Showing posts with label Pow!. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pow!. Show all posts
Friday, August 23, 2019
The Dolls of St. Dominics
The latest Comic Scene magazine (No.7) is out now and features an article I wrote about Pow! comic of the 1960s. Unfortunately there wasn't room to use all the images I supplied to illustrate the feature so I thought I'd show one of them here.
The Dolls of St. Dominic's was heavily inspired by the St.Trinians books and films, but done in a traditional British comic style. This busy full-page illustration from 1967 is by Ron Spencer, showing the Dolls at their wildest. As I said in the Comic Scene article, this series is probably too rude to be published in a children's comic today. (It would be good to see the Dolls revived and updated one day though.)
The Dolls of St. Dominic's was heavily inspired by the St.Trinians books and films, but done in a traditional British comic style. This busy full-page illustration from 1967 is by Ron Spencer, showing the Dolls at their wildest. As I said in the Comic Scene article, this series is probably too rude to be published in a children's comic today. (It would be good to see the Dolls revived and updated one day though.)
Tuesday, August 06, 2019
It was the Sixties, man!
The Cloak ©Mike Higgs
For the next issue of Comic Scene (out later this month) I've written a brief history of Pow! comic. I supplied a bunch of images too, but sadly this one wasn't used which is a shame. No worries though, because Blimey! readers now get to see it anyway. It's a fantastic panel from The Cloak by Mike Higgs, where the titular hero and Lady Shady engage in a clash of magic spells with the villain The Warlock. This is the sort of scene that made Pow! stand out from "ordinary" British comics of the day and was a big influence on my Combat Colin strip years later. Mike's artistry here is great, and so contemporary for the era. Mike always liked hand-lettering his own sound effects too (another thing that influenced me) and he went to town on this panel!
The Cloak always delivered the unexpected. A spy strip that could include monsters, witchcraft, space travel, or anything! For many of us this was one of the best strips of the 1960s!
Friday, June 01, 2018
The Power Pack of Ken Reid, - ready for your support!
As reported a few weeks ago, Irmantas Povilaika has secured the license to publish two hefty volumes of Ken Reid strips, reprinting all of the material that Ken produced for Odhams in the 1960s. Yes, that's Frankie Stein, Jasper the Grasper, Queen of the Seas, Dare-A-Day Davy and The Nervs! This news has been warmly welcomed by the many fans of Ken's work as most of the material has never been reprinted and back issues of the comics are becoming increasingly expensive and hard to find.
You can now back the project on Indiegogo at:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-power-pack-of-ken-reid-books#/
I caught up with Irmantas to ask him a few questions about this exciting venture and he's also supplied me with a few exclusive shots of some of the spreads...
Hi Irmantas. When did you discover the work of Ken Reid? Were his strips published in Lithuania or have you always had an interest in British comics?
Hi, Lew. My first encounter with British comics in general, and Ken’s work in particular, was when I was 10 or so and a pen-pal from Britain sent me an early issue of Whoopee! comic which had one of those splendid World-Wide Weirdies by Ken Reid. I vividly recall it was The Whacky Hand. Us kids didn’t have comics in Lithuania back in the day – it was part of the Soviet Union then, and the authorities probably thought it wise to protect their very young against Western influences, or whatever… Anyhow, the comic made a huge impression on me, I read and re-read that issue (the only one that I had) countless times until it fell apart. I eventually became a freelance cartoonist and drew comics for the country’s humour magazine for a few years in my twenties. Looking at my drawings now, I can clearly see influences of Robert Nixon, Terry Bave, Mike Lacey and Ken Reid – it’s amazing how much inspiration I drew from that single issue of Whoopee! Then other things came up and I abandoned the hobby. I picked it up again in 2007, but not as an artist – I started collecting British comics, and I blame that particular issue of Whoopee! for that. It didn’t take me long to re-discover Ken Reid, and I started reading about him online. I have to say that it was on your blog that I first found out about his Odhams strips, and was fascinated by them – the combination of quality artwork and the untamed sense of humour was explosive! It took me a few years to collect the complete sets of the Power comics titles and thus acquire the full runs of all of those brilliant strips that Ken drew for Wham!, Smash! and Pow! – all of them now to be presented in The Power Pack of Ken Reid that I am doing.
For many of us who grew up with these strips, the Odhams era represented Ken Reid at his most creative. Manic, funny, over-the-top humour that has never been equalled in British comics. There have been attempts to get this material reprinted before, but there were obstacles. How difficult did you find it to gain the license from Time Inc. (UK)?
To me the biggest obstacle was finding out who the rights belonged to and whom I should contact about the license, but when I did, things developed rather quickly and I wouldn’t say it was particularly difficult to arrange the permission. The people in charge at Time Inc. (UK) Ltd were 100 per cent professional and efficient, and paperwork didn’t take very long.
Did Ken's pages present any challenges for remastering? I'm thinking in particular of the colour Queen of the Seas pages which suffered from muddy printing on a few issues back in 1966.
Poor paper quality alongside with the quality of print of the comics did present certain challenges. The thin paper of the early issues of Wham! produced a see-though effect on quite a few of the pages, and it had to be handled carefully to try and preserve the gray shading of Ken’s art. The coloured pages of Queenie and Dare-A-Day Davy were also an issue but I think it was addressed in the best possible way. The remastered images that will go into the book are crisp, clean and look very nice, but don’t expect all of them to be flawless – they were scanned from original paper comics, and this is what buyers of the book should bear in mind.
Antony was very helpful indeed. He wrote funny intros for both volumes and even drew an illustration for one! Most importantly, he allowed me to use his dad’s archive material when I was researching and writing Ken’s detailed biography for his Odhams years (1964-69) that will go into the two volumes of The Power Pack. In fact, Antony is actively involved in a separate project that we are doing together with another fan in the UK, and it’s the full and complete biography of Ken Reid, covering his WHOLE life and work! The piece that will be presented in The Power Pack of Ken Reid is just a ‘taste’ of what fans will find in the Complete Biography when it eventually comes out – Ken’s legacy (both published and unpublished material) is huge and diverse, and it will all be covered in detail, with unseen illustrations, etc. I really look forward to the completion of the Biography project and am very excited about it.
I gather that there are other extras too?
Comic archivist Steve Holland has provided the introduction for Volume One (Frankie Stein + Jasper the Grasper) and artist Nigel Parkinson the introduction for Volume Two (Queen of the Seas + Dare-A-Day Davy + The Nervs). My contribution is the detailed biography of the artist on the period – The Odhams Years of Ken Reid. It will be illustrated with some sketches and drawings. You will even find some scripts of Frankie Stein, hand-written by Ken! Last but not least, supporters of the crowdfunding campaign will receive free prints of original artwork. Oh, and there will be some bright colour pages in Volume One because all four of Ken’s Frankie Stein episodes in Wham! Annuals will be reprinted in full colour!
Can you tell us about the Crowdfunding campaign to back the book?
The crowdfunding campaign is now live and open to all on IndieGoGo platform. The books can be pre-ordered either individually or as a beautiful boxed set edition, with free prints of original artwork, as mentioned before. They will go into print immediately after the campaign ends and will be shipped two or three weeks later, when I receive them from the printing house. The slipcase edition will take a bit longer because the slipcases will be manufactured only after the books have been printed. I plan to post regular progress updates on IndieGoGo, my blog and ComicsUK Forum to keep people up to speed. Folks may be wondering what happens if the campaign doesn’t reach its target. I can assure you that the books will be printed anyway, and that’s due to the considerable investment already made (license fees, the services of the various people involved in the project, etc.). The platform only allowed me to use US dollar as my main currency, but I hope this won’t be an inconvenience to fans in the UK or discourage them from supporting the campaign.
Finally, I'm sure I speak for readers of this blog in thanking you, Irmantas, for getting this excellent work back into print. Do you have any plans to publish other strips from that era by other creators?
Thanks Lew, I have strong faith in the project and sincerely hope that people will find it interesting enough to support the campaign. There are quite a few other strips by other creators that I believe deserve to be celebrated in a similar way, and I would certainly be looking into this, provided my first publishing project attracts enough attention. Thanks for talking to me and helping me spread the word. I would like to encourage your readers to share this on social media, etc. and join me in my effort to make this project a success. I am happy to answer any questions, so feel free to contact me via my blog kazoop.blogspot.co.uk or IndieGoGo platform! Cheers!
There's another interview with Irmantas here, on the Down the Tubes blog:
https://downthetubes.net/?p=45821
You can now back the project on Indiegogo at:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-power-pack-of-ken-reid-books#/
I caught up with Irmantas to ask him a few questions about this exciting venture and he's also supplied me with a few exclusive shots of some of the spreads...
Hi Irmantas. When did you discover the work of Ken Reid? Were his strips published in Lithuania or have you always had an interest in British comics?
Hi, Lew. My first encounter with British comics in general, and Ken’s work in particular, was when I was 10 or so and a pen-pal from Britain sent me an early issue of Whoopee! comic which had one of those splendid World-Wide Weirdies by Ken Reid. I vividly recall it was The Whacky Hand. Us kids didn’t have comics in Lithuania back in the day – it was part of the Soviet Union then, and the authorities probably thought it wise to protect their very young against Western influences, or whatever… Anyhow, the comic made a huge impression on me, I read and re-read that issue (the only one that I had) countless times until it fell apart. I eventually became a freelance cartoonist and drew comics for the country’s humour magazine for a few years in my twenties. Looking at my drawings now, I can clearly see influences of Robert Nixon, Terry Bave, Mike Lacey and Ken Reid – it’s amazing how much inspiration I drew from that single issue of Whoopee! Then other things came up and I abandoned the hobby. I picked it up again in 2007, but not as an artist – I started collecting British comics, and I blame that particular issue of Whoopee! for that. It didn’t take me long to re-discover Ken Reid, and I started reading about him online. I have to say that it was on your blog that I first found out about his Odhams strips, and was fascinated by them – the combination of quality artwork and the untamed sense of humour was explosive! It took me a few years to collect the complete sets of the Power comics titles and thus acquire the full runs of all of those brilliant strips that Ken drew for Wham!, Smash! and Pow! – all of them now to be presented in The Power Pack of Ken Reid that I am doing.
For many of us who grew up with these strips, the Odhams era represented Ken Reid at his most creative. Manic, funny, over-the-top humour that has never been equalled in British comics. There have been attempts to get this material reprinted before, but there were obstacles. How difficult did you find it to gain the license from Time Inc. (UK)?
To me the biggest obstacle was finding out who the rights belonged to and whom I should contact about the license, but when I did, things developed rather quickly and I wouldn’t say it was particularly difficult to arrange the permission. The people in charge at Time Inc. (UK) Ltd were 100 per cent professional and efficient, and paperwork didn’t take very long.
Did Ken's pages present any challenges for remastering? I'm thinking in particular of the colour Queen of the Seas pages which suffered from muddy printing on a few issues back in 1966.
Poor paper quality alongside with the quality of print of the comics did present certain challenges. The thin paper of the early issues of Wham! produced a see-though effect on quite a few of the pages, and it had to be handled carefully to try and preserve the gray shading of Ken’s art. The coloured pages of Queenie and Dare-A-Day Davy were also an issue but I think it was addressed in the best possible way. The remastered images that will go into the book are crisp, clean and look very nice, but don’t expect all of them to be flawless – they were scanned from original paper comics, and this is what buyers of the book should bear in mind.
I understand you're in touch with Ken's son? Can you tell us more about that? Has he been able to provide information and items for the books?
Antony was very helpful indeed. He wrote funny intros for both volumes and even drew an illustration for one! Most importantly, he allowed me to use his dad’s archive material when I was researching and writing Ken’s detailed biography for his Odhams years (1964-69) that will go into the two volumes of The Power Pack. In fact, Antony is actively involved in a separate project that we are doing together with another fan in the UK, and it’s the full and complete biography of Ken Reid, covering his WHOLE life and work! The piece that will be presented in The Power Pack of Ken Reid is just a ‘taste’ of what fans will find in the Complete Biography when it eventually comes out – Ken’s legacy (both published and unpublished material) is huge and diverse, and it will all be covered in detail, with unseen illustrations, etc. I really look forward to the completion of the Biography project and am very excited about it.
I gather that there are other extras too?
Comic archivist Steve Holland has provided the introduction for Volume One (Frankie Stein + Jasper the Grasper) and artist Nigel Parkinson the introduction for Volume Two (Queen of the Seas + Dare-A-Day Davy + The Nervs). My contribution is the detailed biography of the artist on the period – The Odhams Years of Ken Reid. It will be illustrated with some sketches and drawings. You will even find some scripts of Frankie Stein, hand-written by Ken! Last but not least, supporters of the crowdfunding campaign will receive free prints of original artwork. Oh, and there will be some bright colour pages in Volume One because all four of Ken’s Frankie Stein episodes in Wham! Annuals will be reprinted in full colour!
Can you tell us about the Crowdfunding campaign to back the book?
The crowdfunding campaign is now live and open to all on IndieGoGo platform. The books can be pre-ordered either individually or as a beautiful boxed set edition, with free prints of original artwork, as mentioned before. They will go into print immediately after the campaign ends and will be shipped two or three weeks later, when I receive them from the printing house. The slipcase edition will take a bit longer because the slipcases will be manufactured only after the books have been printed. I plan to post regular progress updates on IndieGoGo, my blog and ComicsUK Forum to keep people up to speed. Folks may be wondering what happens if the campaign doesn’t reach its target. I can assure you that the books will be printed anyway, and that’s due to the considerable investment already made (license fees, the services of the various people involved in the project, etc.). The platform only allowed me to use US dollar as my main currency, but I hope this won’t be an inconvenience to fans in the UK or discourage them from supporting the campaign.
Finally, I'm sure I speak for readers of this blog in thanking you, Irmantas, for getting this excellent work back into print. Do you have any plans to publish other strips from that era by other creators?
Thanks Lew, I have strong faith in the project and sincerely hope that people will find it interesting enough to support the campaign. There are quite a few other strips by other creators that I believe deserve to be celebrated in a similar way, and I would certainly be looking into this, provided my first publishing project attracts enough attention. Thanks for talking to me and helping me spread the word. I would like to encourage your readers to share this on social media, etc. and join me in my effort to make this project a success. I am happy to answer any questions, so feel free to contact me via my blog kazoop.blogspot.co.uk or IndieGoGo platform! Cheers!
There's another interview with Irmantas here, on the Down the Tubes blog:
https://downthetubes.net/?p=45821
Labels:
Frankie Stein,
Ken Reid,
Pow!,
Power Comics,
Smash,
The Nervs,
wham
Wednesday, April 04, 2018
BBC to celebrate 50 years of UK comic cons
Mike Higgs, creator of The Cloak, tells me that The One Show will soon be running an item to celebrate 50 years of comic conventions in the UK. It might be even scheduled for tonight's programme, Wednesday 4th April, so check it out at 7pm, BBC One.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tcw7
UPDATE: The item wasn't included in the 4th April show. Soon though, hopefully!
Mike was interviewed recently with Phil Clarke (who organised the first UK comic con back in 1968 in Birmingham) at the MCM Comic Con at the N.E.C. and although it's only likely to be a very short segment of The One Show it's still good to hear it's being covered on a prime time TV programme. No doubt the focus will be on cosplayers but hopefully there'll be some comics history in there too!
The late Steve Moore was also an organiser of that very first convention, and as he was on the staff at Odhams at the time he was able to get it plugged in the news pages of Smash!, Pow! and Fantastic. Mike Higgs was one of the guests.
...and while I'm at it, here's an example of The Cloak by Mike Higgs, from Pow! No.53, 20th January 1968. One of the most distinctive and enjoyable series in British comics...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tcw7
UPDATE: The item wasn't included in the 4th April show. Soon though, hopefully!
Mike was interviewed recently with Phil Clarke (who organised the first UK comic con back in 1968 in Birmingham) at the MCM Comic Con at the N.E.C. and although it's only likely to be a very short segment of The One Show it's still good to hear it's being covered on a prime time TV programme. No doubt the focus will be on cosplayers but hopefully there'll be some comics history in there too!
The late Steve Moore was also an organiser of that very first convention, and as he was on the staff at Odhams at the time he was able to get it plugged in the news pages of Smash!, Pow! and Fantastic. Mike Higgs was one of the guests.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
WHAM! No.1 (1964)
One comic that had eluded me until recently was Wham! No.1. I didn't have it when I was a child, and in later years I always lost out on the bidding for it on eBay... until a few weeks ago, when I won a copy for far less than it usually sells for these days. It's a little tatty at the spine, but it's clean and complete, so I thought I'd show a few pages from it here today.
You probably know how Wham! came about, but if not, here's a recap: in 1964, Odhams Press wanted to produce a rival comic D.C. Thomson's Beano. The editors convinced Leo Baxendale to quit The Beano to develop stories for their new comic, which Leo envisioned as a sort of "Super-Beano" (or Wham! as it became) poaching Thomson's top talent. However, most of Thomson's artists would not leave the security of long-established comics to work on the new rival publication. Although the end result wasn't quite the "Super-Beano" that Leo had hoped for, Wham! still turned out to be a fresh and funny addition to the growing number of weekly comics in the Sixties.
Incredibly, in the first issue of Wham!, Leo Baxendale drew 17 of its 24 pages himself. Four of which were in full colour. Naturally, no one could keep up that tremendous output every week, so following issues saw other artists join the comic to imitate Leo's style on many of the strips. Meanwhile, over at The Beano, other artists were also imitating Leo's style on the strips he'd left (such as Minnie the Minx and The Bash Street Kids). As the 1960s moved on, Leo became the most imitated humour artist in the business, and elements of his popular style are still evident in comics today.
Back to that first issue of Wham!, published Monday 15th June 1964, here's the strip that greeted readers as the opened the comic; General Nitt and his Barmy Army...
The Wacks was one strip that was swiftly taken over by another artist (Gordon Hogg) but for issue 1, Leo drew it himself...
The Tiddlers was very much Wham's version of The Bash Street Kids, but the twist was that teacher (Super Sir) was as wild as the kids. Sadly, this idea was dropped later, with Super Sir replaced by a teacher in conflict with the pupils.
The centre pages gave us the first episode of Eagle-Eye, Junior Spy, a spoof of the popular spy genre of the time. The most important part of the strip though was its introduction of the baddie, Grimly Feendish, who would eclipse Eagle-Eye in popularity and go on to have his own long-running strip in Smash! (as well as a song about him years later by The Damned).
Another strip of note was Georgie's Germs, a gross version of The Beezer's Numskulls, that saw dirty kid Georgie having to deal with various ailments every week. This was another strip that other artists took over, but Leo set it off to a great start.
With issue 4, Ken Reid joined the comic, bringing us Frankie Stein (see here) and Wham! became more manic than ever. It may not have been the "Super-Beano" that Leo had hoped for, but Wham! still turned out to be a great comic, with a cheeky, anarchic attitude, and still very fondly remembered by many. It inspired Odhams to launch companion comics for it, and soon we had Smash!, Pow!, Fantastic and Terrific, collectively known as the "Power Comics" that helped make the Sixties a great time to be a child.
You can read about the first issues of those other comics here:
https://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/50-year-flashback-smash-no1.html
https://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/50-year-flashback-pow-no1.html
https://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/fantastic-50th.html
https://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/50-year-flashback-terrific-no1-1967.html
You probably know how Wham! came about, but if not, here's a recap: in 1964, Odhams Press wanted to produce a rival comic D.C. Thomson's Beano. The editors convinced Leo Baxendale to quit The Beano to develop stories for their new comic, which Leo envisioned as a sort of "Super-Beano" (or Wham! as it became) poaching Thomson's top talent. However, most of Thomson's artists would not leave the security of long-established comics to work on the new rival publication. Although the end result wasn't quite the "Super-Beano" that Leo had hoped for, Wham! still turned out to be a fresh and funny addition to the growing number of weekly comics in the Sixties.
Incredibly, in the first issue of Wham!, Leo Baxendale drew 17 of its 24 pages himself. Four of which were in full colour. Naturally, no one could keep up that tremendous output every week, so following issues saw other artists join the comic to imitate Leo's style on many of the strips. Meanwhile, over at The Beano, other artists were also imitating Leo's style on the strips he'd left (such as Minnie the Minx and The Bash Street Kids). As the 1960s moved on, Leo became the most imitated humour artist in the business, and elements of his popular style are still evident in comics today.
Back to that first issue of Wham!, published Monday 15th June 1964, here's the strip that greeted readers as the opened the comic; General Nitt and his Barmy Army...
The Tiddlers was very much Wham's version of The Bash Street Kids, but the twist was that teacher (Super Sir) was as wild as the kids. Sadly, this idea was dropped later, with Super Sir replaced by a teacher in conflict with the pupils.
With issue 4, Ken Reid joined the comic, bringing us Frankie Stein (see here) and Wham! became more manic than ever. It may not have been the "Super-Beano" that Leo had hoped for, but Wham! still turned out to be a great comic, with a cheeky, anarchic attitude, and still very fondly remembered by many. It inspired Odhams to launch companion comics for it, and soon we had Smash!, Pow!, Fantastic and Terrific, collectively known as the "Power Comics" that helped make the Sixties a great time to be a child.
You can read about the first issues of those other comics here:
https://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/50-year-flashback-smash-no1.html
https://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/50-year-flashback-pow-no1.html
https://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/fantastic-50th.html
https://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/50-year-flashback-terrific-no1-1967.html
Labels:
Fantastic,
Leo Baxendale,
Odhams,
Pow!,
Power Comics,
Smash,
Terrific,
wham
Sunday, April 16, 2017
The Easter POW! (1968)
The Cloak, by Mike Higgs, was one of my favourite strips of the 1960s so I was over the moon to find myself working as Mike's assistant for a while in the early 1980s. I'm proud that I can call Mike a friend and still see him regularly when we put the world of comics to rights over a pie and a pint. (Not necessarily a pie.) Here's Mike's brilliant Cloak strip on the cover of the Easter edition of Pow! back in 1968.
The strip continued inside. (The depiction of the natives wouldn't be permissible today but it has to be seen in the context of the times.)
The rest of the issue also had an Easter theme to the humour strips. Here's Ken Reid's incredible work on Dare-A-Day Davy...
The Tiddlers and The Dolls, drawn by Mike Lacey...
Georgie's Germs, drawn by Cyril Price, a veteran artist who had been illustrating comics since the 1930s and was still producing great work in the 1960s...
...and, on the back page, Sammy Shrink by Terry Bave...
Pow! also contained two Marvel reprints (Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four) and a few home-grown adventure strips. You'd be forgiven for thinking that the X-Men never had a strip in Pow!... except for this issue, when an edited version of a strip was used to promote that week's issue of Fantastic...
The 1960s were good days for British weekly comics. As with all things, times change, but the UK comics industry continues to evolve and survive (see my recent article on that here). Happy Easter!
The strip continued inside. (The depiction of the natives wouldn't be permissible today but it has to be seen in the context of the times.)
The rest of the issue also had an Easter theme to the humour strips. Here's Ken Reid's incredible work on Dare-A-Day Davy...
The Tiddlers and The Dolls, drawn by Mike Lacey...
Georgie's Germs, drawn by Cyril Price, a veteran artist who had been illustrating comics since the 1930s and was still producing great work in the 1960s...
...and, on the back page, Sammy Shrink by Terry Bave...
Pow! also contained two Marvel reprints (Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four) and a few home-grown adventure strips. You'd be forgiven for thinking that the X-Men never had a strip in Pow!... except for this issue, when an edited version of a strip was used to promote that week's issue of Fantastic...
The 1960s were good days for British weekly comics. As with all things, times change, but the UK comics industry continues to evolve and survive (see my recent article on that here). Happy Easter!
Labels:
Cyril Price,
Ken Reid,
Mike Higgs,
Mike Lacey,
Pow!,
Terry Bave,
The Cloak,
X-Men
Sunday, April 02, 2017
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...
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.
Labels:
Graham Allen,
Ken Reid,
Mike Brown,
Pow!,
Terrific
Saturday, April 01, 2017
Comic Oddities: The "mirror comics" of the Sixties
If you're an artist you'll know the technique of holding a page up to the light (or on a lightbox) to see the reverse image on the other side. Why? This is an old method of checking the images to see if they look right, because sometimes if a character or object has been drawn a bit wonky it's not always obvious when looking at the image the right way around.
In the 1960s, comics publishers took it a stage further by actually printing entire comics in reverse to check everything looked ok! These "mirror comics" were never released to the public of course, and only a few copies of each issue were printed for editorial purposes. If anything looked wrong, the office art bodger would be instructed to put it right without delay as the deadline was looming!
Such "mirror comics" are actually rarer than Hen's teeth, and the only one in my possession is this issue of Pow! No.85 from 1968. This was the penultimate issue of the comic before it merged into Smash! so it was probably foolhardy of Odhams to waste the budget on a "mirror comic" but, well, it was the 1960s, a time of excess!
Ironically, Pow! used to feature Ripley's Believe It Or Not! cartoons, and this could fit into that same category. I understand that the practice of "mirror comics" was phased out in 1969 and no wonder. On reflection it was a nonsense idea!
In the 1960s, comics publishers took it a stage further by actually printing entire comics in reverse to check everything looked ok! These "mirror comics" were never released to the public of course, and only a few copies of each issue were printed for editorial purposes. If anything looked wrong, the office art bodger would be instructed to put it right without delay as the deadline was looming!
The proper issue next to its "mirror" dopplelganger.
Such "mirror comics" are actually rarer than Hen's teeth, and the only one in my possession is this issue of Pow! No.85 from 1968. This was the penultimate issue of the comic before it merged into Smash! so it was probably foolhardy of Odhams to waste the budget on a "mirror comic" but, well, it was the 1960s, a time of excess!
The centre pages of the Pow! "mirror comic" No.85.
Ironically, Pow! used to feature Ripley's Believe It Or Not! cartoons, and this could fit into that same category. I understand that the practice of "mirror comics" was phased out in 1969 and no wonder. On reflection it was a nonsense idea!
Back page. Sammy Shrink by Terry Bave.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Too 'orrible for Odhams!
Over on his Kazoop! blog, Irmantas has shown Ken Reid's page of Dare-A-Day Davy that even the editors of Pow! considered too repulsive to print back in 1968. For the full story of this banned episode, visit this link now...
http://kazoop.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/banned-dare-day-davy-episode.html
http://kazoop.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/banned-dare-day-davy-episode.html
Monday, January 16, 2017
EAGLE promoting POW! in 1967
In my previous post the other day (click here) I showed a few pages from Pow! No.1 on the 50th anniversary of the comic. To follow up, here's how Pow! was promoted back in January 1967 in the pages of its companion comic Eagle.
The irony is that when Hulton were publishing it in the 1950s, Eagle had been initially created as an alternative to American comic imports, and now here it was, published by Odhams, promoting comics that featured reprints of American comic strips. Even Eagle couldn't escape the fact that British kids loved American pop culture.
The irony is that when Hulton were publishing it in the 1950s, Eagle had been initially created as an alternative to American comic imports, and now here it was, published by Odhams, promoting comics that featured reprints of American comic strips. Even Eagle couldn't escape the fact that British kids loved American pop culture.
Sunday, January 15, 2017
50 Year Flashback: POW! No.1
I've blogged about the first issue of Pow! before, but as this weekend is the comic's 50th anniversary I thought it was worth reposting my article. Pow! was a favourite comic of many of us back then, a lifetime ago, and is still memorable today.
With its first issue published on Saturday 14th January 1967 Pow! was the third title of what had become known as the 'Power Comics' imprint published by Odhams Press Ltd. It followed Wham! (1964) andr Smash! (1966). Comprising 28 pages, Pow! contained a mixture of Marvel reprint and originated UK humour and adventure strips. Here's a selection of pages from issue one...
Interestingly, the reprints of Spider-Man began with strips from Amazing Spider-Man No.1 and not his full origin from Amazing Fantasy. Story: Stan Lee, Art: Steve Ditko.
The Dolls of St.Dominics was a traditional British school humour strip in the vein of The Beano's Bash Street Kids featuring anarchic schoolkids. In this case, set in a girls school. Superb artwork by Ron Spencer imitating Leo Baxendale (who never worked for Pow!) but Ron was clearly an accomplished humourist in his own right.
The Python was an adventure serial that ran in the early issues of Pow! Compared to comics published by Fleetway and D.C. Thomson, the adventure strips in Odhams comics could sometimes have a rough and ready feel about them, as this does, but that energy added to their appeal I think.
Full page ad for the next issue...
News page introducing Pow! This regular news feature ran in all the 'Power Comics'.
The Group, with art by Mike Brown. Similar in many ways to The Beezer's Banana Bunch but with its own vitality.
Jack Magic, another strip that only ran in the early issues (so probably wasn't too popular with the readers).
The second Marvel series in the issue was Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, reprinting the first episode from Strange Tales. Story: Stan Lee. Art: Jack Kirby.
Every Power Comic had a spy spoof and Pow's was Wee Willie Haggis, The Spy from Skye. Not a very remarkable character. Mike Higgs' The Cloak, which started in Pow! No.18, would prove to be a more popular parody of the spy genre.
On the back page was one of the highlights of the comic; Dare-A-Day Davy by the fantastic Ken Reid.
Like most British comics, Pow's contents shifted and changed a bit as the weeks passed. I felt it was constantly improving but sadly it only lasted for 86 issues, absorbing Wham! along the way and merging into Smash! in late 1968. Nevertheless it remains a favourite of many of us who grew up on comics of that period. As the strapline on the first cover said, it was "The brand new comic for the new breed of comic fans". That was the thing about the Power Comics; they felt modern and young, and of the moment, unlike some of the the slicker, sometimes stuffier, rival comics from Fleetway and Thomsons.
With its first issue published on Saturday 14th January 1967 Pow! was the third title of what had become known as the 'Power Comics' imprint published by Odhams Press Ltd. It followed Wham! (1964) andr Smash! (1966). Comprising 28 pages, Pow! contained a mixture of Marvel reprint and originated UK humour and adventure strips. Here's a selection of pages from issue one...
Interestingly, the reprints of Spider-Man began with strips from Amazing Spider-Man No.1 and not his full origin from Amazing Fantasy. Story: Stan Lee, Art: Steve Ditko.
The Dolls of St.Dominics was a traditional British school humour strip in the vein of The Beano's Bash Street Kids featuring anarchic schoolkids. In this case, set in a girls school. Superb artwork by Ron Spencer imitating Leo Baxendale (who never worked for Pow!) but Ron was clearly an accomplished humourist in his own right.
The Python was an adventure serial that ran in the early issues of Pow! Compared to comics published by Fleetway and D.C. Thomson, the adventure strips in Odhams comics could sometimes have a rough and ready feel about them, as this does, but that energy added to their appeal I think.
Full page ad for the next issue...
News page introducing Pow! This regular news feature ran in all the 'Power Comics'.
The Group, with art by Mike Brown. Similar in many ways to The Beezer's Banana Bunch but with its own vitality.
Jack Magic, another strip that only ran in the early issues (so probably wasn't too popular with the readers).
The second Marvel series in the issue was Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD, reprinting the first episode from Strange Tales. Story: Stan Lee. Art: Jack Kirby.
Every Power Comic had a spy spoof and Pow's was Wee Willie Haggis, The Spy from Skye. Not a very remarkable character. Mike Higgs' The Cloak, which started in Pow! No.18, would prove to be a more popular parody of the spy genre.
On the back page was one of the highlights of the comic; Dare-A-Day Davy by the fantastic Ken Reid.
Like most British comics, Pow's contents shifted and changed a bit as the weeks passed. I felt it was constantly improving but sadly it only lasted for 86 issues, absorbing Wham! along the way and merging into Smash! in late 1968. Nevertheless it remains a favourite of many of us who grew up on comics of that period. As the strapline on the first cover said, it was "The brand new comic for the new breed of comic fans". That was the thing about the Power Comics; they felt modern and young, and of the moment, unlike some of the the slicker, sometimes stuffier, rival comics from Fleetway and Thomsons.
The free cardboard gun and ammo.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)