NOTE: Blimey! is no longer being updated. Please visit http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com for the latest updates about my comics work.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Introducing COR!! (1970)

Cor!! only lasted for four years but it's well remembered by readers who bought it in the 1970s. The second launch of IPC's new humour line (after Whizzer and Chips), issue 1 was published on 30th May 1970 (although advertised as 1st June). Before that though, it was announced in other comics. The half page advert above, sharing space with paid ads, appeared in Tiger dated 23rd May 1970 (on sale 16th May 1970). 

A week later, this four page ad appeared in Tiger dated 30th May 1970 (on sale 23rd May), revealing a little more (but not much) about the new comic. (Click on the spread to see it larger.)



A week later, on 30th May 1970, Cor!! was launched and another four page ad appeared in its companion comics. This one from Tiger dated 6th June...



The ads were no more than teasers really, but it was enough to secure Cor!! a stable readership. (Ads appeared on TV too, long gone now perhaps.) Here's the cover of the actual first issue, drawn by Mike Lacey...


You can read more about Cor!! No.1 in a blog post I wrote several years ago...
https://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/40-year-flashback-cor-no1.html

12 comments:

SID said...

A comic which I wish I read as a child but didn't due to blind loyalty to all things DCT. By the time I had come to my senses, Cor!! had gone.

Lew Stringer said...

It was very much IPC's answer to the DC Thomson comics. I enjoyed it at the time but I think the DCT titles were far better.

jock123 said...

While I loved “Whizzer & Chips”, “Cor!” just never did it for me - I think that it may have been an early inkling that perhaps advertising wasn’t *always* truthful… (and the mix-it-yourself drink powder was *horrible*…)

Lew Stringer said...

I can't remember the taste of it now, but I do remember the similar drinks powder that was in Buster in the mid-1960s which was quite tasty.

Paul Mcscotty said...

My abiding memory of Cor was the free "Gulp" drink, it was indeed as "Jock123" says awful I was expecting it to be like Cremola foam but it was flat and had no real taste just a very weak sugary drink and I remember just throwing it away - for a 10 year old boy to do that in 1970 it had to be bad lol. I quite liked Cor as I recall it has some strong characters like "Ivor Lott and Tony Broke", "Andy's Ants" etc and got it now and then but Buster and Dandy were probably my favourites at this time with a better mix of humour and adventure strips (more so Buster). Still it was nice to see it again Lew after all these years (47 years ago that is scary).

SID said...

Maybe the drink was five years old? ;)

Even though The Dandy was my all-time humour comic which also happened to be a DCT title, I am not sure that all their humour titles were better than IPC. But if DCT had the quality then IPC had the quantity (page wise).

Lew Stringer said...

What I meant was that the Thomson comics were better than Cor!! at that time (1970) but it's all subjective.

Will R. said...

Don't really remember the comic but the shouty gorilla is an enduring British comics image. Speaking of which, could there be a more british-titled comic?! Blimey! Surprised at the shortness of its duration given that I'm sure most comic fans of a certain would at least heard of it, if not read it. Didn't either Dave Gibbons or Kevin O'Neill get their first job doing corrections on it? Makes me wonder which comic cast the longest shadow with the shortest run. Starlord perhaps?

Lew Stringer said...

Kev had some cartoons in Cor!!. Dave may have contributed, but not sure. He definitely drew some fill-ins on the Twister strip in Buster.

Even though it only ran four years, Cor!! was a success compared to some other IPC comics of the period that only lasted five months. The 1970s were the period when instability started affecting the comics industry and it never really recovered to the standard of its heyday.

I guess SCREAM! was another comic that's fondly remembered, despite only lasting for 15 issues or so.

Anonymous said...

Would you believe there were some copies of #1 on eBay recently, complete with the free drink-mix?! Maybe it's like those amphoras of Roman wine that they find on the sea-bed that are supposedly still drinkable?!

Lew Stringer said...

I wouldn't advise drinking it! (Plus it'd devalue the comic if you did. :))

Unknown said...

COR!!Was the comic love of my life I will always remember it and hold it dear to my heart.
I would countdown the days from one Monday to the next and every Monday seemed like an eternity till the paperboy pushed my copy through the letter box.

Gus Gorilla was actually my all time favourite and only once did Gus fail in his endeavours with the closing tag line only once saying "you can't make a monkey out of Gus,oh somebody as!!"
Second was Ivor Lott and Tony Broke and third was The Gasworks Gang."
I totally loved Cor!! And although I also read Whizzer and Chips,Knockout Shiver and Shake,Buster(which I hated when it merged with Cor!!)Monster Fun, Score'n'Roar,Scorcher,ect Cor!! will ALWAYS be my Number One Favourite.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...