When Biff! became Sam

During the 1970s IPC were never shy of reprinting old strips and changing the character's names to try and convince readers they were new. Quite a few characters from Wham! were reprinted this way. The Tiddlers and Super Sir became The Horrors and Puffing Billy, General Nitt and his Barmy Army became Sir Hector and his Hardnuts, The Wacks became The Beat Boys... and so on. 

In 1970/71, new IPC weekly Thunder reprinted Biff from Wham! retitled as Sam. Quite a bit of a dull change, that one. (No offence to any Sams of course.) Here are a couple of examples. Art by Leo Baxendale on the first one...

Apart from the name change, the big difference is that because the early issues of Wham! had a superior printing technique that allowed painted artwork, the art had to be recoloured using flat tones for the cheap newsprint that Thunder was printed on. (Otherwise the pages would reproduce in a muddy mess.) Unfortunately, any subtlety in the colouring was replaced too. Leo Baxendale's technique of having a face in the foreground in shadow, to give a sense of depth, was replaced by a flesh tone, making the bully look like a giant on the same level as Biff. The other big change is that Leo's signature was removed from the reprint. Although Odhams were happy for artists to sign their pages, IPC were not, - at least not in 1970. 

This next example is drawn by Graham Allen...

Reprints such as this were a major factor in why Leo Baxendale quit mainstream comics a few years later. (Bear in mind that creators received nothing for reprints.) The lack of respect that publishers showed towards creatives in that regard cost them a great artist/creator, and reflected badly on the UK comics industry for years. 

The Christmas TIGER AND JAG (1969)

Most adventure comics tended to avoid Christmas stories as they interfered with continuity or were an awkward fit for serials, but Tiger and Jag editor David Gregory was happy to accommodate the festivities (as did Barrie Tomlinson when he was promoted from sub-editor to editor in 1970). This cover by John Vernon was always a favourite of mine, as it managed to fit in Santa, Christmas decorations, presents, snow, a special festive logo, and still find time for the story. 

The Skid Solo story continued inside with more winter adventure. The scriptwriter was Fred Baker, a very busy and talented creator who also wrote Billy's Boots, Hot Shot Hamish,  and many other strips...

Roy of the Rovers and his team were also celebrating, with a slap-up feed. art by Yvonne Hutton...

Splash Gorton (name inspired by Flash Gordon, look inspired by Sixties hippies) was a strip about a swimmer, with art by Joe Colquhoun ten years before he'd draw Charley's War...

War and football were the two mainstays of British adventure weeklies and Tiger combined them into one strip with The Barbed Wire Eleven, about British P.O.W.s forming a football team. Art by Jim Bleach. 

The centre page strip was a delight. Football Family Robinson was always entertaining, and John Gillatt's artwork was fantastic. The strip was originally drawn by Joe Colquhoun, a hard act to follow, but John did a superb job.

An advert for that year's annuals, plus a notice about the impending change to decimal currency that would come into force 14 months later...

Nosey was Tiger and Jag's single humour strip. The art looks a lot like the work of Chas Sinclair but I'm not sure if it is his or not. (At that time he was freelancing for TV Comic on Basil Brush.)

Another snowy strip ending with a Christmas feed, Typhoon Tracy was drawn by Graham Allen, who had previously illustrated many humour pages for the Odhams comics. A skilled artist who could do both funnies and light adventure. 

There'll be another Christmas comic tomorrow! Visit the blog again to unwrap it!

The New Year COR!! (1973)

If my settings are right, this post should go live around midnight so a Happy New Year for 2018... and for 1973 in this case! Here are a few examples from the New Year edition of Cor!! which introduced The Goodies as a new strip, based on the very popular TV show of the time.

The cover art is by Joe Colquhoun, proving that he was as adept at humour as he was for adventure strips. Amongst many other strips, Joe was the original artist on Roy of the Rovers in the 1950s, drew the adventures of fighter ace Paddy Payne in the 1960s, and the gritty anti-war strip Charley's War in the 1970s/80s.

He'd used his lighter touch on strips such as Cap'n Codsmouth and Football Family Robinson for Jag so was ideal to draw The Goodies strip for Cor!!

Cor!! was mainly a humour comic, with an occasional light adventure strip. One of the funnies was Whacky, a boy fated to find himself in situations that led to him being whacked on the backside. (It was the 1970s.) The sadistic teacher in this strip gets his just desserts, but it really does read like a very peculiar strip to modern sensibilities with "Sir" obsessed with whacking the boy for no other reason than the teacher obviously gets a kick out of it! Art by Mike Lacey...

5 Minute Wanda was another new strip that began in that issue. Some IPC humour characters were based on a very flimsy premise. In this case, a girl who gets bored after five minutes. Art by Graham Allen...

Jasper the Grasper had started out as a very short lived series in Wham! in the 1960s, drawn by Ken Reid. This revived series for Cor!! was drawn by Trevor Metcalfe. That's still Ken's old logo though.

Donovan's Dad was originally by Terry Bave but this one is drawn by Les Barton (who'd been the original artist on I-Spy for Sparky). I don't know if this was a fill-in or whether Les was the permanent replacement, but it's a very nice page. 

Eddie - He's Always Bored was so similar to 5 Minute Wanda that I'm surprised both characters appeared in the same comic. Both strips even had the same artist in Graham Allen. It was always good to see Graham's work though, as he'd been one of the regulars on the Odhams comics and the first artist on The Nervs for Smash!

Most of these strips are now ©Rebellion Publishing. I think Jasper the Grasper may be still owned by Time Inc. though (as it originated in Wham!) and The Goodies are presumably still owned by... The Goodies! 

The New Year LOOK-IN (1972)

There's time for one final post this year so here are a few pages from the issue of Look-In dated 1st January 1972 (published at the end of 1971). Look-In had proved to be the big hit of 1971 when it was launched. I always preferred rival comic Countdown (also launched that year) but Look-In had its own distinct style and I can understand why it was so popular. 

The cover is by Arnaldo Putzu, who contributed many painted covers for the comic over the years. You'll notice it's issue No.1. Look-In renumbered itself at the start of every year, presumably to entice new readers. It didn't seem to do it any harm.

Inside, Leslie Crowther tries to keep up his New Year's Resolution in Crowrther In Trouble, drawn by Tom Kerr...

This issue featured three pages of horoscopes for the TV stars of the day. One of whom has definitely fallen from grace in recent times. Here's one of the pages...

The Please Sir! strip now featured the less distinctive class of 'Four C', as the original cast of 'Five C' had left to spin off into their own TV series. Artwork by Graham Allen, who until a few years earlier had been drawing The Nervs for Smash!

Follyfoot had no connection to a New Year theme but I couldn't resist showing artwork by Mike Noble...

The aforementioned class of 'Five C' had left school to star in their own TV show The Fenn Street Gang, so Look-In featured a strip based on that too. Artwork by Tom Kerr...

Even On the Buses had its own strip. Artwork by Harry North...

Subtitled 'The Junior TV Times', Look-In always featured selected highlights of ITV schedules for the week, focusing on the times children would be watching TV. Most of these regional TV stations have merged into others now...

Here's the schedules the right way up so you don't have to tip your computer on its side. ;-) 

The back page of that issue featured a teaser for an Apollo badge offer that was coming in the following issue. Did any of you have these badges? 

All that remains to be said is to wish you all a Happy New Year again and thank you for following this blog. Whatever you're doing this evening, have an enjoyable time!

This week in 1967: POW! No.12

As you were good enough to play along with my Pow! "mirror comic" April Fool, here's a few pages from the issue of the comic that was on sale exactly 50 years ago in 1967. 

The front cover highlights the SHIELD story inside (a reprint from Stange Tales No.140) but the cover image isn't a direct reprint of Jack Kirby's Strange Tales cover. It's actually a recreation for some reason, and lacking the skill of the original in places. (See here to compare it: 
http://www.reececomics.com/enlarged/STRANGE_TALES_140_9_0.jpg)

Odhams had a few covers redrawn like that, and I can only guess that they hadn't received a black and white copy from America and perhaps had someone trace a blow up of the actual American comic instead.

Pow's other Marvel strip was of course Spider-Man, with this issue of Pow! reprinting more of Amazing Spider-Man No.6 (which they serialised over three weeks). Script: Stan Lee, Art: Steve Ditko.

One of the Pow! strip I enjoyed the most was Kicks, drawn by Graham Allen...

A first glance at The Group might lead some to think it's Leo Baxendale artwork, but it's Mike Brown doing a great imitation of Leo's style...

There were four weekly Power Comics by this time, and the fifth (and final) one was to be added a week later. Here's the advert announcing Terrific, and I'll cover that comic next weekend. 

On the back page, Ken Reid only had a half page that week for his Dare-A-Day-Davy strip but he certainly packed a lot into it. The rest of the page was taken up with an advert for the very tasty Wiz ice cream lolly. They were delicious! 

I always felt that Pow! improved as it went on. These early issues were enjoyable but it wasn't until strips such as The Cloak and Experiment X were added that it started to find its identity. The 'Power Comics' always had a bit of a 'rough and ready' aspect to them though; robust stories and (sometimes) sloppy editorial design, but that was part of their appeal! They were an important part of children's pop culture in the sixties and I'm glad I was there to appreciate them.

The New Year WHAM! (1965)

Odhams' comics didn't make much of a fuss of the New Year celebrations. Perhaps Hogmany reminded them too much of their rivals D.C. Thomson. This 1965 issue of Wham! only mentions the New Year in a couple of strips but there's some nice stuff in there so let's have a look at a few pages...

The cover strip, Biff, is by Graham Allen. A reminder of the days when kids noted their escapades in personal diaries rather than broadcasting it on social media.

Inside, the New Year is forgotten, but Kelpie The Boy Wizard by John Burns is worth showing here...

The Tiddlers doesn't mention the New Year but it is set in winter, giving Leo Baxendale an opportunity to use visual gags involving snowballs...

Another winter-themed strip was Billy Binns and his Wonderful Specs, drawn by Bill Mainwaring...

With trees in full leaf, Frankie Stein is definitely not set in the season but who can resist a strip drawn by Ken Reid?

On the back page, the only other strip with a New Year theme; Footsie the Clown. I've no idea who drew it but it does the job...

This comic was published exactly 51 years ago, and yep, it certainly feels like that amount of time has passed. A few weeks after this issue, the first editions of TV Century 21 and Sparky were published, and Smash! was still a year away. Merseybeat was influencing the music scene and later in the year Thunderbirds would arrive on TV. It was a great time to be a child!