Shiver and Shake Annual 1986

Today I thought I’d share a few pages from the 1986 Shiver and Shake annual. Other than being the last S+S annual to hit the shelves, there’s nothing particularly significant about it. But I thought I’d share some pages because it is simply a fantastic and beautiful comic, really showcasing the talent of the day. Artists inside included Martin Baxendale, Tom Paterson, Terry Bave, Sid Burgon, Jack Edward Oliver — I could go on.

The full colour pages were also stunning, and among the best full colour I’ve ever seen in a Fleetway comic. Here are the front and rear endpapers, illustrated by Roy Mitchell who signed his pages as ‘Mitch’. 

For a comic from 1986, quite a few pages were printed in full colour. For their £2.50, readers were given 96 pages (counting the covers), 16 of which were in full colour. A good number more had either blue or red ink.

One of the more bizarre inside pages was this Jumbo Jesters page, featuring various photos of an elephant — elephants of course being the ‘Shake’ part of the comic. I have so many questions. Is it a real elephant? Where did they get a real elephant? How did they get a real elephant on a bus?

Another good page is this Desert Fox puzzle board game. Elsewhere in the book the Desert Fox strip is illustrated by Terry Bave, but this spread is instead by Jack Edward Oliver.

Trevor Metcalfe also had a few pages. Here’s a nice Ghoul Getters Ltd strip. Metcalfe was an expert at motion - just look at the slamming doors or the man spinning around at top speed! It makes me dizzy just looking…

As I said, there’s no shortage of great pages to share and I could easily go on, but I’ll wrap things up with this Lolly Pop strip by Sid Burgon. The Fleetway annuals from this time are relatively common and usually pretty cheap, so I would definitely recommend picking them up if you come across any.

This Week In: 1984 - Whoopee!

Time to head back to the 1980's, a period when the Fleetway comics (at least, the ones that were around or starting) were at their greatest! Today we'll be looking at the issue of Whoopee and Wow that went on sale this week in 1984 - almost 30 years ago! The cover character is Sweeny Toddler and this particular episode (illustrated by Tom Paterson) will have you laughing out loud! It did with me anyway... (look at the wanted poster on the fifth panel on the second page).

Moving inside and let's take a look at Creepy Comix. This strip was illustrated by Reg Parlett and I've always enjoyed the thought of the creepy characters coming to life from Davie's comics so the strip always had a lot of appeal to me. One thing I can't help but noticing though, is that the ghost looks an awful lot like Harry from Harry's Haunted House. Maybe the landlord finally kicked him out and he found refuge in a Creepy Comic?

Next up is The Bumpkin Billionaires, illustrated by Mike Lacey. As always, they think they are losing money so they can go back and live the simple country life, but in natural comic style it doesn't all go to plan.

A particularly strange strip is Animalad. Illustrated by Roy Mitchell, this strip follows the adventures of Andy who can turn into any animal he wants at will! Definitely amongst the crazier strips in British comics!

Always enjoyable, but crazy just like Animalad, is Calculator Kid, illustrated by Terry Bave and the comic strip that is home to the finest moustache in comics! Or is it a caterpillar? Find it, and decide for yourself!

And finally, here's the Quick Strips from inside the back cover, featuring Bleep!, Cheeky, Here is the News and the try-it-yourself Calculator Corner. Go on - try it yourself!