One month ago I gave you the chance to grab a rare piece of UK comics history, the preview issue of Fleetway’s Super Naturals comic. A perfect prize for Hallowe’en, wouldn’t you say? Well I hope Ralph Burns of Mossley, Ashton-Under-Lyne enjoyed the atmosphere within its pages over the past few days. Thanks for the photo, Ralph.
Now, with the fake spider webs still up on the front of all those houses on your street how’d you like to get your hands on six comics filled with more ghosts, goblins and things that go bump in the night? Only this time, what if they were served up with a good dose of comedy?
The Real Ghostbusters was a massive hit for Marvel UK when it was first launched in 1988 and its readership grew and grew, quickly becoming their top seller. Taking a different approach to their other licenced comics, it was back-to-back British strips to begin with (with American imports coming later as back-ups), with between three to five stories every issue that leaned heavily towards humour rather than action or adventure. Talent in these issues includes the likes of John Carnell, Andy Lanning, Dan Abnett, Anthony Williams, Dougie Braithwaite, Anthony Larcombe, Louise Cassell, Stephen Baskerville, Lew Stringer and Bambos Georgiou.
These are so enjoyable you’ll be haunted by the memory of missing out on them if you don’t enter the competition. So you have 14 days to scour the blog for the answer to the following question:
Q – Which OiNK cartoonist drew the first handful of Blimey! It’s Slimer strips in The Real Ghostbusters?
When (you think) you’ve got the correct answer you can either email it to me at oink.blog@icloud.com(all emails are deleted after the winner has been selected, I’m not fancy enough to have a newsletter or stuff like that), or use the contact form you can find on the right-hand side of your desktop screen or under this post on mobile. Your entry must be with me by midnight on Friday 14th November 2025.
After this date I’ll contact the winners to ask for their postal address. Unfortunately, due to rising postage costs the competition is only open to UK and Ireland readers. If you win I’ll ask if you could take a photo of you with your prize. You don’t have to, but you do get to show off if you do.
For transparency, these doubles are in great condition apart from a tear on the cover of #41 where a free gift was removed decades ago and the cover to #6 has come away from the spine.
Good luck everyone! Don’t end up with slime on your face, get your entries in now! Then, on Monday 1st December come back for the Big Christmas Competition. What will the big prize be? Well, you know what they say about the season: It Comes But Once A Year.
Have I got a special treat for all you Super Naturals fans this Hallowe’en! One of the highlights of the short-lived comic for me was the incredible art by Alan Langford in stories Mount of Athos and The Curse. Alan brought a mature, horror-centric style that made the battle between good and evil feel truly epic and the evil characters feel properly horrific. His art really showed the potential of the franchise in my eyes.
Finding anyone who worked on the Super Naturals comic has been difficult, finding those who remember doing so has been near-impossible. Even Barrie Tomlinson, while he mentions it in his book Comic Book Hero, wasn’t sure it was definitely his title. Thankfully Alan remembers it well and he very kindly agreed to a chat about contributing to this underappreciated comic. So today, on the 38th anniversary of the premiere issue, here he is!
A full-time member of the Society of Equestrian Artists, today Alan produces truly stunning pieces of art with the graceful, beautiful animals at the centre of each one rather than holographic action figures. Given how elaborate his contemporary work is on his website I was curious how he found working on a licenced comic. In the Adventure Book we saw Sandy James’ character studies which the comic stated other artists used as reference when beginning work. Not so, according to Alan.
“I recall receiving a parcel full of all the Super Naturals models and their extraordinary vehicles to use as references for the comic scripts I had to illustrate”, Alan told me. “Of course they were of invaluable assistance when sketching out my roughs and depicting the finished artwork.” Above are examples of the action figures themselves (in this case, Thunder Bolt) and one example each of the intricate holographic images for Skull and Snakebite that Alan so expertly translated to the page.
As far as this particular licence was concerned, its characters are what stood out to Alan the most. “Well naturally you have to follow the flow of the script,” he explains. “But it was always interesting if the script conjured up imaginative imagery that you felt compelled to draw. I particularly enjoyed depicting Lionheart and his macabre nemesis [Skull], since they were both larger than life, extraordinary characters.”
Indeed, Alan’s depictions of the two in battle were truly memorable. More than any other strip, Mount of Athos gave us a sense of the epic nature of the battle between the supernatural elements of good and evil battling across time, mainly thanks to Alan’s art. The first page in #1 (first strip image above) is all the proof you need. With Alan’s style seemingly leaning more towards horror, especially in his depictions of the evil characters, I was curious if the genre was a favourite of his to draw.
“I’ve long been fascinated by horror since my teenage years when Hammer movies were the regular unmissable attraction at the cinema. Christopher Lee’s portrayal of Dracula was particularly convincing. However, when it came to depicting horror in comics, there was only one real master of the genre and that was the extraordinary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta, whose cover art depicted in oil paint on board illustrated the covers of Eerie and Creepy magazines.”
“A more competent and helpful editor would have been hard to find”
Alan on Barrie Tomlinson
Indeed, regular blog readers may recognise a couple of names there. In Dark Horse International’sDracula comic from 1993 (originally a tie-in with Francis Ford Coppola’s movie), from #4 onwards classic Vampirella stories were pulled from the archives to act as the back up strip. These were originally published in Creepy in the 1960s, and #5’s additional Creepy classic, Werewolf was stunningly illustrated by Frank.
“Beautifully painted,” Alan continues. “Excitingly composed, remarkable masterpieces that drew the eye in an instant and had you searching through your small change to purchase the exciting mags whose cover art was so instantly recognisable. There was no doubt about it, Frazetta was an extraordinary genius, who has left an indelible mark on fantasy and horror art.”
With his influence well and truly established, we headed back into the world of the Super Naturals. The idea behind the Tonka toy licence was that these characters could show up in any place or time throughout history to cause havoc. The Curse was set during a Victorian Christmas, which seems to have been right up Alan’s street with its horse drawn carriages and the like. Alan agrees. “Yes, particularly as you suggested, because I enjoy drawing equestrian scenes. I particularly recall the opening splash page with children climbing into the Hanson cab.”
Above is one of the “extraordinary vehicles” as Alan puts it, expertly inserted into this Victorian Christmas tale. It’s great to finally talk to someone who remembers working on the comic. As such, I just had to ask him if he could clarify if legendary British comics editor Barrie Tomlinson was indeed the editor of Super Naturals and if he recalled the names of anyone else that contributed.
“Yes, Barrie was definitely the editor of Super Naturals. Unfortunately that is the limit of my knowledge [in regards to others who worked on it]. Save to say he was a most obliging and encouraging character. I believe that most of us worked as freelancers under the direction of Barrie, a more competent and helpful editor would have been hard to find. I had worked for him before on a one-off story of Doomlord for the Eagle Summer Special. He has now retired and publishing his memoirs of his long career in comics, most notably his involvement with the famous comic character Roy of the Rovers in his book The Real Roy of the Rovers!”
I hope you’ve enjoyed this rare insight into the making of what was a superb licenced comic, an anthology that deserved to run and run. Of course, when a comic is licenced a lot rides on the popularity of the brand and unfortunately the high quality toys just didn’t take off. The preview, nine regular issues and two specials are well worth tracking down, especially those featuring Alan’s strips. You can find highlights of them all right here on the blog, of course.
Alan’s website is well worth checking out for his watercolour, oil on canvas, and pen and ink work. It’s all stunning! There’s also a book available of his equestrian art. However, even more excitedly for comics fans Alan has produced his very own graphic novel, The Secret of the Aesir. Writing and illustrating it himself over three years, the 132-page book is set in the 8th century in the icy wastes of Scandinavia and tells the story of a long and arduous viking journey and the discovery of an ancient mystery.
I would just like to thank Alan for taking the time to chat with me about his time on Super Naturals, a time which unfortunately for us all was cut short but which still produced incredible artwork for a comic with much potential.
Thanks also to Brett Nutto of the Super Naturals Facebook group (of which I’m a member) for the images of the toys and holograms.
It is with a heavy heart that I find myself writing this, having found out about the recent passing of Ronald Charles Tickner, better known to OiNK readers as Ron Tiner. Lew Stringer recently broke the news on his own blog and reminisced about the fan favourite five-part Sherlock Hams serial he wrote and which Ron drew so brilliantly.
Born on 8th May 1940 in Borden in Kent, due to his family’s finances he never attended art college and was completely self-taught. That didn’t stop him from passing his knowledge and skills on to the next generation though, as later in his career he taught illustration and sequential narrative at Swindon College for several years around the turn of the millennium.
He had a prolific and varied career in comics and humour magazines which included everything from Punch and Brain Damage, to Tammy and Jinty, to Hotspur and Battle Action. In OiNK he drew some of the best spoofs of 80s culture and celebrity the comic produced. Sherlock Holmes wasn’t the only one to be given the OiNK facelift thanks to Ron, with David Attenborough and Duran Duran among the list.
His art first popped up in #14, which was actually my first issue as a kid so he contributed heavily to my first impressions not only of OiNK but of comics as a medium. On first glance Ron’s work on The Unprofessionals could be mistaken for an official comic adaptation of the TV series, making the ludicrous scenario all the more hilarious.
Not exactly being mistaken for an official DC comic but loved just as much was his artwork for Mark Rodgers’ three-page Superham strip in #28, with Ron’s one and only OiNK cover, one of the most memorable of the whole run. Proving he was a go-to choice for some of the larger assignments Ron also brought his unique comedy stylings to classic literature with King Solomon’s Swines which ran for two months in the comic.
One of his pieces that hasn’t been seen on the blog before is MANK, another spoof strip, this time of the 80s transforming toy line and cartoon, MASK. This wonderful creation rounded off the first OiNK Book in style and has all the markings of a classic Ron piece. OiNK was never full colour, usually about a quarter of each issue was, the fact so many of Ron’s strips were printed this way is testament to his unique, bold and brilliant art style.
After comics Ron worked as a book illustrator, contributing artwork to classic texts for Oxford University Press and Penguin Classics, and later writing his own books about illustrating. Coming full circle back to who he spoofed above, Ron’s book Investigating Sherlock Holmesis a real labour of love. It recreates the time and place of the stories with illustrations, maps, historical photos and a lot more, creating a new, immersive look at the character.
It’s no exaggeration to say Ron’s work on OiNK was always a highlight of any issue he appeared in, and some of the finest examples of parody from the comic. He made an impression on me from the moment I picked up my first issue and to this day when I introduce OiNK to new readers Ron’s work can be guaranteed to be on the list of examples I show off. He’ll be much missed.
(John Freeman’s Down the Tubes website has a wonderful in-depth In Memoriam for Ron which you can read here.)
Neither The Transformers and Visionaries nor The Real Ghostbusters marked the spooky season in 1988. Well, the Ghostbusters no more than every other week. Martin Griffiths’ cover for the latter sees the introduction of that rare thing for that comic, a returning villain. While Stephen Baskerville’s cover to Transformers marks the arrival of a story often mocked by fans online, unfairly in my eyes.
Giant sentient robotic aliens from outer space that can transform into Earth vehicles and weaponry. And now, some could also wrap themselves up inside a monstrous outer shell for… disguise? Some fans saw a story where a Decepticon Pretender monster became a Hollywood star (taking the place of a special effect) as silly. Really? Have you read the premise of the comic and the Pretenders? Lighten up and stop taking things so seriously, it’s actually a fun story and I became somewhat fond of the lumbering Skullgrin.
Elsewhere in the issue Visionaries comes to an emotional (for me) end on a cliffhanger, which you can check out in the full review at the link at the bottom of this post. But topping that is the cliffhanger to Combat Colin: “Next week: Mrs. Frumpy vs. The Robot Penguin!!” Meanwhile in The Real Ghostbusters, that aforementioned villain is Ponquadragor, a being that’s been hunting Egon ever since he was a child. A demonic force who’d eventually become a semi-regular visitor and a pal of the team!
What else did comic fans have to choose from this week?
Not much apparently, with Dragon’s Claws #5 from week 11 making a reappearance on the checklist, although it was an important issue with a certain new comic set to be launched any time now. You can check out this fantastic issue in its own OiNK Blog review, link below. Then, the entry for the now-fortnightly Thundercats reminded us that the hyped merge between it and Galaxy Rangers was already over.
On to our adverts and Fred Flintstone et all were very happy about their new larger comic. In reality it had been printed on smaller paper up to this point and was now going to be the same size as the rest of Marvel UK’s output, probably to save on pricing costs rather than anything else. It was kind of like the comics version of “Better Recipe” on confectionary; better for the company’s bottom line.
I’ll admit I’ve never read Captain Britain. Growing up in Northern Ireland in the 80s and 90s, by the time I was a teenager and the target audience the UK’s flag had other connotations that some friends of mine saw as the opposite of heroic. They never said anything against Captain Britain, but my own mind seemed to want to stay away from it for that reason when I’d see his graphic novels advertised in the 90s.
As an adult though, reading this advert it sounds like a fun premise, and one that I clearly and unfairly got the wrong impression of all those decades ago. It’s certainly got a great creative team. On that note we come to the end of this week’s trip back in time with Marvel UK. It’s great to see so many of you enjoying these on socials, long may that continue (because the series is going to continue for a long time whether you like it or not).
Anyone who’s been following the OiNK Blog for a while will be familiar with the furry little face above. Smudge has popped up in occasional posts here and there but what a lot of you mightn’t have known was that he didn’t actually live with me. Instead, I cat sat him regularly. However, I’m very happy to announce that as of mid-October he has come to join me in OiNK Blog Towers permanently. That’s right, Smudge is now living with me and my house has never felt cosier.
My friends Vicki and her mum Elaine were out for dinner on a cold, rainy night back in 2015 when, on their way to their car, they heard a cat crying out from somewhere. They found a teeny tiny kitten in a hedge but couldn’t get near him and had to leave. They couldn’t get him out of their heads though, so the next morning went back to see if he was still there. He was.
The story of how they got him was funny. They’d taken a box to catch him but he was too scared to get near. By pure luck, just as they got close to him and he made a dart to escape, Vicki’s husband Colin arrived and as he approached he saw the cat run and kicked the box, which fell over the yet-to-be-named Smudge. Later that day I got the first of the photos below. He was so small!
They got him checked out and the vet estimated he was only three months old. Initially they weren’t going to keep him, just until they could find somewhere to take him. Of course, Smudge made sure that didn’t happen. The photo below was taken on 10th October 2015 by me the first time I ever met him. By a strange coincidence, he moved in with me on 11th October 2025, just one day over exactly ten years since I’d instantly fallen in love with him.
Over the years I’d visit my friends and see him, and I’d look after him when they all went away on holidays. Of course I spoiled him rotten! When I was growing up we had a couple of budgies but no cats or dogs. In fact, my mum didn’t like cats so I was always fascinated with those belonging to my mates. I found it so surprising how much Smudge and I grew to become friends, something that had never happened between me and an animal before.
Sadly, Elaine passed away in 2021. It hit us all hard. I could also tell Smudge was missing her and stressed about where his owner had gone. In the years since then I’ve looked after him more regularly and recently I was doing so every other weekend. Before she passed, Elaine asked me to take him, but he lived in a big house in the country and I lived in a regular Belfast terraced house in the city. We thought it couldn’t be done.
One look at these photos taken over the past fortnight should tell you how it’s been going!
Vicki and I brought him up in her car and he cried all the way in his carrier (he hates that thing). I was ready for him to cry all day and hide himself away. I was prepared for it to take a few weeks for him to settle in. IF he settled in. He sniffed around a bit, hid upstairs under my bed for half an hour, then came back downstairs and I put some food out, not expecting him to be up for eating anything. I expected him to be too out of sorts and nervous. The next four photos took place over the first couple of hours of him being here.
This wee cat never fails to surprise me. I’ve always said he’s a smart cat, I swear he understands me, but that’s not to say he isn’t daft. That’s something we’ve all always agreed on! He has been great fun since he got here and he’s wonderful company. He’s really taken to his new home and spends much of his time purring on my lap, and for me I’ve been having the deepest of sleeps at night with him curled up on top of me, beside me or even just near me in his cat bed at the foot of my own bed.
(Deep sleeps, just not full nights of sleep anymore. He gets up to ask for a bit of chicken about 4am. That’s my own fault for letting him get away with it for years while cat sitting, so that’s come back to bite me!)
I’m also developing new skills thanks to Smudge. Anyone who has a cat will know if they curl up to have a catnap on your lap, you do not get up. You. Do. Not. Get. Up. You just don’t want to. I’ve gotten quite good at editing on my laptop one-handed or writing whole posts and articles on my phone!
So, welcome home Smudge. OiNK Blog readers, you can expect him to pop up more around here I’m sure.
To Elaine, you were right, and I’ll take really good care of him for you ❤️ xo
OiNK Blog 