The Christmas KNOCKOUT (1950)

The original Knockout weekly ran from 1939 to 1963, and merged into Valiant, so this 1950 issue is from about halfway through its life. Published by The Amalgamated Press (who would become Fleetway, and later IPC), Knockout was conceived as a rival to Beano and Dandy and was an entertaining comic in its own right. 

By 1950 the cover strip was Mike, drawn by Eric Roberts (who would later work for The Dandy on Winker Watson and Dirty Dick, amongst other strips). I always liked Eric Roberts' bold brush strokes and clear storytelling skills and he deserved the cover position on the comic. Some of you may remember that Mike was reprinted and retitled as Smiler in Buster in the late 1960s. (Not to be confused with the Smiler character from Whoopee!)

Inside, one of the company's top adventure characters, Sexton Blake, was involved with The Hidden Enemy. I suspect this popular character may be revived now that Rebellion own the rights. Artwork by Roland Davies, who has put his initials in the last panel.

Billy Bunter was another of Knockout's favourites, lasting for the entire run of the comic and for many years afterwards in Valiant. (And originating back in The Magnet story-paper in 1908!) Bunter seems an archaic character and might be difficult to bring back for modern sensibilities, but... who knows? (Not me.) Artwork by Frank Minnitt.

Typical of British comics of the period, Knockout contained a nice variety of humour strips, adventure strips, and prose stories. Buffalo Bill was another of its regulars, with distinctive art by Eric Parker...

Our Ernie, Mrs. Entwistle's Little Lad was another long-running strip, with scripts as enjoyably barmy as the character. Each strip ended with his dad saying the punchline "Daft I call it!", a phrase that came into general use! So if you ever hear it, you'll know where it originated from. 

On the back page, - Sporty, by Reg Wooton. A newspaper cartoonist so respected he was allowed to have his name in the title. Wooton was another cartoonist whose style I really liked, and enjoyed Sporty when it was in Valiant years later. 

Had I been around back then I think Knockout would have been one I'd buy every week. A great comic! 

Coming up tomorrow: our final Christmas comic from the past, as we travel way back in time to... but wait and see on Christmas Eve! 

The Christmas KNOCKOUT (1972)

For our latest Christmas flashback we move to the year 1972 for a few pages from Knockout, IPC's 20 page weekly that tried to compete directly with D.C. Thomson's Dandy and Beano. It didn't quite succeed though, only lasting for just over 100 weeks. Still, it was a good, fun comic for its time. Here's some examples from the 1972 Christmas issue.

The cover strip by this time was Joker, who had proven to be very popular, and would continue to be a reader's favourite after Knockout merged into Whizzer and Chips the following year. (Characters that play pranks often seem to be a hit with readers, although personally I can't stand such sadistic brattish characters unless they get their comeuppance in the final panel.) Artwork here is was the brilliant Sid Burgon.

Another Sid Burgon strip inside the comic was The Haunted Wood...

The centrespread strip was The Super Seven, which had been Knockout's original cover strip for the earlier issues. Mike Lacey artwork here. Mike was one of the artists who'd been asked to base his style on that of Leo Baxendale for comics such as Wham! and Smash! but he proved to be so brilliant he became one of IPC's top artists and drew countless pages for the company for years.

Shrimp is a long-forgotten character and this may be his last appearance. I don't know who the artist was but it looks like the same style as the artist who drew Tomboy for Cor!! Note that Sammy Shrink was arriving the following week. Announced as a "new feature" but in fact a revival of a character last seen in Pow! in 1968, and drawn by the same artist, Terry Bave. 

Of course no IPC comic would be complete without a Terry Bave strip, and this issue of Knockout had My Bruvver!...

On the back page, Fuss Pot was being as annoying as ever, but I really liked this strip thanks to the distinctive art of Norman Mansbridge. I remember my editor on Buster telling me that even the baddies should have a happy ending at Christmas (so Tom Thug did, once a year) and here Fuss Pot indeed has a happy ending... albeit due to concussion! 

There'll be another selection of Christmas pages from an old comic again tomorrow. Which will it be? Find out on Tuesday morning!

A 1947 cover by Hugh McNeill

These days we're used to seeing the covers for Beano, Viz, and The Phoenix featuring one big image, but that wasn't the case decades ago. Covers featuring comic strips were often the norm, so it made a refreshing change to find this issue of Knockout on eBay from 1947 featuring a full page image.

The artwork is by Hugh McNeill, who was an excellent, though sadly under-rated, cartoonist. He was the first artist on Pansy Potter for The Beano in 1938, before moving on to the competition at Amalgamated Press to work for comics such as Knockout. 

With his charmingly funny and busy style, McNeill was a natural as the regular cover artist on Deed-a-Day Danny for Knockout, and you can see several examples of that strip on an earlier post of mine here:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2017/08/deed-day-danny-by-hugh-mcneill.html

The comics historian Steve Holland wrote a well researched article on Hugh McNeill on his Bear Alley blog here:
https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2006/12/hugh-mcneill.html

I wasn't aware of McNeill's work when I was growing up as he was busily illustrating nursery comics then, which I hadn't read. However it's been a joy to discover his work in later years and appreciate just what an incredibly talented artist he was. 

UPDATE: My thanks to Peter Gray for sending me this scan of another issue of Knockout from the same period, showing another great cover by Hugh McNeill!
You can follow Peter's blog at
http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogspot.com

Deed-A-Day Danny by Hugh McNeill

Deed-A-Day Danny began as a half-page black and white strip in A.P.'s rival to The Beano, The Knock-Out Comic No.1, dated March 4th 1939. (Later simplified to just Knockout Comic.) The character of Danny was a well-meaning boy scout whose attempts to be helpful usually backfired. 

The first Deed-A-Day Danny strip from Knock-Out No.1 (1939).

The strip proved popular enough to be moved to the front cover of Knock-Out with issue 15. There it remained throughout the war years and a few years beyond. The strip ended in 1954.

The artist was Hugh McNeill, who had created Pansy Potter for The Beano No.1 in 1938 before freelancing for their rival company. He continued to work for A.P. after the war, notably as the main artist on the nursery weekly Jack and Jill in the 1950s, and as the second artist to draw the Buster strip for Buster comic in the early 1960s. He passed away in 1979. You can read more about him at Steve Holland's excellent Bear Alley blog here:
https://bearalley.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/hugh-mcneill.html

His covers for Knockout in the 1940s were lively and full of fun, so I thought I'd show a handful of them here today. All images are scanned from my collection of the actual comics.

Billy Bunter's KNOCKOUT (1961)

Knockout had been around since 1939, and Billy Bunter had always featured in a strip inside the comic but presumably the success of the Billy Bunter of Grayfriars School TV series (1952 to 1961) encouraged Fleetway to revamp the weekly into Billy Bunter's Knockout for a while. Therefore, Bunter became the lead strip in the 20 page comic, with his story taking up four and a half pages. 

The artwork was by the superb Albert Pease, who had previously been known for his splendid Casey Court illustrations on the back of Chips for many years. The drawings are fantastic examples of top class cartooning, although the racial caricatures are uncomfortable to see today. Nevertheless, here was Fleetway giving a character plenty of room for a decent story. A pity that these sort of longer stories didn't become the norm in British humour comics, instead of the single page / double page (or less) format that most strips still have to this day. 

This example from Knockout dated 9th September 1961. 

KNOCKOUT in 1960

The original Knockout weekly endured quite a few changes over its long run (1939 to 1963). I've shown some earlier issues here before so now here are a few pages from the issue dated 3rd September 1960. By this time Fleetway had taken over the comics line from The Amalgamated Press and had restyled Knockout to look more like their other adventure comics Lion and Tiger. Indeed, Fleetway's comics now carried a unifying brand, 'A Five Star Weekly', in the same way that Odhams would brand their line as 'Power Comics' six years later. 

The cover artwork is by two of Fleetway's finest. Eric Parker drew the Battler Britton vignette and the illustration for Famous Combat Forces, while Bill Lacey handled the main illustration. Bill Lacey even signed his work here; one of the few Fleetway artists to do so.

Inside, the issue kicked off with a complete Battler Britton story. I'm not sure who the artist is here. (As always, click on images to see them full size.)

Knockout at this point contained a good variety of adventure strips, adventure text stories, and humour strips. One of the latter was Blarney Bluffer, drawn by Angel Nadal. It was later reprinted and retitled Gabby McGlew in Valiant. 

Westerns were still popular in 1960 and Knockout had Pony Express, drawn by Bill Lacey. Most comics of the time had little or no colour interiors and what's notable about comic artists back then is how superbly they mastered the techniques for black and white illustration. Bill Lacey being a prime example, with clear storytelling and no clutter.

The prose stories also featured exceptional artwork. This one is from The Nightriders, a Dick Turpin adventure. Art by Ronald Simmons.

Plenty going on with this page featuring two funnies. I think Professsor Knockout is by Nadal, but I don't know who drew Our Vera the Interferer.

The adverts in comics are a good reflection of the times. Back then, kids were encouraged to "Look for the Golly" (a paper figure that had been inserted behind the label on the jamjar) and if they collected ten they could send away for a metal brooch. These were very popular in the sixties, although I must admit they never appealed to me. Long gone now of course, and just an embarrassing footnote in history. 

The Mad Emperor was a serial that ran for just nine episodes in 1960. The artwork, by Robert Forrest, was absolutely incredible. (You can find out more about the artist here:
http://bookpalace.com/acatalog/ArtistsBiographies.html#BIOGF )

Billy Bunter was of course a mainstay of Knockout throughout its run, and even continued into Valiant for many years when the two comics merged. This busy full pager is by Albert Pease. (Bunter would soon become the cover star of the comic as it was re-branded Billy Bunter's Knockout. I'll show an issue of that soon!)

This issue also featured an advert for the Knockout Annual. A snip at 8/6d (42 and a half pence) but relatively expensive in 1960.

Further reading:

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/knockout-no1-1939-and-1971.html

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/this-week-in-1952-knockout-no690.html

This week in 1952: KNOCKOUT No.690

Knockout was a popular weekly from The Amalgamated Press / Fleetway that ran from 1939 until its merger into Valiant in 1963. (See the first issue here: 

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/knockout-no1-1939-and-1971.html )

Let's take a look at a few pages from issue No.690, which went on sale on Wednesday 14th May 1952, priced 3d (1p) for 16 pages. The cover feature at this time was Mike, drawn by Eric Roberts, who would later produce Winker Watson and Dirty Dick for D.C. Thomson's The Dandy. 

On page 3, a nice busy full page illustration by Reg Parlett featuring a Scout group called The Beaver Patrol...

Knockout featured a mixture of humour strips, prose stories, and adventure strips. Here's Tod and Annie, The Runaway Orphans, by Hugh McNeill...

A prolific cartoonist of the 1950s was Denis Gifford (who was also a noted comics historian of course). Here's his Steadfast McStaunch strip years before he revived and redesigned the character for Whizzer and Chips...

Our Ernie was a long running character in Knockout, with each surreal strip ending with the catchphrase "Daft, I call it!". The dated appearance of this strip makes me wonder if it might be a reprint. Art by Hugh McNeill...

Another popular adventure character, Sexton Blake. Artwork by Graham Coton I believe...

On the back page, the ever-enjoyable Sporty by Reg Wooton, one of the few comics creators back then allowed a credit. (And quite a predominant credit too, always beside the logo.)

Knockout changed quite a bit over its 24 year run. I'll show some pages from another issue soon.

The two lives of Steadfast McStaunch

Those of you who read the early issues of Whizzer and Chips may remember Denis Gifford's inventive comic strip Steadfast McStaunch, that appeared on the inside back page of the Chips section. However, the character wasn't new to comics. He had originated in the pages of Knockout comic in September 1950, running on and off until June 1952, also written and drawn by Gifford.

Shown above is an episode from Knockout No.662 (November 3rd 1951). Below, is the strip from Knockout No.690 (May 17th 1952).

Denis Gifford's mixture of puzzles and comic strips was a good concept, and clearly one that IPC's Bob Paynter thought worth resurrecting in 1969 for the launch of Whizzer and Chips. Rather than reprint the 1950s version, Bob commissioned brand new strips for Denis to create. 

Here are the first two episodes of the new series, from Whizzer and Chips Nos.1 and 2 (18th and 25th October 1969)...

You'll have noticed by now that there's a considerable redesign in the appearance of Steadfast. In the 1950s he appears to be a dog, somewhat modeled on the animated character Droopy, whereas in the 1969 series he's a human court jester. Gifford's art style had also developed in the intervening years and had become more polished and distinctive.

Always a fun page to read and participate in (you'll see I joined the dots in the puzzle in the one above) but sadly Steadfast McStaunch was dropped from Whizzer and Chips in 1970 in favour of more traditional and formularized fare.