Tuesday, October 04, 2016

Foreshadowing

Many of us will remember the strip Me and My Shadow by Sheila and Terry Bave that had a successful run in Whizzer and Chips from the very first issue in 1969, but it wasn't the first humour strip about a living shadow. There was a precedent called Sally Sunshine and her Shadow, drawn by Albert Pease, that appeared in the original Chips in the early 1950s.

 Whether or not Sheila and Terry were aware of the earlier strip I don't know, but it's a good concept worth repeating. Sally's shadow was far friendlier towards her than the shadow of the sixties was towards his owner. Here's a couple of strips for comparison. The one above is from Chips No.2962 (dated January 10th 1953) while the one below is from Whizzer and Chips No.2 (dated 25th October 1969). 
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2 comments:

  1. STEPHEN ARCHERWednesday, 5 October 2016 at 14:02:00 BST

    If I’m not wrong the strip came to a downbeat, not to say shocking end when Shadow collided with a wall and became an ordinary shadow again; I think it was the beginning of 1971 or ’72. I know it wasn’t the last we’d see of Smudger and Shadow as he regained his freedom once again a few years after. Do you know the dates? Cracker’s Jimmy Jest (His Shadow’s a Pest) trod VERY similar ground, with the difference that that pair were not averse to having punch-ups!

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  2. Lew StringerThursday, 6 October 2016 at 12:25:00 BST

    I wasn't a big fan of Whizzer and Chips, Stephen, so I didn't keep many issues. I don't have those I'm afraid. Cracker was out at a time when I'd stopped buying kids' humour comics so I only had the first few issues. Didn't care a lot for it.

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