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Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Don't miss your free FUNNY PAGES this Saturday!

Rebellion have certainly been increasing their output this year and they're not stopping yet! In comic shops this Saturday, 4th May, is Funny Pages, a special one-off packed with humour strips from yesteryear... and it's FREE!

Yes, Funny Pages is one of the comics that's part of the Free Comic Book Day scheme running across comic speciality shops in the UK and USA (not in newsagents). Hopefully your nearest retailer will have ordered it so you'll be able to pick one up on Saturday. (But buy some comics too, to keep the shop in business, ok?)

Funny Pages doesn't run any credits, apart from the few pages that artists signed back in the day, so I've compiled a contents list for you with all the artists I've identified...


COVER - Robert Nixon (main image of Frankie).

Contents:
Faceache - Ken Reid
Deadly Hedley - Martin Baxendale
Sweeny Toddler - Tom Paterson
Birdman and Chicken - Andrew Christine
Disappearing Trix - Reg Parlett
Prambo - Steve Bright
Kid Kong - Robert Nixon
Sub - Ken Reid
Haunted House game - Jack Oliver
Gums - John Geering
X-Ray Specs - Mike Lacey
Milly O’Naire and Penny Less - Jimmy Hansen
Frankie Stein - Ken Reid
Martha’s Monster Make Up - Ken Reid
Watford Gapp - Tom Paterson
Ivor Lott and Tony Broke - Jim Crocker
Glugg - Gordon Hogg
Grimly Feendish - Stan McMurtry
I'm pleased to see a couple of Odhams strips in there from the 1960s (Glugg from Wham! and Grimly Feendish from Smash!) but surprised that there's no Leo Baxendale work included. I'd have liked to have seen some of Roy Wilson's work from the 1930s included too, but realistically that would have looked too ancient for most kids today. Because this is definitely aimed at kids, not just nostalgists, to show them that these strips still stand up today as funny stuff. This is a very nice selection indeed. 

Anyway, grab a Funny Pages this Saturday! Here's the PR and a few sample pages to whet your appetites...

CREATIVE TEAM: Ken Reid, Robert Nixon, Reg Parlett, Trevor Metfalfe, Steve Bright, Mike Lacey, Martin Baxendale, Sid Burgeon, Gordon Hogg (w+a)
WORLDWIDE and DIGITAL: 4th May 2019
RATING: ALL-AGES

It's time to put the funny back in funny pages! This Free Comic Book Day, the Treasury of British Comics presents a stack of silliness in a folio of frivolous foolishness with a trove of classic cartoon characters! Infant delinquent Sweeney Toddler commits crimes from the crib! Just when you thought it was safe to parody Steven Spielberg shark films, along comes the terror from the depths, GUMS! Martha's Monster Make-Up and Faceache strips are both a scream! The egg-straordinary adventures of super-zeroes Birdman and Chicken are sure to get you clucking; You can count on Deadley Hedley The Vampire Detective to be up to your neck in laughs when he joins a stake-out at a monster Christmas Party! A bounty of belly-laughs for kids of all ages!


Available in print from: comic book stores via Diamond
Available in digital from: 2000 AD webshop and apps for iPadAndroidWindows 10






9 comments:

James Spiring said...

I'm surprised that both Buster and Sid's Snake have been omitted, considering both are on the cover.

Lew Stringer said...

No Draculass strip either, at least not in the PDF version I had access to. Still, let's not be glass half empty types eh?

Dr Andy Oliver said...

I was dying to get a copy of this but sadly no local comic book shop. It's now going for silly prices on a certain online auction site. I hope Rebellion republish it at sometime for purchase.

Lew Stringer said...

I paid £4.95 (inc postage) for it today, but it worked out cheaper than travelling to my nearest comic shop to get it. I already had access to the PDF for the review but I wanted a paper version and unfortunately Rebellion don't send them out to people who promote their titles.

Kevin Larkin said...

I was wondering : how well did this do on the day? I saw quite a few people choosing it, and the fact that I've seen one on eBay going for £15 (!) suggests there was a demand for it. I hope it was a success and it encourages Rebellion to do more... maybe a regular quarterly or bi-monthly magazine. I enjoyed it : being such a rare treat, it had a Holiday Special buzz about it, rather than the usual weekly comic feel.

Lew Stringer said...

I've no idea how many they shifted, Kevin. It seems to have sold well on eBay so presumably did well in the shops. As it's a freebie though it's not a fair representation of how a regular comic would sell. We'd have to look to the all-new Cor!! Buster Special for that. If they did more Funny Pages, I'd rather it was all new material than reprint.

Kevin Larkin said...

Agreed, it would be great to see a comic with a mixture of new characters and new versions of the old classics. But how about an all-new comic which included a pull-out supplement with reprints, or came bagged with a supplement of reprints (like Judge Dredd Megazine)? The old stuff is too good to go to waste!

Lew Stringer said...

That's a great idea, Kevin! I'd be reluctant to see a bagged comic though, as kids wouldn't be able to look through it first (and the cloudy environmentally-friendly bags Rebellion now use would put young kids off) - but a pull out section would be good. Let's hope it can happen one day.

Dr Andy Oliver said...

Well I finally managed to pick one up via Ebay. £10 bagged and boarded and I was happy about that. Absolutely love it to bits. So many great strips in there and lots of Ken Reid. I though the colourised strips worked very well. Thanks for promoting this Lew.

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