1980 SHIVER & SHAKE ANNUAL

1980 SHIVER AND SHAKE Annual had a price tag of £1.25 and was 144 pages thick.

Contents: Sweeny Toddler (by Tom Williams), Percy the Peacemaker (5 reprints but I don’t know where from), The Chumpions (4 reprints from COR!!, artwork by Peter Davidson), Toby’s Timepiece (2 stories, 6 pages long each), Horrornation Street (a 3-pager by Tom Williams), Shake (by Terry Bave), Forest Legion (a 6-pager by a new artist), Shiver (2 episodes by Terry Bave), Tough Nutt and Softy Centre (a 3-pager and a 2-pager by Norman Mansbridge), Freddie Fang the Werewolf Cub (6 reprints from COR!!, art by Reg Parlett), Frankie Stein (a 4-pager and a 3-pager by John Geering), The Desert Fox (2 episodes by Terry Bave), Ghoul Getters Ltd (2 episodes by Trevor Metcalfe), Blunder Puss (2 episodes by Jim Crocker), The Haunts of Headless Harry (3 reprints from SMASH!, artwork by Mike Lacey), The Duke’s Spook (2 episodes), The Shake Squad (4 reprints of The Lion Lot from LION comic, artwork by Leo Baxendale), Grimly Feendish (a 7-pager by Paul Ailey), Clever Cloggs (two 4-page quiz-strips by Les Barton), Moana Lisa (by Peter Davidson), The Hand, Lolly Pop (one by Sid Burgon, looks like a reprint, and a 3-pager by Reg Parlett), Wizard Prang and Demon Druid in Wiz War! (3 reprints from SMASH!/POW!), Webster (a 4-pager an unknown artist and a 2-pager by Terry Bave), Doc Hoot (by Alan Rogers), Tommy’s Magic Telescope (a 4-pager by Cliff Brown), Ding Dong Spells – Whacky Witch v. Fairy Godmother (reprint from WHIZZER AND CHIPS), Creepy Car (a 3-pager by Jim Crocker), Moving House (8 pages by Steve Bell), Sports School (a 4-pager by Jim Watson).

Two 'new' old strips were added to the lineup of reprints:  Chumpions was from COR!! (you can read a review in my COR!! series HERE) and Ding Dong Spells – Whacky Witch v. Fairy Godmother from WHIZZER AND CHIPS of the mid-70s.

Paul Ailey contributed a nice Grimly Feendish story in which the rottenest crook in the World devised and implemented a clever and elaborate scheme for pinching customers from the town’s big stores that had a Santa’s grotto at Xmas. First, he made a store owner an offer he couldn’t refuse and took over his business in exchange for an “I.O.U.” note for 10 pounds.

Then he had the Mad Professor build him four radio-controlled robot Santas and put them into work in competitors’ stores so that they would upset all the customers and drive them away, and they would all come to Grimly’s store. Quite a plot, isn’t it? All goes to plan until the robot Santas return to Grimly’s store and irritate a few costumers there. Grimly wants to escape with the cash but the sledge is too heavy for the deer to pull because the four Santas are also there. Grimly gets rid of the excess weight by discarding three of the four robots but the fourth Santa gets upset at the way Grimly has treated his friends so he throws the crook out of the sledge and Grimly lands straight in a cop shop where cops are celebrating Christmas.

There are not one but two stories of Toby’s Timepiece in this Annual. In the first tale (a really messy one, if you ask me) the magic watch transports Toby 50 thousand years into the future where he helps the law catch some wanted criminals, gets rewarded with gold money of the future and makes a narrow escape back to his own time when the law guards realise that Toby himself is wanted for attacking the “law master” (a kind of computer super-judge). In the second story the timepiece takes Toby back to the days of the Wild West where the boy helps the sheriff arrest a gang of bank robbers led by Sheriff’s deputy. In the earlier stories Toby appeared to have learnt to operate the timepiece but in this annual we are told that “Toby never knew when the timepiece was going to work … so he kept it with him all the time, just in case”. If I was in his shoes and had experienced all those weird and dangerous adventures depicted in the earlier annuals and holiday specials, I’d have probably thought twice before carrying it around…

In the two episodes of Frankie Stein Prof. Cube tries to get rid of Frankie by using two new inventions – anti-gravity paint in the first story and vanishing cream in the second. Too bad the vanishing cream also has the effect of making things grow to enormous size which means destruction to Mildew Manor.

The tale of The Forest Legion is illustrated by a new artist, so Mazza’s signature in the last panel of the episode in the previous Annual must have signified his bye-byes. This time the legionnaires foil a kidnap plot, although the Major who is kidnapped was mean to them when they first met him.

In the two stories of Ghoul Getters Ltd Dad and Arnold have to deal with a ghostly court jester and a ghostly damsel in distress. Both spooks are put to a good use in the end:

Enough about those familiar characters, let’s take a look at the new features. Clever Cloggs is quite an innovative blend of a comic strip and different puzzles, here is one of the two instalments by Les Barton that were included in this 1980 SHIVER AND SHAKE Annual:

Doc Hoot starts without much introduction but it looks as if the Doc is yet another adventure-seeking random time-hopper, who travels with the aid of his weird pogo-stick contraption. In this story Doc Hoot helps poor King Richard regain his self-confidence by presenting him with a recording of a lion’s roar. That’s how the king becomes known as the Lionheart… Art by Alan Rogers.

Tommy’s Magical Telescope is about a boy who owns a magic telescope. If Tommy looks at things through one end they get smaller, and if he looks at them through the opposite end, they get bigger.  In this episode Tommy uses the telescope on a practical joker to teach him a thing or two. The set is illustrated by Cliff Brown whose style appears to have changed a great deal since the days of Timothy Tester in WHIZZER AND CHIPS…

Moving House tells the story of the Hardy family (Mom, Dad, Grandpa and three kids – Denise, Sidney and Billy) who have moved into an old house. Denise and Sidney discover a grand-father clock in the attic and fiddle with in without realising that it’s a time-machine. They soon find out that it is, when they are attacked by a mammoth, but the kids are an adventurous type so they continue playing with the dials. The time machine operates in such a way that it transports the entire house, hence the title ‘Moving House’.  The second journey takes the Hardies to the past where the press gang take Dad and Billy for recruits for the Navy. The story has a happy ending but instead of returning to their own time, the Hardies find themselves in the days of industrial revolution. A couple of local kids take Denise and Sidney down to a coalmine where the overseer makes them work hard pushing carts. Next day they are very happy to be back in the twentieth century and come top in history… Nice artwork by Steve Bell...

For dessert, here is a complete episode of Sweeny Toddler by Tom Williams:

1979 SHIVER AND SHAKE HOLIDAY SPECIAL

1979 SHIVER AND SHAKE Holiday Special. 40 p., 64 pages.

CONTENTS:  Shiver (2 episodes by Terry Bave), Shake (by Terry Bave), George and His Magic Dragon (by Alan Rogers), Horrornation Street (a 3-pager by Tom Williams), Percy the Peacemaker (2 episodes by an artist whose name I don’t know), It’s a Smile (1/4 page, gags by Artie Jackson), Scream Inn at the Seaside (a 4-pager by Brian Walker), Creepy Car (by Jim Crocker), Sweeny Toddler (by Frank McDiarmid in colour and a 2-pager by Tom Paterson), Freddie Fang the Werewolf Cub (4 episodes, reprints from COR!! by Reg Parlett, one coloured-in), Robby Hood (8 pages by Ron Turner, reprint from COR!!), Webster (2 sets, one by I don’t know who and one by Frank McDiarmid in colour on the back cover), Brain Busters (2 pages of puzzles by Les Barton), The Duke’s Spook (looks like a reprint from an old Shiver and Shake weekly),  Lolly Pop (by Sid Burgon), Frankie Stein in America (3 pages by I don’t know who), Grimly Feendish (one reprint from SMASH!, one 4-pager by I don’t know who, and one episode by Tom Paterson, signed), The Desert Fox (by Frank McDiarmid, in colour), Moana Lisa (by Frank McDiarmid, in colour), It’s A Laugh (1/4 page, gags by Artie Jackson), Ghost Town (by Tom Williams, reprint from WHIZZER AND CHIPS), It’s a Joke (1/5 page, gags by Mike Lacey), Tough Nutt and Softy Centre (3 pages by Norman Mansbridge), Ghouldilocks by Tom Williams, Sports School by I don’t know who.

First, let’s take a look at the new strips and features. Percy the Peacemaker was about a boy who was always trying to help quarrelling parties to resolve their differences but ended up in trouble. I believe this is a reprint and I'd be grateful if someone told me where from. I wonder what the illustrator’s name was? I know I’ve seen a lot of his work in other IPC comics. Here is a page with an example of Percy the Peacemaker, followed by It’s A Smile gags. There were three such gag strips in this Holiday Special, all had a different headline: It’s a Smile, It’s a Joke and It’s a Laugh:

The second new tale was George and His Magic Dragon, illustrated by Alan Rogers:

Horrornation Street are at a holiday camp. They are having fun scaring other holiday makers but suffer a bicycle accident and end up at the camp sick bay:

After a longish break, Scream Inn made a comeback to the pages of SHIVER AND SHAKE Holiday Special with a 4-page story by Brian Walker.  It is quite an unusual instalment because the setting is a sunny beach rather than the gloomy Inn. The episode is entitled Scream Inn at the Seaside and in it the familiar gang of monsters and freaks help a boy win a sand castle competition. This happens to be the last ever instalment of Scream Inn proper because the weekly series ended in WHOOPEE dated 1st October, 1977 to become Spooktacular 7 (which ended on 22nd July, 1978, except for two more stories in WHOOPEE! 1979 and 1980 annuals).

The Holiday Special has three Grimly Feendish tales, all by different artists. One is a reprint from Smash!, one a new 4-pager by an unknown artist (Mike Higgs, perhaps??) in which Grimly uses a magnet as an instrument of crime but the police turn it against him in the end:

… and one by Tom Paterson:

Frank McDiarmid stepped in for the regular artists and illustrated as many as 4 strips: Sweeny Toddler, The Desert Fox, Moana Lisa and Webster, all presented in full colour. Here are two examples:

In the episode of Frankie Stein Prof. Cube takes Frankie on a holiday to the USA – the land of opportunity, in hope of an opportunity to get rid of him. He tries three schemes – pushing Frankie off a skyscraper, sending him to space on board a rocket launched out of the space centre in Florida, and finally abandoning him without food somewhere out in the great Mid-West. During this last adventure the starved Frankie finds himself on a peanut farm and gets to meet no less than Mr. Jimmy Carter, the then President of the US! I believe that’s one of the very few occasions when a contemporary politician was portrayed in a UK children’s comic. In fact, I can’t remember other such examples, except for Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini during WWII, so it’s a very interesting instalment in this regard, never mind some geographical inaccuracies (the landscape of what Prof. Cube refers to as ‘the great Mid-West’ looks a lot more like that of Southwestern USA, and the state of Georgia where Carter’s farm is located is nowhere even close).

Speaking of reprints, the episode of Robby Hood by Ron Turner is in fact a reprint of the first story that originally ran in COR!! comic between 14th November until 12th December, 1970 (issues No. 24 – 28); you can read my account of the story HERE.

Ghost Town must be a reprint from Whizzer and CHIPS.

I will sign off with images of the centerspread that I find quite hilarious. On the page preceding the centerspread we see a crowd of curious citizens flocking to see a Stately Haunted Home:

Turning the page, we see a busy picture of what is taking place inside the mansion:

… and overleaf, terrified folks flee the scene in panic:

I don't know who the artist was but just imagine what a brilliant sequence this would have been, had the illustrator’s duties been given to Brian Walker, Ken Reid, Frank McDiarmid or Tom Williams…

PROF. CUBE'S FAMILY - Part Two

And now for part two of this short series about Prof. Cube’s relatives. The episode is from  WHOOPEE!  Book of Frankie Stein 1977 – the second of the two highly-recommended Frankie Stein Annuals. The illustrator is again Mr. Frank McDiarmid.