Prepare to feel very old, for 2026 is OiNK’s 40th anniversary! That’s right, 40 years since we met the likes of Uncle Pigg, Tom Thug, Horace ‘Ugly Face’ Watkins, Psycho Gran, Burp and Ham Dare. Four decades! To help us original pig pals through this difficult time the OiNK Blog has a myriad of posts planned to celebrate, beginning with five posts throughout the comic’s original launch window. There’ll also be three posts celebrating a certain celebrity phenomenon the following month, a certain infamous anniversary later this summer and a series of posts to see us through all the issues’ 40th birthdays.

As each post is published it’s name
will turn into a piggy pink link below

The day of writing this post is the anniversary of OiNK’s Preview edition, then we’ll kick things off on the 40th anniversary of the first proper issue. That’s when I’ll be writing about my own personal Piggin’ Awesome Memories and why OiNK is such an important part of my life. I’ve talked to many others about their personal memories of the comic, it’s about time I shared mine on Sunday 3rd May 2026. Then the following week comes Germs, a pre-OiNK comic created by co-editor Mark Rodgers and writer Graham Exton while at university. Its contents even included precursors to actual OiNK characters. You could say it was a preview of things to come and the whole shebang will be here to enjoy on Saturday 9th May.

In the same month there’ll be two special behind-the-scenes posts. The first, Crazy Weeds, looks at the original versions of Weedy Willy and Roger Rental as created (and drawn) by Graham. That’ll be published on Saturday 16th May. Then you’ll get to see the original art for Davey Jones’ Mad Monk strip alongside some of the originals Davy Francis very kindly gave me years back, which also included some from other artists. A closer look at The Making of Mirth will be up on Saturday 23rd May.

On Saturday30th May I’ll be chatting to Claire Bend and Robert Reed of Bread and Butter Films. Why would I want to do that as part of OiNK’s birthday celebrations? Well, what if I told you they were currently putting together a mini OiNK documentary? One in which they’ve spoken to a bunch of OiNK contributors (and a certain blogger) and that they’re in the editing stage already? Excited? Then be sure to check out my chat with the duo on Saturday 30th May!

The celebrations will continue into the summer and beyond. During June and July you’ll get three doses of OiNK’s megastar himself, Frank Sidebottom. It all begins on Sunday 21st June with his special appearance in OiNK publisher Fleetway’s Thunderbirds The Comic in the 1990s. Then for the next two Saturdays watch out for some movie reviews! Namely, both the Being Frank documentary and the Frank movie. I haven’t seen either yet so I’m looking forward to catching up with them at last on Saturday 27th June and Saturday 4th July respectively.

At the end of July I’ll be delving into an infamous moment in OiNK’s history. The brilliant Janice and John spoof children’s tale in #7 prompted a complaint to the Press Council. It would be brushed aside in the end and OiNK celebrated the fact in a later issue but despite that it still led a certain defunct newsagent chain to top-shelf the comic. Sometimes OiNK contributor and Mark Rodgers’ partner, Helen Jones sent me the correspondence between the complainant, publisher IPC and the OiNK editors and we’ll be taking a close look at what should be a fascinating insight into The OiNK Complaint on Saturday 26th July.

Finally for the blog itself there’ll be a new series that’ll mark the 40th anniversary of the whole run, right the way through to the final issues in October 2028. The new Grunts series began with a celebrity special last Christmas (2025), and if Uncle Pigg ever chose you to appear in the world’s greatest comic you’ll not want to miss these! Every three months I’ll be collecting together all of your reader contributions. These didn’t start appearing until #5 so the series will begin three months after that on Sunday 20th September 2026. I may never have written in but I’m looking forward to this series, and I’m positive there’ll be plenty of you out there that are too.

Don’t  forget to follow the OiNK Blog on socials via the links in the menu at the top of the page. Over the next couple of years every single issue will be highlighted on their original release dates with their covers and direct links to their reviews. Perfect if you’d like to relive the entire run in real time for yourself over its 40th anniversary years.

Happy Birthday OiNK!
You don’t look a day over 39.

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