Happy Halloween From Wacky Comics!

The title says it all really - Happy Halloween! To "celebrate" the occasion I've designed a special themes logo for the blog. Hopefully you like it - I think it's spooktacular! Or is it shockingly good? Or terrifyingly... um... terrifying?

I've another Halloween post coming in just a few hours where I look at another Buster issue - so stay tuned!

It's Halloween Buster! (1994)

Yep, it's that time of year again - Halloween, which means that we dip back into a Halloween comic of the past, this time the 1994 Buster Halloween issue. One wouldn't really guess it from a quick glance at the front cover above, but this is really is Halloween issue! Sadly, Buster's strip isn't themed so for the sake of sticking to the subject I'll skip it and move on.

The first Halloween strip is X-Ray Specs, illustrated by none other than Mike Lacey. As always it's a well-drawn strip, but the colouring seems very cheap and lazy, it really doesn't look that good at all!

The colouring gets better over the page on Tom Thug's strip. As illustrated by Lew Stringer, Tom attempts to find or make a Halloween mask, but he isn't having much luck!

Speaking of masks, here is the free one that was included in the centre pages, illustrated by Jacula! (Geddit - Jack, and Dracula! Chuckle!)

Next up is Dozy Derek, who, like Smiffy from The Beano, really doesn't know what's happening! Art by Mark Bennington. 

Tom Paterson's Watford Gapp was in an entirely different art style, almost impossible to connect to his more common style such as the work on Sweeny Toddler. Fortunately, he leaves a smelly sock in one of the panels to ensure us it's still him.

And finally, although I haven't covered every spooky strip in this issue, I'll leave you with this two-page Lucy Lastic story, illustrated by Mark Bennington.

Phil-Comics Christmas Covers!

Phil-Comics, the auction site which has regular auctions over on ebay, is to release a Christmas Covers book early next month. The book will be 76 pages thick and collects all the front covers of the Beano and Dandy Christmas issues published between 1937 - 1969 into one compact volume.

Here is what Phil-Comics had to say on their facebook page:

"It gives us great pleasure to announce the publication of our first book on our two favourite comics, entitled:

The Dandy and The Beano - Classic Christmas Comic Covers 1937-1969

Enjoy vintage festive fun with Christmas puds, slap-up feasts, crackers and jokes galore as every Christmas cover from The Dandy and The Beano comics from 1937 to 1969 has been faithfully reproduced.

1,000 copies of this 76 page, full sized, full colour hardback book with dust jacket have been printed. It will be relished by collectors, enthusiasts, nostalgia seekers and all those who recall their weekly comic treat… and with Christmas fast approaching, why not sort out a present or two early!

We are offering our Facebook customers the chance to pre-order their copy – the book will be available from Monday 4th November so visit our website below and buy now to secure your order!"

The book will cost  £20 + postage and can be delivered anywhere in the world. But remember - the print run is limited to just 1000 copies, so be sure to get your copy quick!

http://www.phil-comics.com/christmas.php

This Week In... 1971 - Knockout

It's time to head back to 1971 and take a look in to the issue of Knockout that went on sale this week 42 years ago. This is the second version of Knockout, the first was published by Amalgamated Press from 1939 through until 1963 but this second version was published by IPC from 1971 to 1973, a far less successful run compared to its predecessor. Knockout was bright, each of its 24 pages had colour, even if it was only simple spot yellow, red, green or blue. The front cover, as can be seen above, was filled by The Full House, a simple idea which took place in a house with something happening in each room, and each room affecting the other rooms!

Moving on inside and the strip that caught my eye is Pete's Pockets by Mike Lacey, a fantastic strip about a lad named Pete who has anything and everything hidden away inside his pockets - even an elephant, as you will soon see!

One strange strip had to be Moose, a story about a hunter trying to catch a moose, yet this particular moose always fights back. The odd thing about this strip is that Moose can use his antlers like human hands! I'm afraid I don't know the artist, but it looks like a style that comes from mainland Europe, possibly Spain but I can't be sure.

Another equally strange strip is Boney, which follows a similar idea to Moose. Boney is a skeleton who escaped from a ghost train and is ever on the run to evade capture from the owner of the ghost train, whose attempts end in failure week after week!

Knockout also had one adventure strip that went by the name of Barry and Boing, Boing being a robot under the control of Barry. Boing gets his name from the springs in his feet that allow him to bounce to incredible heights, which always seem to come in handy every week.

And finally, we finish with Fuss Pot, an easily dislikable character who somehow remained popular for many years, appearing week in week out in Knockout, Whizzer and Chips and Buster, right up until the last issue in 2000 (although to be fair, she did sometimes have some funny adventures)! Art by Norman Mansbridge.

Faction #2

I finally got around to buying and reading the second issue of Faction and I have to say - it was worth the wait (even if it only feels like yesterday when I was buying the first issue)! Issue two is bigger than issue one - 21 pages bigger (a grand 90 pages in total), and costs $5 more (priced at $24.95NZD) but is well worth it!

Inside there's heaps of good stuff, my personal favourite strip this time is James Squires' untitled two-page space strip, which is about an astronaut left behind on a planet (and isn't the only space strip in the comic, as Ectype by Damon Keen is the other, and is also a fascinating read).

I also particularly like Saurian Era by Cory Mathis, the artwork is good and it also reminds me of The Pirates Of Pangaea in The Phoenix.

All in all, the Faction team has turned out yet another masterpiece, flawless from top to bottom. Faction is a joy to behold, and be holding. It's great to see this successful New Zealand comic, it's not often you see any around, so be sure to grab your copy from various book stores and comic stores around New Zealand, or online at the Faction website:

http://www.factioncomics.co.nz