Wednesday, December 23, 2015
The Christmas EAGLE (1955)
This issue of Eagle from exactly 60 years ago was published the same week as the issue of Girl that I covered the other day. Such an influential and popular comic, the cover featured Dan Dare at the height of the strip's run during one of the best serials, Rogue Planet. Wonderful artwork by Frank Hampson and Don Harley.
As was the norm with adventure strips, they didn't often go off at a festive tangent just because it was Christmas week. However, this P.C.49 serial did just that, breaking the fourth wall by sending a Christmas message to the readers. Art by John Worsley.
The fantastic centrespread cutaway by L. Ashwell Wood that week featured London's Christmas Rail Traffic. I've also retained the Luck of the Legion part of the spread, even though it has no festive theme, as it seemed a shame to crop off such great art by Martin Aitchinson.
The Eagle reader's page featured a message from the editor reminding us that it was Jesus' birthday (although that's debatable) and a humour strip, Chicko, by Thelwell.
Harris Tweed by Captain Pugwash creator John Ryan. This is the sort of humour/adventure serial that I wish British comics did more of as it worked well enough in Europe for decades. Still, at least Tweed did lead to Leo Baxendale's Eagle Eye, Mike Higgs' The Cloak, and I suppose we can add my Combat Colin to that too. (And The Phoenix runs humour/adventure serials these days.)
Eagle carried a lot of features as well as strips of course. Only 9 and a half of this issue's 16 pages were strip, even though we still refer to Eagle as a comic. I'm including Christmas and its Customs as one of those strips, even though it's more of an illustrated article as it's not sequential storytelling. Art by Norman Williams...
I hope you're enjoying these flashbacks to old Christmas comics. I'll be posting my final selection sometime on Christmas Eve, with samples from not one but two issues of a vintage story paper. See you then!
As was the norm with adventure strips, they didn't often go off at a festive tangent just because it was Christmas week. However, this P.C.49 serial did just that, breaking the fourth wall by sending a Christmas message to the readers. Art by John Worsley.
The fantastic centrespread cutaway by L. Ashwell Wood that week featured London's Christmas Rail Traffic. I've also retained the Luck of the Legion part of the spread, even though it has no festive theme, as it seemed a shame to crop off such great art by Martin Aitchinson.
The Eagle reader's page featured a message from the editor reminding us that it was Jesus' birthday (although that's debatable) and a humour strip, Chicko, by Thelwell.
Harris Tweed by Captain Pugwash creator John Ryan. This is the sort of humour/adventure serial that I wish British comics did more of as it worked well enough in Europe for decades. Still, at least Tweed did lead to Leo Baxendale's Eagle Eye, Mike Higgs' The Cloak, and I suppose we can add my Combat Colin to that too. (And The Phoenix runs humour/adventure serials these days.)
Eagle carried a lot of features as well as strips of course. Only 9 and a half of this issue's 16 pages were strip, even though we still refer to Eagle as a comic. I'm including Christmas and its Customs as one of those strips, even though it's more of an illustrated article as it's not sequential storytelling. Art by Norman Williams...
I hope you're enjoying these flashbacks to old Christmas comics. I'll be posting my final selection sometime on Christmas Eve, with samples from not one but two issues of a vintage story paper. See you then!
Labels:
Dan Dare,
Don Harley,
Eagle,
Frank Hampson,
John Ryan
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
BLIGHTY CHRISTMAS EXTRA (1952)
It's not a comic but it features strips and cartoons that hopefully may appeal to those of you who appreciate good illustration. We're in December 1952 when humour magazines for men were all the rage. Sexist and cheesy by modern standards, but Blighty was one of the best magazines of its type and its excellent artwork stands the test of time. Take the cover above for example, by Scottish artist Arthur Ferrier (1891 - 1973). Women doing the job of reindeer is a bit dodgy, and Santa's being a little too handy with that whip but the artwork is superb.
I covered the humour mag craze of the 1950s/60s on this blog a while ago, but just to clarify, Blighty contained a mixture of short humourous text stories, jokes, and cartoons aimed mostly at men.
Here's one of the opening pages featuring one of the few strips in the mag...
A page of cartoons by Tom Cottrell (1890 - 1969). You can read more about this artist here:
https://www.cartoons.ac.uk/artists/tomcottrell/biography
Numerous top quality UK cartoonists worked on this Christmas special issue, including Phil Millar, who later drew Willie Gettaway and Sam's Snake for Sparky...
I'm not sure who drew this page (Arthur Ferrier again perhaps?) but it's a great illustration...
The artists never missed a chance to show women in revealing outfits, whether it related to the gag or not...
An untitled full page strip, signed by 'DLG'. Anyone know his identity?
Another page of Arthur Ferrier's work...
Another Phil Millar cartoon, with a double entendre, brightening up (but unrelated to) a short story...
Blighty eventually became the top shelf nude mag Parade, but back in 1952 its pin-ups were far more discreet. Here's Hollywood star Cyd Charisse in festive mood...
Jack Greenall, who did Useless Eustace for the Daily Mirror, was another contributor to Blighty...
It's interesting to look at the advertisements in this magazine. They promote various items including clothes and drink but they also play into the insecurities of some of their readers, with ads for hair loss remedies, height increase gimmicks, and self-help books to help cure the 'Inferiority Complex'. Perhaps a better confidence builder would have been to go out and talk to women as equals.
I'm sure that, like me, some of you will remember these practical jokes being sold in seaside joke shops decades ago. My dad bought the 'Snow Storm Tablets' and I had the 'King Tut' trick (all done with a magnet). In fact I still have it.
These are just a sample of pages from this 56 page magazine but you get the idea of what it was like. Considered 'saucy' in its day but quite a dated curiosity today. If you're interested in more about these mags, see my blog post from a few months ago here:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/post-war-joke-books-kind-that-men-like.html
We're nearing the end of my selection of Christmas comics. Which title will I cover next? Find out tomorrow!
I covered the humour mag craze of the 1950s/60s on this blog a while ago, but just to clarify, Blighty contained a mixture of short humourous text stories, jokes, and cartoons aimed mostly at men.
Here's one of the opening pages featuring one of the few strips in the mag...
A page of cartoons by Tom Cottrell (1890 - 1969). You can read more about this artist here:
https://www.cartoons.ac.uk/artists/tomcottrell/biography
Numerous top quality UK cartoonists worked on this Christmas special issue, including Phil Millar, who later drew Willie Gettaway and Sam's Snake for Sparky...
I'm not sure who drew this page (Arthur Ferrier again perhaps?) but it's a great illustration...
The artists never missed a chance to show women in revealing outfits, whether it related to the gag or not...
An untitled full page strip, signed by 'DLG'. Anyone know his identity?
Another page of Arthur Ferrier's work...
Another Phil Millar cartoon, with a double entendre, brightening up (but unrelated to) a short story...
Blighty eventually became the top shelf nude mag Parade, but back in 1952 its pin-ups were far more discreet. Here's Hollywood star Cyd Charisse in festive mood...
Jack Greenall, who did Useless Eustace for the Daily Mirror, was another contributor to Blighty...
It's interesting to look at the advertisements in this magazine. They promote various items including clothes and drink but they also play into the insecurities of some of their readers, with ads for hair loss remedies, height increase gimmicks, and self-help books to help cure the 'Inferiority Complex'. Perhaps a better confidence builder would have been to go out and talk to women as equals.
I'm sure that, like me, some of you will remember these practical jokes being sold in seaside joke shops decades ago. My dad bought the 'Snow Storm Tablets' and I had the 'King Tut' trick (all done with a magnet). In fact I still have it.
These are just a sample of pages from this 56 page magazine but you get the idea of what it was like. Considered 'saucy' in its day but quite a dated curiosity today. If you're interested in more about these mags, see my blog post from a few months ago here:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/post-war-joke-books-kind-that-men-like.html
We're nearing the end of my selection of Christmas comics. Which title will I cover next? Find out tomorrow!
Labels:
Arthur Ferrier,
Blighty,
Jack Greenall,
Phil Millar
Monday, December 21, 2015
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!
...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!
Another Christmas Phoenix!
I reviewed the Christmas issue of The Phoenix the other day (see here ) but today I discovered the next issue will have a festive theme too! The Phoenix No.208 has an excellent Christmas cover by Jamie Smart for his festive Looshkin story inside.
I understand that subscribers have already received their copies (or soon will), although for people buying it off the shelf (like me) the issue won't be in WH Smith until the weekend.
My thanks to Jamie Smart for letting me use his photograph of this issue. Great cover!
I understand that subscribers have already received their copies (or soon will), although for people buying it off the shelf (like me) the issue won't be in WH Smith until the weekend.
My thanks to Jamie Smart for letting me use his photograph of this issue. Great cover!
Christmas Cover Collection
Some Christmas comics had promising covers but didn't deliver much in festive stories inside, so I thought I'd group a few together in one post. We start with the Christmas issue of Diana from 1970, above. I don't know who the illustrator is (can anyone help?) but it's a fantastic piece of artwork.
Inside, the only Christmas themed strip was a humour one; Up-To-Date Kate. Looks like the artwork of Michael Barratt to me.
On the back page, another festive strip; Rosie Red Riding Hood.
A few years later, the issue of The Wizard dated December 25th 1976 promised a "ghostly tale for Christmas".
Inside, the story the cover related to, The Lightning Tree, actually had no festive element, but telling a ghost story was an old Christmas tradition so it was quite appropriate.
The back page of that issue of The Wizard was certainly festive, with the Christmas Crackers feature illustrated by Andrew Christine (later to draw the popular newspaper strips Beau Peep and A Man Called Horace).
Three years later, the 1979 Christmas issue of 2000AD and Tornado sported a Carlos Ezquerra cover...
Seven stories in that issue, but only one relating to the season: Tharg's Christmas Tale, again drawn by Ezquerra...
In 1982 the Christmas issue of Buddy featured Billy the Cat in a Santa outfit, delivering presents. Despite this, none of the interior pages had a festive theme. By the way, if you're thinking the "great news" announcement heralded a merger you'd be mistaken. It referred to Buddy getting a new look and a couple of new stories with the next issue.
A year later, the 24th December 1983 issue of Spike featured Charlie 'Iron' Barr dressed as Santa but there was little in the way of festive cheer inside. (I'll be taking a look at other issues of this comic soon.)
Christmas Day is fast approaching but there's a few more old Christmas comics to feature yet. Look out for another post soon!
Inside, the only Christmas themed strip was a humour one; Up-To-Date Kate. Looks like the artwork of Michael Barratt to me.
On the back page, another festive strip; Rosie Red Riding Hood.
A few years later, the issue of The Wizard dated December 25th 1976 promised a "ghostly tale for Christmas".
Inside, the story the cover related to, The Lightning Tree, actually had no festive element, but telling a ghost story was an old Christmas tradition so it was quite appropriate.
The back page of that issue of The Wizard was certainly festive, with the Christmas Crackers feature illustrated by Andrew Christine (later to draw the popular newspaper strips Beau Peep and A Man Called Horace).
Three years later, the 1979 Christmas issue of 2000AD and Tornado sported a Carlos Ezquerra cover...
Seven stories in that issue, but only one relating to the season: Tharg's Christmas Tale, again drawn by Ezquerra...
In 1982 the Christmas issue of Buddy featured Billy the Cat in a Santa outfit, delivering presents. Despite this, none of the interior pages had a festive theme. By the way, if you're thinking the "great news" announcement heralded a merger you'd be mistaken. It referred to Buddy getting a new look and a couple of new stories with the next issue.
A year later, the 24th December 1983 issue of Spike featured Charlie 'Iron' Barr dressed as Santa but there was little in the way of festive cheer inside. (I'll be taking a look at other issues of this comic soon.)
Christmas Day is fast approaching but there's a few more old Christmas comics to feature yet. Look out for another post soon!
Labels:
2000AD,
Billy the Cat,
Buddy,
Carlos Ezquerra,
Diana,
Spike,
The Wizard
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