All posts by Phil Boyce

Retrospectives, The Real Ghostbusters

WHO YA GONNA CALL? MARVEL UK!

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It was Boxing Day 1987 at 7:30pm and I was settled in my bedroom watching a movie premiere on my brand new Pye 12″ TV. A few months previous I’d rented a video of a cartoon series called Filmation’s Ghostbusters and enjoyed it, but the shop only had one volume. Then I found out a new ghost busting cartoon was to begin in January and the film that inspired it was being shown at Christmas. Some friends were big fans of the movie and were understandably confused when I asked them if it had the flying car and gorilla in it!

Now knowing this movie had nothing to do with the Filmation show, I curiously began watching. Curiosity soon gave way to thrills and plenty of laughter. I quickly forgot all about the previous cartoon (based on a 70s live-action show) and on Tuesday 11th January at 4:20pm the first UK episode of The Real Ghostbusters (actually episode eight of season two) aired on CiTV and I was immediately hooked.

Above is the original four-minute promotional short used to sell the concept of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon. Fans will notice some differences between this and what they’re used to, as changes would be made before it went into production.

During Cilla Black’s Surprise, Surprise my enjoyment was taken a step further

Who could ever forget that famous intro song? The series still sits up there as a quality cartoon with top writing thanks in no small part to co-creator/script editor J.Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5, Sense 8, Changeling). However, during Cilla Black’s Surprise, Surprise a month later my enjoyment of the franchise was taken a step further.

A young artist and comics fan by the name of Christopher McRoberts had been surprised by Bob Carolgees (and Spit the Dog) and taken to the headquarters of Marvel UK and put to work contributing a page to one of their comics. When it was announced this would be for an as-yet-unreleased comic based on my new favourite cartoon I immediately started recording the show. Well, once the VHS tape got up to speed anyway.

I have a distinct memory of playing that section back and pausing it at the exact moment Cilla or Bob held up the premiere issue of The Real Ghostbusters so I could try to see the date. All I could make out on the fuzzy pause screen was “March” and it had been mentioned it was going to be fortnightly. Knowing how Marvel UK dated their comics with that of the next issue’s release (kind of like an expiry date) I patiently waited. When I say that I obviously mean very impatiently, running to the newsagents each Saturday to see if it was out yet.

The morning of 12th March 1988 is so clear in my mind to this day. It was the last Saturday the new comic could be released for its cover date to include the month of March. My dad left for the newsagent and I sat by the window in our upstairs living room waiting for him to return. When I saw him walking up the lane I was filled with excitement but he returned with no comic. The newsagent had told him it wasn’t there and they had just one box left to open so in all likelihood it was late.

Crestfallen, I put all my hopes into that final box. I mean, a first issue can’t be late! I was told to wait until the afternoon but after only one hour I ran to the shop myself. I didn’t even stop to find it on the shelves and instead went straight to the counter to ask if it had arrived. It had, and they’d kindly put a copy aside for me. I immediately asked for a regular order before I even left and I ran home as quickly as my feet could take me and jumped up onto the sofa to read it.

This Friday marks the 33rd anniversary of that very day and the premiere issue of one of Marvel UK’s most successful comics. I’ve read a few of the annuals in recent years for the old blog site but now I’ve been able to get hold of a copy of #1 and I’m going to give it the full OiNK Blog real time read through this Friday. I may not have any more issues to follow it up with but it’s still going to be fun to relive this one.

Oh, the memories this cover brings back! Back in 1988 I was really enjoying the cartoon every week but it was the comic that cemented me as a super fan. Years of comics, books (I’d highly recommend the annuals if you want to dip your toes in and try out the comic), toys, records, videos and more were to follow and, more importantly, some very happy memories were made.

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: SPECKY HECTOR

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If you’re not already following Lew Stringer‘s blog then let this be your official instruction to do so. Not only will you be kept up to date on his latest work in titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Beano, The Dandy Annuals and Rebellion‘s Cor!! Buster Specials, followers also get a look into his extensive back catalogue, glimpses into how some fondly remembered creations came to be and, in the case of OiNK and Buster character Specky Hector, a look at what they’re are up to these days.

Specky first appeared in #20 of OiNK and again in #25, even popping up in Buster after they merged. Well, fast forward a couple of decades to the present day and Lew has shown us how Specky is doing. I’m very happy to see he hasn’t changed one bit.

Drawn as an A4 piece to help raise money for the War Child charity via an auction run by Enniskillen Comic Fest organiser Paul Trimble, it shows everyone’s favourite comics collector is still very happily doing what he does best. In the end this one drawing raised £105 for the charity which is great news too.

Fans of Hector’s may like to know he also made an appearance in Rebellion’s new Battle (of Britain) Special in 2020 where Lew brought back one of his classic strips in a new colourised form, in case you’d like to hunt that down on eBay.

Thanks to Lew for his kind permission to share this image here on the OiNK Blog.

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Obituaries

REMEMBERiNG ANDY ROPER

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This month the very sad news reached me of the passing of OiNK cartoonist Andy Roper. Andy’s intricately detailed strips were always a highlight of any issue he was involved with. While he only contributed a handful of different stories they’re fondly remembered to this day, a testament to his unique art style.

He first appeared in the pages of #11 with Scruff of the Track, written by OiNK co-creator/co-editor Mark Rodgers who is also sadly no longer with us. On the surface it’s drawn in a style that wouldn’t have looked out of place in action adventure comics of the day, at least until you start reading it that is. Upon closer inspection it’s so jam-packed with background detail and visual gags that it pays to take your time and relish every single panel.

Over the course of OiNK’s run Andy’s artwork graced the cover twice, his second being a brilliant parody of King Kong for #31. For me personally, having only collected the comic since #14 the first time I saw his art was when I picked up #22. It was wrapped up in a fittingly spectacular wraparound cover poster to mark part one of a special two-part story called The Spectacles of Doom.

Prince Endor and his amazing eyewear returned two more times, for a much longer story in the regular comic and then in the second (and final) annual, The Oink! Book 1989. While Scruff of the Track was gorgeous to look at in its own right, when Andy applied colour the result was nothing short of amazing. Just take a look at this double page spread from the aforementioned annual to see what I mean.

Just like the late, great J.T. Dogg, Andy may not have appeared in every issue but when he did he made a huge impact on the readers, there’s no doubt about that. Given the intricacy of his work these epic strips must’ve taken a long time to complete, so I doubt he ever stopped working between their appearances.

The fact my memory, which isn’t great at the best of times, has held on to Andy’s pages for decades shows how much of a highlight of OiNK they were for me. I hope this little website can do its part in holding on to the memory of his stunning creations for future readers.

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Last summer the editor of the previously cancelled Comic Scene magazine contacted me about contributing to a new project he was putting together. Comic Scene: History of Comics is a new, ambitious partwork magazine series which aims to eventually cover 100 years of worldwide comics history. Hence its name, really. Each 60-page magazine is dedicated to one particular year and the 1986 volume has a certain title mentioned right on its front cover.

I was thrilled to be given the chance to write about my favourite comic in an actual printed publication. But pretty much as soon as I agreed I realised the scale of the task ahead. OiNK had a huge range of content over its two-and-a-half year run, from a vast selection of regular and semi-regular characters to one-offs and spoofs that changed from issue-to-issue. The behind-the-scenes shenanigans were just as fascinating too. How was I going to sum this all up within the tight word limit?

I hadn’t made an essay plan since my college days but that was the route I took and even then I went way, way over the word count. It was hard but ultimately highly satisfying to edit my own work to someone else’s specifications, while making sure it flowed properly and retained the casual chatty style I seem to have developed through years of writing for the previous blog. (Readers seem to enjoy it, so why break a habit?)

While I knew people who had enjoyed OiNK as a child (or even more recently) could be among those reading, the main aim of this magazine series is to introduce a vast array of classic and modern comics to those unfamiliar with them and so that was my goal. In doing so, I wanted to include lots of information about the comic’s creation, its life and evolution, as well as examples of the cheeky humour.

So OiNK’s creation, it’s unique team of contributors, its characters, strips and its place in comics history are all covered in just a few pages and I’m really pleased with the final result. Past articles I’ve read always seemed to focus on it being top-shelved in WHSmith or the fact it had some rude jokes. But I wanted to write a proper overview of the whole shebang. I even made sure to put to rest a few myths about the comic too (only to have one resurface in the magazine’s editorial, unfortunately).

It was great fun writing this piece and it’s available now to buy. At the time of writing four volumes have been released (1950, 1977, 1984 and 1986) and I also contributed some images for another author’s article on Transformers from Marvel UK. To purchase any of these just head to the magazine’s online shop (maybe not, see update below) where print and digital versions are available individually and in bundles, or as part of a comics club with a monthly membership fee.

UPDATE: Well it appears History of Comics was too ambitious because after only a couple of sets this was cancelled also, and replaced by a newsletter. Oh dear. It has also disappeared from the online shop, leaving behind a range of dead links and 404 Page Not Found errors.

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