Alfie the Air Tramp

It's probably not intentionally symbolic.

It's mostly forgotten now, but Alfie the Air Tramp was a popular humour strip published by The Amalgamated Press that enjoyed a 22 year run from 1930 to 1952. It was originally in The Joker from 1930 to 1940, then transferred over to Chips when the two weeklies merged.

Humourous tramps had been a staple feature in British comics since the debut of Weary Willie and Tired Tim in Chips in the late 19th Century. Many imitations followed, often with variations on the theme. Combining a funny tramp with aviation was inevitable. It was a good strip though, thanks to inventive scripts and the artistry of John Jukes who drew many of the strips.

Here are a few examples. (Click images to see them much larger.) Firstly from 1934 when Alfie the Air Tramp was the regular cover star of The Joker...

Now a few from 1942 from the combined Chips and The Joker, although I think one or two of these may be reprints. Even as popular as he was, Alfie was never going to replace Weary Willie and Tired Tim from their established cover position but he did manage the next best thing, appearing on the back cover of the comic instead...

Great slapstick strips from a bygone age. Anyone interested in seeing more 1930s/40s classic characters sometime? Or don't they float your boat? Leave a comment and let me know.      

This week in 1955: TV FUN No.95

This is the issue of TV Fun that was in the shops exactly 59 years ago. I've shown some issues of this comic on my blog before, but it's always worth a look at a few more strips. TV Fun was considered to be Amalgamated Press' modern comic of the time, a move away from the old style comics such as Comic Cuts and Illustrated Chips which it had replaced in 1953 a week after those titles folded.

Luckily for some of the artists of the old style comics, TV Fun had taken them on board. The cover strip shown here, Arthur Askey, was drawn by Arthur Martin. 

Jimmy Edwards was a popular star of the day, and his pompous, blustering headmaster character was perfect for a comic strip. Artwork by Reg Parlett.

A new strip starring Reg Varney ("as a boy") had begun in the previous week's issue. Here's episode two, drawn by A.P.'s top artist, Roy Wilson...

TV Fun contained a balance of humour and adventure strips. Westerns were hugely popular in the 1950s so naturally the serial Cal Conway's Son ran in the colour centre pages of the comic in 1955. I don't think this was actually based on any TV series. Artwork by George Heath.

TV Fun seems to have provided a lot of work for Reg Parlett. Deservedly so of course, as he was one of the best cartoonists to ever work for A.P./Fleetway/IPC. Here's a Sally Barnes strip from the issue by Reg...

Our 'Tec' Teaser was a precursor to Lion's Spot the Clue with Zip Nolan, and invited readers to participate in solving a crime...

The solution for the mystery appeared on the facing page, along with a Jerry Jones text story and an advert for a Whistling Yo-Yo (all the rage back then y'know).

On the back page, "The Modern Miss in Merry Moments" Shirley Eaton in full colour. A film star long before her memorable appearance in Goldfinger. Art by longtime A.P. artist John Jukes.

Like IPC in the 1970s, Amalgamated Press were never shy of reprinting material in their annuals. That same Shirley Eaton strip was reprinted just two years later in the TV Fun Annual 1958 with a bit of nifty resizing...

(For more info on that annual, see a blog post I did several years ago by clicking here.) 

At 16 pages for 3d (1p) the TV Fun of 59 years ago was a reasonable rival to The Dandy and The Beano, although I get the impression that TV Fun was aimed at a slightly older reader. Adolescents probably, who'd enjoy a glimpse of legs in the Sally Barnes and Shirley Eaton strips, and the artists readily provided such 'good girl' art. A.P. were actively trying to attract an older readership in the 1950s, with the most obvious comic being Top Spot (see blog post here). Sadly this direction didn't last, and when the Mirror Group acquired A.P. in 1959 (founding Fleetway) such 'cheesecake' was dropped, and subsequent titles such as Valiant and Buster (brilliant as they were) were firmly aimed at children.