The Christmas SCORCHER (1973)

Adventure comics didn't always bother with Christmas episodes but this issue of Scorcher made the effort for a few of its characters. No snow on the logo, but a nice festive cover by Mike Western.

Inside, footballing brothers Jack and Jimmy (which had started out as two separate stories in Score and Roar) concluded their latest story with preparations for Christmas. Art by Barrie Mitchell...

Billy's Boots had been in Scorcher since issue 1 in 1970 (see here) and would continue to be the comic's most successful strip. It later moved to Tiger when the two comics merged. You can read more about the series on this old blog post:
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/04/final-fate-of-billys-boots.html

Don't forget that a Billy's Boots collection of the earliest stories is coming in February from Rebellion!

Lags Eleven was another popular strip, but never a favourite of mine I must admit. Art by Douglas Maxted...

The best thing about Scorcher for me is that it gave work to Ken Reid. Here's Jimmy Jinks which although not in the same league as his strips from the 1950s and 1960s is still of a very high standard.

There'll be another Christmas comic from the 1970s soon!

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New Treasury books for 2019

Cover art by Phil Gascoine.

A browse through Amazon this evening caused me to notice a few new books that I'm sure will be of interest to Blimey! readers. Scheduled for their Treasury of British Comics line for next year are three more collections of classic strips. These will include...

Fran of the Floods, by Alan Davidson and Phil Gascoine, from the popular Jinty weekly. 
www.amazon.co.uk/Jinty-Fran-Floods-Gascoine-Phil/dp/1781086729/

Wildcat Book 1: Turbo Jones by Barrie Tomlinson and Ian Kennedy, reprinting the story from the short-lived Wildcat comic.
www.amazon.co.uk/Wildcat-Turbo-Jones-Barrie-Tomlinson/dp/1781086656/

Cover art by Ian Kennedy.

...and one I know lots of people have been hoping to see...

Billy's Boots, Book One written by Fred Baker and drawn by John Gillatt (although John didn't take over the strip until later, so that'll be corrected as these early episodes were by Mike Western, Tom Kerr, and others). The story reprinted from Scorcher from 1970. 
www.amazon.co.uk/Billys-Boots-1-Fred-Baker/dp/1781086710

Cover art by Tom Kerr and Mike Western.

These three books are currently scheduled for the early part of 2019 and I'm sure more will follow. No doubt Rebellion will reveal more info officially over the coming weeks! 

These are exciting times for fans of classic British comics and I hope you'll give the books your full support! 

Scorcher mystery solved

Above is the cover to Scorcher and Score dated 23rd February 1974...

...and below is the cover to Scorcher and Score dated 23rd February 1974...

Two different issues with the same date? The reason is quite simple. Due to a production mistake, the second one is actually the 2nd March issue but has the wrong cover date. 

When I bought a complete run of Scorcher last year, I was advised by the seller that the 2nd March issue was missing. He'd never had it when he bought the comic originally. I searched on eBay and despite old issues of Scorcher being plentiful I couldn't find the elusive 2nd March issue. I assumed that week may have been skipped due to industrial action that was rife at the time. (Many IPC comics skipped weeks in the Seventies.) 

Then, recently, thanks to the members of the Comics UK forum, it became clear that there were actually two different issues with the same date of 23rd Feb. Thanks were also due to historian Derek Marsden, who located a copy of the version I didn't have which I was able to order from the dealers 30th Century Comics. 

Mystery solved and I now have a complete run of Scorcher, 1970 - 74. And I don't even like football! So, for any of you who collect this comic, bear in mind that there are two issues bearing the 23rd Feb 1974 date and none with the 2nd March date. 

Ken Reid's TRIPTOE TRIERS (1974)

Here we are, finally on the last of Ken Reid's humour strips he did for Scorcher comic. Triptoe Triers started in Scorcher and Score dated 24th August 1974... and finished in the issue dated 5th October. Yes, just seven short weeks! The final one appeared in the last issue of Scorcher before it merged into Tiger. 

Interestingly Triptoe Triers was a reader participation strip, encouraging kids to send in ideas in the hope of winning a fiver. (Similar to Ken's Dare-A-Day Davy for Pow! in that respect.) This suggests to me that the strip was intended to have a longer run as they were still asking for suggestions the week before the final issue. Perhaps the Scorcher editor's hope was that it would move over to the merged Tiger and Scorcher but sadly that didn't happen. The reason can't be lack of popularity, as it wasn't around long enough to gauge proper feedback. (With an eight week lead-in time being the norm, the last issue of Scorcher would have been put together before the one with the Triptoe Triers hit the newsagents.) Perhaps the editor of Tiger just didn't 'get' Ken's humour? Who knows? 

Anyway, for whatever reasons, Triptoe Triers only lasted for seven weeks, and here they are in order of publication...

 ...and that was it for Ken Reid working on IPC's adventure comics, after being in almost every issue of Scorcher throughout its almost-five year run. Fortunately he was already on Buster at this stage, thanks to it absorbing Jet, and was producing work for the humour group on Whoopee! and would soon be creating material for Shiver and Shake.  


Here's a cross-reference of all the other series that Ken Reid did for Scorcher. Have fun!

SUB (1970:

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/ken-reids-sub.html

FOOTBALL FORUM (1970/71):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/ken-reids-football-forum-197071.html

MANAGER MATT (1971):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/ken-reids-manager-matt-scorcher-1971.html

HUGH FOWLER (1971/72):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/ken-reids-hugh-fowler-scorcher-1971-to.html

THE SOCCERNAUTS (1972):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-soccernauts-1972.html

HARRY HAMMERTOE THE SOCCER SPOOK (1972/73):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-soccer-spook-197273.html

JIMMY JINX (1973/74):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-jimmy-jinx-197374.html

Ken Reid's JIMMY JINKS (1973/74)

Continuing Blimey's look back at Ken Reid's strips for Scorcher and Score weekly and we come to Jimmy Jinks which ran in the comic from 25th August 1973 to 17th August 1974. Scorcher often introduced new strips at the start of a new football season and this was Ken's for the 73/74 season.

Ken's previous strip, The Soccer Spook, never always lived up to his usual standard, perhaps because it wasn't a 100% Ken Reid creation. However, Jimmy Jinks seemed to see Ken back on form with a manic little character causing chaos. A few episodes were ghosted by another hand (possibly Barrie Appleby) but the majority were by Reid. Here's a selection of some of the best...

The final episode unfortunately saw Jimmy 'blacking up' (with boot polish!). A shocking scene by modern standards but this was 1974, a time when comedians on TV told racist jokes with regularity and The Black and White Minstrel Show was still a hugely popular series. This strip has to be seen in that context, uncomfortable though it is today. 

Here's a cross-reference of all the series that Ken Reid did for Scorcher. Have fun!

SUB (1970:

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/ken-reids-sub.html

FOOTBALL FORUM (1970/71):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/ken-reids-football-forum-197071.html

MANAGER MATT (1971):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/ken-reids-manager-matt-scorcher-1971.html

HUGH FOWLER (1971/72):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/ken-reids-hugh-fowler-scorcher-1971-to.html

THE SOCCERNAUTS (1972):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-soccernauts-1972.html

HARRY HAMMERTOE THE SOCCER SPOOK (1972/73):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-soccer-spook-197273.html

JIMMY JINX (1973/74):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-jimmy-jinx-197374.html

TRIPTOE TRIERS (1974):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-triptoe-triers-1974.html

  

The SOCCER SPOOK (1972/73)

Continuing my look at the strips Ken Reid did for Scorcher and we arrive at an unusual one. Harry Hammertoe The Soccer Spook began in Scorcher and Score issue dated 19th August 1972 but it was drawn by Reg Parlett. Superbly done as always...

A few issues later however, someone else ghosted Reg's style (possibly Ian Knox or Joe McCaffrey?)...

Then with issue dated 30th September 1972, Ken Reid illustrated an episode, obviously instructed to imitate Reg Parlet's style as best he could...

The artistic musical chairs settled down a few weeks later with Ken Reid as the regular artist drawing in his own style...

The Soccer Spook had a decent run of a year, ending with Scorcher and Score dated 18th August 1973...

Pages scanned from my complete collection of Scorcher. 

Here's a cross-reference of all the series that Ken Reid did for Scorcher. Have fun!

SUB (1970:

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/ken-reids-sub.html

FOOTBALL FORUM (1970/71):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/ken-reids-football-forum-197071.html

MANAGER MATT (1971):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/ken-reids-manager-matt-scorcher-1971.html

HUGH FOWLER (1971/72):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/ken-reids-hugh-fowler-scorcher-1971-to.html

THE SOCCERNAUTS (1972):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-soccernauts-1972.html

HARRY HAMMERTOE THE SOCCER SPOOK (1972/73):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-soccer-spook-197273.html

JIMMY JINX (1973/74):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-jimmy-jinx-197374.html

TRIPTOE TRIERS (1974):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-triptoe-triers-1974.html

    

Ken Reid's THE SOCCERNAUTS (1972)

Continuing my occasional look back at the strips Ken Reid drew for Scorcher weekly, here's The Soccernauts. This was a very short-run series that began in Scorcher and Score dated 13th May 1972 and ended in the issue dated 12th August 1972. Unusually for Ken, it was a science fiction strip, but that did give him the opportunity to draw monsters, which of course he excelled at.

Here's a selection of his best ones...

For whatever reason, a couple of the later ones were clearly ghosted by another artist valiantly trying to ape Ken's style. I'm guessing those may be by Peter Davidson but I may be mistaken. Here's one of them, which was the final episode...

All pages are scanned from the comics in my collection. More Ken Reid greatness soon! 

Here's a cross-reference of all the other series that Ken Reid did for Scorcher. Have fun!

SUB (1970:

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/ken-reids-sub.html

FOOTBALL FORUM (1970/71):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/ken-reids-football-forum-197071.html

MANAGER MATT (1971):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/ken-reids-manager-matt-scorcher-1971.html

HUGH FOWLER (1971/72):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/ken-reids-hugh-fowler-scorcher-1971-to.html

THE SOCCERNAUTS (1972):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-soccernauts-1972.html

HARRY HAMMERTOE THE SOCCER SPOOK (1972/73):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/the-soccer-spook-197273.html

JIMMY JINX (1973/74):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-jimmy-jinx-197374.html

TRIPTOE TRIERS (1974):

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/ken-reids-triptoe-triers-1974.html

Ken Reid's Christmas Crackers

You've seen some of these pages before on this blog over the years but others will be new to you. I thought I'd collate some of the Christmas strips that Ken Reid did over a ten year period from 1964 to 1973. Some of the funniest pages in British comics. Click on the pages to see them full size.

...starting off with Frankie Stein's first Christmas from Wham! in 1964...

Frankie again, from Wham! in 1965. (Thanks to Phil for the scan of this one.)

The seasonal strip from the 1966 Christmas issue of Wham! 

Dare-A-Day-Davy's one and only Christmas strip from the back page of Pow! in 1967...

The Nervs from the festive issue of Smash! in 1968...

Football Forum from Scorcher, Christmas 1970...

Hugh Fowler from the Christmas issue of Scorcher in 1971...

Harry Hammertoe, The Soccer Spook, from Scorcher, 23rd December 1972. (A strip Ken took over from Reg Parlett, hence Reg's artwork in the title box)...

...and finally, Jimmy Jinks, from the 1973 Christmas issue of Scorcher...

In my next festive post, we plunge back even further in time for something a bit different! Find out where we land tomorrow!