The End of Skid Solo! (1982) - Updated!

Compared to its stablemates Action, 2000AD, and Battle, the long-running Tiger comic was quite gentle and lighthearted in its storylines. It was therefore more of a shock when we read of the fate of Skid Solo in his final story. 

Skid Solo had begun in Hurricane comic in 1964. The story of the fictional racing driver proved to be a hit with readers and was carried over to Tiger when the two comics merged in 1965. When Tiger upgraded its printing from newsprint to web offset in 1969 it offered artists the opportunity to embellish their stories with a grey wash (diluted black ink) - or full colour painting if they appeared on the colour pages. Skid Solo's artist John Vernon excelled at both wash and colour techniques and produced some very nice pages. 

By 1982, Tiger was being readied for a revamp, replacing some older characters with new ones. Sadly, Skid Solo was one of those for the chop after an impressive 18 year run. Usually, when stories in Tiger came to an end they'd finish on a happy note, status quo restored, and with the heroes optimistic for their futures. 

Not so for Skid Solo! 

Perhaps the writing had been on the wall months before, when one of Skid's co-stars, Sparrow Smith, had been killed in a crash. A portent of things to come. 

The 1st May 1982 issue of Tiger featured the final Skid Solo story. Written by Fred Baker, drawn by John Vernon, the regular team. It left me stunned when I read it back then, and I was 23 at the time! I wondered how 8 year olds would find it. Here's the story...

I think the most disturbing thing about that ending isn't the crash itself, but that we never see Skid Solo's face again after the accident. The extent of his injuries aren't revealed to us, and it's left to our imaginations. It really was a powerful and unexpected ending for such a long-running character, and one that certainly won't be forgotten. Thanks to Fred Baker and John Vernon for such a memorable series!

UPDATE: I'm very grateful to blog reader Stephen West for providing some more info about Skid Solo. A few weeks after that final episode it seems that readers had been voicing their concerns to the Tiger editor Paul Gettens as acknowledged in his editorial...

The following issue saw a one page feature on Skid Solo, with an editorial update that "two months after the accident... doctors have said that Skid WILL walk again, but will have a limp. However, he won't be able to compete in Grand Prix racing for a long time". 

A way to placate upset readers, hopefully, and it lessens the harshness of that ending, but I like to think that it's up to the individual reader to choose whether to accept it or not. 

Stephen West also supplied some background info on Skid Solo, so here it is:

A few pieces of Skid Solo trivia:

• Skid’s first name is Edward (Hurricane 07/03/1964 – 2^nd episode) I don’t believe that it is ever mentioned again.
• Skid originally lived with his Aunt Mabel, the character was quietly dropped from the strip around the time that it transferred to Tiger in May 1965.
• Skid became a Grand Prix Champion for the first time. (Tiger 22/10/1966)
• Tiger sponsored Skid Solo - a Tiger head logo featured on the front of his racing cars thereafter (Tiger 28/03/1970)
• Skid was awarded an OBE (Tiger 05/10/1974)
• Skid met and raced with Stirling Moss (Tiger 14/02/1981 - 19/09/1981)

My thanks again to Stephen for the information!

The Christmas TIGER AND JAG (1969)

Most adventure comics tended to avoid Christmas stories as they interfered with continuity or were an awkward fit for serials, but Tiger and Jag editor David Gregory was happy to accommodate the festivities (as did Barrie Tomlinson when he was promoted from sub-editor to editor in 1970). This cover by John Vernon was always a favourite of mine, as it managed to fit in Santa, Christmas decorations, presents, snow, a special festive logo, and still find time for the story. 

The Skid Solo story continued inside with more winter adventure. The scriptwriter was Fred Baker, a very busy and talented creator who also wrote Billy's Boots, Hot Shot Hamish,  and many other strips...

Roy of the Rovers and his team were also celebrating, with a slap-up feed. art by Yvonne Hutton...

Splash Gorton (name inspired by Flash Gordon, look inspired by Sixties hippies) was a strip about a swimmer, with art by Joe Colquhoun ten years before he'd draw Charley's War...

War and football were the two mainstays of British adventure weeklies and Tiger combined them into one strip with The Barbed Wire Eleven, about British P.O.W.s forming a football team. Art by Jim Bleach. 

The centre page strip was a delight. Football Family Robinson was always entertaining, and John Gillatt's artwork was fantastic. The strip was originally drawn by Joe Colquhoun, a hard act to follow, but John did a superb job.

An advert for that year's annuals, plus a notice about the impending change to decimal currency that would come into force 14 months later...

Nosey was Tiger and Jag's single humour strip. The art looks a lot like the work of Chas Sinclair but I'm not sure if it is his or not. (At that time he was freelancing for TV Comic on Basil Brush.)

Another snowy strip ending with a Christmas feed, Typhoon Tracy was drawn by Graham Allen, who had previously illustrated many humour pages for the Odhams comics. A skilled artist who could do both funnies and light adventure. 

There'll be another Christmas comic tomorrow! Visit the blog again to unwrap it!

Christmas Comics: TIGER (1970)

By 1970 Tiger had solidly become an all-sports theme comic, with the Christmas issue featuring Johnny Cougar on the cover taking a break from wrestling. (For several years during this period the cover strip rotated between Johnny Cougar, Skid Solo, and Roy of the Rovers.) Artwork by Sandy James, with the story continuing inside...

Carr Street United was a relatively short-run strip with artwork by Sam Fair...

Tiger had the advantage of better printing than most of its companion comics at IPC, allowing artists to embellish strips in grey wash. John Vernon used the technique to nice effect on his Skid Solo pages...

The comic only carried one humour strip in the seventies, with Autograph Albert being the one during this period. Art by Norman Mansbridge...

Finally, a full page ad for that year's Tiger Annual and its related titles, including books for Hurricane and Jag, two comics that had merged into Tiger in, respectively, 1965 and 1969. The weeklies were gone but the annuals continued...

Bookmark this blog to see another festive flashback tomorrow! 

This week in 1969: TIGER AND JAG

It's been a while since I featured Tiger on this blog so here's a quick look at the issue that was on sale from 19th to 25th April 1969. This was the 4th combined issue of Tiger and Jag, with IPC having taken over the Fleetway comics and trimming back the weaker selling titles. The Roy of the Rovers cover is by Yvonne Hutton, whose linework still looks fresh and modern even today. Tragically, Yvonne died in a car accident in the early 1990s. 

The following Skid Solo story is drawn by John Vernon. It's a significant episode because it introduces 'Sparrow' Smith, who became a regular supporting character. (Click on all pages to see them much larger.)

The Nosey half-pager at the end of the Skid Solo story was drawn by Alf Saporito, who a year later became the regular cover artist on Gus Gorilla for Cor!! 

Since its merger with Jag, Tiger had inherited that comic's web offset printing process which was a higher standard of printing, and allowed artists to paint their colour pages instead of relying on the flat colour overlays that the newsprint comics used. Just look at the quality of this full colour Football Family Robinson centrespread by Joe Colquhoun...

Tiger later became an all-sports comic, but in 1969 it still featured a variety of subjects. One such strip was Saber, King of the Jungle, illustrated by the excellent Denis McLoughlin...

Here's a few snippets of some of the other strips in Tiger and Jag that week, starting with Typhoon Tracy drawn by Graham Allen using a less cartoony style than that which he'd used on The Nervs for Smash!

Custer by David Sque...

Black Patch the Wonder Horse by Sandy James...

...and the long-running Johnny Cougar by John Gillatt.

Finally, to add to the flavour of the year 1969, here's a few of the adverts that appeared in that issue, including one of the legendary "Great News, Pals!" announcements for two comics joining forces...

By the way, - you can see more classic ads from other comics in previous posts on this blog. Here's a few links:

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2007/03/junk-food-and-comics.html

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2007/03/seventies-nostalgia-adverts-in-comics.html

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/seventies-nostalgia-more-adverts-from.html

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/more-ads-from-1970s-comics.html

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/ads-from-comics-of-1960s.html

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/advertisements-for-comics-of-past.html

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2007/03/anti-smoking-strips-of-sixties.html