MONSTER FUN ANNUAL 1978 – PART TWO

This is part two of my detailed look at MONSTER FUN ANNUAL 1978. You can read the first part in the previous post HERE.

Ian Knox illustrated and signed the three-page set of Terror TV lampooning Top of the Pops with Tony Blackout (= Tony Blackburn) as host. Here we meet some performers who are now almost forgotten: 

... and some stars who are still big today: 

Both two-pagers of Ticklish Allsorts with Les Barton artwork were in the best tradition of Monster Fun Comic weeklies. Here is one:

The book had another story of Terry and the ‘Dactyl, the second one after 1977 Annual. In it Terry Briggs and his pet – the great flying prehistoric reptile – descend from their home in Inca gold city high on a plateau to recover the gold plate which they accidentally dropped down. Down on the ground, they confront a ruthless gang of bearded desperado raiders and liberate Argentine doctor senorita Isabella Mendez whom they have kidnapped for ransom. The gorgeous good doctor rewards the lad with the gold plate given to her as a gift by the natives, and Terry and the ‘dactyl return to the safety of their home on the great plateau. The best thing about the story is that the illustrator had sneaked in his signature in one of the panels which helped me identify him as Giorgio Giorgetti. This means that I can now confirm the name of the artist who illustrated quite a few adventure strips in IPC comics, including The Ghostly Galleon in SHIVER AND SHAKE and most importantly Rat Trap in COR!!

Panel with the artist's signature

The Annual had one more adventure thriller called The Menace of Formula X. It first appeared in COR!! weeklies and all 20 pages of the original story were reprinted the Annual. I covered it in detail HERE a couple of years ago.

Other reprints included the usual selection of Hot Rod, Stoneage Brit Ancient Nit and The Robot Maker, all re-arranged into two-pagers and some coloured-in. With the two installments of The Robot Maker in this Annual, the number of reprints of the strip in MFC publications summed up to 19 which meant that the stock of original episodes from the COR!! run in 1970 was now exhausted.

The most exciting thing about this Annual is that it has two Badtime Bedtime Books. Both are classic BBBs in everything except that they aren’t pull-outs.

The Story of Traffic Island by Robert Loony Stevedore is presented by none other than Leonard Rottingsocks – ‘office boy, wit, and prehistoric chip buttie collector’, whatever this means. The Traffic Island is actually a plot of lush greenery inside a busy traffic roundabout. Little Jim Ladd is sent there to fetch the Mayor’s hat that was blown off and landed there. He meets two weird inhabitants of the island – the poor Ben Gooni who was accidentally left behind when the road was built, and the evil Long Gone Silver who was ‘deported’ by the Mayor and now wears Mayor’s hat in revenge. Jim is a smart lad: not only does he recover the hat but he also helps Ben Gooni break free from the island. 

The story was interrupted a few times by promotional intermissions featuring the loony Dr. Bonce, 'noted brain surgeon and twit':

I don’t know the name of the artist but he was not nearly as good as Mike Brown who drew the second BBB - the absolutely brilliant Badtime Bedtime Annual Story Starchy and Butch. Here it is in full:

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

MONSTER FUN ANNUAL 1978 – PART ONE

This was the first one to come out after the weekly had folded. The book had a lovely cover by Robert Nixon, the page-count was 144 and the price was £1.15.

Contents: Freaky Farm (a 4-pager in full colour and a 3-pager in b/w with spot green, both by Jim Watson), Hot Rod (5 reprints from WHIZZER AND CHIPS, including one in colour, artwork by Alf Saporito),  Dough Nut and Rusty’s Twin Teaser (1 page in colour), Meanie McGenie (1 page by Tom Williams), Monster Mirth (2 pages of jokes), Mummy’s Boy (two 2-pagers, one by Norman Mansbridge and one by Paul White), Tom Thumbscrew (a 2-pager by Norman Mansbridge), Draculass (two 2-pagers and a 3-pager by Terry Bave), Brainy and His Monster Maker (two 2-pagers), Major Jump Horror Hunter (three 2-pagers most probably by Barrie Appleby),  Dough Nut and Rusty (a 3-pager by Trevor Metcalfe and a 3 pager by someone else, possibly Artie Jackson imitating Trevor Metcalfe), Kid Kong’s Double Decker (spot-the difference puzzle), Ticklish Allsorts (two 2-pagers by Les Barton), Teddy Scare (a 2-pager, most likely  by Jim Watson), The Robot Maker (2 reprints from COR!!, including one in full colour, artwork by Frank McDiarmid), Stoneage Brit Ancient Nit (4 reprints from COR!!, including one in colour), The Little Monsters (1 page by Sid Burgon), X-Ray Specs (a 3-pager and a 4-pager by Tom Williams and a 3-pager in colour by someone else), Gums (a 4-pager by Robert Nixon), Cave Raves (2 page of jokes), Kid Kong (a 3-pager by Robert Nixon and a 3-pager by someone else, possibly Artie Jackson imitating Robert Nixon), Terry and the ‘Dactyl (adventure story, 8 pages by the artist whose name will be revealed in the second part of the article, signed), Puppet Puzzle (Creature Teacher spot-the-difference puzzle), The Menace of Formula X (adventure thriller, 20 pages in two parts of 10 pages each, reprinted from COR!! weeklies), Terror TV (a 3-pager by Ian Knox), Badtime Bedtime Annual Story Starchy and Butch (8 pages by Mike Brown), Soccer Shocker (Major Jump spot-the-difference puzzle), Badtime Bedtime Story – The Story of Traffic Island (8 pages), Dough Nut’s Dilema (spot-the-difference puzzle).

This is a lovely book with lots of excellent art by IPC’s top artists. In fact, it has so much good stuff that I will make it a two-part article to cover most of it…

Tom Williams contributed the episode of Meanie McGenie in which the grumpy genie is summoned by a butterfly enthusiast:

Mr. Williams also drew two (out of three) episodes of X-Ray Specs. I like the one in which Ray busts his specs and is visited by the inventor – the mysterious optician I.Squint who presented Ray with his first pair of the magic glasses in MFC No. 1.

It’s a shame the Annual does not include a new episode of Tom Williams’ most successful MFC strip Creature Teacher. The teach and Class3X only feature in Puppet Puzzle – a spot-the-difference type of puzzle.

Robert Nixon contributed the bright cover, the episode of Gums in which Bluey uses a dummy of a gorgeous she-shark to get the false fangs off the “fiercest fish in the sea” but the crafty shark recovers them in the end...

… and an episode of Kid Kong in which the mighty brute has cold which then develops into cough; both the sneezing and the coughing translate into destruction for the villagers:

Interestingly, the second episode of Kid Kong was illustrated by another artist who I think was Artie Jackson trying to ghost Mr. Nixon:

The same artist ghosted Trevor Metcalfe on one of the two sets of Dough Nut and Rusty:

Terry Bave drew both episodes of Draculass. The one with the giraffe is a classic example of the technique which Mr. Bave described in his interview for the Summer 1986 edition of GOLDEN FUN. The point was not to show the actual moment of the vampire bite:

In the first episode of Freaky Farm road builders made another failed attempt to construct a road across the spooky farm. The last panel suggests they may have finally realized this wasn’t such a good idea and abandoned it for good:

In the second episode the trespasser is Major Mindup, the famous short-sighted ghost hunter who has volunteered to look around Freaky Farm for a TV show and check whether it really is haunted. I like the ending of this one:

Both Freaky Farm stories were by Jim Watson who also drew the episode of Teddy Scare (at least I think it was him):

The Annual offers a triple helping of Major Jump Horror Hunter. First Major Jump and Cosmo meet the sneaky Monster Arctic Snow Tortoise who steals their hover-sleigh and leaves them stranded in the Arctic:

... then the inhabitants of Major Jump’s menagerie arrange a surprise birthday party for their master:

... and finally we see Major Jump and Cosmo in the jungle where they meet a lone explorer who turns into Moon Monster at night. Another lone explorer saves them but they soon find out that their defender turns into Sun Monster when the sun comes up… 

I think Barrie Appleby was the artist on all three Major Jump sets.

I will save Terror TV by Ian Knox and both Badtime Bedtime Stories for part two in which I will also reveal the name of the artist behind Terry and the ‘Dactyl who illustrated quite a few adventure serials in IPC comics, including Rat Trap in COR!!

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

MONSTER FUN COMIC SUMMER SPECIAL 1976

The second and the last MONSTER FUN COMIC Summer Special came out for the Summer holidays of 1976, it had 64 pages and cost 25 p.

Contents: Frankie Stein’s “Wish You Were Here” Postcards (3 pages, including one in full colour on back page, all by Jim Crocker), Kid Kong (two episodes – a 3-pager and 2-pager, both by Robert Nixon), Martha’s Monster Make-Up (a 2-pager by Frank McDiarmid), Stoneage Brit Ancient Nit (6 pages of reprints from COR!!, including two in full colour), The Robot Maker (6 pages of reprints from COR!!, including two in full colour, artwork by Frank McDiarmid), Brainy and His Monster Maker (a 2-pager), Sam’s Son (a 2-pager by Robert Nixon), Hot Rod (3 pages of reprints from WHIZZER AND CHIPS, artwork by Alf Saporito), Penalty Point (spot-the-difference puzzle with a panel from Hire A Horror or Rent A Ghost by Reg Parlett), Dough Nut and Rusty (a 2-pager by someone, possibly Jim Crocker, ghosting Trevor Metcalfe), Swing Along With Kong (spot-the-difference puzzle with a panel from an episode in the weekly by Robert Nixon), X-Ray Specs (a 3-pager), Mummy’s Boy (a 2-pager by Norman Mansbridge), You Gotta Laugh! (2 pages of gags by Mike Lacey), Freaky Farm (a 2-pager by Les Barton), Teddy Scare (a 2-pager in colour on the centerspread by the regular artist), Clean up With Teach (spot-the-difference puzzle with a panel from the weekly, artwork by Tom Williams), Draculass (a 2-pager by Terry Bave), Well, What do You Know! (2 pages of jokes by Mike Lacey), The Little Monsters (one page by Jim Crocker), Monsters from an Unknown Planet feature (3 pages), Art’s Gallery (a 2-pager), Meanie McGenie (1 page), Creature Teacher (a 4-pager by Tom Williams), Film Funny Feature (1 page), Gums (a 2-pager by Artie Jackson).

The lavish front cover by Bob Nixon promised an exciting episode of Gums inside. Disappointingly, it was only a rushed two-pager tucked away towards the end of the paper.

Some of the other MFC stars got a better treatment. As could be expected, there was quite a lot of Kid Kong. Robert Nixon illustrated two stories. In the first one Kid tries to find a way to cool down on a hot day at the seaside and in the other one he has a very intense craving for ‘nanas:

In Creature Teacher the teach takes Class3X on their summer outing to an old castle where the little horrors find temporary shelter behind thick medieval walls. This time it takes the teach quite an effort to subdue Class3X: first he transforms himself into a mechanical digger to fill the moat, then turns into a battering ram to smash through the gates and finally grows a shell to protect himself against artillery fire. Class3X end up in the chamber of little horrors in the dungeons. Artwork by Tom Williams.

X-Ray Specs was also given the privilege of a 3-pager but was illustrated by someone else rather than the regular artist. I get an impression he was undecided whom he wanted to ghost – Terry Bave or Mike Lacey:

In the 2-page episode of Martha’s Monster Make-Up illustrated by Frank McDiarmid Martha is enjoying herself on the pier and brings her monster make-up with her.

Draculass, the other female MFC star, had some fun biting people’s necks at the swimming pool:

The list of reprint strips was expanded by adding Alf Saporito’s Hot Rod from Whizzer and Chips to the usual pair of Stoneage Brit Ancient Nit and The Robot Maker, both from COR!! A few of the episodes of the latter two were coloured-in. Stoneage Brit looks tolerable in colour but the artwork of Frank McDiarmid is too fine and detailed for added colour in The Robot Maker, IMHO.

The 3-page feature Monsters from an Unknown Planet promoted a new film presented by Miracle Films. The images used in this Summer Special were b/w but the advert says the film was in colour.

For dessert, here are two complete stories. The episode of Freaky Farm was the first one ever by Les Barton who did an excellent job drawing it. Mr. Barton was very good at monsters.

Sam’s Son is a strip I don’t remember seeing elsewhere. Another one-off experiment, perhaps?

Earlier in this post I said this was the last MFC Holiday Special but the truth is that after MFC was absorbed by BUSTER, starting from 1977 BUSTER was given two Holiday Specials every year: one was BUSTER HOLIDAY SPECIAL and the other one was BUSTER AND MONSTER FUN HOLIDAY SPECIAL. The practice continued for many years: the last edition with the combined title that I have in my collection is from 1994, and there may have been more later on. I will not cover them in this series because I think they are in the BUSTER territory, but I'll show a small selection of covers. Here are some earlier ones:

…and here are a few from the nineties:

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