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THE TOM PATERSON COLLECTiON: A BONKERS BOOK!

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The name Tom Paterson is synonymous with British humour comics, his madcap style appearing in an eclectic array of titles such as Beano, Shiver and Shake, Buster and many more. The most famous characters he has drawn include the fondly remembered Sweeney Toddler, Calamity James, Bananaman and Buster himself. There’s one other that will most likely have been forgotten by many though, namely The Wet Blanket.

By the time I started collecting OiNK I’d missed this strip but I’d already been introduced to Tom’s work. While I’d found my brother’s Beano wasn’t really to my taste at the time (I was the perfect target audience for OiNK), there was one strip which most definitely was. I remember pouring over all of the funny background details in Calamity James, the incidental randomness in the visual gags often being funnier than the story itself. This was the genius of Tom’s style and now here’s The Tom Paterson Collection, a hardback collection full of his work available from Rebellion and their Treasury of British Comics range.

This is just one of several chapter title pages showing which comics the following strips were pulled from and as you can see our favourite comic is represented here too. In fact, upon its release this book was the first time OiNK reprints had been made available for purchase ever since its final special in 1990. Included here are two double-page spreads from early issues, Testing Time and The Wet Blanket himself, who even makes an appearance on that fantastic cover drawn by Tom.

A kind of super villain, Wet Blanket was a “miserable so-and-so” whose sole job was to ruin everyone else’s fun. He would’ve made for a brilliant regular character but alas that wasn’t to be and this was his sole appearance. This makes it all the more surprising that he’d appear on the front cover but I think he deserves a place there, the strip is that good! Clearly Tom still has a soft spot for him after all these years.

OiNK co-creator Patrick Gallagher told me they would’ve loved to have had Tom on board as a regular but his work load was just too large to accommodate them. With spreads such as Testing Time above, taken from #1 of OiNK it’s such a shame he couldn’t have let his imagination run wild on a regular basis for Uncle Pigg. So the question is, with only four pages from OiNK in here, will this 200-page book appeal to pig pals? The answer is a resounding yes!

On one of the opening pages is the list of writers including Tom, Mark Bennington whose Buster strips I’ve covered before on the blog and most excitedly regular OiNK contributor Graham Exton and OiNK co-creator/co-editor Mark Rodgers. With these names you know you’re in for a treat. The comics featured alongside OiNK are Buster, School Fun, Nipper, Jackpot, Shiver & Shake, Whizzer and Chips, Whoopee, Wow! and Cor!, as well as some of Tom’s own personal strips and unpublished works.

Also included are little pieces by professional fans of Tom’s including Lew Stringer and Graham and friend of the blog Jamie Smart (Bunny Vs Monkey, Looshkin, Wubble) who has always said OiNK was a big inspiration to him, as was Tom.

Picking out highlights for this review was never going to be easy!

A strip riffing on James Bond and featuring a comical shark was always going to be put to the top of the list for me, as was this Captain Crucial strip, a character I’d never heard of before. That “The Craziest Characters Are Always in Buster Comic” banner along the top is proving true here and it’s used several times for different strips, namely Lucy Lastic, Sportsfright, Thingummy-blob, Coronation Stream, Monty’s Mutant Mutt, Teenage Mutant Turnips and more.

My favourite Buster strips in this book are dated around 1989 onwards and they’re enough to make me regret not placing a regular order when OiNK merged into the comic. If only I’d stuck with it after that first and only issue I bought back in 1988 I’d have been treated to a bloody funny comic if these strips by Tom are anything to go by. Oh well, that just makes this book all the better as I’m getting a snapshot of the very best from that comic in one volume.

Just one look at the contents page will back that up. As well as those already mentioned there’s Crowjack, Felix the Pussycat, Grimly Fiendish, School Belle, Watford Gapp who is another new one to me as well as being a brilliantly funny rapping strip, and many more including a favourite of mine from the days of the Big Comic Books, Strange Hill. I found the Ghost Train here particularly funny and there’s that old staple which I think Tom and Lew drew better than anyone: the slap-up feed! Classic.

It wouldn’t be a Tom Paterson book without a certain little baby boy causing all manner of hell for his poor parents, so I’m very happy to say there’s a sizeable chunk of Sweeny Toddler here. Including content from both Whoopee and Whizzer & Chips, a total of 30 pages are given over to the miniature terror and every single one of them is a classic. Of course, if you know me you’ll know I’m a sucker for a Christmas comic so naturally I was overjoyed to see this full-page panel when I turned a page.

I also laughed out loud (genuinely) when I saw a certain trademark of Tom’s used as a substitute for a Christmas stocking. In fact, I wonder just how many smelly socks there are in this book? These 30 pages of Sweeny Toddler are worth the price of admission alone. Reading them now I’m beginning to think the same could’ve been said of those other 80s comics too. Even though OiNK was the only one that seemed to speak to my sense of humour, these strips by Tom were all hidden gems to me, and I’d happily have spent more of my pocket money on some of those comics at the time if I’d known just how good his contributions were.

Of course Rebellion would include this classic spoof Judge Dredd cover and strip and that wasn’t the only time Sweeny took on a different persona for a good ol’ parody. However, changing the entire cover Whoopee logo included for that 2000AD riff was inspired! I said it was difficult to pick highlights but that’s definitely one of them and there are 200 pages of that sort of thing in total. UPDATE: Check out the comment OiNK writer Graham Exton left on this post for a little more info on this piece of comics history!

The book is £14.99 and worth every single penny. In fact, it feels like a bargain to me at that price. There’s also an exclusive cover based on that Whoppee one when purchased through the Treasury of British Comics online shop. Not since The OiNK! Book 1988 have I enjoyed, and laughed as hard with, a humour comics book this much and since that OiNK tome remains my very favourite to this day, I hope that shows how much high regard I have for The Tom Paterson Collection.

Available pretty much everywhere, this would make a fantastic Christmas present for any humour comics fan, pig pals included.

To see one more mini-strip by Tom from that aforementioned OiNK! Book 1988 you can check out its review.

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CHRiSTMAS 2023

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NOUNS: A DAViD LEACH EXPERiMENT

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I need to explain the premise of this comic’s existence before the review, so bear with me. Okay, so Web3 is a new-fangled idea for the next version of the internet which is meant to de-centralise the whole thing away from the small group of companies some feel have too much control over it. Web3 is based around things you may have heard about such as blockchains and token-based currencies and NFTs. (If you’re having to search for meanings for these terms I sympathise.)

It has its sceptics who believe it would simply take control away from one group of people and place it in the hands of another and that without regulation a whole heap of trouble could be the result (but Elon Musk hates it so it has that going for it). The push continues and many are behind the idea. I personally have no opinion because I’m lost already and I’m the one writing this introduction! Anyway, this is where the ‘Nouns’ come in.

You know that whole NFT craze that seems to have died a death? That’s what these are. Every day (apparently forever) a new Noun character will be created and sold at auction. Despite that character being bought by someone it remains devoid of ownership rights and anyone can use that character in any way they see fit. Seems counterproductive but apparently if they’re popping up everywhere then that’ll increase their worth to the person who owns them. Clear? Nope? Thought so, but this is where we find ourselves.

Whether this reverses the downward trend to obscurity that NFTs seem to be on is anyone’s guess but we’re here to read this premiere issue of a new comic based on the idea. Why? Because it’s been written by OiNK’s very own David Leach of Psycho Gran and Dudley DJ fame. In a nutshell, apparently public domain brands are going to “change the game”, the plan being that creators could then concentrate on the quality of what they produce and smaller creatives could share this space. So as a starting point does the Nouns comic work?

The story concentrates on a group of Nouns (basically human bodies with a wide range of completely random heads, anything from an onion to an old boot) making a pilgrimage to Nountown, where all of their kind came from, to meet their creator. It’s all quite overwhelming to begin with; it feels like all the characters are trying to talk at once in a sort of random, unfiltered fashion, perhaps like that used online by people who would have these as their avatars.

Over the first few pages it has a feeling of promoting these NFTs rather than telling a good story or developing characters, but thankfully this seems to be by design. It gives us a sense of their chaotic nature and the world in which they inhabit. In the second half of the comic it settles a bit, we get a decent (and funny) plot and two or three of these strange creatures come to the fore to become genuinely identifiable and likeable. 

It’s all drawn endearingly by illustrator Danny Schlitz, David handles the lettering too and colours are by Braga. It looks like a fun, innocent little children’s comic and for the most part it is. There’s some nudge-nudge, wink-wink bits of non-explicit adult humour that teenage readers will get a kick out of and which I found genuinely funny, but for the most part it’s child-friendly. Different audiences will get different things out of it, basically.

Pay attention and there are some genuinely hilarious callbacks to earlier scenes and dialogue towards the end of this first chapter. Once the plot itself gets going it’s fun and topical too. I won’t ruin it for you because it’s a nice surprise and the best part of the comic, so I wouldn’t want to take that away from the experience for any potential readers. I’ll just say it’s bang up to date and involves climate change, fast food and veganism in a clever way that’ll have you laughing.

The narrative captions in particular have many of the best lines. It’s a shame then that a few spelling and grammatical errors seem to have slipped through. These give it a sense of maybe being somewhat rushed to get it out into the market (while the market these are based on is crashing). I may be wrong of course, but it’s just the feeling I get. David’s name is also spelled wrong on the credits page so it may have been more to do with the editing rather than our lettering friend. These few errors (and it’s only a few) don’t take away from the fun to be had though.

At the end of the comic are adverts for various other projects based on Web3 and Nouns and they all went over my head but then again I’m not the target audience for such things. Speaking of which, this comic does have a very specific target audience, basically those clued into everything it’s based upon. I am very much not one of those people, so the fact I genuinely found this to be such a good laugh should say a lot.

I can see what the comic is attempting and it’s an audacious idea. Based on its originality alone it deserves some success. With David at the helm it has a good chance. As a fan of his OiNK work there are moments here that harken back to the best of his Psycho Gran strips and that same sense of dark, chaotic humour. It’s not often a truly experimental comic comes along and as pig pals I’m sure we can all appreciate that.

Nouns is a mini-series from Titan Comics and is available from all good comic book stores.

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MONOLiTH: AN ACE ODYSSEY

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Hot on the heels of Lew Stringer’s Fanzine Funnies which reprinted the misadventures of The Prisoner’s large white ball, including his attempts to get another acting job after the cult television series ended, comes fellow OiNK cartoonist and Psycho Gran creator David Leach’s Monolith. Based upon the flat matte slab and key mysterious element at the centre of the plot to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, just like the Monolith itself this is a comic of few words. Or rather, no words for the most part.

While it only appeared in two films (Stanley Kubrick’s original and 2010: The Year We Make Contact) it appears their lack of a long and satisfying Hollywood career wasn’t for the lack of trying. Each of David’s three A5-size comics features 25 full-page movie poster-like illustrations of the Monolith in key leading roles from some of the most successful and memorable films in cinematic history. Naturally I’ll start with my favourite movie of all time.

While I half expected the Monolith to be in place of the shark, with perhaps a corner poking out of the water, the point here is that they’ve auditioned for lead human roles in all of these films, in this case the character of Quint from Jaws who was just perfectly played by Robert Shaw. Another Steven Spielberg movie favourite of mine is also a highlight from this first issue, as is a certain slice of 80s cinema magic starring the hugely missed Prince.

As you can see there are no captions or movie titles on any of these and part of the fun is the surprise when you see an image and realise it’s one of your favourite films. There were a couple here and there throughout the three issues that took me a few seconds to work out which film they were simply because I wasn’t that familiar with the original promotional image, but needless to say you should know them all, or at least the vast majority.

The middle issue starts off strong with a Free Willy piece, the best page in the whole issue for me. I just found it so funny to see this great lumbering rectangle replace the natural, elegant imagery of an orca. (That’ll be one hell of a belly flop.) So maybe he could’ve been Jaws’ shark after all. The Monolith’s impression of a Dalek somehow captures the cheap and thrown-together feel of those 60s serials, and for me David’s take on The Exorcist poster is infinitely better than the movie was.

At the rear of each issue are the answers to which movies have been pastiched and the Monolith explains why he didn’t get each and every part. For a movie prop they’ve certainly been subjected to an awful lot of allergies in their professional career. Thankfully that didn’t stop them from enjoying a full and fulfilling life if #3 is anything to go by. After a handful of new movie posters the rest of the final issue is made up of photos from the Monolith’s personal albums, beginning with that fateful audition day.

As well as having the obligatory James Bond movie poster this issue has images of all the key moments from an average person’s life. Such events as their first bike, first school play, Hallowe’ens and Christmases and even graduation are all given a new, and very funny, makeover thanks to David’s imagination.

This is just a small selection of the 75 illustrations David has completed for Monolith. Everything from Alien to Singing in the Rain, from Citizen Kane to Dirty Dancing is included. But you don’t have to take my word for how enjoyable this mini-series is, also included is a page of praise from some of those given an early look at the comics including a couple of notable OiNK alumni, namely co-creator Tony Husband and cartoonist Davey Jones.

Comedian Rob Deering gets the best quote, though: “Thanks – I’ll have a look and get back to you.”

This irreverence kind of sums up David’s work better than anything. If you were a fan of his OiNK contributions then I can’t recommend these highly enough. At £5 per issue you can get yours from Dead Universe Comics in Aylesbury by contacting them on 07852 836307.

Go on, treat yourself, or since the festive season is just around the corner throw a Christmas hint at a loved one!

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FANZiNE FUNNiES: GOiNG ROGUE

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It’s been a while since fan favourite OiNK cartoonist Lew Stringer released one of his excellent collections. At the time of writing the only one reviewed so far on the OiNK Blog since I relaunched this site in 2021 is Derek the Troll (definitely check that out). Beginning next year in a new series of posts I’ll be getting caught up with a myriad of releases from Lew and many other OiNK contributors, something I’m particularly looking forward to.

For now, back to Lew’s Fanzine Funnies. Between 1991 and 2006 Lew created a series of daft comic strips for Camera Obscura, a fanzine for a small branch of Two and Six, a fan society for the classic 60s TV show The Prisoner. Originally based around the eponymous white sphere from the series and later focussing on a fictional obsessed fan, in the opening editorial Lew hopes readers will still find them amusing even if they’re not familiar with the subject matter. Having finished this collection I can assure you this is most definitely the case.

The Prisoner may have only had 17 episodes but a devoted fanbase grew up around it and Patrick McGoohan’s Number Six character. It may also have been broadcast ten years before I was born but its signature phrase, “I am not a number! I am a free man!” was still being used in everything from comedy sketches to television commercials, as was Rover the huge white ball-like creature (apologies if that’s an erroneous description, I’ve never seen it and am writing from memory) who is first up in these strips.

Taking one of these ‘Rover’ sentries and redefining him as an out-of-work actor after the series ended is a genius idea and opened up a myriad of possibilities. These include ludicrous auditions for new roles, a rabid fan following for what is essentially a giant balloon, time travelling to 1992 to escape these people only to appear at a reunion for the fan society and getting his own Saturday morning cartoon show, Hanna-Barbera style.

Lew even ties The Prisoner in with his own ‘Lewniverse’ of characters in a way. Rover has an agent, and that agent’s name is Roy L.T. Check, who may be familiar to fans of Combat Colin from the pages of Transformers. Alongside all of this daftness are a range of special additions like a Prisoner clothing line, a Doctor Who page and even that old Lew staple, a board game.

“Coathangers are featured for precisely 8.57 seconds in the opening minutes. That’s almost 9 seconds… 6 upside down!”

Alistair Sadgitt

The fans in the society even have a bit of fun poked at them. For example, in the future they hold their meetings on the moon (because Portmeirion in Wales where the show was filmed has been moved there to protect it from pollution) and Rover is bluntly honest when he tells them what he really thought about the show. It’s all in good jest and shows the fans could have a giggle at themselves and not take things too seriously.

However, I’m sure we all know from our own personal acquaintances over the years or from social media those fans that do take things far too seriously; the intense fanboys that like to try and lord it over the rest of us and who are simply best ignored. The second half of this collection focuses on Lew’s version of one of these people and he’d give any of them a run for their money. Meet Alistair Sadgitt (sad git).

While there are plenty of Alistair strips I think this page perfectly sums up the character. The show ended with so many open-ended questions that fan theories and discussions have continued ever since, often picking out supposed clues and running themes from the episodes to try and explain the unsolved mysteries. However, as you can see Alistair takes this to the nth degree.

Complete with his Number Six-like jacket (not actually tailored, it has masking tape for its trimmings) his overly-obsessive ways are the funniest aspect of this collection. I may not be familiar with The Prisoner but I certainly am with the type of person Lew is taking the hand out of here. On a related note, it’s mentioned that he’s 42-years-old. I’m 45 at the time of writing! Either Alistair’s ways have aged him or I’m a lot older than I feel!

Towards the rear of the comic are a selection of strips and images taken from other publications or created for fan events, my favourite being one in which the main character of the show is retooled as a traditional humour comics character, called Number Six and his Unmutual Tricks! As a fan of OiNK, which turned traditional comics on their heads, this reads like as much of a spoof of those comics as it does The Prisoner.

Any fan of Lew’s (or indeed funny comics in general) should find plenty to enjoy here, and plenty to laugh along with. However, for fans of The Prisoner it’s an essential purchase. Presented in landscape format with 32 pages in total, all printed on top quality paper stock and a card cover it’s a high quality piece of self-publishing, just like all of Lew’s other collections. All of this for only £5 plus postage? Bargain.

To order your own copy just head on over to Lew’s eBay seller’s shop where you can also sometimes find original art and more for sale. Lew accepts all forms of payment and not just PayPal either. At the time of writing, Fanzine Funnies had only been released a couple of weeks ago and is already on its second printing. You could definitely do worse than bookmarking Lew’s eBay page and keeping a regular eye on it to see what else pops up, he sometimes reprints some of his sold out comics further down the line, and don’t forget his personal blog where new comics are obviously announced first.

“He’s not a number, he’s a free weather balloon.”

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COLD WAR FRANK: MAY DAY POSTCARD

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A good few years back a Twitter account grabbed my attention and that of many who were worried about where the world was headed, what with 2016 being the year of Brexit and Trump. Christopher Spencer, who goes by the name Cold War Steve online, is an award-winning Birmingham artist who uses his iPhone and iPad to create collages depicting politicians, celebrities and royalty in satirical pieces that helped lighten the mood for many across the country in what they felt were dark times. (Many of his pieces featured EastEnders actor Steve McFadden in character as Phil Mitchell looking on in disgust.)

To mark our extra Bank Holiday for the Coronation, Steve has created a huge piece of art for display in London and made it available for purchase as a large foldable postcard. The outer parts highlight the kind of work he is known for, with a savagely funny portrayal of those in power in the UK. However, in the middle is a positive look at the best this part of the world has produced. Right at the front of this celebratory section, arms raised and leading the pack, is none other than Frank Sidebottom!

Taken from his own website, Steve describes his latest artwork as follows:

“The exclusive triptych artwork was put together over the last few weeks as Chris took himself off Twitter and back off booze. It marks the Coronation of King Charles III and our national obsession with being ruled over by dubious individuals and their weird families and the total crisis in leadership of our absolutely pathetic and self serving establishment political class. But it is mainly a celebration of what we should really be reminding ourselves about our country, the true collective creativity, beauty in diversity and fundamental goodness that makes Great Britain really actually pretty great.”

That last sentence in particular sounds very OiNK-like.

This huge display is free to view day and night in East London and you can check out Steve’s website for directions if you’re in that part of the country and wish to pop by. If not, you can always purchase the large postcard version. I say postcard, the main image in the middle is about the size of an A4 piece of paper so it’s just a bit bigger than your average Blackpool ‘card.

“The must-have free-standing affordable art-piece for this year’s celebration of the King and Queen finally getting their proper crowns and all the inherited land they stole from the people centuries ago. We’re fantastically excited to see them in their gold carriage, I think it’s going to cheer everyone right up.”

It’s available for £15 including postage and £5 of this will go to CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), a charity that’s taking a stand against suicide. As their website explains, “This means standing against feeling hopeless, standing up to stereotypes and standing together to show life is always worth living.” Especially in these difficult times it’s a great cause and you can help.

I believe this is something Frank would’ve been completely behind.

You can visit Cold War Steve‘s website to check out this piece, the man behind it, see his full archives and visit his shop. He’s also on Twitter and Instagram and is prolific. So, follow him and you’ll know that when the news is getting you down you won’t have long to wait before Steve shares something to cheer you up and, most importantly, show you that you’re not alone.

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