Category Archives: OiNK Media Coverage

OiNK Media Coverage, OiNK Merchandise

CRASH #42: A SPECTRUM OF PiGGY PiNK

Leave a comment

In 1987 “The Mag That Saves Your Bacon”, Sinclair ZX Spectrum computing magazine Crash (which ran for 98 issues between 1984 and 1992) approached IPC Magazines about interviewing the OiNK editors regarding the comic for a special preview of the forthcoming computer game. During these conversations the idea of producing a special edition of the comic to give away inside Crash came up. Co-creator/co-editor Patrick Gallagher told me the magazine’s publishers Newsfield were receptive to the idea, very open-minded about what it could contain and paid the OiNK team to produce it. That issue of Crash went on sale today 35 years ago.

So, with a special feature and an extra edition of my favourite comic of all time I just had to track this down on eBay. This is the only issue of Crash I’ve ever read. I found myself reading more than just the OiNK related pages too and have included some highlights I found particularly interesting below. First up though is the interview and a special page from Frank Sidebottom. The comic itself I’ll keep for a review post of its own, which you’ll be able to read in a few days. So what exactly would an issue of Crash involve? Here’s the contents page, with a little guest appearance from a certain explosive personality.

What it means by “it’s not really page 59″ is the fact the free comic was in the centre of the issue so if you opened at page 59 it would plop out. The title of the interview is another reference to George Orwell‘s Animal Farm, which OiNK parodied in #30, on sale at the same time coincidentally enough. In the editorial Roger Kean kicks things off by pointing out the free comic and the article, noting this is the first time they’ve ever teamed up with another publication.

Graeme Kidd‘s article is longer and more in-depth than the one featured in Zzap!64 the month before. While the Zzap preview had told the origin story of OiNK, Crash spoke with Tony Husband directly and there’s some wonderful pieces of information for pig pals. Zzap mentioned the initial idea had been for a fanzine, here Tony is able to elaborate on the reasons behind that. The initial chance meeting in a local library between Patrick and Mark Rodgers (both working on Whizzer and Chips without knowing each other) is also mentioned, a tale I’ve heard before briefly but again there’s more detail here.

“It’s a success story the comic’s creators hardly dreamed of.”

Graeme Kidd, Four Legs Good

There are some little factoids for fans such as OiNK’s sales, the dummy issue being met with a divided opinion at IPC Magazines but ultimately championed by the people who would make the call (Youth Group Managing Director John Sanders and ‘John Painter’ is an error, that should be Bob Paynter Group Editor of Humour Comics), the original strategy in its creation and how the idea of putting together a small, weekly comic was changed to a larger, fortnightly one. Of course, that weekly format is the one OiNK would eventually turn into (much to the annoyance of some).

There’s a funny moment when we find out a certain comics publisher wasn’t too happy with OiNK spoofs of their characters (one example mentioned can be seen in #18‘s review) and a horrific episode for a young reader whose mum showed just how hypocritical those who think they’re morally superior to others can really be (like certain scaremongering tabloids). At the end there’s a very quick preview of the game which, after painting a fascinating picture of the comic, shows us probably the most uninspired screenshot possible.

To see the original Janice & John strip Tony mentions check out #7‘s review and for OiNK’s response to the complaint make sure to read #28‘s!

Over the page from this piggy pink spread we get a little something extra from Frank Sidebottom in the shape of a guide to computers, which is really a competition page with rather wonderful prizes. If I’d known Crash had a free issue of OiNK and the chance to win original artwork, t-shirts, mugs etc. I’d have been all over this as a child, even if I wouldn’t own my own computer for another four years.

I must add a little caveat here. This doesn’t look like Frank’s usual handwriting and it’s been signed “Topbottom”. I initially thought he’d been in a rush to complete it for Crash’s deadline and that was the reason for the change in style slightly, but some fans believed it wasn’t his work when I initially shared this post on social media. I checked with Patrick who can’t remember if that was the case, but he’s certain Chris (Sievey, the man behind the mask) wouldn’t have knowingly let anyone else do it, especially if it meant copying his OiNK work. So I’m going to say it was him.

Just wait and see Frank’s contribution to the OiNK pullout comic, it’s proof indeed of just how much he’d put into his work for kids.

So that’s OiNK’s contribution to the magazine itself and strangely enough I can’t find evidence of the all-important game review in any following issue. Does this not bode well for the quality of the finished product? No, even if the game had been absolute trash the magazines of the time would’ve reviewed it and given it an appropriate score. But from my extensive research into the rest of that year’s issues (and those from 1988 as well) it just wasn’t reviewed by Crash. However, Zzap!64 did so watch out for that soon.

The debut of the brand new 007,
Timothy Dalton!

Back to Crash and as I said the free comic will be getting its own review post (as well it should) but I wanted to highlight two particular features in the magazine that stood out for me personally in this delightfully retro read. I’m a big fan of both James Bond and Nintendo, so first up was news of not only the next Bond computer game but also the brand new movie it was based on, The Living Daylights and the debut of a brand new 007 which is always an exciting occasion.

That actor of course was Timothy Dalton, who is still my favourite in the role to this day. His second movie, Licence To Kill is not only the best Bond film in my opinion it’s also my second favourite movie of all time (behind only Jaws, in case you were wondering). Unfortunately, with MGM going bankrupt a year or so later the movies paused until the mid-90s and by that stage Dalton wanted to move on. But The Living Daylights is a superb film and here Curtis Hutchinson took a look at its stunt work. Special mention must also go to that gorgeous Oliver Frey cover above! That would’ve made for an excellent poster but alas it was only ever to be found in A4 size and covered with text.

There’s also an advertisement for the game, which like a lot of our gaming adverts back then didn’t include a single screenshot. The Spy Vs Spy game was also a favourite later on when I got my Commodore 64, based upon characters from Mad Magazine, itself one of the influences behind OiNK’s sense of humour and satirical edge.

I do love a good contemporary retro article about new releases in the things I’m interested in. It’s always fascinating to look back at how they were written about at the time. The next thing I want to show you is another such example. As a kid I remember friends getting so incredibly hyped over new Nintendo consoles but I only became a fan later down the road with the Game Boy and GameCube machines. These days I’m fanatical about my Nintendo Switch and so this was a very enjoyable read about “Mattel’s Nintendo”. Mattel helped Nintendo with distribution in the UK but it was wrongly labelled as their machine and simply called “a Nintendo” by many at the time.

What’s lovely and quaint here is how the ZX Spectrum range of computers are compared very favourably to the flashy new Japanese console by Crash’s whole team. Of course this is a Spectrum magazine and so it was always going to be that way. I remember later issues of Commodore Format in the mid-90s comparing the ageing machine (which I still adored and used even then) favourably against the latest gaming tech. Bless. This article in particular is like a snapshot of the industry at the time. Oh, and for those Nintendo fans reading, the news pages carried information on a price cut to the system already but it must’ve been too late to edit the article. The two bundles had been chopped down to £99.99 and £155.00, which was fierce competition for the home computers of the day!

This has been a surprisingly magical trip down memory lane, one I’ve enjoyed immensely. Don’t forget about that Zzap!64 preview of the game and a Retro Gamer article from 2021 has also featured on the blog, containing an interview with the man behind the game. But we’ve not quite finished with this edition of Crash, as the free comic is still here waiting to be seen by blog readers. I’d assume for many it’ll probably be the first time you’ll have seen it too. It’s blog review will be here in a few days. After that the Zzap!64 review of the OiNK computer game itself will reveal how good/bad it turned out, which you’ll be able to read from Saturday 9th July. Later in the year I’ll have some articles from my own teenage favourite, Commodore Format to share later with you too. Plenty to het stuck into then. Bye for now.

THE OiNK! COMPUTER GAME MENU

OiNK MERCHANDiSE MENU

MAiN OiNK MENU

OiNK Media Coverage, OiNK Merchandise

ZZAP! 64 #26: PiG PLAY PREViEW

Leave a comment

Back in 1991 I received one of the greatest Christmas gifts of all, a Commodore 64 home computer. I adored that machine and I adored the magazine I collected alongside it, namely Commodore Format. Through that computer I met a chap named Colin who would go on to be one of my closest friends. He was a long-time reader of Format’s rival, Zzap! 64 and we’d take plenty of well-meaning jabs at each other’s favourite magazine over the next few years. (Actually, this continues to this day.) For the blog I now find myself buying my first copy of Zzap.

In the summer of 1987 the OiNK computer game would be released on the three main 8-bit computer systems of the day, the Commodore 64, the Spectrum range and Amstrad CPCs. I must’ve seen the adverts for it in the comic but having no interest in computer games at that stage it slipped my mind by the time I was loading up cassettes and disks at the beginning of the next decade. Over these next few months on the blog I’ll be covering this unique piece of piggy merchandise, showing you previews, interviews, a review and more. It’ll even include a special issue of OiNK!

The first mention of the game came in issue 26 of Zzap! 64, released on this day 35 years ago. Inside the June 1987 issue the preview followed an interview with none other than Douglas Adams, which was a bit of a scoop! But I digress. The article contained a look at the origins of the comic itself and, unlike modern day press reference to OiNK, it’s an accurate depiction of those events (in other words there’s no mention of Viz). There are also some interesting nuggets of information for seasoned pig pals and a cameo by Marc Riley in his Snatcher Sam guise.

There’s a mention of the original idea for the comic being that of a fanzine, so unsure were Patrick Gallagher, Tony Husband and Mark Rodgers of whether a publisher would pick it up, which is new information to me. However, when the dummy issue was produced (a lot of which made its way into the preview issue) it went down a storm with IPC Magazines and our favourite publication was born. Also here is the first mention of the forthcoming OiNK record and a quick mention of the original flexidisc being played on a local radio station (we already knew John Peel played it on his BBC show).

Here’s the article in full, the opening paragraphs of which do beg the question of how many times can you mention Whizzer and Chips?

As OiNK fans who played the game will attest, the finished product had little-to-nothing to do with the individual characters it was meant to represent. There were some comic panels in it written by Tony Husband to try to bring a bit of the comic’s humour to the game, but that was really about it. As such, the general consensus seems to be that the game sucked because of its lack of OiNK content, but is this actually an unfair conclusion? You’ll find out in a couple of months when Zzap! 64 reviews it.

Already on the blog you can check out a Retro Gamer article featuring an interview with the game’s coder Jon Williams. There’s more to come, including a special issue of OiNK inside Crash magazine, which also had a special article and an extra page from none other than Frank Sidebottom, so look out for that on Saturday 25th June 2022. Then just a few weeks later I’ll show you the Zzap! 64 review of the game to see how it was received at the time, on Saturday 9th July. Later in the year I’ll tell you how I was finally able to play the game decades later when it was released under a completely different name, plus there’ll be a full guide to beating the game. These both relate to Commodore Format and in keeping with the real time nature of the blog I’ll be covering those issues on Thursday 13th October and Thursday 10th November.

THE OiNK! COMPUTER GAME MENU

OiNK MERCHANDiSE MENU

MAiN OiNK MENU

OiNK Media Coverage, OiNK Merchandise

RETRO GAMER: OLD PiG, NEW TRiCKS

Leave a comment

On the surface this magazine might seem a strange addition to the blog but there is method to my madness. A pig pal by the name of David Crookes has been able to score a chat with Jon Williams, the coder of the OiNK computer game released back in 1987. This was set to appear in #221 of Retro Gamer and I’ve now got my trotters on it. UPDATE: Over a year later, and with the magazine no longer available, this post has been updated with the complete OiNK article and a full break down of the mag’s contents.

The article itself is only two pages but does include some insider knowledge and screenshots for anyone not familiar with this particular piece of OiNK merchandise. Sadly, it begins with that well-trodden myth that OiNK was created as a children’s version of Viz, which is simply not true. OiNK was created in response to the tired humour of other comics, to create something for the kids of the 80s, with Mad Magazine influencing some of the potential ideas. That particular publication will pop back up again further down this post.

The piece also says that our three editors, Patrick Gallagher, Tony Husband and Mark Rodgers approached CRL to make a game for them but as we’ve learned in previews in contemporary magazines (Crash and Zzap!64) it was the other way around. I could be nitpicking here of course (also, the contributors were brought on to OiNK before it was given the go ahead so they could make a dummy issue) and the bulk of this article is actually quite interesting, focusing on a chat with the game’s creator, Jon Williams.

What’s clear from reading this is how Jon was completely unfamiliar with the comic, which is fair enough, those working on licenced games didn’t necessarily have to know the property. However, CRL providing a few photocopies isn’t a great amount of research and the ideas sound more like those for a generic game about comics rather than anything pertaining to a specific licence. It’s interesting to read how it all came to be but it does seem to back up the notion from pig pals that it was an OiNK game in name only.

It seems the game came first and the licence was an afterthought

A small budget was given to its creation so, music aside, it was fully coded by Jon which was not a rare occurrence for the time. (The ‘Ian’ mentioned is Ian Ellery of CRL, although his surname and position aren’t printed here.) When it came to designing the game it wasn’t a matter of researching OiNK’s characters and trying to create something original around them. Instead, rather disappointingly Jon wanted to make a Breakout clone and a copy of an earlier game of his and saw this as his opportunity, shoe-horning OiNK into them instead. Only the Rubbish Man mini-game in any way resembles the character, but all of the humour, stinky super powers and random villains are nowhere to be seen.

This feels like a wasted opportunity. OiNK had such an anarchic sense of humour, ripe for a crazy, original game like the Monty Python one released on the Commodore 64 just a few years later which took the best elements of that show and created something unique around them. But instead it seems the game came first and the licence was an afterthought. Again, this feeling when playing a licenced game wasn’t uncommon in the 80s and 90s.

However, Jon should be commended for creating a game (actually, three games in one) in such a short period of time and the interview really is rather interesting with details about the start-stop nature of its development, the rush to get it completed with that tiny budget and the shortcuts he had to take which inevitably had a impact on the finished product. I was surprised to read much more input from the comic’s team had apparently been promised at the outset, although this was unfortunately pared back when things fell behind schedule.

Some of the revelations here make me want to tear my hair out

As a former obsessive with the Commodore 64 I found the technical aspects mentioned alongside some of the design documents fascinating. The game was originally created for my old home computer with the conversions for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC computers handled by other people based on Jon’s code. This does beg the question why a Spectrum magazine was the one to give away a free OiNK comic (Crash) and not a C64 publication (like Zzap!64).

While some of the revelations here make me want to tear my hair out (we could’ve had a game more closely associated with the comic, there was little real research done, the programmer just wanted to create a specific game and used our licence to do so) it’s always interesting as an OiNK fan to find out more behind-the-scenes information about my favourite comic and any related merchandise.

By sheer coincidence the feature right before the OiNK article might also be of interest to readers of our piggy publication. It’s an in-depth look at the creation of the Spy Vs Spy games based on a hit comic strip from Mad Magazine, which as I said earlier was one of the influences cited by the creators of OiNK. I have very fond memories of playing all three of these games in the early 90s with my friend and only many years later finding out it was based on a comic.

Elsewhere there’s one more little link to OiNK hidden away in a great interview with Violet Berlin, who I used to watch on Bad Influence on UTV and Gamepad on Bravo. Yes, that’s our very own Frank Sidebottom aka Chris Sievey popping up on one of Violet’s earliest shows! If you’d like to read any of these extra features, or maybe you’re just an OiNK completist like me, you can contact Future Publishing for Retro Gamer #221 via the Future shop, although you’re more likely to find it on eBay.

Towards the back of the issue is a list of all the main games covered and the average prices they can go for if you’re interested in picking up the OiNK game on the C64, the ZX Spectrum or Amstrad CPC machines, if you happen to own one. There’s more on the OiNK computer game elsewhere on the blog, including the previews from Crash and Zzap!64, that special edition of OiNK, Zzap!’s review of the game, Your Sinclair’s review as well, a look at when its name was later changed and even some tips for completing it!

THE OiNK! COMPUTER GAME MENU

OiNK MERCHANDiSE MENU

MAiN OiNK MENU

OiNK Media Coverage

iAN JACKSON: DOWN THE TUBES SPOTLiGHT

Leave a comment

While OiNK‘s creators Tony Husband, Patrick Gallagher and Mark Rodgers assembled an insanely great mixture of various art styles from the best cartoonists and illustrators around, many would agree Ian Jackson‘s work is considered the seminal OiNK look. His main strips were Uncle Pigg, Mary Lighthouse and The Sekret Diary ov Hadrian Vile and his covers always elicited an excited reaction when I picked up the latest issue.

As well as his jagged, animated and highly original drawings he was also the person behind the covers which featured actual model work. Who can ever forget the famous OiNK Book 1988‘s pig face (and tail) and the first Holiday Special cover of plasticine and cardboard, which you can see at the top of this post.

To mark OiNK’s 35th anniversary, John Freeman has written a fascinating post all about Ian for his Down the Tubes website. When I was writing the previous version of the blog Ian was one contributor to the comic who remained an enigma, so I’m very happy to see this could be rectified this time around, starting with John’s research.

Above, you can see Ian with his brother, John Jackson a family law barrister in Leeds, who shared on Twitter this photo and a recent piece by Ian of the Sandsend valley where his shop, Wild Hart resides. It’s a gorgeous illustration and it reminded me of a certain other map of Ian’s I remember enjoying somewhat.

John’s post goes into more depth on Ian’s catalogue of work, such as his work for Punch magazine, which fellow OiNK cartoonist Jeremy Banx also contributed to. I wasn’t aware of a children’s cartoon co-created by Ian called Minuscule Milton, the art style of which is clearly recognisable. It’s a lovely looking thing indeed.

It also includes some more OiNK information, such as this quote from an interview in 2015.

“I received a phone call from cartoonist Tony Husband,” Ian recalls, “telling me of a new comic he and two other writers/ artists were putting together. The OiNK work (I drew Uncle Pigg, Mary Lighthouse and Hadrian Vile) gave me no alternative but to go freelance properly, so a month before my 21st birthday, I became my own boss.”

Created for CBBC and broadcast between 1997 and 1999 it tells the tale of a very, very tiny little boy who lives in a clock on a mantlepiece, with only his canine friend aware of his existence.

John has plenty of information on Ian’s further work in illustration, model building, cartoons and more on the Down the Tubes post. For any fans of OiNK it’s an essential read and you can even watch an episode of Milton’s show while you’re there.

OiNK MEDiA COVERAGE MENU

MAiN OiNK MENU

OiNK Media Coverage

PODCAST PiGGiES: THE DREW & LOOK PODCAST

Leave a comment

To mark the 35th anniversary of the first issue of OiNK going on sale not only does the site’s real time read through begin later today, I was also invited on to Belfast author Andy Luke‘s podcast to wax lyrical about all things porcine. Andy’s podcast, The Drew & Look Show covers the topic of writing for all sorts of media, from film and television to novels and of course comics.

A fan of OiNK back in the 80s, Andy was eager to mark today with a special edition of his show and I was more than happy to take part. Andy has a way of approaching his subjects from interesting new angles, which made this a really fun way to spend an afternoon. In fact, we chatted for over two-and-a-half hours but don’t worry, Andy’s editing skills have chiselled away at it so that it’s a more manageable length for you all.

We cover topics such as the reasons OiNK existed in the first place, its origins in a Manchester library and discuss it in the context of the politics and punk music of 1980s Britain in which it was created. Andy describes the comic as a “sentient creature” and we discuss how as a whole it felt different in comparison to its contemporaries, how OiNK was as a complete package.

We hone in on a few of the main contributors to the comic and the mark they left on us, the humour they helped develop in our young minds and the impact it’s had on its readers as they’ve grown up (physically grown up, anyway) and in the wider context of the comics industry and beyond.

Everything is discussed, from its non-smoking and anti-bullying messages which had an impact without feeling like they were messages at all, to its mail order brand GBH. We try to touch on as many of the characters, writers and artists as possible and we had a blast doing so.

So whether you’re on the commute on this rainy Bank Holiday Monday or are at home wondering why there’s no James Bond movie on the telly, you can mark OiNK’s anniversary by listening to us for a little over an hour-and-a-half, talking about the best comic ever created.

The Drew and Look Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for the name of the show.

OiNK MEDiA COVERAGE MENU

MAiN OiNK MENU