Turn the page, and there's The Sparky People, a great strip set in the Sparky office. (Although as far as I know, none of the characters were based on actual people.) Art by Jim Petrie...
Sparky had its own distinct style, often wittier and more modern than The Dandy and The Beano at the time. Here's the Christmas episode of the popular L Cars with art by Bill Hill...
Snip and Snap had a very distinct art style that I liked. It was drawn by Mike Green, who later went on to do Weedy Willy for Oink!...
Ali's Baba made good use of spot colour by having the guardian angel Ali only appear in red line. Art by Malcolm Judge...
By 1973 Puss an' Boots had proven so popular with the readers that they now occupied the full colour centre pages. Not bad for a strip that began as a half pager in black and white. Artwork by the excellent John Geering...
Dreamy Daniel was about a boy with a vivid imagination, very much a forerunner to Les Pretend from The Beano. Art by Gordon Bell...
Where will the Blimey-Timey Time Machine land next? Find out soon!
I'd like to have seen Christmas on the moon with the Moonsters, but I'm guessing they were long gone by '73.
ReplyDeleteAnyway these posts are MY Christmas comics this year.It's like being young again!
Yes I think The Moonsters ended in 1968. I don't have any Christmas ones with them in. Glad you like the posts! A couple more festive ones to come yet.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I recall ever seeing a wraparound on a DCT comic before.
ReplyDeleteJohn Geering, only recently learned his name, but I love his art, I remember going to Smudge of Bananaman and reading them first.
I can't recall another wraparound cover on a Thomson comic either, - well, not when they were printed on newsprint anyway. They have done a few since they went glossy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for these Christmas blasts from the past Lew, I'm learning all the time with your blog but these are a particular treat as I haven't heard of some of them. Especially nice here to see Mike's work in this comic, you can see the style in the drawings of the dogs compared to Willy's pooch. Might be yet another of your pages to share on the Oink! blog!
ReplyDeleteYes, feel free Phil. Glad to hear you're enjoying the posts. I know some people are only interested in comics of their own nostalgia so it's good to know some do appreciate finding out about strips published before their time.
ReplyDeleteI too echo the posts saying thanks for these posts, Lew. The Sparky was easily my favourite comic back then. Loved how Puss 'n' Boots seemed to become more "Goon-ish" and anarchic over the years. Great work by John Geering.
ReplyDeleteI think John Geering designed the Diddymen for Ken Dodd. He was quite a character apparently.
ReplyDeletePage 232 of The History of The Beano mentions that. Yes, John did design the Diddymen.
ReplyDelete