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!

TV21 No.243: The return of yesterday's brighter tomorrows

The brand new issue of TV21 turned up today, just as it used to on a Wednesday back in the 1960s. Colonel White is back in charge of the letters page and all the strips begin new adventures. John Burns' Lady Penelope is particularly exciting, and it's good to see Gerry Embleton drawing Stingray.

In case you hadn't already read my earlier blogs on the subject, this issue of TV21 is a special one-off edition that is part of the package of goodies within the Supermarionation box set. The concept of this comic is that it's issue No.243 of TV21, dated September 13th 2069, - the issue that one imagines might have been published in 1969 had Joe 90 comic not merged into its pages. An issue of TV21 from an alternate reality if you like! 

The Brains behind this brilliant idea is editor Martin Cater of Network, the company responsible for the excellent box set. Assembling a team of comic creators he has constructed a 24 page comic that perfectly echoes the TV21 of yesteryear. It's even the exact size of those early editions and carries the same story logos that were designed in the 1960s. The content though is all-new! 

The strips include all the Gerry Anderson shows produced in the 1960s, so in addition to Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, and Captain Scarlet plus Zero X we also have Joe 90 (who never appeared in the first series of TV21 until the relaunched merger with his own comic) and The Secret Service (which never previously appeared in TV21 at all). There's also a pitch perfect Agent 21 strip by Brian Williamson and a Zoony the Lazoon strip by myself, plus a Project Sword prose story. Graham Bleathman is also on board with a new cutaway of the Mars Space Probe.

It's good to see my old friends Mike Collins and Bambos contributing good stuff, and Antonio Barreti's Secret Service is a spot-on sixties homage, but I'm sure they'll forgive me when I say the highlight for me was the centrespread strip, - Lady Penelope by John Burns! The veteran artist is still a master of his craft and these pages look so authentically 1960s that for a moment I felt I was back in that decade. Rest assured though that this is definitely brand new material! 

John Burns isn't the only veteran artist involved, as Martin Asbury has contributed a two page Captain Scarlet strip and Gerry Embleton is back at the helm of Stingray! Embleton's style may be a little looser than it was but the skill is as sharp as ever. This is good stuff!

The comic even comes with a free gift in the form of six postcards of TV21 covers for the following few issues! Sadly those issues do not actually exist, but wouldn't it be great if they did? 

Lest we forget though, this issue of TV21 is only available as part of Network's Supermarionation box set and the main content of that set are the blu-ray discs with a brand new documentary, selected episodes in High Definition, and Stephen La Riviére's book Filmed in Supermarionation. For the full details see Network's website here:
http://networkonair.com/shop/2038-supermarionation-box-set-pre-buy-5027626708146.html

It's been an absolute pleasure to contribute to the history of TV21, - my favourite adventure comic of my childhood, and certainly my favourite comic of this year! For one day, the brighter, optimistic 21st Century is with us once again. 

Strips 78 booklet

Art by DAVE GIBBONS

In the days before Internet social networking, the Society of Strip Illustration (SSI) was an ideal organization for bringing comic creators together to socialize and promote the comics industry. I was a member myself in the 1980s, but a few years earlier, in 1978, the SSI held their first event, Strips 78, in London. Here are a few pages from the accompanying A5 booklet, with artwork rarely seen before outside of the SSI membership. 

Firstly, an introduction from Dennis Hooper, who was the Chairman in 1978 and, as no doubt you'll know, previously the editor of Countdown and art editor of TV21. This is of particular interest as it explains the origins of the SSI and how it grew from the Comics 101 event that Denis Gifford had organized in 1976. (Click to see it larger.)

Now here are some of the pages drawn by SSI members exclusively for the 52 page Strips 78 booklet...

BRIAN LEWIS

BILL TITCOMBE

MARTIN ASBURY

GEOFF CAMPION

DENIS GIFFORD

JOHN M. BURNS

JOHN RICHARDSON

KEVIN O'NEILL

LEO BAXENDALE and BRIAN BOLLAND

MICK McMAHON and DICK MILLINGTON

Finally, the centrespread, showing the names of the editors on the IPC weeklies at the time...