Crossovers between characters aren't a rare occurrence in British comics; I've shown a number of them on this blog. It is rare, however, for a character to cross into a companion comic published by the same company. Sure, the Beano and Dandy characters have done it a few of times, but I can think of only a handful of times it has appeared in an IPC comic, one such time being this one from 1975, when Tiny Tycoon, a resident of the Whizzer half of Whizzer and Chips, walked into Whoopeetown, right up to the front door of Bumpkin Manor! Here is the appearance in full; the art is supplied by Tom Williams.
Should you wish to buy yourself a copy of this issue, here is the front cover to look out for - dated 21st June 1975.
Buster Monthly was late to the shelves, and was the final of IPC's 'Big Three' to get a monthly collection in its name. Whizzer and Chips was the first, with issue one appearing in November 1984. I'm yet to investigate Whoopee's Best Of Monthly comics, but the earliest I have is October 1985 - well before Buster. In fact, despite being IPC's most popular and longest running title Buster didn't get it's first 'Best Of Monthly' comic until May 1987. Here are a few adverts promoting the launch. The last one is just an edited version of the first.
As with all the monthlies, it went on sale about half a month ahead of the cover date, this one hitting the stores on 11th April. Here's the finished product that kids would have seen on the shelves.
As with the Whoopee and Whizzer and Chips monthlies, Buster continued until January 1995 (dated February), when they were merged together to produce the short-lived BVC. Ninety one issues of The Best Of Buster Monthly were produced.
It can be interesting to compare an original story with the reprinted one, to see what changed. In the 2003 Dennis the Menace annual they reprinted the Christmas story from Beano #2475 from December 23rd 1989, that year's Christmas issue. Originally just called Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, the annual renamed it to 'Dennis the Menace and Gnasher in a Christmas Chortle', adding Santa in his sleigh and moon to the panel.
The colour scheme also changed, the original version is generally darker with a nice purple sky. I personally prefer the original version, the reprint just doesn't seem as festive. Even the bells that read 'Dennis the Menace and Gnasher' aren't as nicely coloured.
Here's the full strip, the original next to the reprint. Art is by David Sutherland. As always click on the images and then again to view in full size.
And here's the book the reprint appeared in, the 2003 Dennis the Menace annual.
Many thanks to Phil Creighton for informing me of this reprint! Cheers Phil!
The launch of Vulcan is slightly different to the launch of most comics due to the fact that it was launched not once but twice. The first run was in Scotland only and issue one was released on 1st March 1975. It lasted for 30 issues, with the final one coming out on 20th September 1975. This trial was considered a success and so the following week it was released worldwide, 1p dearer than the first issue of the initial run now costing 8p instead of 7p.
Looking at the covers it seems as though IPC changed a lot on the second run of Vulcan - the gifts, price, cover artwork, and content was completely different. Looking through issue three of the Scottish and worldwide editions the content is very different in each, with strips either redrawn or completely replaced with new episodes - probably so that any Scottish readers wouldn't be put off buying the second series.
The second series wasn't as much of a success as the first, for it lasted just 28 issues before merging into Valiant on 10th April 1976 (the last issue of Vulcan was dated 3rd April).
Comic characters seem to have been popular with makers of sweets and bars as quite a number of bars named after characters have been around. I thought I'd take a look at a few of them here, so first up is the Roy of the Rovers bar from McCowan's. These were chewy pineapple bars and were available in the 1980's and 1990's. According to a fan-page made to bring them back, they are still available today, but from one store only - the Texaco garage in Glounthaune, Ireland!
https://www.facebook.com/BringBackRoyRoversBar
Next up is the Buster Bar, also from McCowan's and also from the 1980's and 1990's. These bars were given away with Buster comic at one point (I'm not sure if Roy of the Rovers bars were given away with his comic), as well as being available in the shops. They were liquorice bars coated in toffee.
Next up is the Captain Hurricane bars. These ones are from an earlier date to the above two, coming in around the mid 1970's. Apparently delicious, the bars came in a multiple of flavours - strawberry and vanilla, coconut and liquorice, kola and finally pineapple. I don't have a photo of the packaging but here's a scan of a full-page advert for the bars from a 1975 issue of Whizzer and Chips.
Next up is a bar featuring a D.C Thomson character. Desperate Dan was lucky enough to have a bar named after him in the 1990's. The Desperate Dan Bar was a "mighty fine chew", produced by McCowan's in one flavour - orange.
And last but not least is the Sweet Tooth Fruit Flavour Drops produced by Trebor. These packets each featured a comic strip from Whizzer and Chips, presumably a Sweet Tooth strip. There were twenty in total. If anybody can provide a scan of any or all of them please let me know!
That concludes a look at these sweets. This is by no means all of them, I think the Beano brand is now very large and covers a wide variety of goodies in the supermarket.
