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| Copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd. |
At last! Finally managed to obtain a replacement for The Topper #924 from October 1970, my original of which was purchased 51 and a half years ago. I acquired the free gift mask nearly 3 years back, so it's immensely satisfying to unite these two items from my youth and turn back the clock of memories to that particular time. That's another thing I can scratch off the list of things for me to achieve before I fall off the twig - I'm slowly getting there (in both cases, alas).
Talking of The Topper, did any of you cavortin' Crivvies buy the comic back in the day? I don't recall ever buying it regularly or for any length of time in the '60s and '70s, but I nabbed this one purely for the free gift Splodge mask. Having not long re-read it, I have to say it was quite a stylish periodical, and the title lost a fair bit of its 'magic' when it was reduced from tabloid size to D.C. Thomson's regular Beano-sized publications.
If you have any memories or observations you wish to share of the now dear departed Topper, the comments section awaits - drop in and pay your respects.
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25 comments:
I used to read the Topper fairly regularly in the 60s but I definitely preferred beano dandy beezer and sparky. I recently bought 15 issues from 1961 featuring Dudley d Watkins Mickey the monkey which are great. I have a fascinating book called Topper Tales by Ray Moore which is a history of the comic from 1953 to 1990. Lovely stuff !!
I've seen that book mentioned a few times over the years, LH, but don't have a copy myself. Did you like The Beezer?
I liked the beezer more than topper. Colonel blink ginger pop dick and harry - all great strips. Those were the days !
I used to get the Beezer every week until I was about 10 years old but I would occasionally pick up a Topper - both were genuinely great British comic. Was the Topper still large size in 1970, I would still be buying it the but can't recall when it reduced size. Ahhh I have a soft spot for Splodge the Elf he was one of my all time favourites as s kid. Such a great wee character I wonder if he is still being used in the Beano and\or annuals. Nice mask it looks like it has been very well looked after. You made a wee mistake in your article it just can't be 50 years ago, it just can't be 😮
There was another comic the same size as Topper and Beezer, called Buzz, which was released around 1973/'74, but I can't remember how long it lasted, LH. Did you ever buy that one?
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The Beezer and Topper were still large size in 1970, McS; I think it was sometime in the early '80s that their size was reduced. (Then, in 1990, both comics were combined to become Beezer & Topper.) Splodge, of course, is a Goblin and not an Elf, but he was probably my favourite characters in Topper, which is why I probably bought the issue for the mask over 50 years ago. Splodge has still appeared over the years in, I think, The Beano (not sure when he last appeared), though this time drawn by Ken H. Harrison instead of original artist Charles Grigg. 51 and a half years ago, eh? Surely it was only a fortnight or so?
I was a regular reader of both the Topper and Beezer until I discovered Marvel comics in November 1974 but I continued to read the annuals for several more years. My favourite character was Nick Kelly.
Happy Easter Kid and everyone who reads Crivens :)
Nick Kelly is, of course, a legend, CJ, and probably one of the best-remembered and most admired strips from The Topper. Him and Cedric were the un-costumed Batman & Robin of their day. When you think of the humour comics that we had as kids - Beano, Dandy, Sparky, Beezer, Topper, etc (and that's just DCT titles) - it makes you realize that kids of today are deprived in their choice of weekly periodicals.
Oh, and Happy Easter to you as well, and also other Crivvies, who I'm sure reciprocate your Easter greetings.
Duh! Of course he's a Goblin sorry I was thinking of Fudge!. But it's good to know the wee guys still about from time to time.
I do miss not seeing comics like this in newsagents but sadly they are now a thing of the past. Strange that humour comics seems to be struggling even in the US comics like Mad et c are rarely seen although XXx Looney Tunes comic still seems to be going strong - I picked up a couple of issues in a comic shop in Peebles last month just to relive that feeling when I would read Gold Keys WB cartoon based books.
I think Mad's gone mostly reprint with the occasional new strip, McS. Sad, eh? And even comics which are still around, sell only a fraction of what they did in their heyday. Who publishes the Looney Tunes comic, which I assume is a US mag? Oh, for the good old days.
By the way, Splodge was the nickname of my maths teacher in secondary school, Mr Ken Morgan.
He had two phrases which he spoke in a loud, booming voice whenever he thought we weren't paying attention:
THE BOARD IS HERE, THE DOOR IS THERE
IT'S YOUR FUTURE NOT MINE.
I've nicked that second phrase as my own personal motto for whenever I feel despair about the increasingly grim outlook for both this country and the world.
Teachers' nicknames - that's a fascinating subject in itself, CJ. We had one who was so old that we called her Clanky (she clanked when she walked). Another was 'Hector' Hill, named after the dog in Hector's House. Then there was Flycatcher, because he sprayed when he talked, and it looked as if his tongue was going to shoot out and grab a fly. Wish I could remember them all.
Kid, here are some more teachers' nicknames that I recall:
Pledgehead - this was the nickname of Mr Jones who was my teacher for the final year of primary school. He was so called because he was bald and he had a shiny head (Pledge being a furniture polish of course). Mr Jones was also a fundamentalist Christian who didn't believe in evolution.
Onk - Mr Evans, another Maths teacher in secondary school
Cockeye - Miss Davies the French teacher (one of her eyeballs didn't move at all).
Ma Evans - Mrs Evans, the German teacher and deputy head.
Dick - the headmaster Mr Whittingham. I assume he got his nickname because his surname sounded like Whittington, of Dick Whittington fame.
We also had a geography teacher called Mr Dyke but nobody thought his name was funny because "dyke" wasn't a word for lesbian in those days (well, not in my school anyway apparently).
And there was a teacher called Mr Randay which obviously sounded like "randy".
All of these teachers (except Mr Jones) were in my secondary school which contained a mere 500 pupils so other, bigger schools must have had a lot more examples.
Some crackers there, CJ. We had a Maths teacher by the name of Mr. Miller (or Millar) who we called Buttonheid, though I'm not quite sure why; an English teacher (Miss Gibson) we called Mars Bar because of her slightly dark skin. (You wouldn't get away with that nowadays of course.) There were loads of others, but they're just beyond my memory's grasp at the moment; they'll be bound to resurface in the depths of my brain eventually.
Unlike most of your readers I read Topper more or less from it's beginnings and when Beezer appeared I bought that with my own pocket money. The attraction for both was the size, bigger than Beano and Dandy and with such simple well crafted colour art and well written humour. On reflection, the size gave the impression of the importance of being like a newspaper, which while newspapers had b/w comic strips, they weren't in colour.
The Topper Annuals just to be different were horizontal format and unlike many annuals which were tryouts for new artists, the strips were the same high quality, I still have one or two somewhere.
Nice to see that Mickey continued as late as 1970.
What a great subject 're teachers nicknames Colin, sadly I can't recall too many at of my old teachers let alone theirs nicknames at present other than Mr McGilvery my maths teacher who was known as "mumbler" as no one could understand a word he said.
Looney Tunes is a DC comic Kid, they also publish Scooby Doo.
I think the Annuals were horizontal to begin with, T47, but eventually went 'normal' size; not sure exactly when it happened though. Yes, the Beezer and Topper were like quality 'papers' for kids, eh?
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I think I might have the first issue of Looney Tunes if it's by DC then, McS. Maybe even Scooby Doo. I wish they'd do a Yogi Bear comic - I'd certainly buy it.
I think the Topper moved from landscape to the traditional portrait format with the 1960 annual Kid. I always wondered how the old landscape format presented the strips inside.
Just a wild guess, McS, but I'd venture the interior strips were presented in the landscape format. (Hee-hee!)
Lol fair point 😄
Actually just saw interior of a 1959 Topper annual for sale on Etsy and it looks pretty nice -as you say landscape format.
There are three strips in #924 which are half-pages (or thereabouts) and would work in the landscape format, McS. As you'll know, 7 of the 8 Black Bob books were also landscape format, apart from the last one, which was more or less standard Annual dimensions.
Not a nickname but my teacher during my 3rd year of primary school was Mr Bond - and his first name was Christopher-Robin.
By the way, Kid - on Radio 4 at 8pm tomorrow there's a programme celebrating the 50th anniversary of 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue'. And next week Radio 4-Extra will be broadcasting five episodes of 'Clue' from across the decades.
Oh good, I'll be sure to listen to the show tomorrow, CJ; it'll be nice to hear all the old voices again so ta for letting me know. I used to be able to get Radio 4 Extra, but I'm not sure I can any more, so I might have to give the 5 old episodes a miss.
I've just noticed I referred to AL as LH in my first response. The old brain fog must've struck again. Or maybe both sets of initials having an 'L' in them muxed me ip.
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