X-MAS EPISODES – GUESS WHO??

Regular followers of KAZOOP!! know that @ about this time of the year this blog has the fine tradition of running a series of X-mas episodes of a landmark UK comics character… I have covered Frankie Stein, Buster, Faceache and Scream Inn so far. 

Any guesses who I might show this year? If you want some hints, the character enjoyed one of the longest runs in UK comics; created by Leo Baxendale, it started in Shiver and Shake, rose from the ashes in the pages of Whoopee! and eventually migrated to Whizzer and Chips. I have made it a really easy guess for you, haven’t I? :)

Do come back soon for the quite obvious answer - I won't take long with my next article because I don't like blogposts without illustrations (like this one). 

P.S. -  having checked the statistics of KAZOOP!! over the recent two or three months I was genuinely surprised to discover that the vast majority of regular visits come from the USA and... Russia.  I'd be delighted to hear from my readers over there and learn more about their interest in UK comics! Unless you are some disappointing  bots, of course...

GUEST APPEARANCES AT SCREAM INN – SMILER

The series of guest appearances of fellow-Whoopee! characters in Scream Inn concludes with an episode featuring Smiler – the boy with a permanent smile. Drawn by Nick Baker, the character first appeared in 1976 in Whoopee! issue No. 102 (March 6, 1976) and ended in 1983 in issue No. 475 (June 25, 1983 – the last one before WHOOPEE! absorbed WOW!). 

Here is the two-pager, followed by the episode of Smiler from the same issue of WHOOPEE! Note how Brian Walker credited Nick Baker in the opening panel of Scream Inn. Quite unusual, isn't it? 

 

Scream Inn is a great strip and one of my favorite ones in British comics so I will surely return to it in the future…

THE MOONSTERS COVERS OF SPARKY - PART TWELVE

Here comes the twelfth and final part of SPARKY Moonsters covers gallery that I started back in May earlier this year. The final appearance of The Moonsters on the front cover of SPARKY was in issue No. 139 (Sept 16th, 1967).

Starting from issue 140, The Moonsters were given the back cover again, ousted from the front page by what is now perceived as the politically incorrect version of Sparky the character. Check out front and back covers of SPARKY issue No. 140:

The Moonsters continued to feature on the back page of the comic until issue 199:

GUEST APPEARANCES AT SCREAM INN – TOY BOY

Whoopee’s own favorite Toy Boy visited Scream Inn in Whoopee! issue cover-dated August 28th, 1976. As always, two pages of Scream Inn by the ever-excellent Brian Walker are followed by the episode of Toy Boy from that same issue. The artist is of course Terry Bave.

Now there’s only one installment of this series left in the pipeline. Can you guess who the star-guest might be? :) 

Blogger is still treating me poorly because the list of my favourite blogs that used to show on the right-hand side of this page is still missing and I have no idea how to restore it. I tried doing it manually but it still didn’t work. I find it quite annoying as I can’t conveniently visit my friends’ sites whenever I check in here. Any ideas how to fix this??

THE MOONSTERS COVERS OF SPARKY - PART ELEVEN

Well, I am approaching the conclusion of this series of SPARKY Moonsters covers – there’s only one more remaining after this one. I hope you are still enjoying them :)