CHRiSTMAS COVERS: FESTiVE FUN

1 December 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

**Combat Colin** by *Lew Stringer* from **Transformers** #302

When I was a kid most of my comics were fortnightly so their Christmas editions arrived very close to the Big Day itself, complete with snowy logos and cheery happenings on the cover. It always felt like extra effort went into the creation of these special editions, and reading them just days before the annuals arrived from Santa was guaranteed to raise already high levels of excitement even further.

The classic Christmas comics covered so far had that same effect on me even as an adult. So I decided I wanted to do something a bit special this year with all of the seasonal covers in my collection, and to do it right at the beginning of December to kick off the excitement on the blog this year. Below you’ll find a smorgasbord of festive fun from four comics titles I’ve already covered, one I’ve been reading for the blog’s Instagram for seven years(!), another I’m reading annually, a popular title I’m still in the collecting stage of and, for the first time, I’ll reveal one of the new real time read throughs beginning in 2024 by showing you its two Christmas covers!

That’s 21 covers altogether. “Holidays Are Coming!”

#43 cover by *Ian Jackson*
#18 cover by *John Geering*
#44 cover by *Lezz*

Of course we have to kick things off with the blog’s namesake, don’t we? My very favourite comic had two special issues for my very favourite time of the year. A great spoof of our family’s traditional Christmas TV magazine (which I still buy in December) or a hilarious Ian Jackson cover, which is the best? The second of these issues is my favourite regular issue of OiNK out of its whole 68-issue run, so that particular cover always makes me smile the most.

With the New Year holiday named HOGmanay in Scotland it’d be rude not to do a themed issue in a comic called OiNK for that part of the season. Both of these celebratory issues are also some of the best the team ever produced, with covers by the legendary John Geering and Les ‘Lezz’ Barton respectively. In fact, #43 and #44 form the final two issues of what I personally saw as OiNK’s Golden Age, a run of pretty perfect comics which also included The OiNK! Book 1988.

Super Naturals’ Christmas issue is one of my favourites from this whole blog experience

There’s nothing quite like a good Christmas ghost story. So, when I began collecting Fleetway’s Super Naturals comic for the blog (after only having owned the first and last issues as a kid) I was thrilled to not only see #5 was a special Christmas issue but that it also had a simply joyous, painted Ian Kennedy cover. Inside, the team really went for the spirit of the season, with even the ongoing serials containing themes and plots centred around Christmas. My favourite issue of the run and one of my favourite issues from this whole blog experience.

**Super Naturals** #5 cover by *Ian Kennedy*

By coincidence, a year later it was also #5 of Super Naturals editor Barrie Tomlinson’s Wildcat that fell at the right time, with a somewhat memorable front page! With its ongoing serials set upon the surface of a distant world as we searched for a new home planet it was left up to the complete anthology story to tell a tale on board the Wildcat spacecraft itself which, yes, did include that image from the cover. Even more surprisingly it actually explained it!

At the time of writing this post those are all of the Christmas comics I’ve covered as part of real time read throughs on the blog so far. However, over on the Instagram account for over seven years I’ve been patiently reading Marvel UK’s superlative Transformers comic. I’m actually reaching its conclusion very soon, in January 2024. In its last December the issue on sale over Christmas was the penultimate edition so it didn’t take a break from the ongoing story for a Christmas special, meaning I’ve read all of its seasonal issues.

It’s Christmas!
“So what?”
Starscream

In fact, it was a particularly Christmassy Winter Special that began my lifelong love of the Cybertronians. By 1988 I’d enjoyed many episodes of the cartoon and owned a few of the videos so when I fell ill my mum bought me a comic to cheer me up. That comic was Transformers Collected Comics 11. It contained three reprinted Christmas stories and I loved every page! It was a revelation compared to the cartoon. Within a few days I had a regular order at the newsagent and 35 years later I’m first in line at the cinema every few years and have been enjoying Image Comic’s brand new series (which began just a few months ago).

#7 cover taken from **The Last Stand: Part One**,
pencils by *Frank Springer*, inks by *Ian Akin* & *Brian Garvey*
#41 cover by *Mike Collins* & *Mark Farmer*
#93 cover by *Robin Smith*
#145 cover by *Barry Kitson* & *Robin Bouttell*

Collected Comics #11 cover by *Robin Smith*
#198 cover & #250 wraparound by *Andrew Wildman*
#302 cover by *Stewart Johnson* & *John Burns*

That earliest issue from the comic’s first year may only pay lip service to the festivities on the cover but as you can see from then on they celebrated with some of the most fun issues they ever produced. There’s snow or holly on a couple of the logos and even Optimus Prime dressed as Santa which, much like Wildcat, is actually explained in the story and isn’t just a cover image. Although they play up to that with the next year’s Christmas card image of Galvatron, who wasn’t inside.

The issue with all the snow was actually one of my first issues back at the time. It was doubly exciting for me because it was a special issue for Christmas and had one of the toys I received that year on the cover (Slapdash, the one on the left). The celebratory 250th issue fell on just the right date and as the comic surpassed an incredible 300 editions former letter answerer Dreadwind hilariously had to answer to the ghosts of the past, present and future Transformers to hold that post.

**Big Comic Fortnightly** #14 cover by *Sid Burgon*
**Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends** #31 cover by *Tim Marwood*

Thirty-five years ago I very gratefully received The Book Comic Book 1988 for Christmas (reviewed just three days ago) and was thrilled to suddenly see a new fortnightly baring the same ‘Big Comic’ brand during the following summer. I just had to track down this fondly remembered issue for this post. Of course, the cover was a reprint too, reworked from #35 of Jackpot. Big Comic never felt like a random selection of reprints but rather a properly curated collection that made each issue unique. It even had a special Leo Baxendale issue. Its Christmas specials were similarly packed with related material.

Next to it is the second Christmas edition of Marvel UK’s Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, one of two issues I’ve kept all these years and for a very personal reason. Namely, it was the first time young me saw his name in print when my drawing of Thomas, Gordon and Percy with Santa hats was published inside. I can still remember that moment of excitement upon turning the page that year. If you want to see it, you can check out the Thomas retrospective (marking an incredible 800 issues), the link to it and all of the issues featured here can be found at the bottom of this post.

I’ve also written a five-part series about my top Christmas comics for former Marvel UK editor John Freeman’s Down the Tubes website

Moving on to a comic I wrote about for the 33rd anniversary of its first issue. I enjoyed that so much I committed to covering the comic in some fashion in the future. However, with over 190 issues to collect first it’s going to take a while. (Remember, these cost money!) What I can show you now are the first three years of festive fun. Taking advantage of its weekly schedule, The Real Ghostbusters had two celebratory issues every year, one for Christmas and one for the New Year, as you can see below.

#29 cover by *Martin Griffiths*
#30 & #82 covers by *Brian Williamson* & *Dave Harwood*
#81 cover by *Brian Williamson*, *Dave Harwood* & *Robin Bouttell*
#133 & #134 covers by *Brian Williamson*,
*Stephen Baskerville* & *John Burns*

With at least three stories (two strip and one prose) every issue we were treated to a couple of themed stories and of course Slimer’s humour strip would also join in. One of the New Year issues also contained the results of a reader survey told in comic strip form, complete with the winners at Marvel UK meeting the characters on stage!

I promised at the top of this post I’d be introducing one of 2024’s brand new real time read throughs with a preview of its two Christmas covers. It’s time to reveal the title that will finally be keeping Jurassic Park company in the Dark Horse International drop-down menu. It’s not one you’d expect to have a nice, cheerful Christmassy cover… and you’d be right. They’re not exactly the usual fluffy fare.

With the strips all being imports from the US, split into ongoing serials, I doubt there are any stories inside to match the covers but this is one of those rare occasions when covers not correlating to the contents doesn’t annoy me. The fact Aliens of all things marked the season at all (and with funny headlines to boot) is brilliant as far as I’m concerned. All of the Aliens issues I’m covering have arrived and I’m eager to start reading them next year. Listen out for the motion tracker bleeps in May 2024.

There we go, my look at all of the Christmas covers currently residing in my classic comics collection. Writing this has me wanting to read them all over again. Well, the ones I’ve already featured anyway, the last two titles will have to wait until it’s their time, that’s the rule of the blog after all.

I’ve also written a five-part series about my top Christmas comics for former Marvel UK editor John Freeman’s Down the Tubes for this festive season. Below you can see the banner John created for the series (Smudge the cat is becoming very famous these days) and links to the five individual posts from fifth place to my top Christmas comic.

No.5 – No.4 – No.3 – No.2 – No.1

If you’d like to share any of your own favourite Christmas comic memories I’ll eagerly await your stories on Instagram, Threads and Facebook.

THE COMICS

ON THE BLOG:

OiNK 17

OiNK 18

OiNK 43

OiNK 44

SUPER NATURALS 5

WiLDCAT 5

TRANSFORMERS 7

ALiENS 7

ALiENS 18

BiG COMiC BOOKS

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS RETROSPECTiVE

THOMAS THE TANK ENGiNE & FRiENDS
RETROSPECTiVE

ON INSTAGRAM:

TRANSFORMERS 41

TRANSFORMERS 93

TRANSFORMERS 145

TRANSFORMERS COLLECTED COMiCS 11

TRANSFORMERS 198

TRANSFORMERS 250

TRANSFORMERS 302

RETROSPECTiVES

CHRiSTMAS 2023

Annuals, Big Comic Book, Christmas

BiG COMiC BOOK 1988: TOME FOR CHRiSTMAS

28 November 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

I may have covered the first in this series of giant tomes last Christmas but as a kid this volume was the first time I discovered Big Comic. This book would also lead to the release of Big Comic Fortnightly in June 1988 which I also collected for a couple of years. Christmas 1987 was the first year I received my own comic annuals and I’ll admit it was a while before I read this that festive season because I’d also received The OiNK! Book 1988! Eventually I sat down with what felt like a humongous read at that age and got stuck in.

Once again it sticks to IPC Magazine‘s (taken over by Fleetway Publications) Buster, Whizzer and Chips and Whoopee comics but it was all brand new to me. I’d been collecting OiNK for over a year by this point, a title that often took the hand out of these older comics. However, Big Comic Book 1988 contained a feast of goodies and plenty were still hitting the mark, producing enough smiles for me to see it all the way to the end over the New Year. There’s definitely a marked improvement over the choice of strips compared to last year’s book. With the hindsight of reading this in 2023 more of it holds up to the passage of time too.

I’d say let’s dive right in but that might be too on the nose given my first highlight. Yes, it’s the same as last year and probably will be again next year. Gums was always a favourite in these books and the fortnightly comic, so chances were John Geering‘s strip from Monster Fun and Buster was always going to get included here. Like last year (and as with other characters) he’s in the book several times but this one stood out for me. As obsessed with sharks as I am I’m used to documentaries, books or even Instagram accounts detailing how preparations are made behind the camera when filming these wonderful creatures, but we humans aren’t the only ones who have preparations to make.

What a fun start! Another character I always enjoyed was Toy Boy from the late, great Terry Bave. Appearing originally in Whoopee then Buster from 1985 onwards, it surprises me to find out we never knew his name. Obsessed with playthings of any kind whatsoever he’d often frustrate his well-meaning parents when toys got in the way of their day-to-day lives, or his playing about stopped him from doing something important. Sometimes the toys would help though, so we never knew how the strip was going to go.

OiNK writer Graham Exton wasn’t exactly a big fan of “that bloody snake”

Such is the case with this next highlight. Terry’s art style is just lovely and instantly recognisable from the round faces of all his characters. It’s sad to think he’s no longer with us. He was also one of the few whose signature appeared in these comics at a time when this was frowned upon by the publishers.

OiNK writer Graham Exton wasn’t exactly a big fan of writing for this next character (“That bloody snake”). According to Graham and others I’ve spoken to, Sid’s Snake was often used by the Whizzer & Chips editors as a testing ground for new writers. It was assigned to them to prove their capabilities and hone their skills before moving on to other characters or comics. Drawn by the renowned Mike Lacey, whose work I particularly loved from the covers of each issue of Funny Fortnightly (reprints of his Krazy covers), Sid’s Snake could be very hit and miss.

This could be because the writer kept changing, or maybe it’s simply a difficult idea to get a consistent gag out of. What it always was though, was simple, inoffensive fun and at least in this instance very definitely smile-worthy. I can remember very little from the character in the pages of Big Comic Fortnightly, so this one stood out as something a bit more memorable and funnier than usual.

Another Mike Lacey highlight is up next in the form of Shiner, also from the pages of Whizzer & Chips, first appearing way back in the second issue. However, even being the leader of the Chip-ites (the characters from the inner ‘Chips’ part of the comic) wasn’t enough to see him move to the pages of Buster when his comic folded in 1990. Shiner was an amateur boxer whose mother disapproved of his interest and she was constantly trying to stop her son from getting injured.

That doesn’t sound like a bad thing and it’s why I particularly liked this entry in the series. In this story he would’ve gotten away with it but ends up in a rather worse state than he was in the first place, and all thanks to his mum! Elsewhere on the blog make sure you check out a clever and very funny Buster strip written by Mark Bennington and drawn by Mike in one of the first issues after the OiNK merge.

X-Ray Specs used to be a favourite of mine in the regular reprint comic. He stood out for a couple of reasons. The first was the most obvious: those glasses. These were the unique selling point for the character; a pair of super-powered glasses which could see through anything, although somehow used to various levels of strength. For example, sometimes he used them to see through whole walls, sometimes just the contents of a person’s pockets.

These were paired up with a character who could use them for feel good endings like catching burglars and cheats etc. but also for his own selfish reasons, which was always funny. In the hands of a lesser creative team it could easily have become a very predictable strip but Ray could often surprise us. Below is a good example of what drew me to his pages before many others in these books. Once more we’ve got some Mike Lacey art to enjoy too.

My next choice is a character who appeared in the very first edition of Cheeky Weekly, later making the move to Whoopee! She was drawn by a favourite OiNK contributor, fellow Northern Ireland native Ian Knox (Roger Rental, He’s Completely Mental). Robot Granny was a state-of-the-art mechanical person originally crafted in top secret by a mysterious team of inventors. However, people were quite scared of how it looked, so in order to keep it secret and fit in with humans it was disguised as a little old lady. The strip started life as ‘Six Million Dollar Gran‘ so no prizes for guessing the influence here.

It was later renamed again as Gran’s Gang, however here the reprints are from the middle years of the strip and tell the tales of how this seemingly innocent and quiet retiree is just trying to fit in with her much younger friends. I’ve yet to read any of her stories that don’t raise a big smile. That might be because she somehow reminds me of my own late nanny, who always seemed to have so much more energy than all of us kids when we were younger. The strip may be far-fetched but it rekindled some lovely personal memories and that’s another reason I’m including her here.

Granny’s stablemate from Cheeky Weekly and Whoopee! comics, Mustapha Mi££ion also has a handful of strips in this book. He made a further transition to Whizzer & Chips too when Whoopee! folded, such was his popularity. Having discovered oil, making him and his father extremely wealthy, his dad sent him to the UK for his education and supplied him with a mansion, land and staff to keep him occupied. Originally drawn by the legendary Reg Partlett, the early stories had him desperately trying to fit in and often misinterpreting the needs of others, going far beyond what was actually needed because he had the wealth to do so.

Joe McCaffrey soon took over and his strips are reprinted here. In these stories Mustapha was the opposite of all the filthy rich kids we’d normally find in our comics; he was kind hearted, playful and would do anything for his friends. I do mean anything. Nothing was too much for this young boy as far as treating his friends was concerned. Most importantly, it never felt like they were taking advantage of him; they were always shown enjoying his company whether he was being extravagant or not. But of course the strip had to have the indulgence, that was the whole point and in the McCaffrey years it was all about Mustapha simply having fun.

After he moved to Whizzer & Chips, Frank McDiarmid took over and apparently (I’ve never read them) there wasn’t always a happy ending. From what I’ve found out, sometimes Mustapha would do things with his wealth that would annoy his friends at the end of the stories, but for me the boy in the strip above is the one I know and love to this day.

The final selection from the 1988 book I have for you took two strips with two main characters each and merged them together into the mouthful of (deep breath) Ivor Lott and Tony Broke with Milly O’Naire and Penny Less. The two male characters started off in the pages of Cor! comic, eventually making the shift into Buster (everyone seemed to at some stage), while the two young ladies ended up in the same comic after making the transition from Jackpot in 1982. The girls may have left again in 1987 but Ivor and Tony stayed put and would cling on all the way through to the final Buster in the year 2000. Despite the final years being all reprint material, that’s still an incredible 30 year lifespan for their strip.

It looks the part on any book shelf rather than a pile of comics in a cupboard somewhere

Originally brought to the page by Reg Partlett, it was Sid Burgon who nurtured them throughout the years and it’s his work you can see below. When reading up on these characters I was surprised to find out they started off very differently. Originally Tony Broke was a very bitter young boy and Ivor Lott would get away with all manner of mischief simply thanks to having lots of money. That doesn’t feel right to me so I’m happy they changed into the characters we have here, where Ivor would come a cropper from showing off his spoilt lifestyle, while upbeat and lovable Tony would always show us that money can’t buy happiness.

This particular strip of theirs stood out for inclusion on this blog. I’ll leave it up to you to figure out why.

I know there are an awful lot of characters I haven’t featured but there’s simply not enough space to show them all. I was able to pick up this huge book on eBay for about a fiver and that can only be described as a bargain. The 1988 book seems to pop up the most so you shouldn’t really have any difficulties in tracking it down. While last year’s book was really enjoyable I’d opt for this one over it. It feels like a more considered selection, the strips complimenting each other that little bit better. Or it could be because I’ve a personal fondness for this volume.

Whatever the reason for my recommendation it’s a great book and reads well even today. For a ‘Best Of’ collection of some classic comics you can’t do better than this one. 256 pages with an impressive hardback cover, it also looks the part on any book shelf rather than a pile of comics in a cupboard somewhere. Whether it’s for yourself or as a perfect surprise gift for a comics fan in your life, you really should check out The Big Comic Book 1988.

1987 BOOK < > 1989 BOOK

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CHRiSTMAS 2023

Christmas

WELCOME TO CHRiSTMAS 2023!

24 November 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

It feels like it’s been a long time coming this year, but finally the very best season of all has arrived. Welcome to Christmas 2023 on the OiNK Blog! So what have I in store for you this year?

Links to all of this year’s festive posts are in piggy pink below

This is the third festive period on the blog since its relaunch and I think this is the best selection of content yet. Obviously our main event will be the second annual for our title comic, The OiNK! Book 1989. Just like last year’s the review will be published on Christmas Day as a special treat for pig pals, from me to you. That memorable J.T. Dogg cover is only the tip of the trough in terms of the crackers inside, so I’m looking forward to digging in again after all this time.

We’ve also got the second parts of two of our annual read throughs, namely The Big Comic Book 1988 on 28th November and Knight Rider Annual #2 on 19th December. The former was my introduction to that lengthy series as a kid and the many characters it contained, however I never owned more than Michael and K.I.T.T.’s first book so the latter will be all new to me. Joining the souped up car is the souped up helicopter and another fave show of mine. We’ll be taking a deep dive into the Airwolf Annual 1986 on 16th December!

This was the only Airwolf annual produced and alongside it is the only book produced for another 80s TV series I have very fond memories of. Before dedicated children’s channels there were various Saturday morning magazine shows full of comedy, cartoons, games, celebrities and in the case of one of them a certain Frank Sidebottom! That was ITV’s No.73, of course. Who remembers this one? Did you know it had its own book in amongst the children’s annuals? Well you do now and it’ll be up for review on 9th December.

Last Christmas I very grateful received The Tom Patterson Collection, published by The Treasury of British Comics. It’s been a bit of a crazy year so it’s only now, almost a year later that I’ve finally been able to lie down in front of the (electric) fire with its crackling logs (supplied by my HomePod) and have a gut-busting laugh. Tom contributed to some early editions of OiNK, and Buster too of course, and you can check out a full review with hilarious highlights this Christmas on 12th December.

Smudge looking adorable as always on his Christmas blanket

Our two current regular read throughs continue with the seventh and second issues of Dragon’s Claws and Death’s Head respectively, both on 3rd December. They may not have snowy logos and tales of goodwill inside but they’re always special. Over on the blog’s Instagram we’ll be reaching the end of a truly epic read through. After over seven years the journey through Marvel UK’s Transformers comes to an end with the final Transformers Annual on Christmas Day and then on 4th January (a couple of days before my tree comes back down again) we’ll bid farewell with the final issue itself, Transformers #332!

That’s not all. On the very first day of December I’ll be taking a look at all of the wonderful Christmas comics covers in my collection. Not only will we revisit the editions already reviewed, it’ll also include issues of The Real Ghostbusters not seen before on the blog, all of the Transformers Christmas covers from the last seven years, a Big Comic Fortnightly AND… two covers from a brand new read through that’ll begin in 2024, which I’ll be announcing for the first time!

Uncle Pigg toasting Tom Thug’s traditional place in the festivities

Finally, how about a little retro videogaming? (Regular readers of the blog may know where I’m going with this.) The Jurassic Park GameBoy game was featured in that comic’s read through thanks to the best advertising tagline for a game ever and a competition page. Well, thanks to reading that comic again I wanted to track down the game (and a Nintendo GameBoy to play it on) and you can join me for a close look at it when we lose track of our days between Christmas and New Year.

Finally, I’ve also written a special five-part series for former Marvel UK editor John Freeman’s wonderful Down the Tubes comics news site, counting down my Top Five Classic Christmas Comics. From comics that remain favourites to this day, to those that bring back very happy memories and newly discovered tinselly treasures from doing this blog, you can check it out on Down the Tubes by clicking on the individual numbers in the countdown below.

No.5 – No.4 – No.3 – No.2 – No.1

So there we go, Christmas 2023 is here and I’m excited to share all of these with you. I’ve a wonderful feeling about this Christmas and I hope my enthusiasm and passion for it will come across in every word over the next six weeks. Wishing you all an equally fantastic holiday season and hopefully I’ll see you across the OiNK Blog‘s socials (Threads, Instagram and Facebook) so we can share in the festivities together. Merry Christmas you filthy animals.

CHRiSTMAS MESSAGE

NEW YEAR MESSAGE

2022 < > 2024

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Comic Reviews, OiNK Contributors

NOUNS: A DAViD LEACH EXPERiMENT

16 November 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

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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Comic Reviews, OiNK Contributors

MONOLiTH: AN ACE ODYSSEY

13 November 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

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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Comic Reviews, Death's Head

DEATH’S HEAD #1: BACK TO THE FUTURE

5 November 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

This is an exciting one! I’ve only ever read this first issue of Death’s Head. As a kid I originally became acquainted with his time in Marvel UK’s Transformers a year later through reprints in the comic and my friend giving me his back issue collection. However, I’d seen some of the funny comic strip adverts in the likes of The Real Ghostbusters and my Transformers-loving friends raved about him, so I had to try it out. I loved him.

There was a problem though. I was only allowed a few comics on order at any one time and so there was no room for Death’s Head in my reservation list as far as my parents were concerned. I didn’t want to stop any of the others I had on order so instead I bought #1 with my own pocket money and thought I would do so every month. However, a month is a long time at that age, so when #2 came along I’d forgotten all about it and instead that week bought some other random comic with my pennies.

He did pop up in The Marvel Bumper Comic upon occasion but apart from that this was all I ever read beyond Transformers. I rediscovered this issue in my collection about a year later and was really disappointed to learn it was no longer being published and that I’d missed out. Thankfully I have a much better attention span these days so it’s time to correct my oversight. Even this opening spread of pages two and three brings back the memories of reading this on a day off sick from school and all the thrills and laughs it contained. Let’s see if they’re still there today.

One little niggle straight out the gate though. Those tours, often hyped up in the pages of Marvel’s comics, always irritated me as a kid because they never came to Northern Ireland. We were always ignored back then despite us buying their comics. But we’ll move on from that and this issue is made up of three flashbacks told from the perspective of the Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent, which split up scenes of his reconstruction after being almost destroyed by Dragon’s Claws in #5 of their comic (from last month, no longer on sale despite what Head Lines says).

Some interesting bits of information come from his inner thoughts throughout, such as him having an original programmer. This may be obvious to some, but seeing as how he originally came from the story universe of the Transformers I’d always assumed he didn’t have one and was instead a sentient being much along the same lines as the Cybertronians. Sentient he is, obviously, but did he have a human programmer? I think that might be what’s hinted at here, but he killed them anyway so that’s all we’re getting for now.

Why? Well it would appear he was created as a rich man’s plaything, but knew he was destined for more. However, beyond that things are kept a mystery which I enjoy. These flashbacks all see him in his original body and given the timeline of events he must still be in his original gigantic form. After battling Unicron on the Planet of Junk he was zapped through time where he literally bumped into The Doctor who shrank him to human size before being zapped through time again and meeting Dragon’s Claws. These stories are then set sometime before his final story with the Robots in Disguise.

So a Game team called The Chain Gang discovered his remains and resurrected him in order to carry out a contract on someone. The member of their team tasked with this is called Spratt, the same Spratt we’d see in adverts for the comic across other Marvel titles. His own background is also a mystery, all we know is he’s a scavenger and thief and was able to track down the parts needed to repair Death’s Head’s body, make improvements and kit him out with a new set of clothes. Thankfully, his humour was still in good knick.

I particularly like the moment in one of his flashbacks where he disguises himself as a blonde-haired woman in a gangster’s local hairdressing salon and, among his recollections of all the chaos and violence, he laments the fact he had to give the wig back. Setting him up as a new lead comics character for both old and new readers alike, his sense of humour was always going to be key and thankfully this issue has it in spades.

His three stories all address different rules: always honour a contract but never trust a client, make no concessions for age, size or gender and never kill for free but it pays to advertise. All three of these are played out as mini-stories and work perfectly, especially the last one which sees him do something for free, but only because he’s about to go broke and the result of his advertising is a long list of clients eager to hire him after a display of prowess.

His office is the same we’ve seen before on the blog in the High Noon Tex strip advert and plays up to the old fashioned detective/ganster movies writer Simon Furman must’ve been such a fan of. He used these as an influence in part of the Matrix Quest epic in Transformers (on the planet Pz-zazz, although set way back in 1990) and the setting perfectly suits Death’s Head and his peace-keeping business, surrounded as he is by a world that is anything but peaceful but which he ignores unless paid.

I also love how the facade slips now and again, even within his own inner thoughts as he calls himself a bounty hunter before correcting his narration. For the uninitiated, he was very much a bounty hunter but hated the term and so called himself a ‘Freelance Peace-Keeping Agent’, and woe betide anyone who used the wrong description!

One thing that took me by surprise because I’d completely forgotten in the years since was the fact Geoff Senior, despite being co-creator of the character, wasn’t the regular artist on the series. Instead our penciller is Bryan Hitch (The Batman’s Grave, Hell’s Angel, The Transformers including Death’s Head final appearance) with inker Mark Farmer (Slaine, Excalibur, Doctor Who). Colouring the proceedings is Nick Abadzis (Rogue Trooper artist, Vector 13 writer, The Amazing Mr Pleebu creator), lettering is by Annie Halfacree (Knight Rider, 2000AD, Lion) and Richard Starkings is editing as always (Elephantmen, The Real Ghostbusters, Dragon’s Claws).

I’ll admit it took a while for me to get used to the new art style, so sure was I that Geoff would be the artist; the lack of jaggy edges and exaggerated facial expressions is disappointing initially, even though Bryan’s earlier work I’d seen in Transformers was more like that. Only initially though. The first chance the comic has of giving Death’s Head a different facial expression than the one people may assume is his only one (on the cover) I was sold! This happens on only the third page of the strip when he shushes someone he’s knocked unconscious, so I was sold pretty quickly.

His trademark speech patterns return too of course, yes? His ability to talk reasonably and calmly no matter what’s going on around him, almost like he’s enjoying the fact he can remain detached, remains too. I genuinely inwardly giggled when, in the last of these mini-stories, he takes out a robot much larger than him and for a moment his confidence waivers. Just for a moment.

The issue ends back in the world of Dragon’s Claws and Greater Britain as he finally begins to move his apparently non-functioning frame and punches out the member of The Chain Gang who had berated him. Shocked, Spratt asks him why he didn’t move before if he was able to, instead of leading them to believe something had gone wrong with his reconstruction. Death’s Head simply tells him he needed to order his thoughts, which is why we’ve been treated to these flashbacks.

Reliving these key moments from his (distant) past and running over his rules in his head were the perfect way to introduce him. Including the interludes we’ve been treated to four completely different scenarios, meaning the comic can formally begin his adventures quickly with a fully-fledged character in #2 rather than slowly introducing elements as the early issues proceed. It’s a good balance for a first issue, one which would appeal to new readers and those who already knew him. Of course, there’s more to him and the ongoing series, but this is a strong start.

Apart from catching glimpses of his new body (and clothing) in the interludes, the remainder of the issue sees him as we all knew him before now. As such, when the big reveal is made on the last page of the strip my initial reaction is that I much prefer the original look. I’ve a feeling it’ll grow on me though, because this is all about the character himself and he’s very much the same mechanoid he always was, I’m very happy to report.

I mentioned above the disappointment I felt when I found this issue amongst my pile of random comics in 1989, after its unfortunate cancellation with #10. I can remember that feeling like it was yesterday, so knowing I can finally read what I’ve been wanting to read for 35 years is bloody exciting! There’s no Next Issue promo but I’ve seen the cover (and nothing else) of the next edition on my shelf and I can’t wait for Sunday 3rd December 2023 when Death’s Head #2 sees him crossing back over into the world of Dragon’s Claws! Join me then, eh?

DRAGON’S CLAWS FiVE < > iSSUE TWO

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Comic Reviews, Dragon's Claws

DRAGON’S CLAWS #6: FAMiLY TiED

5 November 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

After the crossover story to help launch a brand new Marvel UK comic last month how can writer Simon Furman and his team of artist Geoff Senior, colourist Steve White and editor Richard Starkings hope to top that this month? What event could possibly follow what was surely an ‘event’ comic? Judging by the cover it appears to be the death of Tanya Dragon, that’s what!

Seen through a silhouette of Dragon’s head it’s a shocking front page for regular readers, with spurned ex-Game player and Dragon’s rival Deller holding her lifeless body, having killed her himself as per Stenson’s instructions last issue. But surely this is a huge spoiler? All of the build up and tension will be ruined somewhat by having what appears to be the resolution right there before we read a single page. As it turns out, not so much. However, that leads to another issue with this, erm, issue altogether. I’ll explain as we go.

The story begins showing Kurran as head of Shrine, a group who worship an ancient god with 82nd century technology. Once an almighty Game team before his brother was killed by Dragon in #1, now they’re out for revenge. But Kurran knows it wasn’t Dragon’s fault, that Deller paid his brother’s team to kill Dragon, knowing they’d be outmatched. Elsewhere the Claws are on their way to track down the Canadian Vigilante mentioned in #4’s Fastfax and we get to see them in some rare lighter moments which is a nice change of pace.

Once in the land of Ryan Reynolds it appears we’re going to finally get some background into Mercy, who seemed to be the most intriguing member of the team from the very first issue. She picks up a lead with something she finds at the scene of a killing but keeps it to herself. Back in Greater Britain (Norwich to be precise) Tanya and her family are toiling at their farm and she’s as determined as ever to lure her love back into retirement to be with her and their adopted son, Michael.

The story jumps about a lot over these first handful of pages and it appears there are a few different plots vying for position, then in a genuinely shocking moment we soon realise two of these are about to converge. Deller seethes about the job at hand outside Tanya’s home. He’s still going to go through with it though. His anger at how N.U.R.S.E. has sidelined him for Dragon lays the groundwork for the rest of this issue but unbeknownst to him the watcher is being watched.

Believing this to be Deller’s family home, Kurran assembles his team upon his position. With his brother dead, could this mean Shrine will also be aiming to take out who they mistakenly see as being Deller’s family? A little tension is back in the story. As a side note that woman in the previous issue’s promo is Clarity, a team member who fawns over Kurran and is by his side when they storm the house.

The next handful of pages are non-stop action and if it weren’t for that cover it’d be full of suspense. Deller simply asks Tanya if he can come in to discuss Dragon before pulling a gun on her, then just as he’s about to pull the trigger Saul the farmhand enters and saves her. Easily dispatched by Deller with several kicks to the head, another of his targets is more work than he bargained for.

While Michael may not be Dragon’s biological son (we find out here he’s Tanya’s and was adopted by Dragon when they married) he clearly has his fighting spirit. That is, until Deller flings him across the room and with a gun hovering over both him and his mum Tanya snaps! Michael asks why this man wants them dead and Tanya screams back that Deller is nothing but a “good little boy” doing what his superiors told him to do.

It’s a powerful moment. However, just as Deller realises the truth about himself and how far he has fallen, dropping his gun to the floor, the door explodes open. Shrine burst through, Kurran demanding vengeance upon his brother’s murderer. This confuses the hell out of Deller and catches him off guard but in an exciting moment he’s given a shot at fighting back from a surprising source.

It was at this moment I realised I was so caught up in this part of the story I hadn’t noticed that Dragon’s Claws themselves are the B-plot in their own comic. This isn’t a complaint. In fact, it cements what the comic has hinted at in previous issues, that if it had continued in the long term its story was going to encompass this whole world and its myriad of characters. It could’ve been both truly epic and deeply personal.

With a gun back in his hand Deller fights hard but a stray shot from Shrine hits Tanya and he suddenly finds himself worrying about the target he was sent to kill. He realises in order to save her he’s going to have to flee for now and jumps out of a window, injuring himself in the process. But unbeknownst to him Kurran believes Tanya, her father and Michael are Deller’s family, someone Kurran wants to hurt as much as possible.

As Tanya slips into unconsciousness she hears a member of the Game team announce Saul is dead and she realises she had loved him, that everything could’ve been fine if she’d reciprocated his feelings instead of trying to get Dragon back. This is the annoying bit though. Not the character beat, that’s a heartbreaking moment which adds to the drama, but the fact that the cover sells us a completely different outcome to this chapter.

I’m more thrilled by the development of Mercy’s story than the cliffhanger

With the way this has played out the exciting cover now feels like a cheap trick to lure potential readers into buying it, but none of it happens. Tanya is alive (I’m very happy with that by the way), Deller never killed her and Dragon was nowhere near the incident. This may not annoy anyone else but it’s a pet peeve of mine when modern comics do this. The overall story and in particular these several pages have made up for it though, this has been a great issue so far.

The story ends back with Mercy tracking down the Canadian Vigilante and the cliffhanger has the Claw plummeting to her apparent doom from a skyscraper. The vigilante is an apparent copycat, going after the same kind of elites Mercy killed before joining the team. Part of her wants to let her copycat get on with it, but she knows the ultimate outcome if someone doesn’t help her and stop her, like Dragon did for Mercy. I’m more thrilled by the development of Mercy’s story than the cliffhanger and I’m glad this looks like it’ll be the main plot next time.

The Reverend. P. Gunn humour strip has disappeared already and been replaced with a new fact-file series which naturally starts with the main character himself. It’s an interesting read that asks more questions and appears to set up lots of potential future plot lines. No knowledge of his parents, the mysterious tragedy that befell his sporting career and the Miami bloodbath that was the catalyst for withdrawing from The Game, all of these could be starting points for stories.

I did notice a familiar-sounding name there, one of their former teammates was named ‘Megaton’. A little nod at a certain other comic Simon was writing? Elsewhere in the issue the Fastfax on the editorial page also hints at things to come with a headline involving a famine in Moscow and news happening at a London Labour Camp! The future sounds oh-so 80s-dystopian. A quick flick to the back page would’ve been exciting for regular readers too.

Hopefully it’s just as exciting today for blog readers. I don’t just mean “today” in the general sense of the modern world, either. I actually mean today, the day this post is being published. That’s because #1 of Death’s Head’s own comic was also released on this date back in 1988, so later on today the first monthly review will also be up on the blog. Don’t forget to come back for that, yes?

With that #6 of Dragon’s Claws goes back upon the shelf and I catch a glimpse of the cover for #7 and a Dave Gibbons signature at the bottom, so that’s me already excited to take a closer look at the next issue, and that’s even before we catch up with Mercy inside. The next issue will be right here for you to check out on Sunday 3rd December 2023.

iSSUE FiVE < > iSSUE SEVEN

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Buster, OiNK Comic Reviews

OiNK! STARS iN BUSTER: A MiRTHFUL MERGE?

29 October 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

The following post was originally written for Sunday 22nd but was held back after the sad news of Tony Husband’s passing

In the review of OiNK #68 I began by describing how I discovered it was coming to an end and merging into the pages of Buster. I was absolutely gutted, not to mention confused. While over the next few years it felt I had a knack for collecting comics that would end up cancelled quickly, OiNK had been a big part of my life for what felt like a long time at that age. But Buster was weekly and a lot cheaper, maybe this could be the next best thing? Especially with these three OiNK characters making the transition?

So, after asking for my reserved copy of OiNK I went back to the shelves and picked up this issue of Buster. However, something (I don’t know what) stopped me from placing a regular order right there and then for a weekly dose of Pete and his Pimple, Tom Thug and Weedy Willy, despite the former two being favourites of mine. When I got home I decided to read Buster first. I wanted to be excited about something new, a new comic with four times the amount of Lew Stringer’s strips every month.

Despite the fact OiNK was a breath of fresh air in comparison to others, its humour speaking to me like no other humour comic, I was desperate not to say goodbye completely. Perhaps I’d really like Buster, maybe its humour had moved on in the few years since OiNK’s creation, maybe I’d reserve it and have a brand new weekly to look forward to with some faves included.

The fun front cover with the legendary Tom Paterson drawing our OiNK characters was a very positive start although I was initially disappointed they weren’t part of the Buster story that continued on to the back cover. However, the story is really good, Tom’s artwork elevating Mark Bennington’s already funny script to lofty heights with his crazy style, gorgeous (or in this case grotesque) details and of course his trademark smelly sock.

I was also initially a little jealous of Buster readers, who still had the same format as OiNK did in its Golden Age during the final months of 1987. Having said that, after reading this it felt like it had nowhere near the amount of reading material as those issues of OiNK had, nor did it take anywhere near as long to read. Our piggy publication crammed so much more content into the same 32 pages, so even though it was 7p more expensive a whole year before this 28p comic, OiNK was a real bargain!

Towards the back Buster welcomes any new readers making the pilgrimage over from Uncle Pigg’s comic at the top of his letters page with hopes that he can keep them laughing. Let’s see if his wish would come true and begin with a look at the three highlights we’re all here for, and no doubt the first three pages any pig pal would’ve read after that cover strip. First up is Pete Throb.

Pete and his Pimple keeps its title banner so initially everything seems normal, or at least as normal as an OiNK strip ever was. However, once we get going there’s a key difference that may not have sat well with long-time fans. Of course it’s an introductory strip in many regards, which is completely understandable and that’s not the problem here. Have a read of Pete’s first Buster page and see if anything pops out. Or rather, doesn’t.

Right up to that penultimate panel everything is as chaotic and funny as we’ve come to expect from Lew’s Pete, but then he lands on the burglars and squishes them, his pimple flattening for one panel and that’s it. Where’s the almighty explosion? Where are the vats of pus that would’ve stuck the thieves to the ground until the police arrived? Something key to Pete’s success in OiNK was missing. Nothing had been enforced upon Lew, he simply knew he couldn’t show a pimple bursting and covering everyone with pus in this comic.

He wasn’t the only one of Lew’s characters to see a change either. In the monthly OiNKs Tom Thug had made humour comics history by actually leaving school, applying for jobs and even signing on for unemployment benefits. But for Buster time was reversed and Tom became that mainstay of children’s humour comics, the eternal schoolboy. Not that this is a complaint of course, not with quality like this.

I’m surprised Tom knows the phrase “attaché-case”! This felt much more like an OiNK strip than Pete’s, although there was already one little change in that Satan the Cat would go unnamed from now on, ‘Satan’ not deemed appropriate anymore. Also, Tom would only ever look queasy if he felt like being sick, unlike the results we could see in OiNK! There was a reason behind the changes. These popular OiNK stars simply weren’t in OiNK anymore and had to adapt to their new surroundings.

As such, Pete’s pimple would largely go un-popped, Tom would never leave school for a setting the younger audience would better appreciate and his cat’s name would remain a secret for pig pals to keep. Would these changes be acceptable in the eyes of their fans? Well, there’s one more character to check in on first before I share what my opinion was upon reading this comic back in 1988.

Weedy Willy, originally created by Graham Exton, usually written by Mark Rodgers (as he is here) and always drawn by Mike Green needed the least changes in making the transition, although apparently he’s single again after he eventually began dating Dishy Mandy in the second OiNK Holiday Special. With hindsight there’s a moment here where he’s accused of being a pervert though, but we’ll put that down to this being inadvertent and 35 years ago.

All three of these strips were clearly introductory ones and below we’ll look at their next three instalments to see how they settled in, but for ten-year-old me it simply wasn’t enough to justify that slot in my comics list. I was only allowed a certain amount on order at once and Wildcat’s preview issue given away with the last OiNK was very tempting. But ultimately it came down to how I felt at the time about Buster.

I immediately thought, “What?! My OiNK has to end but they’ll start THIS?!”

In the last issue of OiNK Horace (Ugly Face) Watkins described it as “a breath of fresh air in the clichéd world of children’s comics” and apart from a few exceptions (the brill Buster strip, as well as fun with Ricky Rainbow, Ivor Lott and Tony Broke and X-Ray Specs) little was convincing me Buster was any different. Yes, it was a bit more random by this point, after a lot of mergers there wasn’t enough room every week for all the characters so some would pop in and out, but the majority of the humour felt old-fashioned compared to what I was used to. Then I saw this!

As a child this advert really didn’t help. Please remember: I was ten. I saw this and immediately thought words to the effect of, “What? My OiNK has to end but they’ll start THIS?!” The cover even looks unfinished, like it’s lots of bits of paper glued together. Reading this issue now there are some more smiles and laughs to be had but things like Nipper and Dad Mum are atrocious and don’t hold up to the test of time at all. The latter’s whole ‘funny’ scenario appears to be the fact the character is a single mum who likes to do things that apparently are ‘funny’ for a mum to do, like work, go out with friends and have fun! Outdated humour even for the 80s, surely.

Getting only 12 pages of OiNK strips a month wasn’t worth the reservation slot and so I moved over to Wildcat which itself was heartbreakingly short-lived. Until doing this blog I never purchased any more issues of Buster so I’m quite excited to have a look at some new Pete, Tom and Willy strips from the next three issues. OiNK’s title would only appear on these four issues in total and it was never called ‘Buster and OiNK’ like other mergers.

Most likely with WHSmith’s stupid attitude towards OiNK and placing it on the top shelves Fleetway didn’t want to risk that happening to their top title. Despite OiNK’s humour simply being cheeky (more in-line with the kids of the 80s) and the good moral messages it contained, to some groups this didn’t matter so perhaps the publisher wanted to play it safe. The Tom and Willy covers were drawn by Tom Paterson again, and Buster didn’t appear on the cover of the last one but there’s a funny story to tell about that inside, which we’ll get to below.

So let’s take a quick look at the remaining OiNK strips and first up are Pete’s. The first one reuses a joke from one panel of a sports issues of OiNK as a basis for the whole strip and as you can see in the next two we actually have pimples popping! Although, it bursts with much less of the sticky mess we found so funny and the result is shown only in silhouette, and his dog’s explodes more like a balloon filled with air than a pimple filled with pus.

Don’t get me wrong these are still fun but it does feel like the main selling point has been watered down somewhat. This isn’t a fault on the part of Lew, Pete was one of OiNK’s most popular characters so was an obvious choice for the merge in that regard. But the strips from OiNK just wouldn’t have been allowed in Buster, so maybe a different character should’ve been chosen in the end? (Although I’m not sure who would’ve been more suitable.)

I can see why Pete was brought over. However, with an even younger audience how many readers could identify with a spotty teenager? As such the strips feel sanitised and that’s completely the wrong feeling for Pete and his Pimple. Tom fares much better. Yes, the writing on the back of the t-shirt at the end of the first strip below seems tame by OiNK standards but by all counts these are classic Tom through and through.

That slip in the middle strip caught me completely off guard and I’ll admit I snorted with laughter at that one! Also nice to see the little extras we sometimes got at the bottom of Tom’s strips have made the pilgrimage to Buster with his woodworking masterpieces. Taking Tom back to school was an obvious choice. Unfortunately many children come across a bully or two in their lives, but Tom could prepare them by showing the true identity of all bullies. As such, he feels just as much at home here as he did with Uncle Pigg and the rest.

As for Willy, you can see below he’s back to asking Dishy Mandy out but at least it has a happy ending for once. (Actually, given how they just suddenly appeared as a couple in OiNK I’m going to say this is how they actually got together.) In OiNK Willy would sometimes use his weediness to his advantage but we haven’t seen that here yet. No pun is intended but these are some of his weakest entries I’ve seen to date, and I’m not sure if it’s because they’ve been simplified back to what they were at the very beginning or not.

So what happened next? Willy would disappear completely after a few months and even the mighty OiNK megastar Pete would follow suit about six months after the merge (although he did cross over into regular character Thunderclap’s strip). As I said I don’t know if many Buster readers would’ve appreciated him as much as pig pals did. Tom was another story altogether though. He became one of Buster’s most popular characters and would remain in the comic all the way until its ultimate cancellation in 2000.

Lew created brand new weekly instalments for Tom all the way until 1996, over 400 strips in total for the brainless bully over ten years. He even made the cover on occasion, taking the place of title character Buster himself, proving Tom’s popularity with readers of both the 80s and the 90s. Even to this day, anyone who has dealt with online trolls will still get a kick out of the Tom Thug strips.

“We’ll try and make things easy for your first week, Mike!”
Buster to artist Mike Lacey

I’ll finish things off with a Buster strip from the issue with X-Ray Specs on the cover. Tom Paterson took a break for a couple of weeks (given the amount he squeezed into his pages it’s understandable!) and instead Mike Lacey drew the character. Brilliantly, this is also the basis for the plot. I love it when a comics character acknowledges they’re inside a comic and here Buster and Delbert decide to help Mike by having everyone on their best (and easiest to draw) behaviour.

This reads like a practical joke from writer Mark Bennington to Mike so I asked Mark about it. However, he wrote literally hundreds of scripts so it’s only understandable that he can’t recall a specific one, but he did tell me, “It seems to follow my slow build up to a twisted chaotic end style which I liked to do. Sometimes the editor Allen Cummings gave me a couple of sentences on subject matter to follow for the coming issue and I put up a script idea based on that.” Like all of Mark’s work for Buster it’s a brilliant piece of writing and there’s a ton of his work in the Tom Paterson book which will be getting reviewed here soon.

There we go, that’s our look at the beginning of the Buster/OiNK merge complete. The amount of brand new (to me) Tom strips still out there to read makes an attempt to collect them all very tempting. Expensive, but tempting. And that’s not including the fact Specky Hector would return with a multi-part guide to comics after his very funny one in OiNK, and Lew would also draw Vampire Brats, scripted by OiNK co-editor Mark Rodgers. There are some key moments from those years I’ll definitely be covering on the blog though so keep your eyes peeled for those further down the line. Beyond that, you never know…

Don’t forget Pete, Tom and Willy star in the second OiNK! Book and you’ll see if they’re included in the highlights on Christmas Day 2023.

iSSUE 68 < > OiNK! BOOK 1989

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OiNK! #68: HiNDMOST HOG

29 October 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

The following post was originally written for Sunday 22nd but was held back after the sad news of Tony Husband’s passing

Co-editor Patrick Gallagher has a vague recollection of OiNK #68 being held back a bit to better coincide with the publication of the first merged Buster comic. It was definitely a week late when this issue arrived in my local shop in Northern Ireland. Now on rare occasions a comic could be a day or two later getting over here (or up to the farthest areas of Scotland). According to some in England I’ve spoken to in research for this post they recall receiving their #68s on the Thursday or Friday so this seems to track. When it finally did arrive few of us were prepared for what it contained (unless you had read the previous week’s Buster.)

I certainly wasn’t aware of the merge at the time so, in the early evening of Saturday 22nd October 1988 as the cold, dark night drew in I ran to the newsagent just before dinner for the umpteenth time that week to (hopefully) buy what I thought would be the latest issue. As always, before going to the counter to ask for my reserved copy, I scanned my eyes over the comics shelves. I saw the piggy pink logo… twice. I could see Pete, Tom and Willy peering out at me from behind the new issue of OiNK! What was this?

For a second I thought it was some kind of promotional thing. After all, this and the other comics I’d begun collecting by this stage were all still going strong and those my brother or friends read seemed to last forever, such as Beano, Transformers, Roy of the Rovers etc. I’d never seen a comic cancelled before and after two very happy years I just assumed OiNK would go on and on too. It was my first comic, so I didn’t know this kind of thing happened!

I picked up a copy of OiNK from the shelf, its gorgeous Frank Sidebottom cover (one of my favourites of the whole run) in all its glory and I noticed the banner across the top which soon gave the game away. Surely this couldn’t mean what I was beginning to think it meant? I began flicking through it to see if there was any indication inside and lo-and-behold on page four where the letters page would normally be was a message from Uncle Pigg, drawn by Michael Peek.

My heart sank. Our esteemed editor may have been cheery at the prospect of an early retirement and he tried to keep his loyal readers chirper with the news of the Buster merge, the already-released second annual and the promise of a holiday special the following year (a lifetime away for a ten-year-old), but that wasn’t enough as far as I was concerned. So as I went to ask for my last reserved OiNK I also picked up a Buster, hoping for the best. You can read all about what happened with that in its own post also published on the blog today.

Now, 35 years later as an adult this message is all the more heartbreaking because this is actually the best of the monthly OiNKs by far. There’s not a single reprint in sight, the team using up what they could of the leftover material they’d have kept for the following issues. Plus we had our 12th free gift! Stapled to the middle pages was a tiny 16-page preview of Wildcat, so I really came back from the shop with three different comics. The gift was a welcome surprise actually, as the cancellation had distracted me from the news of it on the cover.

OiNK began with IPC Magazine’s first preview comic, so now 68 issues later it felt like things had come full circle. In fact, I’ve described before how this felt like OiNK passing the baton which, after I read this superb freebie, I was more than willing to let Wildcat take up. This was particularly welcome after Buster disappointed me, so something good had come out of this after all, just not in the way I’d initially hoped. Wildcat was a superb comic and I’ve already covered it on the blog, where you’ll find a full review of this freebie.

On page two was a small note that the regular Wildcat comic would have pages the same size as OiNK’s, even though this was mentioned on the back of the preview. Alongside it our final issue starts off strong with some cracker (no pun intended, really) mini-strips such as Kev F Sutherland’s take on another Rotten Rhyme and the first of this issue’s Wally of the West strips by the always funny Ed McHenry.

Only a few of the contributions mention the fact this is the final issue, while a couple more don’t reference it directly but clearly knew it was the end. For example, Chris Sievey’s Frank Sidebottom doesn’t say anything about it but does sign off with details of where readers could see him on TV, listen to him on the radio or meet him in person before saying thanks and that he’ll see everyone soon. Which he did, as he never seemed to be off children’s television at the time.

Taking over a double-page spread Frank really does squeeze in as much as he possibly can into a strip about his school days. There are no less than 33 individual panels across just two pages! Not only that, look at the amount he draws into each of these tiny little rectangles, such as his mum’s kitchen floor, cooker and sink when all he needed to show us was him running out the door. Also, before you read this if you have a pair of old fashioned 3D glasses please do try them on at a certain point here and let me know how you get on! Haha.

We all knew that despite Frank being a superstar he still lived at home with his mum so I love the ending which, intentionally or not, is a callback to an earlier episode of Frank’s which referred to him going to bed at 9 despite being an adult. Having the final caption as a never-ending cycle back to the beginning feels like the perfect way for him to wrap up the final regular contribution to OiNK he crafted.

From one OiNK star to two at once. Two cartoonists decided to create something similar to each other’s, a visual gag only achievable in this medium and one where OiNK was the perfect place to try it. So Charlie Brooker’s Freddie Flop and Brian Luck return for their final appearances and, suitably for the last issue, the randomly-appearing Mr Plinge returns for one last time and with a twin sister in tow alongside (or rather above) a one-off Mr Girth.

Placed nowhere near each other in the issue, the joyous surprise at seeing the same gag played out after enjoying it so much the first time is a delight. It reminds me of my embarrassing moment in the hospital waiting room when I discovered a second Herbert Bowes strip in the first OiNK Holiday Special! Thankfully this time I was reading alone.

For their final regular attempt to extort as much money as possible from people the gangsters at GBH pulled out all the stops with a middle-page spread of the ultimate luxury in holiday travel, on a cruise. Thomas Crook was a name used already by Simon Thorp in previous Madvertisements but this is surely the funniest of the lot. I love the sheer audacity to list off all of the gags! This kept me giggling for a good while in both 1988 and 2023 and is one of my favourite GBH entries from the entire series. Please take your time and savour every little bit of this one.

My favourite parts of this have to be the lifeboat drill, the scales, the ship’s “washing machines”, where the food is served, the stabilisers(!) and best of all the fact that this isn’t a cutaway, it’s noted that the ship itself actually has a huge hole along its side. Simon’s Madverts were always so packed with little sight gags for us to find and I love how his last one labels them all, making sure no one misses a single one. Still a regular Viz contributor to this day, I’m really going to miss his OiNK pages.

#68 is a fitting, funny and fantastic send off

Fittingly, one of the pages that mentions this is the final issue is co-editor Tony Husband’s Horace (Ugly Face) Watkins in which he laments the end of the comic (as do watching aliens) before he and Mandy decide to cheer up by getting married. Tom Thug’s strip begins with him telling us he’s received some terrible news and we think it’s about OiNK, but actually he’s just been offered a job. A job he ultimately fails at on day one, naturally.

Children’s television presenter and artist Tony Hart and his plasticine pal Morph are the subject of a spoof in the shape of The Amazing Adventures of Murph and in a three-page Pete and his Pimple strip he’s daydreaming about being a superhero called Zit Man. Thankfully his arch nemesis Mister Squeeze trips over his own words, quite literally, in the nick of time and falls into his own death trap. Ingenious stuff.

**Horace Watkins** by *Tony Husband*
**Tom Thug** by *Lew Stringer*
**Adventures of Murph** written by *Charlie Brooker*,
drawn by *Ed McHenry*
**Pete and his Pimple** by *Lew Stringer*

Of course it wasn’t the end for two of these characters, however it’s rather strange there’s no Weedy Willy strip in this final issue when he’d join Pete and Tom in Buster.

Meanwhile, Kev F Sutherland must’ve created a lot of content for forthcoming issues because it appears it’s all been collected together here. Just like Ian Jackson and Jeremy Banx before him, Kev’s work is synonymous with OiNK in my eyes and here he has eight strips in total to his name across a whopping ten pages. His Meanwhile… series was always a highlight so I couldn’t let this issue go without including at least one, and it’s one which got a memorable roar of laughter out of me at ten-years-of-age.

It seems if OiNK were to continue one of Kev’s Three Scientists from #66 was going to be making an Alfred Hitchcock-esque cameo in every issue. Did you spot him above? In this issue Kev brings us not only this and the Rotten Rhyme above but also his take on Jack & Jill and Who Killed Cock Robin?, spoofs of 80s car commercials and weather forecasts, and last but by no means least the brilliantly titled The Plop Factory – The Studios of Britain’s top record producers Sock, Bacon and Waterworks.

The final strip I’m going to show you (although not the final image) from all 68 regular OiNKs should really be a large, multi-page affair, shouldn’t it? Some big, grand gesture to round things off with. Nope. One of the biggest laughs in this issue comes from a tiny little quarter-page strip of Ed McHenry‘s Wally of the West. A simply perfect example of the mini-strips crammed into each issue and how OiNK could generate a ton of laughs from content of all shapes and sizes.

With a lack of Uncle Pigg or the plops and very few pig-themed strips and spoofs, would new readers to OiNK Monthly have been confused as to why the comic had the name it did? However, for seasoned pig pals such as myself these final six issues have each been mammoth specials crammed full of content, with the bonus of some bigger than usual entries for a handful of our favourites. So if you ever hear a pig pal rubbish these monthlies, I say they should really reconsider them, especially #68 which is a fitting, funny and fantastic send off.

There’s a ton of OiNK content to come on the blog over the next few years at least, I promise

But unfortunately a send off it is. Fleetway’s well-intentioned reboot hadn’t had the effect they’d wished for, but by no means were OiNK’s sales plummeting as much as some have commented. As co-editor Patrick Gallagher recently told me sales were down across the board and OiNK’s were by no means the worst. But with Fleetway having now forced two revamps they called time on the comic, although it wouldn’t be the last to fall as they continued to chip away at the titles they’d purchased from IPC.

If OiNK had continued in its best format as a fortnightly under IPC, who were very happy with the sales figures and the press coverage it was creating for them as a publisher, could it have lasted longer? Perhaps. We’ll never know. For now this final issue wraps up with the first of a new series. Judging by the old OiNK logo this was created by Michael Peek when it was still a weekly and, with this being the last page (save for a Fleetway Annuals advert on the back) Patrick added a little sign-off gag with the speech balloon.

This is by no means the end of OiNK on its own blog! There’s a wealth of extra features for our favourite comic already on here and a ton of OiNK content to come over the next few years at least, I promise. Actually, the read through itself isn’t even finished yet with four more editions to come over the next two years and yes, I’m going to make you wait for each of them, just as I have to wait until their real time release dates to read them. The first of these will be The OiNK! Book 1989’s review which will be published on Christmas Day 2023. Perfect anarchic post-dinner laughs, I think.

Now, I wonder what happened to Uncle Pigg on that tropical island…

iSSUE 67 < > BUSTER MERGE

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COMiNG UP: OiNK! #68

28 October 2023 Phil Boyce Leave a comment

The following post was originally written for Thursday 19th but was held back after the sad news of Tony Husband’s passing

Back in #60 of OiNK the reservation coupon held a hint that changes were afoot, a hint that would only be picked up on with hindsight. Likewise, looking back on last month’s issue the same coupon told a tale by its very absence, replaced as it was by one for 2000AD. At the time we had no idea what was about to happen. Well, unless you also collected Buster and had seen the news up to seven days beforehand. Instead, for us the next issue was all about that Frank Sidebottom cover!

I love Frank’s (Chris Sievey) retort when Little Frank asks him if he was ever small like him and the little bit of extra information about when we could pick up our copy on the day (albeit the issue actually came out between five and seven days later, more on that in the review). Having Frank on the cover meant his strip was to be the main highlight of the next big, fat porker of a monthly OiNK and as a kid I couldn’t wait! You can see what all the hype was about and if it was justified (it was) on Sunday 22nd October 2023.

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