Too 'orrible for Odhams!

Over on his Kazoop! blog, Irmantas has shown Ken Reid's page of Dare-A-Day Davy that even the editors of Pow! considered too repulsive to print back in 1968. For the full story of this banned episode, visit this link now...
http://kazoop.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/banned-dare-day-davy-episode.html

Ken Reid's DARE-A-DAY DAVY (1967 / 68)

The first Davy strip from Pow! No.1, 21st January 1967.

Ken Reid really excelled himself at Odhams in the 1960s. Frankie Stein and Jasper the Grasper for Wham!, Queen of the Seas and, later, The Nervs for Smash! - and for the back page of Pow! he delighted us with Dare-A-Day Davy. 

Davy was perhaps the most subversive of Ken's Odhams strips. A reader-participation strip, where kids were encouraged to send in their "dares" for a cash reward if used. (Only a pound, but that went a long way in the sixtes!) The dares often backfired on Davy, usually causing him great suffering and pain. This was illustrated child cruelty for comic effect, but in Ken Reid's expert hands it became one of the most manic and funny strips of the decade. Besides, it was only a comic strip, and no one really got hurt unless they accidentally stabbed their finger on Pow's protruding staples that were rarely laid flat in the centre pages. (Pow! was a cheap-looking comic but rich on laughs and adventure, featuring a mix of new humour and adventure strips alongside reprints from Marvel comics.)

Dare-A-Day Davy ran throughout the length of Pow's run, from issue 1 in January 1967 to the final issue, No.86, in September 1968. Here's a few examples...

Restricted to a half page for POW! No.5 but still crammed with craziness.

Brilliant reactions from the crowd in this page from Pow! No.7

Davy's will power makes an appearance in Pow! No.16

Reid continued to develop the Willie Willpower character. Pow! No.17

Davy's inner conflict was depicted as a battle between temptation and conscience. Pow! No.21

Marvel's NICK FURY made an appearance in Pow! No.33. Get it slabbed, Marvelites!

By Pow! No.37, Davy's temptation was shown as a demonic version of himself.

Man-mad Lulu (from The Dolls of St.Dominics strip) guest-starred in Pow! No.39

Davy gets blown up for Bonfire Night. Pow! No.43

I doubt you could show a bullet-riddled pig's carcass in a kids' comic today. Pow! No.56

Davy later moved inside the comic, away from off-register colour. Pow! No.68

The final Davy strip from Pow! No.86

Dare-A-Day Day never did return to weekly comics from his journey into space, but a few years later, IPC introduced a sanitised lookalike called Challenge Charlie in brand new stories in Valiant. Superbly drawn by Frank McDiarmid but with none of the explicit comedy violence of the Pow! version.