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.



Monday, August 17, 2020

BRIAN WALKER'S SCREAM INN IN WHOOPEE! - PART ONE

The recent passing of Brian Walker reminded me to cover the WHOOPEE! run of Scream Inn. The strip started in SHIVER AND SHAKE comic in March 1973 and continued there throughout the 79-week run of the paper, ending on 5th October 1974. I covered the SHIVER AND SHAKE run of this highly entertaining feature in a series of posts, starting HERE

Innkeeper was one of the characters shown marching to meet the crowd of WHOOPEE! stars on the centrespread of the  ‘Big News’ issue of SHIVER AND SHAKE:


An inverted version of the same drawing was used on the centrespread of that week’s WHOOPEE!:

 

The transfer of Scream Inn to the new combined comic resulted in the cancellation of The Ghost Train – another spook-dominated comedy horror strip that Brian Walker drew since the first issue of WHOOPEE! Here is how it ended in the last pre-merger issue of the magazine:


 

The issue of WHOOPEE AND SHIVER & SHAKE cover-dated 12th October 1974 marked the start of the strip’s thrill-filled run that lasted nearly three years till 1st October, 1977. The strip was part of the ‘haunted’ Shiver section of the combined paper. Scream Inn picked up exactly where it had left off in SHIVER AND SHAKE – it was a reader participation feature where readers could win a pound for suggesting a character who’d venture to spend a night in the haunted bedroom of the creepy establishment and win a million quid! 

 

 

The strip was given a new gloomy masthead, showing the inn and its uninviting surroundings, complete with the ‘We’re Only Here for the Fear’ sign, as someone rightly noted on Twitter – undoubtedly inspired by Double Diamond ad campaign slogan in the 70s…


The Scream Inn poster in WHOOPEE! cover-dated 13th September, 1975 (so nearly a year after the strip made the jump to WHOOPEE!) offers a perfect summary of what it was about, and introduces the resident spooks:

 

A closer look reveals that the poster features not just all the humanoid characters but also the other regulars, including the centipede with the Union Jack attached to its tail (first seen in the issue of 21st June 1975), the Father and Son duo of spiders Cyril and Sid, and even the two mystery creatures whose eyes shine out from the dark corners in nearly every indoors panel of the strip. The snake that was another regular is not featured in the poster, for some reason…

Scream Inn is one of the very few humour strips in British comics (if not the only one) that was covered in a scientific analysis: it received as many as 30 pages in the book “Comics: Ideology, Power and the Critics” by Martin Barker published by Manchester University Press in 1989. The book offers some interesting insights and findings of the researcher, and I can thoroughly recommend it to fans of Scream Inn. Here is the cover of the book and a little extract from the Scream Inn chapter:

 

I have reconstructed the Scream Inn guest book, ‘documenting’ who and when called at the ghastly establishment and tried to win the prize. Below is the list of the callers, starting from the first combined WHOOPEE AND SHIVER & SHAKE in 1974, till the end of 1975, with a few complete episodes. The next two posts will cover the years 1976 and 1977. 

 

October 12, 1974        · Ron Rain, the Famous Western Film Star. I decided to show it here because it was the first episode in WHOOPEE! The menu board in the opening panel was a fun little feature in the vast majority of the episodes. Brian Walker and Cliff Brown (the scriptwriter) probably had lots of fun inventing the names of the dishes...


 

October 19, 1974        · Super-store lift attendant

October 26, 1974        · Secret Agent (looks like I-Spy from SPARKY comic). This is one of very few examples in British comics when a character appeared in a publication produced by the competitor. Brian Walker illustrated 'I-Spy' in DC Thomson’s SPARKY comic, so the inclusion of a look-alike in a paper published by IPC was a cheeky experiment on his part. Check it out HERE

November 2, 1974      · Vacuum Chimney Sweep

November 9, 1974      · Chap with stew pot on his head so that he can't see Scream Inn ghosts and thus won't be frightened by them

November 16, 1974    · Boy Scout

November 23, 1974    · Frankie Stein – the big star in SHIVER AND SHAKE and later WHOOPEE! See the full episode HERE

November 30, 1974    · Road Hole Night Watchman 


 

December 7, 1974       · Donny Dazzle, the great singing star of stage, screen, TV and radio

December 14, 1974     · ACME vacuum cleaner company representative

December 21, 1974     · Maximus Bulge, the Strongest Man in the World

(NOTE: The paper was affected by industrial action and missed three issues at the junction of 1974 and 1975)

January 18, 1975         · Burglar

January 25, 1975         · Postman

February 1, 1975         · Florence Nightingale, the famous nurse

February 8, 1975         · Ghoul Getters Ltd. – fellow WHOOPEE! stars; interestingly, the episode also gives a nod to Fun Fear – another horror comedy strip in WHOOPEE! See the whole episode HERE

February 15, 1975       · Bud Gee the Birdman - lad who thinks he should have been born a bird

February 22, 1975       · Robot

March 1, 1975             · Mesmeraldi, the finest hypnotist in the world



March 8, 1975             · Indian snake-charmer

March 15, 1975           · Laughing policeman

March 22, 1975           · Septimus Moneyshuffle, the Miser

March 29, 1975           · Kung Fu Man

April 5, 1975               · Frank the Frogman - shark hunter

April 12, 1975             · Bravest Redskin Chief

April 19, 1975             · Vaxo the Ventriloquist

April 26, 1975             · Mr. Cannon Ball- human cannon ball from the circus

May 3, 1975                · Orrible Hole – fellow WHOOPEE! star, see the full episode HERE

May 10, 1975              · Dick Turpentine - the famous rough highwayman


 

May 17, 1975              · Old Mother Hubbard

May 24, 1975              · Tax Inspector

May 31, 1975              · Retired ghost

June 7, 1975                · Caveman

June 14, 1975              · Circus Clown

June 21, 1975              · Walter Tapp the plumber

June 28, 1975              · Willie Wipem the  window cleaner

July 5, 1975                 · Bully from nearby school

July 12, 1975               · Astronaut

July 19, 1975               · Little green man

July 26, 1975               · Farmer Blewett


 

August 2, 1975             · Scared Stiff Sam – fellow star from WHOOPEE! See the full episode HERE 

August 9, 1975           · Gas meter reader from the gas board

August 16, 1975         · Head waiter at the "Hotel de Plush"

August 23, 1975         · Fearless Fernando the lion tamer

August 30, 1975         · Evil Eye - fellow-character from WHOOPEE! See the full episode HERE 

September 6, 1975      · Harry Knockitt, the carpenter

September 13, 1975    · Owner of humble Chinese take away food shop

September 20, 1975    · Motorcycle scramble rider

September 27, 1975    · Telephone engineer (hopes to spend the night in a phone booth)

October 4, 1975          · Whoopee! office boy. An interesting example of a strip involving a member of WHOOPEE! staff. The office boy’s name was Ossie and he was in charge of the Letters section of the paper. Many readers addressed their letters directly to him:


 

October 11, 1975        · Antique dealer

October 18, 1975        · Wriggletto the great Escapologist

October 25, 1975        · Optician

November 1, 1975      · Sailor

November 8, 1975      · Beefeater from the Tower of London


 

November 15, 1975    · Thor, the Mighty Norse God of Thunder

November 22, 1975    · Fred Fizzog, the rubber-faced man

November 29, 1975    · Motorist

December 6, 1975       · Sweeny Toddler – Fellow WHOOPEE! star. See the full episode HERE 

December 13, 1975     · Writer of Ghost Stories

December 20, 1975     · Deep-sea diver

December 27, 1975     · Cinderella (X-mas episode)


  Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd

Thursday, June 25, 2020

WHOOPEE! 1985 - A FEW OF THE LAST FRONT COVERS


In my previous post I said it was going to be the last in WHOOPEE! series for now, but I thought I might do another quick one… 

Only 13 issues were published in 1985 – the comic’s last year before it was absorbed by WHIZZER AND CHIPS, and although the paper was about to fold, I think 1985 was the year when readers saw some of the best WHOOPEE! covers. Here are a few that I find the most unusual and striking:





This doesn’t apply to the front cover of the last issue that I think was rather bland:


It had this announcement on the centre pages:


And here is the cover of the first combined issue that arrived a week later and coincided with Easter:



Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd

Saturday, June 13, 2020

WHOOPEE! PULL-OUTS AND FREEBIES IN 1984



Compared to the year before, 1984 was a lot more generous in terms of WHOOPEE! pull-outs and free gifts... 

The four issues of 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st March, 1984 contained Sweeny Toddler's Naughty Booklet and confirmed that Sweeny Toddler had re-established his unshakable status of WHOOPEE!’s number one star. 



The booklet was given both sides of one page in all of the four issues, so it was 16 pages thick when fully assembled. It had colour front and back covers and centre pages, the rest was in black and white. The illustrator was the one and only Tom Paterson:





The issue with the cover date of 5th May, 1984 had a free Heinz Invaders badge:


… and carried this advert on one of its pages:


The next four issues of 12th, 19th, 26th May and 2nd June, 1984 had the Creepy Comix pull-out booklet.


The 16-page booklet was drawn mostly by Nigel Edwards or maybe Ian Knox, with a few pages by other artists:





The first of the four issues with the Creepy Comix booklet (12 May, 1984) also had a little extra and arrived with a pack of Free Fryers Phantom sweets, not present with my copy.

The next cut-out booklet came after a short break of just one week. The four issues of 16th, 23rd, 30th June and 7th July, 1984 carried Whoopee TV pull-out booklet:


It was another 16-pager, drawn exclusively by J Edward Oliver:





The first issue with the Whoopee TV pull-out booklet (16 June, 1984) also had a Free Gift from Weetabix - Shrinkies - Make me into BADGE… KEY FOB… PENDANT. I don’t have the gift but here is an image that I found online:


In August 1984 IPC launched Shoot! Football Magazine, and ran four-page adverts of the new periodical on the centre pages of WHOOPEE! issues cover-dated 25th August:



...and 15th September:



Whoopee Comic Turns Quiz and Jokes Booklet was that year’s fourth cut-out booklet and was presented with the issues of 22th & 29th September and 6th & 13th October, 1984:






Besides the page of the booklet, the issue of 29th September carried an advert of Christmas Annuals on its four centre pages. The layout of the first page looks shockingly familiar, doesn’t it? 



The centre pages of the next issue (20th October, 1984) advertised the arrival of the first issue of Big K computer magazine:



…followed a week later by the indispensable Guy Fawkes mask by Brian Walker in the issue cover-dated 27th October, 1984:



Finally, the four November issues (3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th) came with the second Sweeny Toddler booklet that year. The issue of 13th November also had three Free Stinky Stickers that are not present with my copy.


All four cut-out booklets offered earlier in 1984 followed the same uniform design: they had 16 pages, with colour front and back covers + colour centrespreads. This one, however, was different:  it was named Sweeny’s Baby Comic and purported to be the World’s Smallest Comic. After detaching the cut-out page from the comic, one was supposed to cut it in half again before folding, and after four weeks the result was a 32-page booklet that was four times smaller than the page of the comic:




The mini-comic was the last pull out in 1984, and also the last one in WHOOPEE! The days of the comic were already numbered: after the issue of 30th March, 1985 it was merged into WHIZZER AND CHIPS, and ceased to exist as such…

This blogpost concludes the long series of 13 yearly overviews of the posters, free gifts, pull outs and other goodies that came with WHOOPEE! during its exciting lifetime, spanning the period from 1974 till 1985. You can revisit the series by clicking Whoopee pull-outs at the bottom of the ‘Labels’ column on the right.

Characters are © Rebellion Publishing Ltd