On this day 35 years ago a little innocuous banner appeared along the top of the front cover to the latest issue of IPC Magazine‘s Buster comic. But this wasn’t going to be a poster, a badge, stickers or a boomerang as regular readers may have expected.
A boomerang? Yes, if you want to check out a very long list of the freebies given away by Buster throughout its decades-long life you can see that on the Buster Comic website. But for now, back to the issue at hand.
I decided to have a brief read of the comic too, checking out a handful of strips when I either remembered the characters or recognised the artist, such Tom Paterson‘s work above. I was quite surprised to see a handful of strips had signatures, such as Pete Dredge who would also appear in OiNK. It’s only a handful though and no writers are mentioned, something Uncle Pigg would put right very soon.
The details mentioned on the cover would amount to a half page advertisement at the end of an X-Ray Specs strip containing a piggy silhouette surrounded by one or two mentions of the new comic’s title.
Of course these could just look like sound effects to the uninitiated, so I like to think it peaked the curiosity of the young readers for what was to come in just seven days. With comics of the day being very similar in style and humour I don’t think anything could’ve prepared them for what they were about to read.
So we’re just seven days away from that free gift and just 14 away from the very first issue in this real time read through at the time of writing! It’s getting exciting here in OiNK Blog Towers and there are some extra treats in store between now and then too, so keep it tuned to the OiNK Blog, pig pals.
The latest issue of Spaceship Away includes a feature which will appeal to fans of a certain OiNK sci-fi spoof strip. Writer of Ham Dare: Pig of the Future, Lew Stringer talks about the creation of the strip and the stellar (pun intended) artwork of J.T. Dogg that brought his creation to life.
On his own blog, Lew states, “The interview is part of a six page feature called The Fake Dan Dare Syndrome by Andrew Darlington which also includes other Dan Dare spoofs and related strips such as Danny Dare from Wham!. The article mentions that my Ham Dare plot bears a passing resemblance to the 1957 novel Wolfbane by Frederik Pohl…. which came as a surprise to me because I’d never even heard of that book until now!”
Lew discusses his working relationship with Malcolm, how they only met once at the OiNK launch party and communicated mainly by phone. Full scripts were sent to Malcolm and it was co-editor Mark Rodgers‘ idea to have him as the artist, lending a more direct homage to Dan Dare to the strip than the cartoonish art Lew had envisioned. He also talks about that dinosaur extinction scene and the emotions he felt writing it, which many pig pals felt when reading the surprisingly touching moment.
If you haven’t heard of Spaceship Away, it’s a fanzine concentrating on publishing brand new Dan Dare strips and new science fiction illustrated tales and prose stories, alongside factual articles on everything from the classic Eagle comic of the 1950s to modern day space exploration and science news.
This issue is #53 and is available for £8.95 or you can take out a year’s subscription for £25.50 (prices for Europe and worldwide readers are £11.50 and £31.00 respectively) and you can order it through their website now.
You can also read more information about the interview on Lew’s own personal blog, Lew Stringer Comics.
We’re approaching the beginning of my real time read through of this site’s namesake comic and I’ve got another treat in store for pig pals as we count down the days.
Last month I showed you an interview with John Sanders, IPC Magazines’ Youth Group Managing Director from the pages of industry magazine CTN, published in March 1986. Now we’re coasting through April and this month newsagents across the UK received word of that brand new comic John spoke about. OiNK was about to make its appearance but first of all those selling it had to be convinced to place orders, and hopefully sizeable ones at that.
Thanks to OiNK co-creator/co-editor and cartoonist Tony Husband for sharing these original four-page promotional leaflets. They’re certainly bright, colourful and eye-catching.
I love the written description beside the exhausted Uncle Pigg below, especially the “precocious” part. My first issue of OiNK was #14 and it instantly spoke to me, so I’m guessing that was an accurate description of me too. OiNK never spoke down to us, never treated us like little children. It felt like it was put together by a team who just wanted to make each other laugh and us pig pals were part of the gang. I believe this is the reason its humour stands up so well today and can still be enjoyed by anyone of any age.
Above was Tony’s original leaflet, below I’ve been able to get hold of individual page scans that are a bit better in picture quality. You can click on these to take a closer look.
At the time new comics would normally be marketed on television, such as the one for Marvel UK‘s The Transformers I showed you in that John Sanders post. But of course OiNK would be doing things differently and a big deal was made of the fact IPC were giving away their first ever preview issue. Not only that, it was a full-sized, 32-page free comic and packaged inside some of their best-selling titles, namely Buster, Eagle and Tiger and Whizzer and Chips.
The launch gifts are given prominent space here too, which is understandable when a free record is one of them. Also mentioned are the “Blockbuster Advertisements” which would show up between issues one and two in the pages of the three comics above as well as Roy of the Rovers, 2000AD and Battle. That’s a huge promotional push right there!
In case you’re wondering what “Fully S.O.R.” means, this stands for ‘Sale or Return’ and would refer to newsagents being able to return unsold copies and receive full reimbursement for them. This would encourage them to make bigger orders for those initial issues, safe in the knowledge they could push the comic in their stores with plenty on display without fear of losing any money.
So the comic was on its way and our newsagents were placing their orders. The next step was to make the potential readers aware of that fantastic free preview coming very soon.
They were the latest toy line from Hasbro, the latest cartoon from Sunbow and now the latest comic from Marvel, kicking off with this superb Martin Griffiths (Thundercats, The Real Ghostbusters, Knights of Pendragon) and John Burns (Transformers, Judge Dredd, Nikolai Dante) cover. With Transformers and Action Force (G.I. Joe) still riding high what could possibly go wrong? Unfortunately this sure thing wasn’t to last, but while it did the Visionaries brought with them one of the greatest 80s cartoons, some of my favourite childhood toys and what could’ve been one of the greatest comic book epics.
But we’re not here to dwell on what could’ve been, this site is all about celebrating these classic comics by reading them in real time and on this day back in 1988 #1 of a brand new Marvel UK title appeared in the shops. While it does have a lovely glossy cover it only contains 24 pages, the same as the weekly Transformers which seemed strange for a monthly. Inside it was cover-to-cover strip action too; no extra features, no fact-files, letters page, back up story and no sign of a Lew Stringer humour strip. (What kind of comic was this without the latter?)
What it did have for kids in the 80s was a free holographic sticker. Featuring two images of Merklynn the wizard, one a 2D outline and the other a 3D image of his face, I can’t begin to describe how bloody difficult this was to photograph.
Inside, Transformers colourist Steve White is the editor and welcomes us to the premiere issue with Vision On, an editorial page which looks a lot like the one from The Real Ghostbusters. Other than that, the comic is made up of 19 pages of strip, two Marvel UK adverts, another for the toys and that’s yer lot. It’s still an excitable introduction though and hypes the strip very well. As a young teen I read this story later in the annual so seeing these opening pages transports me right back to Christmas 1988.
The End… The Beginning is adapted by Jim Salicrup (Jurassic Park, Transformers, Spider-Man) from Flint Dille‘s (Transformers: The Movie and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoons) screenplay of the cartoon’s first episode. In the States, Marvel’s Star Comics released Visionaries bi-monthly (much like their parent company had with Transformers originally). The premiere issue had been a double-length edition, but here in the UK the origin story was split into two and spread over the first two months. This means none of our characters actually become ‘Visionaries’ this issue.
Set on the planet Prysmos, Merklynn the wisened old wizard brings portents of doom as the three suns begin to align, signalling the end of the Age of Science and the beginning of a new Age of Magic. Angered at their reliance on technology, Merklyn states he’s watched humans grow weaker for eons, so he’s obviously a lot older than we think.
He has a point. It would appear that from birth to death technology is on hand to answer to these humans’ every whim. Even in this restaurant, sitting on the side of Iron Mountain, we see people being fed their food by robots, after the robot chefs have cooked it and the robot waiters have served it. They don’t even have to bother their brains with the task of choosing what they want to eat, instead their dietary requirements are scanned by the maître d’.
Then the suns align.
In an instant the world is plunged into darkness. The restaurant crumbles and falls, no longer held in place by the advanced machinery, destroyed completely as it hits the ground far below. To prove to the people around him this is truly the new Age of Magic, Merklynn teleports the diners to safety. All around them their world has changed forever in the blink of an eye.
A brief moment of humour before the horrors on the next page
Completely out of their depth, unused to thinking for themselves, the first words anyone utters as the world ends around them is, “Anyone know a good restaurant near here?”. A brief moment of humour before the horrors on the next page. It doesn’t take long before the human race is fighting for survival in this powerful double-page spread.
The Age of Science has ended and the beginning of the Age of Magic is a terrifying and violent place. The once peaceful people of Prysmos, who didn’t want for anything, soon descend into barbarism. But as society crumbles a new order slowly rises up “cobbled together from bits and pieces of the old”.
“Great magic awaits those willing to take it!”
Merklynn
The useless technology all around them is melted down and used as protective armour and weapons, a necessity in these new times. From the villages emerge knights, some ruling with iron fists and led by Darkstorm, others aligning themselves with Leoric, the former mayor of New Valarak who witnessed first-hand the scene in the restaurant.
There’s some great imagery throughout this issue, with pencils by Mark Bagley, inks by Romeo Tanghai, colours by Julianna Ferriter and lettering by Janice Chiang. In particular the fight scenes are exciting and during one particularly brutal confrontation the skies light up with a familiar face (inside a familiar free-hologram-like shape) and a booming voice.
Merklynn tells the knights of his Iron Mountain, where the destruction began. Inside, great power resides, power enough to rebuild the world and take command of this new age, to rise up and become strong again. It’s obviously too much of an opportunity for someone like Darkstorm to pass up so he and his men (the grovelling but loyal Mortdredd and the brutal mercenary-for-hire Reekon) take off to claim the power for themselves.
They believe these times call for a tough leader, someone unafraid to make unpopular choices in order for their planet to survive, no matter the cost to the people. On the other end of the spectrum Leoric, Ectar and Feryl believe only by working together can the populace regrow their communities and flourish. In the background we also meet characters like Cravex who wishes to use the political climate to his advantage (he had the voice of Starscream in the cartoon, appropriately enough) and during the final pages we’re also introduced to Galadria, Arzon and my favourite, Witterquick.
“Anyone know a good restaurant near here?”
The first words uttered after the apocalypse
With the world building complete we move on to the main part of the origin story and the quest for their magical powers. Iron Mountain’s labyrinthine interior is home to tests of intelligence, fitness, strength, wisdom etc. Just as the toys had set out each figure’s specific ability, these tests are our chance to be introduced to them in a more natural way than resorting to the kind of long winded exposition we got in the earliest issues of Transformers.
For example, Galadria uses her keen senses to stop herself falling for a trap like the men ahead of her, Witterquick uses his speed to avoid deadly fast moving spikes and Arzon’s love of flight sees him gliding away to escape danger. But not before we’ve had a cheeky wink towards their Hasbro stablemates; as a ladder transforms into dozens of intertwined snakes Arzon exclaims, “There’s more than meets the eye here.” Brilliant.
Our original six characters from earlier in the story round things off for this issue when they discover a giant stone gargoyle, curled up in a corner and snoring loudly. It’s alive! But at least it’s asleep. Sneaking past it, Mortdredd puts on a weakened voice and tricks Leoric’s team into coming to the aid of an apparently fallen comrade.
There’s actually a nice bit of humour here too. Mortdredd’s character sucks up to Darkstorm constantly, eager to please him by carrying out any sinister task no matter how horrible, keen to have his protection. Darkstorm is constantly exhausted of the grovelling but recognises Mortdredd’s diabolical talents are crucial to his plans.
It’s at this point the story, which has been building momentum nicely from its atmospheric beginning, gets unceremoniously cut in half.
Below is the final strip page. If you look closely at the penultimate panel you’ll see a metal portcullis and this is what Reekon is controlling with that lever. This could be easily missed so its effectiveness as a cliffhanger is debatable. From memory of the annual, showing the next panel or two at the top of the next page would’ve been much better, with maybe a ‘Next Issue’ box filling out the rest of the page.
The overriding feeling I get from this issue is how these are already well developed characters, grounded in a magical kind of reality, their reactions and relationships with each other feeling very real. All-in-all a well thought out world full of possibilities for future storytelling and all before we’ve even concluded the origin tale. It’s great fun reading something so full of far-fetched magical elements, action and adventure, yet with such believable characters at its centre.
This gives real meat to the bones of the story and something to care about and draw you in. By the end the lack of anything other than the strip itself isn’t an issue anymore, the story having been very satisfying in its own right. It certainly wouldn’t be the last Marvel UK comic to go this route either. Slimer, Alf, Inspector Gadget and others simply repackaged their American comics on larger paper with a new editorial and maybe a letters page.
Speaking of other Marvel comics.
Apart from the cover and editorial, the only non-strip pages are a toy advert (which you can see in this previous post) and two promotional pages for other comics which I’ve included above, because why not? The Real Ghostbustershad just launched this same month and Thundercats was celebrating its first birthday by this stage. The ‘Cats had also been launched as a bi-monthly in the States by Star Comics, proving popular enough to warrant going monthly from #8 onwards that side of the pond.
Despite knowing in advance a series won’t last long when I’m covering it for the blog, I won’t let that take anything away of the enjoyment of reading them in real time. I’ve certainly loved reading this one. A whole month feels like an agonisingly long time right now though. But I shall follow my own rules and wait.
Issue two shall be read and reviewed on Wednesday 21st April2021. Join me then, won’t you?
With this page young eyes across the UK were exposed to the insanely talented Malcolm Douglas for the first time in OiNK’s Preview Issue. To anyone unfamiliar with the name you may remember him as ‘J.T. Dogg’, the genius illustrator behind Street-Hogs, Ham Dare: Pig of the Future and the OiNK Superstar Posters.
Pig pals will have fond memories of his big, bold and gorgeously colourful double-page spreads leaping out at them every fortnight. Within the pages of those early issues Dogg’s work included the original 11-part Street-Hogs story, written by Mark Rodgers, as well as a series of suitably piggy spoof Superstar Posters of Bacon Stevens, Sty Wars, The P-Team, Hambo, Frankenswine and Peter Swillton, as well as Draculard later in the run. His work was undoubtably displayed on many a bedroom wall across the UK.
Malcolm originally became an illustrator when he volunteered to draw for a newspaper run by the Sheffield University student union. Discovering he could be paid for his work he developed his style and was published in a wide variety of comics, which after OiNK included Brain Damage and Zit, two titles heavily influenced by the one he’d been such a huge part of.
He also regularly contributed Fred the Red for Manchester United’s match programmes, but his best known work remains all of those beautiful pages found inside OiNK. The conclusion to the first Street-Hogs adventure called for a suitably epic wraparound cover poster, complete with a standout OiNK logo as seen below.
When I started collecting OiNK with #14 the ‘Next Issue’ section had a small monochrome drawing of a character called Ham Dare: Pig of the Future, a new multi-part story written by Lew Stringer and brought to life by Malcolm. Knowing of Dan Dare from friends’ comics I was looking forward to seeing a joke version of the character. It would be my first encounter with Malcom’s work. I knew it was going to be funny, I didn’t expect it to be so lush!
Malcolm didn’t receive any professional art training and his skills weren’t limited to drawing either. He was a musical performer and played the mandolin and fiddle among other instruments, performing with various bands he was a regular face around the Sheffield music scene. His knowledge of folk music was encyclopaedic and he contributed to two books about the subject, with a third being revised before his death.
Malcolm sadly died of cancer on 22nd March 2009 and it is on this date that we remember his stunning OiNK work.
During the two-and-a-half-year run of the comic J.T. Dogg brought us three lengthy Street-Hogs strips, a Ham Dare serial, plus more from the Pig of the Future in both OiNK Books and a Holiday Special after the comic was cancelled, and of course let’s not forget those six magnificent Superstar Posters. He even drew Harry the Head in one issue.
OiNK came to its conclusion in October 1988 and while the second annual was already on sale most of us wouldn’t receive it until that Christmas, a couple of months after we’d said goodbye to our favourite comic pals. J.T. Dogg returned with this glorious cover to the 1989 book, a fitting end to the run and a fitting tribute to a man whose talents were second-to-none.
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