Monday 13 September 2010

Greeting messages in the background of a comic story..


(I always wondered who drew this strip.he also did his own lettering..)
As you can see on the third panel is the greeting..a fun way to send out a message on your favourite character..I'm sure readers wrote in what story they wanted the note to appear on..and what a lovely surprise it must of been..






They don't distract to much from the story and as long as the artist doesn't mind I think its a unique and fun idea..could it or should it be used today in comics..?
All images from Whizzer and Chips 2nd April 1983.

4 comments:

Lew Stringer said...

Personally I think it's distracting and could ruin the flow of the story, so I can understand why they discontinued the idea. It reminds me of how they flash up the name of the next programme on the screen during the programme before it.

There are ways of doing it more subtly. I added some greetings to a few of my Oink pages but the lettering was smaller, and in the form of graffiti on a wall in the background, not as blatant as the pages above.

When Mark Rogers was writing "Young Arfur" for Buster he'd often feature posters on the wall referring to Mark Riley and The Creepers, as Riley was a friend of his.

Peter Gray said...

Thsnks Lew
I'll have a look at some Tom Thugs and Young Arthur to see what you mean and do a new blog post part 2..

Unknown said...

Hi Peter, it wasn't Mark Rodgers who wrote "Young Arfur" with the Marc and the Creepers greeting messages as stated by Lew Stringer, but me (co-creator of Oink! Comic) and lifelong friend of Marc Riley, who I would later employ on Oink!Comic to draw Harry the Head and to appear as Snatcher Sam. You will also find in Buster on Clumsy Colin sets similar greetings/messages/references to Marc and the Creepers that I incorporated. Best wishes, Patrick Gallagher

Peter Gray said...

Thanks Patrick for clearing it up the mystey...