Topper late 50's..

Bill Holroyd (thanks to Kashgar for info) Topper July 5th 1958

To answer Gerald's comment on Peter's blog, 'Back to Zero' was actually a sequel to the 1957 serial 'In the Kingdom of Zero' which was reprinted in 1967. In this case Ken Hunter was the original artist. Thanks to - Phil Rushton

These two are from The Topper 22nd June 1957



Ken Hunter









The Topper 24th Jan 1959

Hi Peter,

The 'Wakey Wakey' feature was drawn by Jimmy Thompson a fine cartoonist/caricaturist.
Thanks Kashgar

The Topper July 5th 1958

Bill Holroyd's slapstick fun..this is 1958 when chimps were getting ready to be sent up into space for tests..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_the_Chimp

Ham the Chimp was the first..
He was purchased by the United States Air Force and brought to Holloman Air Force Base in 1959

Malcolm Judge's The Numskulls The Beezer 31st March 1962

This is a very early Numskulls probably the second one?

Its interesting the page layout of an upside down L surrounding Dudley D Watkin's Ginger. In 1962 Beezer there was a lot of pages with more than one character strip to give even better value for money. The problem with this layout is it seems to restrict the artist..the Head closeup is always shown to the right. Its also hard to vary the size of the panel.

Its funny seeing the Numskulls actually causing harm to the man on purpose!
Malcolm Judge also drew The Bad Lads for The Beezer.
Billy Whizz and Ball Boy for The Beano from the beginning to 1989 when he died.

'widescreen' comics: original-format BEEZER and TOPPER

'The Gobbles' (which I remember as being surprisingly similar to Reg Parlett's 'The Crows' in Valiant ). As I've still got that issue to hand here's Leo's other page from the same copy of The Beezer, including a 'Banana Bunch' story which actually takes its theme for that week from the vultures' cactus home.

loved the way that Beezer and Topper used to make sure you got your fourpenceworth by filling up every spare corner of their oversized pages with different marginal features like this (though the adventure stories made full use of the extra space). They may have only had twelve pages to play with but I can clearly remember feeling that the contents of a Beezer (preferably combined with a bag of sweets) could be relied upon to keep me happy for hours on end! Especially if the package included a free gift as well!!

- Thanks Phil Rushton

Three Eggs in a Basket: artwork by RON SMITH/ 'TOPPER, 1966 Thanks to Spy see link for more gems from The Beezer and Topper..

To be honest I'd completely forgotten that Baxendale had drawn the first ten episodes of this strip. Here's the introductory installment from January 11th 1964 (no.417) which, though quite tame by his standards, is particularly intriguing in that it may well be the last new series he worked on for DC Thomson before jumping ship to create Wham! just a few months later: Thanks to Phil Rushton= philcom55

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3748&start=30
Well worth going to this link..Its always a pleasure to see Leo Baxendale comic characters which are new to me.

Spy my internet friend has started this at comicsuk forum..
It celebrates the joy of The Beezer and Topper when it was in a large format..to reading this large comic you had to lie them on the floor..hopeless on a windy day:). The colours and some of the visuals and drawing were so much better in this format. I loved seeing top comic artists like Leo Baxendale, Dudley D Watkins, George Martin, Ken Hunter, Ron Smith, Bill Ritchie etc.. in this format. You can see the panels really clearly and admire there penmanship up close and lovely colouring.

Lew Stringer's Pete's Pimple two greetings!..and Marc and the Creepers!

Buster and School Fun 1st December 1984
Artwork: Pete Dredge
Heres the Marc and the Creepers Lew mentioned in the comments of the previous post..
this is written by Mark Rogers..


Oink 5th March 1988
There seems to be two greetings in this strip..:)
A greeting to Kev O'Neill see link to see more info..

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2009/02/kevin-oneill-early-days.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_O'Neill_(comics)

Its been fun rereading through my few Oink comics to find this..
I prefer this to Viz it doesn't quite cross over the line..But we all have different tastes..

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.

David Mostyn Beano comic work..

50th Beano Birthday issue 30th July 1988

For some reason I didn't like this strip..it wasn't the art maybe it was the characters...a very strange looking Womble dog character..David's best work was in The Dandy..



8th Jan 2005
Again the character wasn't there and lost out to Zap Zodiac in the Beano Comic Idol contest. After three strips were seen.. Christmas Carole was also in the running..I wanted her to win.:))I like Christmas..

Whizzer and Chips raids!

Colin Whittock
29th September 1984
Here is what a raid is normally like..there is Sammy Shrink from the Chips part of Whizzer and chips comic..panel 6! A kind of Wheres Wally type game but covering lots of page hunting..

Raids can be more adventurous than this..sometimes pages were messed around..
Heres The Champ..

Jack Edward Oliver
3rd November 1979
Jack loved word play and would of loved this.it was done again which I can't find when the title was changed to The Chump


Paul Ailey
29th Novemeber 1980
The week before Chips characters has made no less than 5 raids into Whizzer hiding in the story..



Whizzer and Chips 29th Nov 1980 The Greatest raid ever..has there been a better one than this one drawn by Terry Bave?

Chips seems to be the winner on raiding the other comic...I love this type of thing has it gets the reader involved..

http://toonworks.brucelaing.com/comicblog/2010/09/12/characterraid/

A Whizz-kid raid that could of spoilt a contest!

Whizzer and chips 13th June 1981.I'm sure this is a reprint from Cheeky..Jackpot?

The artist (who is the artist?) has a nice busy style love that robot at the start and what an intro it sure sets it up nicely..
What is funny or really bad is the Whizzer raid in the story..the Sweet Tooth statue in the last page. It almosts spoils the contest..wonder how many kids wrote in saying it was the Sweet Tooth statue that looked out of place!!

The answer is
the bear and those boots undernesth!!

Joker from Whizzer and Chips appeared in Daily Star newspaper..

Whizzer and Chips 10th October 1981

Joker was a very popular character and even later appeared on the cover of Whizzer and Chips and was often voted number 1 in polls. I thought it was great!

Does anyone have a scan of Daily Star newspaper to see Joker..were they new for the paper..reprints from Whizzer and Chips?

http://petergraysukcomicartists.blogspot.com/search/label/Sid%20Burgon

Steve Bell's Whoopee's Dick Doobie Back to Front man.get your mirrors out folks!!.

I've been waiting a long time to see this..
so thanks klakadak-ploobadoof

The name of the strip was Dick Doobie the Back to Front Man. It ran in Whoopee from 22nd April, 1978 till 9th September, 1978, a total of 20 appearances except in issue dated 8th July, 1978. Below are some scans, including that of the first episode. Am I imagining things, or is there really some resemblance to Robert Crumb's work?
klakadak-ploobadoof

Quite a tricky thing to write let alone read with a mirror must of been hard for Steve to do..But a great quirky strip see two more..
Go to comicsuk forum to see more images of Steve Bell's comic work..
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3737


Cheeky comic 20th January 1979
Steve also did this great maze see two more at the link.
Thanks to Niblet
Hope you are using my blog list for the link to see his wonderful Cheeky comic blog..