welcome and enjoy!

Hi and welcome to my blog about comics from other people’s childhood! It is dedicated primarily to British humour comics of the 60s and 70s. The reason they are not from my childhood is simply because I didn’t live in the UK back then (nor do I live there now). I knew next to nothing about them until fairly recently but since then I’ve developed a strong liking for the medium and amassed a large collection, including a number of complete or near complete sets. My intention is to use this blog as a channel for sharing my humble knowledge about different titles, favourite characters and creators as I slowly research my collection.

QUICK TIP: this blog is a sequence of posts covering one particular comic at a time. The sequence follows a certain logic, so for maximum results it is recommended that the blog is read from the oldest post up.

Copyright of all images and quotations used here is with their respective owners. Any such copyrighted material is used exclusively for educational purposes and will be removed at first notice. All other text copyright Irmantas P.



Tuesday, August 20, 2013

HELPFUL HETTIE SITUATION



The other day I checked the stats of my blog and was surprised to find that the normal daily rate of 150 – 200 pageviews surged to more than 1,000 for a few days, all at the expense of an old little post on Helpful Hettie that I did in my COR!! series last year. Turns out the post got a brief mention in THIS thread on Gunnerkrigg Court forum. I am not familiar with Gunnerkrigg Court webcomic by Tom Siddell, nor have I ever heard about the project that members of the forum are pursuing, but it looks fun. Frankly, I’ve got no clue what the discussion in the thread is about – I suppose one has to be familiar with the comic to make sense of it.

The strong interest that members of Gunnerkrigg Court forum have shown in the blogpost rightfully described in the thread as “probably not related too much” got me thinking that contemporary British-made comics have quite a large following and aren’t doing as poorly as I thought (albeit the majority of traffic appears to be from the US). Gunnerkrigg Court certainly attracts much more attention than old UK comics, at least those published by IPC and covered on this blog so far…

With nearly 2,000 views, Helpful Hettie is now the most popular post on Kazoop!! and is likely to remain at the top forever because the second most popular post only has just over 500 views. Why the article about the last months of COR!! is the second most popular post here is a mystery to me – I think there are many other strips and posts that deserve more attention :)

Friday, August 9, 2013

SHIVER AND SHAKE HOLIDAY SPECIALS AND ANNUALS AFTER THE DEMISE OF THE WEEKLY



The first two SHIVER AND SHAKE Holiday Specials were published in 1973 and 1974 when the paper was up and running. Both have been covered in their dedicated posts HERE and HERE. The same goes for the first two Annuals cover dated 1974 and 1975 – you can take a look at them HERE and HERE.

As was the case with all IPC comics titles, SHIVER AND SHAKE didn’t end with the last edition of the weekly in 1974 but lived on for many years in the form of Holiday Specials and Annuals.

Holiday Specials continued until 1980, running up to 6 more editions published after the demise of the weekly.



Annuals lasted even longer with the last one released for the Christmas of 1985, so that’s eleven more books in addition to the two already covered.



Every Special and Annual will receive its own blog post over the coming weeks until all have been accounted for but there may be some delay because I am going on holiday :)


 

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

A LOOK AT SHIVER & SHAKE: STAR GUEST FEATURE AND ONE-OFFS



Star Guest feature can be found in a number of IPC children’s comics of the mid-70s. Strips from one magazine made guest appearances in sister publications for cross-promotion purposes. The feature was first introduced in SHIVER AND SHAKE No. 17 (June 30th, 1973). Strips from COR!! and Whizzer and Chips alternated more or less regularly every other week until the middle of 1974 when COR!! folded and the bi-weekly slot passed on to Whoopee! Below is the list of SHIVER AND SHAKE issues with star guest details. RED is for COR!!, BLUE is for Whizzer and Chips and GREEN is for Whoopee! BLACK means no star guest that week.

As far as I can tell, the vast majority (if not all) of star guest episodes were original sets rather than reprints so the list below might be useful for completists. The artwork was usually by the regular artists. A number of sets by Frank McDiarmid towards the end of the run are a nice exception and offer his take on some familiar characters such as Shiner, Odd-Ball and Looser. Frank also illustrated guest star sets in Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee! at that same time.  Check out some examples from SHIVER & SHAKE below and further down the post.




Issue No. 17 June 30th, 1973 Hire a Horror from COR!!
Issue No. 18 July 7th, 1973 Smart Alec from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 19 July 14th, 1973 Whacky from COR!!
Issue No. 20 July 21st, 1973 Harry's Haunted House from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 21 July 28th, 1973 Wonder Worm from COR!!
Issue No. 22 August 4th, 1973 Sammy Shrink from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 23 August 11st, 1973 Chalky from COR!!
Issue No. 24 August 18th, 1973 No Star Guest
Issue No. 25 August 25th, 1973 Teacher’s Pet from COR!!
Issue No. 26 September 1st, 1973 No Star Guest
Issue No. 27 September 8th, 1973 Jelly Baby from COR!!
Issue No. 28 September 15th, 1973 Boney from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 29 September 22/1973 The Slimms from COR!!
Issue No. 30 September 29th, 1973 Ghost Town from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 31 October 6th, 1973 Val’s Vanishing Cream from COR!!
Issue No. 32 October 13rd, 1973 No Star Guest
Issue No. 33 October 20th, 1973 Wonder Worm from COR!!
Issue No. 34 October 27th, 1973 Odd Ball from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 35 November 3rd, 1973 No Star Guest
Issue No. 36 November 10th, 1973 No Star Guest
Issue No. 37 November 17th, 1973 Football Madd from COR!!
Issue No. 38 November 24th, 1973 Fuss Pot from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 39 December 1st, 1973 The Slimms from COR!!
Issue No. 40 December 8th, 1973 Hot Dog and Cool Cat from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 41 December 15th, 1973 Night Mare from COR!!
Issue No. 42 December 22nd, 1973 Loser from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 43 December 29th, 1973 No Star Guest
Issue No. 44 January 5th, 1974 No Star Guest
Issue No. 45 January 12th, 1974 Sid's Snake from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 46 January 19th, 1974 Ivor Lott and Tony Broke from COR!!, 2 pages
Issue No. 47 January 26th, 1974 No Star Guest
Issue No. 48 February 2nd, 1974 Jack Pott from COR!!
Issue No. 49 February 9th, 1974 Wear 'em Out Wilf from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 50 February 16th, 1974 Willy Worry from COR!!
Issue No. 51 February 23rd, 1974 No Star Guest
Issue No. 52 March 2nd, 1974 Timothy Tester from Wh&Ch finds himself in Scream Inn
Issue No. 53 March 9th, 1974 Teacher’s Pet from COR!!
Issue No. 54 March 16th, 1974 Pete's Pockets from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 55 March 23rd, 1974 Wonder Worm from COR!!
Issue No. 56 March 30th, 1974 Odd-Ball from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 57 April 6th, 1974 Fiends and Neighbours from COR!!
Issue No. 58 April 13rd, 1974 Champ from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 59 April 20th, 1974 The Slimms from COR!!
Issue No. 60 April 27th, 1974 Belle Tent from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 61 May 4th, 1974 Chalky from COR!!
Issue No. 62 May 11st, 1974 Beat Your Neighbour from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 63 May 18th, 1974 Tomboy from COR!!
Issue No. 64 May 25th, 1974 Pete's Pockets from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 65 June 1st, 1974 Football Madd from COR!!
Issue No. 66 June 8th, 1974 Harry's Haunted House from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 67 June 15th, 1974 Hire A Horror from COR!!
Issue No. 68 June 22nd, 1974 Joker from Wh&Ch by McDiarmid
Issue No. 69 June 29th, 1974 Evil Eye from Whoopee! by McDiarmid


Issue No. 70 August 3rd, 1974 The Slimms from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 71 August 10th, 1974 Ad Lad from Whoopee!
Issue No. 72 August 17th, 1974 Fuss Pot from Wh&Ch
Issue No. 73 August 24th, 1974 Shiner from Wh&Ch by Frank McDiarmid
Issue No. 74 August 31st, 1974 Spy School from Whoopee! by Frank McDiarmid 


Issue No. 75 September 7th, 1974 Loser from Wh&Ch by Frank McDiarmid
Issue No. 76 September 14th, 1974 Little Miss Muffit from Whoopee! by Frank McDiarmid


Issue No. 77 September 21st, 1974 Odd-Ball from Wh&Ch by Frank McDiarmid
Issue No. 78 September 28th, 1974 No Star Guest
Issue No. 79 October 5th, 1974 Wear 'em Out Wilf from Wh&Ch by Frank McDiarmid

In order for this account of SHIVER AND SHAKE strips and features to be complete, I will also mention two one-offs.

Screen Screams collage was included in issue 68 (June 22nd, 1974). A few of these can also be found in SHIVER AND SHAKE Holiday Special 1974 and possibly some later Specials and Annuals too, but this remains to be checked in due course:


Doctor Heckle was included in issue 48 (February 2nd, 1974) and shared the page with another strange feature ‘Ed – That’s me, folks! that I mentioned in my earlier post on Eagle Eye HERE. Doctor Heckle can be found in SHIVER AND SHAKE Annual 1975. Let’s wait and see if he also appeared in any later Sh&Sh publications:


And this is where I will close my box of Shiver and Shake weeklies and put it away because the review of the paper is now complete! I hope the posts brought back some nice memories from your happy days and I am strongly convinced that a few of the strips (such as FrankieStein, Scream Inn, Sweeny Toddler, Grimly Feendish, Wizards Anonymous and others) have a lasting value beyond nostalgia.  

Now let’s take a look at the goodness inside SHIVER AND SHAKE Holiday Specials and Annuals…