Christmas Comics: WHAM! (1964)

It's the final festive flashback for this year as the Blimey-Timey Time Machine settles in 1964 for the duration of Christmas. This issue of Wham! was published exactly 50 years ago today, on Monday 21st December 1964. A smashing seasonal cover by Graham Allen (who put his initials in the last panel) with a sleigh-full of Wham stars on the masthead.

Let's have a look at a selection of some of its contents. Here are The Wacks, drawn by Gordon Hogg...

On the facing page was the regular pop feature, and who better to appear in this special Christmas issue than Britain's biggest popstars The Beatles? 

Kelpie the Boy Wizard didn't have a festive theme but I couldn't resist the chance to show two pages of classic John Burns artwork...

In these early strips The Tiddlers had a teacher who was on their side called Super Sir! After a while, the strip ditched Super Sir in favour of a traditional put-upon teacher warring with the kids, which was a shame. This episode looks like it might be the work of Terry Willers...

Only one strip by Leo Baxendale in this issue, but what a strip! Eagle-Eye, Junior Spy running across the centrespread in full colour. Some of the humour is of its time and might understandably give offence now, but the artwork is top quality funny stuff...

How's about a Christmas ghost story? Here's the short and spooky Vanishing House. And for lighter fare, It's a Crazy World drawn by Artie Jackson...

It wouldn't be Wham! without Frankie Stein and here's Frankie's first Christmas, drawn by the genius Ken Reid...

Finally, a lively Georgie's Germs strip which shows that Santa even visits germs! Several artists drew this strip over the years and this one is by the excellent Brian Lewis...

I hope you've enjoyed these visits to various Christmas comics of the past. Thanks for dropping by and may I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!