WHAM! #80 - COMPLETE CHRISTMAS ISSUE FROM 1965...

Images copyright relevant owner

Here's an early Christmas gift for all you Criv-ites around my age - the complete WHAM! #80 from December 1965, to rekindle your memories of this weekly paper if you were a reader at the time.  Perhaps you had this very issue, and now you're reunited with it after a mere 52 years - doesn't time fly?!  For myself, I didn't start buying Wham! until after it began featuring The FANTASTIC FOUR in late 1966, and by then the comic had lost its photogravure printing and was published on cheap newsprint paper.  The reasons for this were down to expense, obviously, as the comic hadn't performed as well as had been expected when it was launched in 1964, so cost-cutting measures had to be implemented.

However, the comic was yet being printed in its original format in December '65, which creates a strange paradox for me.  Y'see, between the time of Wham! coming out and me first buying it, I'd lived in three different houses, and when I started getting the comic, it was in the cheap newsprint format.  That's why I associate Wham! as I knew (and remember) it with the house I was then in, whereas its previous format 'belonged' to the time of my two prior houses - though not to my memories of the houses themselves, as I was completely unaware of the title at that time. Consequently, to see this December 1965 photogravure copy from the time I was living in my third house is rather confusing for me as, to my mind, it just doesn't 'fit' my recollections of this particular period of my life.  To me at this time, Wham! was a newsprint comic, not a photogravure one.

Anyway, enough self-indulgent prattle from me, though it's a small price to pay for the treat that now awaits you.  You may now indulge yourself in these comic glories from over 50 years ago. Some strips show background 'bleed-through' from the previous page, which I've lessened slightly, but I can't remove it completely without wiping out detail on the side you're reading.   

Were you one of the winners of a copy of this LP?  Imagine what they're worth now

WHIZZER & CHIPS FIRST CHRISTMAS ISSUE COVERS - PLUS BONUS...

Images copyright REBELLION

I've shown these comic strip images before, but there's a couple of good reasons why I'm repeating them.  Firstly, it's the run-up to Christmas, and secondly, I own the original art to one of the interior pages.  Namely, court jester STEADFAST McSTAUNCH (who used to be a dog in the original KNOCK-OUT, drawn by the same artist), and who, along with HARRY'S HAUNTED HOUSE, GINGER'S TUM and ODDBALL, were my three favourite strips in the comic.  So enjoy looking back to 1969 (whether you were around at the time or not) and then savour the art of DENIS GIFFORD - panel-by-panel - of the last of Steadfast's continuing weekly adventures before he became a presenter of jokes and puzzles in the very next issue.  I was disappointed to see his strip disappear at the time, and I'm surprised to be reminded that his quest lasted for only 11 issues.  It seemed much longer than that to me back then, but when you're young, time seems to pass slower, doesn't it?

More Christmas images soon, Criv-ite chums. 

Yeah, yeah, I know I've shown the following panels before as well, but that was a good while back.  It doesn't hurt to remind you that this blog has occasionally featured some great stuff amongst the dross.  Good ol' Steadfast - he was one of my childhood chums.