To tie in with The Ashes I thought it'd be fun to post a few comic strips with a cricket theme. We start off by heading all the way back to the Beano of 1947, where Big Eggo gives the sport a go, only to end up in a theatre with a policeman! How did he do it? Click on the image below to find out! Art by Reg Carter.
Coming forwards 14 years to a 1961 issue of Buster. This time Buster tries to help a cricketer, but does too good a job! Hugh McNeill is the artist here.
Come forwards to 1970 now to an early issue of Cor, and in this one the Robot Maker helps out a struggling cricket team in order to win the match. But there's a lot at stake, because if they don't win the club will have to fold due to lack of funds! Frank McDiarmid did a wonderful job illustrating this strip, and this episode is no exception.
And in the 1971 Cor summer special the Hire A Horror team helps a man watch the test match in peace! I'm not sure who the artist is, but it's definitely not the usual Reg Parlett.
And finally, we head back to 1960 and take a look at this Terrors Of Tornado Street strip by Juan Rafart.
It's time for the third part of the 75th birthday celebrations of The Beano, and we start off this post with a fantastic strip from 1967, of Biffo and Buster carrying the Beano logo to the Beano offices. This strip is a particular favourite of mine, as it shows that these characters also have a life outside of the comic, making them feel more realistic! Dudley Watkins drew this unique cover.
Now we're going to go back right to the early years of the Beano and take a look at some strips from the 1940's! Let's start with this hilarious Big Eggo strip from 1947.
And from that same issue here's the Lord Snooty strip by Dudley Watkins.
And here's a nice page from later on in the year, with three different strips on it!
That concludes our 3 part look at some of the stuff from the past 75 years! The big day isn't far off now - so stay tuned!
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Other posts in this series:
Part 1:
http://www.wackycomics.com/2013/06/75-years-of-beano-part-1.html
Part 2:
http://www.wackycomics.com/2013/07/75-years-of-beano-part-2.html
Big Eggo, quite possibly Britain's, if not the world's, most famous ostrich, was not the only ostrich to appear in The Beano! Shortly after Eggo ended, another ostrich was to take his place - Big Bazooka, illustrated by Charles Grigg. The football loving bird made his first appearence in 1952, and ended a year later in 1953, although he continued in the annuals for several more years.
Here's one of his adventures - from the 1957 Beano book! Click on an image, then again for maximum size.
