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.

A Jackpot Easter (1981)

Yes, it's that time of year again which means we're going to take a look at an Easter themed comic! This time, we head back to 1981 for the slightly Easter themed issue of Jackpot. The strapline promises 'Easter Fun Inside' and it doesn't lie for we do, but not very much of it, as just four of the 21 strips are themed. The first of those four strips is Laser Eraser. For those of you unfamiliar with the strip, Laser Eraser is about a boy named Ernie who has a special laser that can make things disappear and reappear, but what he doesn't know is that he is actually zapping them up to the alien spaceship that dropped the laser, and then bringing them back again. Illustrated by Bob Nixon, Laser Eraser seemed a popular strip in Jackpot and survived the 1982 merge into Buster.

I was expecting 'It's A Nice Life' to be Easter themed but I was wrong, for the second of the four strips comes two pages after that in the form of Milly O'Naire and Penny Less. Along with their counterparts Ivor Lott and Tony Broke (who don't appear in this strip, but do in their own and combined strips), they are amongst the better strips that have a rich vs. poor theme, and, illustrated by Sid Burgon, they four of them proved very popular for many years.

Next up is Sporty, illustrated by John Geering. Sporty is about a lad who is good at all sports, in fact - you name it, he's done it. For an Easter theme I'm sure you can guess what sport he participates in this week.

Finally, the last Easter strip for another year is Sample Simon. Usually Simon will test free samples but this week's strip seems to avoid that, or perhaps he somehow found a free rabbit costume sample? Who knows - anything can happen in the world of comics! I believe the artist might be Mike Green, but I'm not sure.

And that rounds up this Easter post for 2014. All that's left to say is... Happy Easter!

The Christmas Jackpots

Jackpot was a great but short-lived comic that ran from 1979 - 1982. In that time three Christmas issues were produced, the first had (in my opinion) the best cover with artwork by Sid Burgon.

Although not actually the Christmas issue this issue of Jackpot dated 13th December 1980 did have a Christmas theme on it. The Laser Eraser strip inside had nothing to do with the cover. I'm unsure who the artist is here; Robert Nixon illustrated the strip but this cover definitely isn't by him.

The 1980 Christmas cover was again illustrated by Sid Burgon and featured Jack Pott (actually a character originally from Cor and surprisingly not the main character in Jackpot) and Angel from Angel's "Proper" Charlies (a spoof of Charlie's Angles) pulling a cracker.

The final Christmas issue came out in 1981 and had a very similar cover design to the 1980 cover above, with two people, this time pulling a wishbone, surrounded by holly and other Christmas decorations. Robert Nixon replaced Sid Burgon for this final Christmas cover.

Jackpot was a great comic but sadly folded only a few weeks later in January 1982. During it's time it was a fantastic comic though with some interesting features including a 'design the cover' competition, some of which were actually used! But that's all a tale for another time.

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!

What Monster Fun Almost Looked Like

What you see above is the printer's colour proof for the front cover of the very first issue of Monster Fun, and on the right is the final version, both illustrated by Robert Nixon. It seems that after they saw the one on the left in its final form they decided against it and changed it to the more familiar version on the right. I can see one possible reason for the change and that is with the logo. On the original the word 'Monster' appears on the top line, and the words 'Fun Comic' appear on the bottom. This could lead to the comic being called just Monster when it's actual name in Monster Fun.

The original design is good but the final one is better and I'm glad they chose it. It's interesting to see this unique piece of British comic history, but unfortunately this is the best image of it I have. 

So, which one do you prefer?

Family Trees

Family Trees is a humorous serial that originated in Wow as part of a (very) minor revamp for the new year of 1983. A letter from the editor in this new years issue read:

"Hi, readers! We promised you exciting things in 1983, and some of them are starting right now! You can enjoy the fun with 'Family Trees' and 'The Upper Crusts and the Lazy Loafers' and discover the opinions of WOW! readers in our new feature 'WOW! Top Ten'! Your friend, The Editor".

And just like that, Family Trees was born. Illustrated by Bob Nixon, the first episode appeared spread out over one and a half pages in Wow #32, dated 8th January 1983. 

They continued in their one and a half page format until Wow merged into Whoopee and they were given two pages. They swiftly became one of Whoopee's prominent features, and soon after were given the centre spread where they appeared in glorious full colour.

A typical centre spread from Whoopee, after the
merger with Wow.

In the 500th issue of Whoopee their origin story was reprinted, apparently because many readers had requested to see the first episode, as they hadn't read Wow and therefore had never seen it. Whether or not this is actually true, or it is because they needed to fill a page I don't know. It's interesting to see that the strip was reduced from one and a half pages to just one, and all the trees are named at the side.

The trees kept walking, forever trying to find somewhere safe where they could plant their roots and live happily ever after. They finally found somewhere in the last issue of Whoopee, in the grounds of a mansion.

And that's the story of Family Trees. If, like me, your favourite era of comics is the 1980's (well, for Fleetway's stuff at least), Wow is definitely a comic worth seeking out.

Robert Nixon's Frankie Stein

I've got a treat for all readers today, as we take a look at Robert Nixon's version of Frankie Stein. Obviously, nobody could draw the friendly fool better than Ken Reid, but Nixon took over in the first issue of Shiver and Shake, and he was the perfect choice!

Robert was the only artist worthy of following in Ken Reid's footsteps and taking over Frankie. Although others had tried, nobody else could draw him as well. Fortunately, Robert used his own style on the strip, meaning it looked better than it would if he had copied Ken's style.

Anyway, enjoy these great classics from one of Frankie's finest artists, and, as always, click on the image and then again for maximum size!

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Final Frankie

A long, long time ago (May, to be precise), I wrote a blog post on the final ever Whoopee comic. Andy Boal commented, asking how Frankie Stein ended - but to tell the truth, our loveable lunk didn't actually end. Maybe they were going to continue the character in a different comic, after all - he was one of the most popular characters created by IPC, and is up there in the list of the all time populars in British comics!

So, here it is - that last episode of the freaky, yet funny, Frankie. Originally drawn by Ken Reid, this final episode is drawn by Robert Nixon.

The End Of Whoopee: http://www.wackycomics.com/2012/05/end-of-whoopee.html

Read the first ever Frankie Stein strip by Ken Reid: http://www.wackycomics.com/2011/11/frankie-stein-arrives.html

Christmas Jackpot Annual

The 1984 jackpot annual has a bit of a festive cover, as did most of Fleetway's annuals that year, this one starring Top of the Class. As you would probably expect with an annual like this, not many of the stories inside had a christmas theme. I found one, and a few with a bit of snow.

The one christmas themed story is this Laser Eraser story. In the first box the tree has a label on it reading 'MR ODDSOCKS', a nice feature! Art by Robert Nixon.

There were quite a few stories that featured snow in them, in Kid King it melts so he replaces it with icing! Here is a 'Little and Large Lenny' strip (the character was probably based upon the comedy show 'Little and Large') , artwork by Artie Jackson.

Another christmas comic coming soon!

Frankie Stein arrives!

Wham! was one of five Power Comics created by Odhams Ltd. and was launched on 20th June 1964, lasting 187 issues, until it merged with it's sister comic POW! in January 1968. During it's short life Wham created dozens of incredible stories such as Biff, The Tiddlers, General Nitt and his Barmy Army, Georgie's Germs, Eagle Eye, Pest of the West all of which were amazingly illustrated by such artists as Leo Baxendale, Terry Willers, Gordon Hogg, Artie Jackson and more.

Four isssues into it's run a new story would appear. Frankie Stein was of the magnificent Ken Reid, who decided to follow his love of drawing monsters, aliens and all things weird! Some of the stuff was so ghastly, it was never published in the comic itself and was never even seen until it was eventually published in an underground comic in 1969! The art Ken drew for Odhams was definatly some of his best, whole collections have even been put into books, some of those books reaching sky high prices of over £190 each! Frankie Stein is one of them, and he first came to life inside the covers of Wham issue 4, on page 17, way back in 1964! Although he didn't appear on the cover of that issue, Frankie Stein would later become one of Britain's most popular characters, appearing in many different comics and annuals. He even had two of his own annuals in 1976 and '77, both titled the 'Whoopee Book of Frankie Stein', although by this time Robert Nixon had replaced Reid. Even more collectable are the Frankie Stein holiday specails, which ran for eight years between 1975 and 1982. At the start of the series the comic was priced 25p and by 1980 it had doubled to 50p. Nixon's front cover artwork for the first special sold at auction in 2008 for £378.

So here, for all those Reid fans who haven't seen the first Frankie Stein strip, here it is!

Apologies for my scans been on an angle, it's just that my copy of this comic is in near mint condition so I didn't really want to damage it.