iT’S CHRiSTMAS 2024 TiME!

Links to all of this year’s posts are in piggy pink below

As I sit in my living room, buoyed by my tree lights twinkling, my electronic fire-effect fireplace animating and my Apple HomePod providing the sound effects, and warmed by a combination of my gas heating finally being on all day and a Starbucks Eggnog Latte in my belly, I welcome you all to Christmas 2024 on the OiNK Blog. What a feast I’ve got in store this year.

I really try to better each year’s festive season and if I do say so myself I think I’ll achieve it with what’s coming your way. There may be no more OiNK Books to cover but that doesn’t mean Uncle Pigg’s comic won’t be the star. Kicking off on Saturday 30th November 2024 is the first of a four-part weekly series called The OiNK Interview Series, starring no less than 11 of the comic’s top contributors!

Every Saturday during the build up to Christmas Day they’ll provide answers to one specific OiNK-related question, the same question to everyone. It’ll be a fascinating look behind-the-scenes of OiNK and its creative team. This is one series of posts I’m particularly looking forward to, but that’s not all for the pig pals among you.

In fact, pig pals themselves are the stars of this year’s Christmas Day post. Ever wish you’d purchased some of that groovy OiNK merchandise? Some pig pals still have their Prime Porky Products all these decades later and are more than willing to make the rest of us jealous by showing them off. So that’s exactly what a handful of fans will be doing on The Big Day.

Also this Christmas season is the third part in our occasional series of lovely retro adverts from the pages of OiNK, suitably enough all of the Toys and Games that had us drooling. You can check them out on Friday 27th December. Also, watch out for an interview with OiNK co-editor Mark Rodgers in the pages of a Christmassy Speakeasy from 1987, in which he discusses OiNK’s creation, controversies and their plans for the weekly. That’ll be here on Thursday 12th December.

I’ve already featured both of OiNK’s annuals but our coverage of its characters in seasonal books doesn’t stop there. The first Buster Book to feature Tom Thug (as well as Pete and his Pimple and Weedy Willy) gets the full OiNK Blog treatment on Thursday 19th December. Before that, the 1989 volume of its sister title, Big Comic Book starts off our Christmas celebrations on Wednesday 27th November in the third year of its blog read through.

My very favourite star of Big Comic (he’s a highlight of every review in that series), Gums has his own book out, Classic Gums. I received it last Christmas and it’d make for the perfect hint to throw to your loved ones! You’ll be able to check out highlights from the toothless wonder in his own review on Wednesday 4th December. We’re not done with the annuals though.

Michael and K.I.T.T. have been yearly stars of the blog and 2024 is no exception. My favourite TV series of my childhood… actually, of my life… may have lasted for four years but it had five annuals altogether. The middle book in the Knight Rider Annual series has more strips, prose stories, interviews and those oh-so-80s pin ups for you to check out on Tuesday 17th December.

The Transformers made their debut on the blog this year with the Generation 2 real time read through and full access to the epic seven-year-plus Instagram read through of the original UK comic. Beginning on Sunday 15th December is the first of a new yearly series of in-depth reviews of the Transformers Christmas issues from that original run. You’ll also see the previous issue’s Next Issue promo on Sunday 1st December. The first year of that comic was very different to what you remember, believe me! So make sure you check that out.

The Christmas issue of Transformers contains reader drawings as part of the festivities, and in a special post this Christmas I’ll be showing the earliest examples of Young Me In Stuff, namely some of my childhood comics and magazines. The first time it happened was met with much exhilaration at the surprise of it all, so the post will go up on the anniversary of my drawing seeing print, on Tuesday 10th December.

Let’s also not forget our three current real time read throughs! This Christmas you can expect the special, final issue of the simply hilarious The Sleeze Brothers (#6) on Monday 23rd December, a festive Christmassy cover adorns the Aliens comic of all things (#7) on Christmas Eve (the perfect day for a little horror story or three) and the Dinobots are the cover stars of Transformers Generation 2 #4 on Sunday 29th December.

Phew! Throw in two personal posts on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve on the blog (links below), and a review of this year’s Christmas Beano on John Freeman‘s Down the Tubes website, and I hope you can appreciate why I’m feeling exhausted just telling you about everything that’s to come! I love writing this site and I particularly adore doing so when it comes to all the Christmas content. It’s going to be the best yet, so Merry Christmas everyone! Now, let’s have some fun!