Faceache in Jet - Part 1 of 3

Jet, launched on 1st May 1971 (the cover date for issue one, it was most likely released a week earlier), is a short-lived comic best remembered, when remembered at all, for the introduction of Ricky Rubberneck, or Faceache, as he is best known. Faceache first appeared on page 29 of issue one of the "great new picture-story paper for boys". Illustrated by the great Ken Reid, Faceache would survive Jet's amalgamation into Buster and continue on until 1988, illustrated for the last few years by Frank McDiarmid after Reid passed away in 1987. 

Jet lasted just twenty-two issues and I will be showing all of Faceache's appearances in the comic, broken down into three parts so that each post doesn't become too lengthy. Here are the first seven episodes, and as always click on the images to view them in full size.

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Other Parts In This Series:

Part 2:
https://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2014/08/faceache-in-jet-part-2-of-3.html

Part 3:
https://whackycomics.blogspot.com/2014/08/faceache-in-jet-part-3-of-3.html

Frankie Stein Holiday Special 1982

Frankie Stein was a fantastic character, first appearing in the fourth issue of Wham in 1964 and his last appearance was in BVC in 1995. He was so popular that he received a spin-off annual and summer special series, the annuals running from 1976 - 1977 and the specials from 1975 - 1982, and it is that final special we'll be looking at today. The comic gets off to a good start with a cover by Mike Lacey, Frankie's main artist after taking over from Ken Reid, but Bob draws nothing inside, instead the comic is mostly taken up by a 12-page Frankie Stein story by Frank McDiarmid entitled 'Frankie Stein and the Three Wishes', and the rest is reprints. The story is too long to show but here's the start so that you to get the feel of it.

As I said, the rest of the comic is reprints, most of which isn't Frankie Stein stories, with strips including Computer Cop by Alan Rogers, Wizards Anonymous by Brian Walker and Terror TV by Ian Knox. There are a few pages of Frankie in there though, including Freaky Frankie and Frankie's Diary, both illustrated by Sid Burgon.

Computer Cop isn't a strip I've come across before. It's four pages in length and I recognise the artist's name and style, but can't quite put my finger on what else he drew - does anybody know?

In terms of value this was the most expensive of the Frankie Stein specials, at 50p the price tag had increased by 5p from the year before. It had the standard 64 pages of which eight were in full colour. Instead of a poster on the centre spread there was a 'Monster Menace' board game, printed in full-colour.

This Week In: 1979 - Cheeky

One good thing about many of Fleetway's comics was the fact that they came out on a Monday. Monday is the worst day of the week as it's the day everybody has to go back to work or, more suitably for a comic, school, so the arrival of a new comic on a Monday was very welcome, the perfect way to beat those "Monday Blues"! Cheeky was another of the comics that came out on a Monday, a cheery and cheeky way to start the week!

I'll start with none other than Cheeky himself. If you've ever read an issue of Cheeky you'll know that Cheeky's strip is split up into seven parts and each part appears separately throughout the comic. There is one part for every day, starting on Sunday and finishing on Saturday, but for sakes of space I'll only show the 'Sunday' page here. Frank McDiarmid had a heavy workload as he drew all of Cheeky's pages week in week out!

Next up is Charlie, who you will know as Calculator Kid! Charlie is very lucky in that he has a talking calculator for a friend (and yes, he had real friends as well) that could predict the future - a very useful tool in Charlie's life that almost always led him to collecting a nice cash reward! Terry Bave was the illustrator here, and the strip would continue for a very long run continuing for several years after Cheeky in Whoopee.

My favourite strip in this issue has to go to The Gang. Although it doesn't have the most creative name in the world, this is a very well written strip, and it's well illustrated as well although I'm afraid I can't say who the artist is. The Cheeky Weekly blog tells me that The Gang is in fact a (poorly retitled) reprint of the Double Deckers from Whizzer and Chips.

Next up is Elephant On The Run, a strip about a man in a plastic mac who, for some unknown reason, is trying to capture our friendly elephant, who has lost his memory and has no idea why he's wanted! Bob Nixon is the artist.

The fantastic Mustapha Million, a great and extremely popular strip illustrated by Joe McCaffrey, took up the centre spread. Obviously the title of this strip is supposed to sound like "must have a million", but really the young lad must be a multi billionaire at least!

And finally, here's a queer advertisement for 'Mr. Bellamy's', showing all the (ahem) fun you can have with liquorice!

The 1982 Christmas Beano

It's fast approaching Christmas, so I'll start off a series of Christmas themed posts with this festive Beano from 1982! David Sutherland of Bash Street fame drew Dennis the Menace at this period in the comics history, but the style is heavily influenced by Dennis' original artist Davy Law. Here's the second page.

Inside "Baby-Face" Finlayson gets up to his usual tricks, but unusally he comes out on top for once, acting as a toy and getting a free feed! Illustrated by Ron Spencer.

The use of slippers a a form of punishment in comics was beginning to die down a bit in the '80's, but Roger the Dodger still uses it, or he almost does anyway! Frank McDiarmid drew Roger at this point and although I liked Frank's work I don't like his version of Roger, as I don't think it really suits the strip.

Over the page however was Jim Petrie's version of Minnie the Minx, which is a style I do like! I really like Jim's action drawings, he can capture movement really well! He once stated that he often studied his children in the back garden, and took what they did into his drawings!

Lord Snooty had a good Christmas strip this week, with lots of snow and a good festive story! Also intresting on this page is the advertisement for overseas subscriptions, which is something we only usually see in small print. 

Little Plum and Biffo the Bear usually share the same page, but Biffo missed out on the Christmas issue because he is replaced by an advert for three of that years annuals - The Beezer, Dennis the Menace and The Topper.

The Three Bears started out as background characters in Little Plum but were so popular that they got their very own strip (just like Dave the Squirrel) in 1959. The artist on the 80's version was Bob McGrath, and this strip ends with a great classic ending - the slap up feed!

I'll be taking a look at another Christmas comic soon, so stay tuned!

Cheeky Annual 1980

Cheeky, one of Britains best comics, ran for just 3 years, from 22nd October 1977 to 2nd Febuary 1980. Cheeky was a brilliant comic and just another one that will (probably) never see the light of day again. So, looking at the cover of the 1980 annual I thought to myself, why not do a post? And so here I am, reading some hilarious comic strips by truly great artists such as Terry Bave, Nigel Edwards, Mike Lacey, Frank McDiarmid and many more! (Disaster Des actually made me laugh out loud!)

So the cover features Cheeky cutting through one of Auntie Daisy's (The school dinner lady) 'cement' cakes (or some other completely solid substance), yet more brilliant artwork from the pen of Frank McDiarmid!Then I opened up thecover,and noticed that on page three which has January with Cheeky,has no price in the clipcorner! It is simply an empty triangle! Just to make sure that this wasn't a one off mistake I double checked with my tattier Cheeky annual of the same year. It was exactly the same!

Here's my copy of a christmas Buster comic, dated 23rd December 1972.

And now compare it with the image from www.bustercomic.co.uk. See the difference? Their issue has a price on it under 'Every Monday' of three and a half pence, whereas mine doesn't!?

And it's the same story with my other Buster comic from around that time! This issue from 1974 should have a price of 4p written in the centre under the Buster logo, but instead there is just a blank space? And in both these issues it clearly states: "BUSTER and JET must not be sold at more than the recommended selling price shown on the cover." Explanations, anybody?

Anyway, were getting a bit side-tracked, so lets return to Cheeky!

So now I move onto colouring. Of course, unlike today's comics, this annual isn't printed in full colour. Printing anything in full-colour back then would have cost a lot of money. (If you want a black and white 80's feel annual try this years Viz.)Looking through the thirty odd pages that are in colour (its a 128 page annual if you include the covers), I thought that the colouring was excellent. The only thing I don't like (that was even used by the Beano up until recently) is the fact that on some boxes they use grey outlines instead of black.

Of course, it's not as bad as some of the colouring that IPC attempted at, here's part of a Mighty Mouth strip from Buster 16th December 1989, drawn by Terry Bave to give you an example.

For much more information on Cheeky comic, check out this brilliant website:

http://cheekyweekly.blogspot.com/