New scary comic thing

Just a short "plug"/review thing here - there's a new comic out! It's aimed at the shorter, less aged members of society, BUT, it's a one-man job done by Joe Matthews - whose work has previously appeared in Gas, Elephant Parts, Brain Damage, Ut, Sweet FA and Pulp - so that means it has relevance and is interesting. And it's always nice to see a new comic that isn't based on a TV series or toy, so here it is - it's called Funny Monsters:

All highly appropriate stuff - it's out at the start of October, which is the "spooky" month according to the shops, and it's got loads of the slimy, gooey stuff that kiddies always love - chiefly from "main character" Zackster - Kid Zombie:

If I was two decades younger and all that, I'd be all over this - look at one of the most popular toylines around at the moment, the Trash Pack. A big load of slime and eyeballs will always get the youngsters excited. "Good luck" is what I'm saying here.

There's other things in there too - Werewolf Growl (who's a werewolf character), a group of bed bugs with varying personality traits - my favourite of which is the paranoid Colin:

Several puzzles and colouring pages and the like, and even a text story, starring likeable heroine Milly Monster Hunter - here's Milly appearing in a Spot-The-Difference setup:

Neil Gaiman's Coraline is who she reminds me of, mostly.

For me personally, the highlight is the back cover, the Scary Spooky Selfie - a modern take on Basil Wolverton's fearsome fizogs or Ken Reid's back covers for the likes of Shiver & Shake and Whoopee!:

There's even some "free gifts" with it that AREN'T throwaway bits of plastic - instead, it's stickers and Top Trumps-ish cards:

Funny Monsters is available from an armful of newsagents throughout the North West (of England), priced £2 - OR, in an easier way, directly from the Facebook page. Still priced £2, including postage but lacking the packet of sweets that newsagent buyers get with it (click here for it). Joe will also be appearing at the following places, sketching and selling his wares:

Saturday 11th October - The Living Deadcon, Liverpool

Saturday 25th October - Preston Comic Con

Sunday 26th October - Wheatsheaf Comic Con, Rochdale 

Monday 27/28th - Millgate Shopping Centre, Bury

Wednesday 29th October - Bay View Shopping Centre, Colwyn Bay

Thursday 20th October - St Johns Shopping Centre, Leeds

Friday 31st October - Kelsalls Bookshop, Littleborough

Friday 31st Oct - Evening at the Baum for Rochdale Ghost Walks

Sunday 16th November - Bolton Comic Con

One last note - Funny Monsters is printed on a weird kind of paper that smells strangely familiar and isn't liked much by my scanner, hence the strange washed-out look of the images above. They don't REALLY look like that, I can assure you!

The next issue will be a festive one, so that's something else to look forward to.

More Petrie Classics!

Didn't have time to scan this lot this morning, what with having a job and so on, but they're here now - some more favourites from the pen of the dearly departed Jim Petrie... Beginning with an episode of the Sparky People, from the 1980 (or 1979, that's how annuals work) Sparky book:

A Minnie classic now, from the 1990 Beano book (the first Beano annual I ever got) - this one even got animated for the Beano Video back in 1993 (which I assumed would be on YouTube in full, but isn't, shockingly enough).

And lastly, a couple of oddities from the 1993 Topper annual - the early 1990s (and especially the later part of that decade) were VERY interesting with regards to the Beezer and the Topper - in that the artists were free to do pretty much whatever they wanted, which is how we ended up with Jim giving us this colourful character:

And this absurdity of nature - must've read this one over a hundred times when I was a youngster:

So once more, here's a toast of sorts to someone who's utterly irreplaceable in the comics world. 

Jim Petrie, 1932-2014

Bugger, another hero's gone - LOVE Jim's stuff, there's not many that give such a sense of "movement" as his wildly spinning limbs and so on do. Plus the weird facial expressions, false teeth popping out, massive tongues... There won't be another like him, that's for sure.

At least his legacy's all there on paper - for Minnie the Minx alone, according to Jim, there's "2000 weekly instalments, 400 annual stories, 35 summer specials and 7 libraries - total, 2,082!".

Apathetic Amphibian

Here's an odd one, stylistically at least. In the realm of Viz-inspired comics, Lazy Frog from Big Star Publishing is certainly... anomalous? Thematically it's identical, yes, but it LOOKS like nothing else I've seen within the "genre". 

Well, that cover's not exactly representative of what I'm on about, but hang in there. Okay, the first time I found Lazy Frog was on a trip to that London in 2002, and it was on the shelf of some swanky newsagent. Not the first issue, but the sixth issue. I enjoyed it enough at the time, but in the decade (and more!) since then I've only been able to find two more issues. And the only information concerning Lazy Frog on the whole of the Internet can be found in two paragraphs of one page:

Dave: You’ve sent me some of your recent work. Well, fairly recent. I didn’t know of the existence of Big Star Publishing and here are two titles from them. Lazy Frog is a kind of West Country Viz with lots of rude words and sheep-shagging. It’s about ninety percent comics, the strips variously signed by Shaky Kane, Shaky K and Joe Klutz. Time to come clean I think. This looks like a one-man show to me. But can I reassure Vikki that all those French personal ads were not down to you? I can’t believe you came up with “Sacre Bleu, I appear to ‘ave fucked you up ze ass.”

Shaky: Again, an opportunity came my way. Uncle Al The Kiddie’s Pal was my character, along with The Tic-Toc Man. But the personal ads you’re talking about were down to the editor, Ian Porter. He must have thought it was a good idea at the time. His Smelliest Clown Lonely Heart page was funnier! And he actually put the damn thing out, so it’s hard to be too critical.

There we have it - the extent of the Internet's knowledge about Lazy Frog (besides a slight discussion on the matter here) - it's a two-man job consisting of the artist, Shaky Kane (real name Michael Coulthard, of Deadline, 2000AD and Bulletproof Coffin fame) and the editor, Ian Porter, who also put out the magazine and wrote most of the stuff in it. It lasted for at least six issues, beginning in 2001, and that's all we know. So what can I do? I can show some of its contents to anyone who might be interested, that's what!

Gordon Bell - 1934-2014, a mini tribute

By now most comic readers are probably aware that Gordon Bell left this world on the 13th of February, aged 79. One of the hallmarks of being a "great" comic artist is your work being easily identifiable as uniquely yours, and Gordon's style was DEFINITELY a unique one. Tributes to him abound (for example, here, here, here, here, here and here), and here's another one - beginning with the first bit of Gordon's work that I ever saw, from the first Beano annual I ever got:

Here's a self-portrait of sorts from the 1993 Topper annual:

And arguably his finest creation, that master of hokum, flim-flam, posh and poppycock, Spoofer McGraw:

RIP, Mr. Bell.

Cheap Strong Beverage with an Uncompromising Bouquet

It would've been nice to've had this one done by Saturday, but there we go. Another delayed celebration it is. The next few things getting "looked at" are from that Scotland place, but don't worry - these're nothing like that last Scottish comic seen here. So get your Irn Bru ready - we're starting with...

This one!

Started in Glasgow in 1989, by misters David Alexander and Tommy Sommerville, Electric Soup seems like so much more than the Viz wannabe that the media made it out to be. So people aren't allowed to make grown-up comics with rude words in them because there's already one of those? Balls to that! I'm feeling a bit guilty now with that "Viz-A-Likes" words I've been using, but a lot of them undeniably ARE cash-ins... It's just that a lot of comics sprung up around the same time, and people like to encapsulate things, so that's what's getting done. Electric Soup is one of the good ones, so let's just leave it at that. After looking at some pages from it, obviously.

Is this too late? Probably

Greetings, and a merry new year to one and all. Yes, I'm late saying that, but I AM working on... something. It's in keeping with previous themes, but it's also a theme-within-a-theme. While that's in development, I thought I'd best do something quick here - nothing screams "dead blog" like a miserable post made on Christmas Eve being at the top of the page when we're half way through January, so you're having this:

Zig and Zag's Zogazine - the New Year special! The Zogazine has been featured on this part of the Internet in the past. Twice, in fact. It honestly, honestly, REALLY IS one of the funniest comics to ever come out of Britain, thanks in no small part to it being headed by a certain Kev Sutherland, yet if the modern world is anything to go by, it seems that I'm 50% of the people who remember it. The other 50% made a video all about it, with genuine enthusiasm and everything - take a look at it, perhaps? Then go back to this thing, unless something else on YouTube distracts you. There's some pages to see if you want, and some "clues" as to what the next thing around here will be, if you're keen enough...

Merry Fishmas!

Speaking honestly, 2013's been a bit of a shitter mostly. There were some good bits, definitely, but it's all been downhill since around September-ish, hence the general Scrooginess I've been feeling throughout December. HOWEVER, over the past two nights I've been visited by three spirits (well, two good friends and a sibling), and that "festive feeling" has finally arrived, sort of. So let's have one last thing before the 25th happens - The Trout Xmas Special!

How appropriate! One of those terrible Viz wannabes that's also Christmassy. This being the only issue of Trout that I have, it makes sense to look at it now, otherwise it'd mean waiting a whole year for the opportunity to arise again. And a lot of things can happen in a year - what if something should "happen"? The world would be denied knowing about the contents of this particular comic! And what a tragedy that would be etc.

Look behind you and all that

Six more sleeps till "the big day", and somehow, despite all my efforts, I'm not feeling "Christmassy" in the slightest. I'll be blaming recent real-life events for that, but am still endeavouring to get at least a BIT festive. This might help:

Yeah, a pantomime! The Hoot pantomime no less. I've talked about Hoot before, and I'll be talking about it again - it's far too good a comic to be as neglected as it is. It was completely left out of the otherwise excellent Classics From The Comics (it's not even mentioned on the cover), and last year, when DC Thomson put out a book collecting several pantomime-themed stories from their archives, Hoot was left out once more.

In my ongoing heroic quest to right such wrongs, here's the whole thing, in full...

Twenty days left, not like anything's going to happen

So we may as well do this "year in review" thing that everyone else started doing in September. Let's see now...

On a purely cultural level, it's been a bit of a bugger. We've lost Bob Godfrey, Ray Harryhausen, Lou Reed, Richard Briers, Mel Smith, Charles Grigg, Marcia Wallace, Patti Page, James Gandolfini, Richard Griffiths, Felix Dexter - more or less everyone that anyone's ever cared about is now dead. It's not that nice, really.

What with all the death and disaster, there hasn't been much good "new" stuff around either (at least not that I've noticed). The fact that my favourite album of the year is a compilation of forgotten indie bands from the Nineties that Ben Baker put together could be considered "evidence" of this, but it's more likely I'm just not paying enough attention.

But just like last year, at least there's been that one constant to hold onto and laugh at/with. Viz is what I'm talking about, and it's never going to go away and that makes me and several other people GLAD. Here's the twenty-seven best bits of Viz from 2013, in roughly descending order. How happy we shall be!

27 - Cover of the Year - Lichtenstein Fartpants

Ooh, look at that etc. I'm thinking I should get a bigger scanner soon, it'd be easier than trying to convince Dennis Publishing to reduce the width of Viz slightly. The problems this brings to freeloading folk such as myself shall become evident as this list progresses...

Putting the tinsel up.

Hmmm... Nineteen days to go, I got my first card today. Been selling trees to people for two weeks now, A Spaceman Came Travelling has been on the radio at least twice a day this week, and I feel like watching Scrooged. Suppose something "festive" should be done here?

Okay, the Christmas issue of Viz is out now. Everyone should go and buy it. We Blight Christmas will warm your heart like nothing else, and you get a free 2014 calendar. This is what you're looking for:

Well hey look, it's the return of Norbert Colon as well!

Here's something of a "Christmas Cracker" from December of 2002, and from the pages of the NME no less. Everyone goes through that "NME phase" at some point in their life - my phase, fortuitously, included this nice little two-pager by Viz man Alex Collier, written by NME staffer Mark Beaumont. It stars the Cooper Temple Clause, a band I'll still have time for today (this is them, in case you don't know them), and they're visiting various other musical folk dressed up as Father Christmas. If you weren't into the whole "new music" thing in 2002, it's doubtful that any of the jokes here will make any sense, but here you go anyway:

Willy the Third

Anyone who's taken their enjoyment of comics beyond the "casual" level is surely aware of Leo Baxendale's Willy the Kid books, right? Mr. Baxendale , creator of the Bash Street Kids, Grimly Feendish, Minnie the Minx, Little Plum, Sweeny Toddler and so on, working only for himself, free of any editorial restrictions - the first book's an absolute masterpiece, and the second one's not too shoddy either.

But how about... the THIRD Willy?

Cover image taken from Kid Robson's blog, for reasons soon to be made clear.

See You Jimmy!

I've received several "comedian-based" annuals over the years - from Lenny Henry's Well Hard Paperback to Harry Hill's Fun Book. None of these (well, perhaps excluding the Spitting Image Book) have made as much of a lasting impression, however, as Russ Abbot's Fun Book.

Why was the five-year-old version of myself gifted this? Was I a junior Russ Abbot's Madhouse fanatic? Were things getting desperate on the 24th of December in 1990? Those are questions I'll probably never get around to asking. It's still a book that lives up to its "fun" title, though.

The REAL Annual (can't think of a snappy title for this one, sorry)

Next on the pile... This one!

It's the 1990 (as in, 1989) Real Ghostbusters annual, and this one actually DID arrive on the 25th day of December, all those years ago. Ghostbusters and its related media seems to be one of life's constants, at least in my experience. Early exposure and all that. And out of the four Real Ghostbusters annuals I've got over the years, this is the one that stands out for some fairly unique reasons...

The Annual from the Future

A curious thing I realised a couple of years ago - I was reading 2000 AD BEFORE I was reading the Beano. Well, not actually reading it, just looking at it. As the previous post mentioned, monsters are all I've ever really cared about for large portions of my life, and the particular issue of 2000 AD I remember having as a youngster was filled with the things. If I describe the setup, could someone point me in the direction of whatever issue it was? No? Well I will anyway. A load of monsters standing around having a discussion (about what I do not know - it's not like I was "reading" the thing), and one of them, a green-skinned woman, eventually gets a sword thrown through her. She carries on talking and removes it like it was nothing...

Well, over the years I've acquired and then got rid of THREE big stacks of 2000 AD comics, and that issue I remember was in the first pile. Why I got rid of them? Who knows? They're probably the ONLY comics I've ever let go, which is just not right. Anyway, I remember having 2000 AD comics at least a year before getting my first Beano or Dandy (and THOSE comics actually helped me learn to read!), so with that in mind it's only fair that a 2000 AD annual should be one of my favourites. This one, specifically:

Oh, and I definitely WON'T be getting this "top twenty" finished before Xmas, so it'll run over into June probably, but that's fine.