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OiNK Media Coverage

iAN JACKSON: DOWN THE TUBES SPOTLiGHT

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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.

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PODCAST PiGGiES: THE DREW & LOOK PODCAST

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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.

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iNTRODUCiNG OiNK: LEW STRiNGER iN FANTASY ADVERTiSER

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As we approach Monday 26th April 2021, the 35th anniversary of the preview issue of OiNK, let’s take a look at an article from the time written by Tom Thug and Pete and his Pimple creator Lew Stringer for Fantasy Advertiser. An introduction to the new comic just before its release, it was the first time readers of the fanzine heard about OiNK.

Fantasy Advertiser was the creation of Frank Dobson and had been printed since 1965 as an “Ad Zine”, being handed off to a series of editors over time. It featured listings of British and American comics for sale in the UK long before the internet made this a lot easier, alongside features like the one you’ll see below. Lew was a regular contributor with a column in every issue.

Lew would cover news of new comics, discuss classic titles and interview creators such as Mike Higgs, Kevin O’Neill etc. It sounds very much like his later Blimey! blog which, while it’s been closed, is still a treasure trove of British comics information.

The OiNK article featured in #96 of Fantasy Advertiser, dated May 1986 and you can read it in full below. I think the first paragraph perfectly sums up why Mark Rodgers, Tony Husband and Patrick Gallagher created OiNK in the first place. There’s also an interesting reference to the specific things other children’s comics required of their cartoonists and the rules they had to follow, which this new team would gleefully abandon. There are some details about the two dummy issues created to sell the concept to IPC Magazines, their positive reaction and how it was Bob Paynter, the Group Editor of Humour who approached Lew to join the comic. (When I’ve spoken with Patrick and Tony over the years they’ve often referred to Bob as “OiNK’s champion at IPC”.)

“The humour is the kind we like. Violent, anarchic, weird, generally lunatic and very modern.”

Mark Rodgers, OiNK co-creator/co-editor

There’s a great description of Lew’s Tom Thug and how he was a new, different kind of comics character, an interesting look at the independent nature of OiNK and how it was put together in a way unlike any other children’s title of the time. You’ll also see a few select panels from the early issues, including Tom Paterson‘s excellent Wet Blanket who is returning to print in a special collected book later this year.

Thanks to Lew for the kind permission to share this with you all. Just click on it below and have a read for yourselves.

Also note the correct influences for OiNK here and the absence of any mention of Viz. OiNK was never a children’s version of that (admittedly very funny) comic and was never intended to be, despite what is usually erroneously mentioned elsewhere online or in magazines.

David Hathaway-Price has, with permission, archived many of those Fantasy Advertiser issues digitally, at his Classic UK Comics Zines website, including the issue featured here. The fanzine continued until #115 in 1991, eventually relaunching as an online resource in 2010 by one of its previous editors, Martin Skidmore.

Don’t forgot to come back on Monday 26th April for the review of that preview issue of the world’s funniest comic, the whole reason this website exists. An amazing two-and-a-half years is about to begin. Not to be missed, pig pals.

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SPACESHiP AWAY: LEW STRiNGER ‘HAM DARE’ iNTERViEW

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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.

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PiGGY PROMOTiONS: iPC’S JOHN SANDERS

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“IPC’s Youth Group is trying to change the face of children’s comics with its launch next month of a new-style, fortnightly comic into the eight-to-12-year-olds market.“

John Sanders

So began a piece in CTN, an industry magazine covering the world of magazines and comics on this day back in 1986, a month before OiNK‘s release from the sty. Comics sales had been in heavy decline for a few years with television seen as the cause, although perhaps so was the ever-growing presence of computer games. While other sources of children’s entertainment were evolving, comics hadn’t and they had to do something new and fresh in order to remain competitive.

You should know where this is going. That something was, of course, OiNK. Edited by the “three liberated pigs” of Mark Rodgers, Tony Husband and Patrick Gallagher, IPC saw in them the chance to reinvigorate the marketplace.

The article in CTN (which you can read in full at the bottom of this post) takes the form of an interview with IPC Magazine’s Youth Group Managing Director John Sanders, who you can see above surrounded by OiNK page layouts prior to launch. A wish to move away from the “custard pie humour” is cited and the publishers were certainly putting their weight behind this anarchic comic, independently put together for them in Manchester. Hundreds of thousands of copies of the preview issue would be bagged with some of their biggest titles and an eye-watering (for the time) £55,000 was being spent on “Blockbuster Adverts“.

“Their [children] humour is a lot more sophisticated than it was 25 years ago. It is a lot more outrageous, the butt of their humour has changed.”

John Sanders

It’s interesting to note having a preview issue wasn’t something generally used at the time, the usual strategy was television advertising such as with Marvel‘s The Transformers in 1984, the (very) brief advert for which you can see below. This was news to me when I found out because I remember several preview issues of my comics but nothing on TV, but then again those previews came after OiNK. However, even OiNK’s would be different from those that followed, it was a full-sized issue.

The article states the new comic is “aimed very directly at youngsters”. The whole point was to grab the attention of the eight to 13-year-old age group. But yet, here we are over three decades later with a website all about this classic comic and how well it holds up for both adults and their children reading it all these years later.

IPC’s target audience weren’t just readers of comics by the competition either, such as The Dandy and Beano, but also those of their own humour comics who they were worried were leaving.

Thanks to Lew Stringer for sharing this scan on his Blimey blog and for the kind permission to show it to you all here. That particular blog is no longer being updated but is chock full of interesting comics tidbits so give it a look. While you’re at it, make sure to bookmark Lew’s ongoing Lew Stringer Comics blog too, detailing all of his own work both past and present.

(John Sanders has now released his own book, King’s Reach: John Sanders’ Twenty-Five Years at the Top of Comics which chronicles the business side of the industry.)

About a month later the April/May 1986 issue of IPC News, the in-house magazine for IPC Magazines staff, also ran a piece on OiNK’s imminent launch where it’s affectionately described as “John Sander’s cherished ambition”. It contains much of the same information as the CTN article, including some direct quotes by John, cementing the company’s support of the comic’s ethos and what it was attempting. This following scan also comes courtesy of Lew via the OiNK Facebook group.

There could be no part of IPC Magazines or the wider UK comics and magazine scene that was unaware of this bold new venture. At least that seemed to be what IPC was attempting to achieve with the size of OiNK’s marketing push and the feeling that the company was completely behind the team of Patrick, Tony and Mark. Of course, any company will want that to be the impression when they’re launching a new product but there can be no doubt they believed in OiNK.

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