The 2011 CHRISTMAS DANDY - A REVIEW...

Copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

This year's The DANDY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL comes in at a whopping £3.99 for 44 pages, at least nine of which are comprised of adverts and/or 'filler' material.  A contents page?  In a comic?  Give me a ruddy break!  The cover - by JAMIE SMART - is surprisingly not too bad, and demonstrates that, at least with large single illustrations, he can turn in an acceptable drawing from time to time.  Unfortunately, however, although his outlines are far more smoothly rendered than the last time I looked, the interior DESPERATE DAN page suffers from the same crammed, confusing, minimalistic storytelling technique which ensures a headache to anyone trying to determine what's happening.  (There is a slight improvement though.  Perhaps if he works at it?)

Unfortunately, Smart doesn't have a monopoly on a lack of coherent and sequential narrative style.  Far too many of the interior strips are comprised of flat, static, repetitive and uninspired drawings, which don't serve to advance the story from one panel to another.  Verbosely lettered word balloons abound, fighting for space with the art, which seems to be trying to force its way into view from the edges of the panel borders.  There are exceptions of course.  LEW STRINGER's POSTMAN PRAT is quite amusing, but even the usually competent (if often uninspired) Stringer seems to be trying to match some of the less well-rendered offerings with a more simplified approach than he normally employs.

NIGEL PARKINSON is the undisputed star artist in The Dandy, though even his wonderfully drawn HARRY HILL strip is a bit 'top-heavy' with dialogue.  Perhaps that's unavoidable with a strip based on a character known for his humorous patter, but at least the lettering is legible and well-rendered.  CUDDLES & DIMPLES is also nicely illustrated - again by Nigel - but in a slightly different style.

The lettering of the word balloons in the issue is better (in the main) than when the comic was relaunched last year, but there are still a few instances where it could be improved.  It's slightly disconcerting having to adjust one's eyes to different styles from one strip to another, and I can't help but feel that the overall reading experience would be improved with a more consistent font throughout the comic.

This issue comes with a load of useless tat that even the most simple and easily-pleased child would be hard-pressed to get excited over, but it's included in an attempt to justify the vastly-inflated price of £3.99, which I'm sure many a parent must balk over.  If you buy The BEANO Christmas number also, both comics will set you back a whopping £7.98.  Yet for one pence more (£7.99), you can currently pick up both The Beano and The Dandy Annual in a 'buy one, get one free' offer at WH SMITH's.

If you want my advice, buy the Annuals, which are far better value for money.  At least £2 has been added to the cost of each comic by the inclusion of a pile of plastic sh*te which isn't worth 50 pence and will be discarded and forgotten about in minutes.

Click here for The CHRISTMAS BEANO REVIEW.    

FESTIVE FIREBALL...

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In the 1964/'65 FIREBALL XL5 Annual, ALAN FENNELL (future editor of TV CENTURY 21, LOOK-IN, and writer of various GERRY ANDERSON TV shows) wrote ROBERT On The RAMPAGE, a story set against a Christmas party background.  (He wrote all the stories and features in the book.)  I believe ERIC EDEN drew this four-page tale, being one of four artists who illustrated the Annual, so - continuing our Festive theme - here it is in all its glory for your personal perusal and appreciation.  Enjoy.

  

"And everyone has a happy time."  Yeah - everyone except Robert, that is.  I sure hope he punches Steve's lights out in a rematch.  If Eden wasn't the artist of this tale, then it was either EDDIE PAUL, GERRY EMBLETON, or GERRY WOOD - you can take your pick.

NEXT:  The MENACE At CHRISTMAS!  (After The Christmas Dandy and Beano Reviews.) 

MERRY MIGHTY MARVEL'S COSMIC CHRISTMAS CRACKER...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL... what a super comic!  At least, it was for about the first thirty or so issues before it died on its @rse!  When MWOM first hit the shelves on Saturday, September 30th, 1972 (dated October 7th), it had six full-colour pages to complement the green-hued spot-colour throughout the rest of the issue.  With issue #5, the colour pages were increased to eight, although they were cut back to four with issue #20.

By the time #65 (above) came 'round, only the front and back covers had colour, the interiors being saddled with a dull grey pall from the over-application of Letratone throughout.  Only the banner (no, it wasn't Bruce) at the top of the cover gave a clue to the fact it was Christmas, plus the back page Seasonal greeting from Stan and the Bullpen.  You'd think they could have stuck a bit of snow on the front cover logo at least, eh?

Sadly, the world of British Marvel was never again quite so mighty as it had been in its earliest issues before bad printing became the order of the day.  But let's raise a glass to it anyway.  After all - it's (nearly) Christmas!

    

NEXT:  FESTIVE FIREBALL - DON'T MISS IT!

SAMMY SHRINK'S CHRISTMAS...

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Here's the cover to one of two Christmas issues of WHAM! for 1966 (for the other one, see the post: A HINT Of A GLINT THROUGH The WINDOW), giving Whamsters double the Festive fun for that particular year.  Not so unusual as you might at first think - it just depends on where the 25th falls in the week as to whether a Christmas-themed issue can be fitted either side of it.  I've seen the same thing happen with The BEANO and other titles over the years.

Once again, I'm not 100% certain who the artist is on The TIDDLERS strip - BAXENDALE, BROWN, LACEY or McMURTY?  It doesn't seem loose enough to be Bax, although there's a hint of him in there.  But what else would you expect if he was being ghosted by another?  I'll stick my neck out and say Lacey, but don't whip me with a wet shoelace if I'm wrong.

DAVE JENNER was the original artist on SAMMY SHRINK, although TERRY BAVE ghosted his style pretty effectively when he first took over the strip, gradually introducing his own style as time passed.  Without digging through all my back issues of Wham! to sort out the facts and figures as to when Bave took the reins, I'm pretty sure the above strip (from the previous issue - #132) is by Jenner, who would go on to draw strips for THOMSON's The BEANO, with TOM, DICK & SALLY perhaps being his best known.  

More Christmas covers to come!

IT'S A SURE-FIRE SMASH HIT...

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Here's the cover of the last Christmas edition of the old-style SMASH! from 1968.  A mere three months later, the comic got a new-look and the MARVEL reprints (The FANTASTIC FOUR & The MIGHTY THOR) were jettisoned in favour of home-produced content.  (As 'home-produced' as strips drawn by foreign artists can be; the writers were British though.)  I believe that LEO BAXENDALE usually drew The SWOTS And The BLOTS, but the above page looks like the work of MIKE BROWN or MIKE LACEY perhaps.  (Feel free to chip-in.)

However, there's no doubt that this two-page BAD PENNY strip is by ol' Bax, as it has all his trademark daftness and drawing style.  You have to hand it to him - his strips were usually always a visual delight, and tended to feature more daft sight-gags per page (and sometimes per panel) than an entire issue of MAD.  Someone should gather together all the IPC strips that Bax produced and publish them in a series of special collectors' editions.  He wouldn't like that unless he got paid, of course - but I'm sure comics fans everywhere would love it.  Although younger readers would probably presume that they were all drawn by TOM PATERSON.

   

I'M NOT KIDDIN' AROUND ANYMORE...

As an experiment, I've decided to change the name of my blog
to something more pertinent to the topics featured here.  I may
change it back again depending on the response I get - if any.

CHRISTMAS CAPERS WITH WHIZZER & CHIPS...

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Continuing our Christmas comic covers selection, here's a few from one of the last long-running great humour publications released by IPC - WHIZZER & CHIPS.  Ol' W&C lasted about 21 years before the plug was pulled and it was merged with BUSTER.  One of my greatest thrills was when BOB PAYNTER (who was then group editor of the IPC Humour Dept and the first editor of W&C) asked me - at the end of a busy day - to letter the SID'S SNAKE and SHINER strips of both sections of the comic when I was down in London on one of my regular visits back in the mid-'80s.  After an eight or nine hour journey without sleep and then working for eight hours, I was probably too fatigued to do my absolute best, but they turned out okay.  Anyway, soak up the atmosphere of these fab festive favourites from years gone by.

I lettered quite a few strips for Whizzer & Chips - in fact, my first published work (CAP'N KID & The PIRATES) for IPC appeared in the comic.  It wasn't the first strip I lettered for them (that was a THARG'S FUTURE SHOCKS story for 2000 A.D.), but because of scheduling, the W&C one (which was the second one I did) appeared first.  I recall once lettering a SAMMY SHRINK strip (drawn by TERRY BAVE) and being amazed at working on a character I had read as a child.  And I'm sure I did a fair bit of lettering for Annuals and Summer Specials, plus I was a regular re-size artist on the W&C comic libraries.  In fact, I remember seeing the very first issue of the regular title advertised in SMASH! back in 1969, and getting up about 7a.m. the following week to run over and buy it at the newsagents across the road.

 Ah, if only it were still with us - as well as a long list of other comics.

WHAM-A-LAM-A-DING-DONG...

Copyright REBELLION

Ah, memories!  Here's the last ever Christmas WHAM! (#185) from 1967.  Little did I know when I purchased this from my local newsagent 44 years ago that there would be only two more issues of this classic title before it was merged with its weekly companion paper POW!  LEO BAXENDALE's creation, The TIDDLERS (not sure if he drew this one though), adorned the Festively-themed cover, although they had evolved into more of an imitation of The BASH STREET KIDS (also by Leo) over the years since their first appearance in '64.  Bax, of course, was also responsible for The SWOTS And The BLOTS over in SMASH!, so he was no stranger to strips about riotous schoolkids and their teacher.

The above GREETINGS From The FLOOR Of 64 page was in all five POWER COMICS that year, which is why it features characters from all of them.  Wham!'s forthcoming merger had doubtless been determined weeks (if not months) in advance, but the text on the page gives no indication of its imminent demise.  And small wonder - why spoil Christmas for Whamsters by spilling the beans at this stage?  Best to leave it to the New Year, when there was a sense of optimism in the air with which to counter bad news.  I must confess to never being too impressed by the combined POW! & WHAM! (not quite sure why), and was actually glad to see it incorporated (as junior partner) with SMASH! around eight months later.

So... raise a glass of lemonade or soda pop to that classic Christmas comic of yesteryear - WHAM!

SANTA AND THE SUPER SEVEN - WOTTA KNOCKOUT!

Copyright REBELLION

I make no apologies for posting this classic Christmas cover yet again (having done so about two or three times before), because it epitomises everything that was once good about the British comics industry (when we had one) and British Annuals in particular.  As most people will know, Annuals usually went on sale around August or September, so that pesky kids could pester their parents about which one (or maybe even ones) they wanted to find in their Christmas stockings on the 25th.

As Annuals were published for the following year (for example, 1973 Annuals went on sale in 1972), not all of them featured Yuletide-themed covers. Perhaps it was thought that doing so relegated them far too quickly to 'last year's present' in the minds of kids, but it could also have a more positive aspect.  To an Aunt and Uncle struggling to think of a prezzie for 'wee Jimmy', a Christmassy-covered Annual would be sure to recommend itself as a distinct possibility. However, regardless of the whys and wherefores, KNOCKOUT Annual 1973 is as Festive a cover as anyone could wish for.

So... here it is again. (MIKE BROWN was responsible for the art chores, if I remember correctly.)

TAKE A PEEP At POW! - The CHRISTMAS ISSUE...

Copyright REBELLION

Another of the 'big five' (as I l call 'em) POWER COMICS was POW!, companion paper to WHAM!, SMASH!, FANTASTIC and TERRIFIC.  As well as a mix of British strips, Pow! featured reprints of SPIDER-MAN and NICK FURY, later also publishing The FANTASTIC FOUR once Wham! had been merged with it. Pow! was probably the weakest of the Power Comics, but it still had things to recommend it to the reader intent on seeking out a nice selection of humour and adventure strips. Above is the Christmas issue from 1967.

The back page is DARE-A-DAY DAVY, another surreal KEN REID strip, where readers were invited to write in and dare Davy to do something.  Those chosen had the delight in seeing their suggestion brought to life in the typical madcap Reid manner and also win a pound into the bargain.  What more could a child want out of life?  One tale was deemed so horrific that it wasn't printed, only showing up, I believe, in a fanzine article a number of years after Pow!'s demise.  As it was pulled at the editing stage, it was never properly lettered, but that's something I may put right when I have the time.  Remind me to show it to you one day.  In the meantime, click on the image to enlarge and enjoy Ken Reid's anarchic lunacy at its finest.

WHAM! AT CHRISTMAS - THE COMIC, NOT THE BOYBAND...

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WHAM! comic was meant to be ODHAMS PRESS and LEO BAXENDALE's answer to The BEANO.  Unfortunately, they must have misheard the question, because the former only lasted about 3 and a half years, whereas the latter is still going strong (relatively speaking) over 70 years later.  One can't help but wonder if Wham! would have survived for longer had it been printed on cheaper paper and similarly priced to The Beano.

I guess we'll never know, alas, but in its day it was a very fine comic indeed - and though I didn't start buying it 'til it had discarded its photogravure printing, I now have quite a few of those early issues in my collection.  One such is the Christmas number above from 1965 (it was a very good year), and I thought I'd share it with all you lucky peeps out there in Blogger land.

One of the most (if not the most) popular strips in Wham! was one created not by Leo Baxendale, surprisingly, but by KEN REID, the original artist of ROGER The DODGER in the aforementioned Beano.  The strip in question was FRANKIE STEIN, who was so popular that he survived Wham!'s demise in early 1968, being resurrected in SHIVER & SHAKE and MONSTER FUN COMIC in the early and mid-'70s.  He also starred in his own series of  eight Holiday Specials and two softcover Annuals.

ROBERT NIXON did most of the art chores in Frankie's later incarnation, but to those of us who were familiar with Reid's earlier treatment of the character - good as it was to see ol' Frankie back - the new strips never quite matched the absurd shenanigans of the originals.  So, presented above, for your reading pleasure, the Frankie Stein strip from the 1965 Christmas edition of the late, lamented Wham!  They sure don't make comics like that anymore (unfortunately).

HAVING A SMASH-ING CHRISTMAS...

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When SMASH! was revamped and relaunched by IPC in March of 1969, it bore very little resemblance to its previous ODHAMS incarnation.  A few strips survived, but, without the various MARVEL reprints, the comic had lost a great deal of its uniqueness.  (Well, as unique as a companion paper to WHAM! could be.)  Which is not to suggest by any means that the newer version of the comic was bereft of charm, but it was a different type of charm to what had gone before.  Above is the cover to the first Christmas issue of the new Smash!, which, contrary to what I've just written, manages to conjure up similarities to the earlier look of the title - only the different logo betrays the cheat.

Above (from the Christmas ish) is BAD PENNY by LEO BAXENDALE, which I always preferred to his similarly-themed strip, MINNIE The MINX in The BEANO.  Minnie came first, but Bax's art had evolved into a seemingly simpler, but much more madcap and funnier style by the time he got 'round to drawing Penny. Give me Penny over Minnie any day of the week.  Bax created some good strips for Wham! & Smash! - but it's interesting to note that he never initiated legal proceedings against IPC over copyright like he did with Thomson's.  It's true that the Odhams/IPC/Fleetway characters never had the longevity or success of his DCT ones, but surely the principle of the matter supersedes any material considerations?

THUNDER AT CHRISTMAS...

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Back around December 19th 1970, the first and only Christmas number of THUNDER went on sale.  Although the cover is devoted to a Christmas theme, the effect is somewhat lacklustre due to the absence of the traditional snow-bedecked masthead that usually graced comics at this time of year.  The Thunder logo is actually well done, but it was never utilised properly in early issues - often being too small in relation to the rest of the cover to make its presence felt in the way that it should have.  In this particular cover's case, it would've benefitted hugely from the application of some snow.  Just what was the editor thinking?

I didn't realize it at the time, but SAM was a reprint from WHAM! comic, wherein he was originally entitled BIFF.  As an avid reader of Wham! when it had The FANTASTIC FOUR, Biff never made much of an impression on me - which is surprising, considering that he was drawn by the legendary LEO BAXENDALE.  Not really one of Leo's better efforts, in retrospect.  The character never made much of an impression on me as Sam, either.

As comics usually went on sale a week before the cover date to give them a full seven days' shelf life, this one would seem to have appeared on Boxing Day.  Unlikely, I know - so no doubt it came out a little earlier than usual.  The same must apply to the subsequent issue, as I can't see it having come out on Ne'erday - especially not up in Scotland, where most folks would still be recuperating from the day before.  (Nothing like a bit of stereotyping, eh?  Does that make me a racist - even though I'm Scottish?)  Again, one would think the cover would sport a Seasonal theme, but not a hint of it.  It makes me wonder if Thunder was rush-released to compete with a new D.C. THOMSON title, hence it sometimes seeming to be a bit 'makeshift'.  Had IPC perhaps been caught on the hop?

And here's Biff/Sam again, although he could also be closely related to DANNY DARE, another Baxendale strip from Wham!  When Bax moved to ODHAMS PRESS from DCT, apparently his page rate was doubled.  As the above page has only about half the number of panels as a typical BEANO or DANDY page from the same period, that amounts to his earnings being quadrupled in real terms.  Lucky Bax - if only Wham! had lasted longer. 

See also here - and here.

THE SENTINEL OF THE SPACEWAYS - COVER GRAB-BAG...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Further to my fairly recent posts about the SILVER SURFER, I thought I'd throw these three covers into the mix - just because I like them.  The first is FANTASY MASTERPIECES #1 from 1979, which reprinted 'ol NORRIN's premiere issue from the '60s.  Unfortunately, the stories in this series were abridged, with several pages being edited out for reasons of space.  How ironic, eh?  Denied space in the heavens - and the comicbooks. 

Next up is the 1982 one-shot by JOHN BYRNE, inked by terrific TOM PALMER.  It was an interesting issue, but not quite up there with the better issues by STAN LEE and JOHN BUSCEMA.  (Despite being scripted by Stan over a John Byrne plot.)  I bought two copies of this comic from the VIRGIN MEGASTORE in Glasgow back in '82, and remember perusing one of them on the train home.  Nearly thirty years later, I still have them - in just as good a condition as when I first bought them.

Finally, one of the issues of the Silver Surfer's then-new, ongoing series launched in '87, this particular example being from '89.  RON FRENZ, doing a composite of Kirby/Buscema images as only he can.  Although it can sometimes be jarring to see a mixture of two different art styles, there was something very 'sixties' about Ron's covers which always appealed to me.

******

If I have one complaint about the Surfer, it's that he never looked silver enough. When Stan had characters refer to him as "Whitey", it never seemed as odd as it should have on account of him looking white.  I'm sure, even back in the '60s, there must have been a way of suggesting a more silvery appearance.  Anybody else feel the same?  Anyway, enjoy the above covers.

MICK ANGLO'S SUPER DC BUMPER BOOK 1971... (Updated)

Copyright DC COMICS

As promised a little while ago, here's the cover of the one and only SUPER DC Bumper Book for 1971, which completes the run of TOP SELLERS' monthly reprint title from the early '70s, as edited by MICK ANGLO.  It included various U.S. DC COMICS' strips (Superman, Batman, Jimmy Olsen, etc.), plus U.K.-produced text stories, features, joke pages and humour strips.

I'm not sure why it was called a 'Bumper Book' rather than an 'Annual', as it's a fairly slim volume with absolutely nothing 'Bumper' about it.  Incidentally, The FRIENDLY SOUL cartoon strips below were drawn (and probably also written) by famed comics historian and collector, the late DENIS GIFFORD.

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KRYPTO's had a colour change - but don't ask me why.  Believe it or not, he was also
  mis-coloured this way in a US DC 80-page Giant reprint mag, so there is a precedent  

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Below is the leaflet included in various issues of Super DC, advertising some of the DC-themed companion Annuals which were available at the same time - and for only 10'6d.  Wow!