

In the second episode Sir takes class 3X to look around a historic galleon and they resort to mutiny:

In the first of the two episodes of Gums illustrated by Tom Williams Bluey tricks Gums into swapping his old set of teeth for a new and shiny one made of rock. It melts in the shark’s mouth, the predator recovers his old gnashers and threatens to have Bluey for Christmas dinner but a little girl reminds them that Christmas is supposed to be the season of goodwill and suggests the two of them call a truce for the rest of the day:

In the second episode Gums pretends to have lost its teeth and holiday makers believe it is now safe to go out in the bay. This is one of those stories when Bluey prevails and the shark ends up toothless.

The third Gums tale was illustrated by Alf Saporito who drew quite a few episodes in the weeklies towards the end of the run. In this one Gums has a bad dream in which Bluey is a giant:

Let’s get back to Tom Williams who also drew the double-pager of Little Devil. The character was borrowed from KNOCKOUT comic where it appeared regularly in the early 70s. Here is the episode from MF Annual 1980, followed by the first KNOCKOUT episode:

And while we are on the subject of revived KNOCKOUT strips, The Haunted Wood is also originally from the seldom remembered first “all-colour” Fleetway comic where it started in the first issue and was illustrated by Reg Parlett, succeeded by Sid Burgon. The new episode in this MFC Annual 1980 was drawn by Les Barton. Here it is in full, followed by the first episode in KNOCKOUT:

Both KNOCKOUT “phoenixes” (Little Devil and The Haunted Wood) appear to be new material created especially for this MF Annual 1980.

Freaky Farm is represented by as many as three episodes. The first one is about a pair of motor-bikers who trespass on Freaky Farm and encounter a giant sharp-fanged toad, a horde of monster mice and the unfriendly farmhouse. When they flee in terror, police officers can’t believe they are doing it on foot…

The second is about an unfortunate veterinarian from the Ministry of Nitteries who calls at Freaky Farm to vaccinate cows against the suspected strength-sapping animal flu and faces the consequences:

The third visitor is I.Studyem, the well-known botanist, who is looking for ‘wild’ flowers. He most certainly finds more than he’s looking for. Here are the last two pages:

Ken Reid contributed two episodes of Martha’s Monster Make-Up. In the first one Martha puts some of her make-up on the next door neighbour’s cat so that it wouldn’t be bullied by all the other cats in the neighborhood…

.. and in the second one she monstrifies her snowman and some snowballs to teach the rotten bully a lesson; the script is rather lazy because it hardly differs from Martha’s story in the previous MONSTER FUN annual.

Alan Rogers illustrated George ‘n his (Magic) Dragon which looks like a mutation of Rex strip from the previous MF Annual.  George and Cedric the magic dragon accept an offer to beat a carpet for 50 p. but Cedric accidentally burns a hole in it and turns it into a flying carpet so that they can fly off and get another one.

This is the first MF Annual with Jack Clayton art:

Ed McHenry drew two sets of The Little Monsters:

What I find disappointing about this annual is the 4-pager of Major Jump in which Major and Cosmo go to deepest Africa to catch the dreaded Stripey Buzzflap. For me, poor artwork spoils even the best of stories. I am sure I could do better when I was ten…

I will save the rest for the second half of the overview.

All Images 2015 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

MONSTER FUN ANNUAL 1979, PART TWO

My previous post ended with a page-count of strips illustrated by Tom Williams and Barrie Appleby whom the editor kept really busy when preparing this 1979 MONSTER FUN Annual. Barrie Appleby was the unchallenged champion because out of the 19 pages by the runner up Tom Williams, two were most probably reprints (Ghost Town from WHIZZER AND CHIPS), and three formed part of 2-page spot-the-difference puzzles. Here is one pair, if you feel like playing the game (click on the image to enlarge):

Mr. Williams also drew both episodes of X-Ray Specs. In the first Ray is in the mood of playing dirty tricks on other kids and his X-ray specs come very handy until Mummy of the Mummy’s Boy strip puts an end to his antics. It is a nice example of characters from different strips crossing-over:

In the second episode Ray takes a boring job at the packing department of a big store during the Christmas rush. He amuses himself by using his X-ray specs to see what’s inside the parcels and exposes a fraudster who steals gifts from the boxes.

It is good to see the return of Creature Teacher after a break in the previous MF Annual.  In this story Class3X give Teach some nasty Christmas presents. He gets his own back on them by treating Class3X to cardboard sandwiches, plaster cakes and wax fruits from the drama cupboard before inviting them for a real Christmas meal in the dining room:

Barrie Appleby’s contribution (which amounted to whopping 20 pages of new material) was two episodes of Brainy and His Monster Maker:

… an episode of Teddy Scare:

… an episode of Major Jump in which Major Jump and Cosmo scheme to catch the Wild Jorkonorkus. What they don’t realise is that the mission hardly calls for human cunning because the monster is all in for mince pies, jellies and telly that they offer at the monster menagerie but his eagerness to fall into the various traps set by Major Jump and his assistant backfire on the pair. The 4-page story is a sequence of four short episodes, the last one ending with the willing captive getting happily captured. Here is one:

Barrie Appleby was also the man behind the episode of Terror TV which proudly presented everybody’s favourite talent-show Horror-Tunity Shocks starring Hughie Goran. In the first part of the show the first two sponsors introduce the Wobbles and the Baskervilles, and here is Part Two:

Last but not least of Mr. Appleby’s contributions in this 1979 MONSTER FUN Annual is this 6-page story of Tom Thumbscrew (or rather two 3-page stories presented in a sequence):

All Images 2014 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.

MONSTER FUN ANNUAL 1979, PART ONE

The third Monster Fun Annual was 144 pages thick and cost £1.25. The unusual cover design with just the large portrait of Kid Kong by Bob Nixon is not the only thing that makes it stand out amongst other MF Annuals: unusually for the times, it was printed on quality white paper which doesn’t look like it is prone to browning. Unlike the previous two editions, this one has no adventure stories.

Contents: Draculass (two 2-page stories by Terry Bave, one in b/w and one in colour on front endpapers), Monster Mirth feature (2 pages, including one in full colour), Kid Kong (three 4-pagers: two by Bob Nixon (UPDATE: They were probably by Rob Lee - thanks, Andy, for pointing this out!)), including one in colour, and one by another artist), The Ghost Train (7 pages (2 episodes) of reprints from the early issues of WHOOPEE!, art by Brian Walker), Hot Rod (4 episodes, all reprints from WHIZZER AND CHIPS, art by Alf Saporito), Rex (a 6-pager by Alan Rogers), Ticklish Allsorts feature (2 installments by Les Barton), King Arthur and his Frights of the Round Table (reprints from the early issues of WHOOPEE!, art by Bob Nixon, three 3-pagers), Lunchin’ Vulture (3 episodes reprinted from the early issues of WHOOPEE!, art by Frank McDiarmid), Boggles Super Ace Detective (Badtime Bedtime Story by Mike Brown, 8 pages), The Little Monsters (3 spot-the-difference puzzles, 2 full pages each by Tom Williams, and two 2-pagers by Sid Burgon), Mucky Mick (3 episodes – two 2-pagers and one single page episode by an artist whose name  I don’t know),  Brainy and His Monster Maker (two 2-pagers by Barrie Appleby), Gums (a 4-pager by John Geering), X-Ray Specs (two episodes – a 3-pager featuring Mummy’s Boy and a 4-pager, both by Tom Williams), Martha’s Monster Make-Up (a 2-pager by Ken Reid), Freaky Farm (a 4-pager by Jim Watson), Dough Nut and Rusty (two episodes – a 4-pager and a 3-pager in full colour by Jim Crocker) , Croc (reprint from WHIZZER AND CHIPS, art by Mike Lacey), Frankie Stein (two 2-pagers - reprints from the early issues of WHOOPEE!, art by Bob Nixon), It’s a Scream feature (2 pages of gags by Jim Crocker), Fun Fear (a 2-pager, probably by Mr. Hill), Ghost Town (a 2-pager reprinted from WHIZZER AND CHIPS, artwork by Tom Williams), Art’s Gallery (a 4-pager by an artist whose name I don’t know), Tom Thumbscrew (a 6-pager by Barrie Appleby), Terror TV (a 4-pager by Barrie Appleby), Creature Teacher (a 4-pager by Tom Williams), Major Jump (a 4-pager by Barrie Appleby), Teddy Scare (a 2-pager in colour by Barrie Appleby), Mummy’s Boy (a 2-pager in colour on back endpapers by Trevor Metcalfe, possibly a reprint).

The Annual is a bit on the heavy side of reprints but Hot Rod is the only reprint strip seen in earlier MF books. The list of reprints was expanded with first rate artwork by some of IPC’s top talent from the early issues of WHOOPEE! and includes The Ghost Train by Brian Walker, Lunchin’ Vulture by Frank McDiarmid:

... Frankie Stein by Bob Nixon and the absolutely beautiful King Arthur and his Frights of the Round Table, also by Bob Nixon:

All in all, that's 23 pages of reprints of early WHOOPEE! strips. Looking at them I couldn’t help pulling out the box with my early WHOOPEE! comics and admiring the quality artwork that the paper was chock-full from cover to cover in the mid-seventies. I really must get round to doing that detailed review of WHOOPEE! I’ve been meaning to do for so long…

Mr. Nixon’s early work in the reprints is a lot more detailed in comparison with his new strips. Looking at his two Kid Kong sets in this annual, I even wonder if they are indeed Mr. Nixon’s work (UPDATE: they aren't. In all likelihood both episodes were illustrated by by Rob Lee - thanks, Andy, for pointing this out in your comment below!): 

In the first of the two episodes that I believe are by Robert Nixon, Kid enjoys the white Christmas and in the second one he tries to earn some money to buy Gran a Christmas present. In the 4-pager by another artist Kid and Gran check into a posh hotel and Kid nearly gets them kicked out but the flood caused by Kid’s tears puts out a fire in the kitchen. As a reward, the hotel manger allows them to stay and the chef treats them to the Christmas dinner of Kid’s dreams:

The style looks familiar but I can’t put a name to it:

The episode of Gums was illustrated by John Geering. In it Bluey tricks Gums into taking a bite on his surfboard made of sticky toffee and pulls his false teeth out.  The shark resorts to playing dead in order to get his choppers back.

There are two completely new stories in this book.  Rex is about a gluttonous baby Tyrannosaurus Rex who hatches from the egg found in an ancient box labelled “not to be opened until 1978” buried deep under the ground. First he wins a fancy dress competition, then a short-sighted kid takes him to school:

Mucky Mick is about a boy whose “gimmick” is getting dirty and hating to wash. I don’t know the name of the artist but wasn’t he the one who illustrated Goon Platoon in the early issues of WHOOPEE! ? UPDATE: the character originally appeared in KNOCKOUT in the early 70s, so in all likelihood it is a reprint rather than new material drawn especially for this MF Annual 1979.

Fun Fear was a regular strip in WHOOPEE! (usually drawn by Bob Nixon and occasionally by Brian Walker) and is seen for the first time in a MF publication. I wouldn’t bet mo money on it, but I think the episode in this book may have been drawn by Mr. Hill:

Group Captain Brown (aka Mike Brown) contributed a classic 8-page Badtime Bedtime Story Boggles Super Ace Detective about Airborne Division of Police Air H.Q. and the daft aces Boggles and Wingco. 

The pair are sent on a mission to fight the fiendish Doktor Grotti who bombards London with his giant mushroom missiles and infests the city with toadstools. 

More by accident than by design, the villain and his henchman end up in the soup… 

Like many classic BBBs, this one had side gags, loony advertisements, jokey riddles and interruptions by the reader’s adviser and of course ‘the Amazing Leonard Rottingsocks’.

Santa Claus calls at Freaky Farm to give Farmer his present but quickly comes to regret it:

In Martha’s Monster Make-Up Martha ‘monstrifies’ a snowman and a pile of snowballs to teach the trickster a lesson:

Tom Williams and Barrie Appleby were the two artists who were particularly busy drawing stuff for this book: the former illustrated 19 pages, while the latter – as many as 20, all new material. This is where I’ll take a break and leave the rest for part two.

All Images 2014 © Egmont UK Ltd.  All rights reserved. Used with permission.