Look out! WHAM! is coming! (1964)

A few years ago I showed how Today magazine promoted Wham! comic in 1964 (see that post here) and today I'm showing how Eagle did it too. As this was a time before Wham! had spawned its sister titles Smash!, Pow!, Fantastic, and Terrific, it was up to Eagle and Boys' World to advertise the new comic.

The first mention of Wham! appeared in Eagle dated 13th June 1964, with a quarter page ad (above) showing kids excitedly rushing to a newsagent. (Artist unknown.) I'm including the full pages that these adverts appeared on to give them some context.

The following week, Eagle dated 20th June 1964, revealed the cover of Wham! No.1 by Leo Baxendale...

The week after, a glorious full page illustration by Leo Baxendale, promoting issue 2. Wham! was a relatively anarchic comic so it's great that such a pro-establishment comic as Eagle was featuring such a grotesque caricature and telling kids not to be afraid of teachers. (I think this page also appeared in Wham! No.1).

The following week, Eagle used the Humbugs strip from the previous week's Wham! to advertise issue No.3...

Even when the free gifts stopped, Eagle still carried the promotion over its next three issues to advertise Wham! issues 4 to 6. (The Fidosaurus strip has nothing to do with it but it was on the same page and is by Reg Parlett, so worth showing.)

The promos then stopped for a while, before resuming for one week with Eagle dated 26th September 1964 when Wham! No.15 had its free Whampire Bat gift...

As you can see, Wham! was promoted as "the funniest comic ever", and for many of us back then it most definitely was!