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.
