Apologies for the lack of blogs this past week. I've been laid up with the flu' and using the computer soon gives me a migraine. Normal service should be resumed next week.
In the meantime, here's a classic Leo Baxendale cover for the 1965 Firework Issue of Wham! The colours are printed slightly off register (this is how they were on the comic, not a fault of the scan) but you may notice a Dalek amongst the crowd of schoolkids. Leo often added a Dalek or two in the background of his Odhams strips during this period. I'll dig a few more samples out and add them here soon, but this was one I had to hand.
All that fuss the media made recently about a Dalek appearing in The Bash Street Kids in the new BeanoMAX comic eh? Old news for some of us. ;-)
What's most noteworthy about that cover though is that it shows kids armed to the teeth (literally in one case) with fireworks in school of all places. In 1965 such anarchic humour was commonplace in British comics. In the hyper-panic age of today that page would inspire a media outcry, the comic would be withdrawn, and the editor probably sacked! But 40 years ago we knew it was only a drawing.
4 comments:
Great to see Leo Baxendale work on the cover...and a big signature..
With Dudley D Watkins doing most covers it wouldn't have been possible for Leo to be able to do this...So I can see why he left to Oldham
His crowd scenes are super...would make a great jigsaw..poster...etc...they should all be collected together his crowd scenes...
Hope you get better soon Lew...
thanks for that Lew . it always makes my day when I see a bax cover that Ive never seen before.
I ahve a few old annuals of wham with his covers, love em!
hope you feel better soon, I love your blogging.
steve H
When was Super Sir dropped as the Tiddlers' teacher? Did they move up a year? My 2 theories as to why he went:
1.He stopped looking like the original drawing of the man in the top caption, who took too long to draw
2. Having a teacher who was the pupils' friend restricted the storylines, so the new bald non-pipe-smoking teacher introduced some conflict in the classroom (previously the headmaster had to be involved for this!)
I don't know when Super Sir was dropped as I have gaps in my Wham! collection. Possibly when The Tiddlers moved to the covers in 1965 I would guess.
I think your second theory is spot on.
Lew
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