This coming Monday on the blog the beautiful comic hosts the beautiful game. (People actually call football that, right?) Three issues down and OiNK was the comic everyone was talking about. Don’t believe me? Don’t just take my word for it, here’s an advertisement from that week’s Whizzer and Chips as proof! (Thanks to pig pal Simon Bromley for sharing this)
Co-editor Patrick Gallagher‘s renditions of Tom Thug, Street-Hog Hi-Fat and Harry the Head joined his own creation, Head Banger to tell readers all about the World Cup Special in this ‘Next Issue’ panel from #3. If you’re wondering what the chicken man is doing here then you clearly didn’t read the review for the third issue.
The coming issue also contains my personal favourite page of OiNK out of the comic’s entire lifespan! So make sure you don’t miss out by subscribing to the blog or checking for updates on the various social media, then be here on Monday 14th June2021.
Appearing mainly in later issues of OiNK, Scottish cartoonist Kev F Sutherland (known simply as ‘Kev F‘ in the comic) made quite the impression with his first published work. He went on to contribute to everything from Beano to Doctor Who Adventures via Toxic and Red Dwarf Magazine, and today performs as The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre and teaches masterclasses on creating comics in schools across the country.
As you can see the end result was guaranteed to be anything but mundane. Each story would be set up in a similar way; a simple, quite plain setting soon spirals out of control towards a hilarious final panel. Always energetic and containing a great gag Kev himself mirrors his work, and its this enthusiasm that’s at the heart of his brand new podcast, Comic Cuts: The Panel Show.
“Every episode, the guests reveal a panel from a comic, we try and guess where it’s from, then we chat about it. Half an hour later hopefully we’ve learned something, or just shown off and had fun along the way.”
Kev F Sutherland
The premise is both original and wonderful. In each episode two guests bring along a favourite panel from a comic. It could be any comic from any genre, any publisher, any title and from any year. The other guest has to describe it to the listener, who then tries to work out if they can identify the comic it came from. Kev and the guest describing the panel are trying to work it out too and the banter along the way is always funny.
At the time of writing a handful of episodes are available and all are as enjoyable as each other, whether you’re familiar with the contributors or not. Episode one has Kev discussing panels chosen by writer, comedian and historian Iszi Lawrence (Netflix‘s The Lost Pirate Kingdom, BBC Radio 4‘s Making History) and comedian Doug Segal.
In episode two the guests are Manga artist Sonia Leong (Marie Curie: A Graphic History of the World’s Most Famous Female Scientist, Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived) and Beano artist Nigel Parkinson (Dennis, Bash Street Kids, as well as Thunderbirds The Comic and Stingray). Then Resident Alien co-creator Peter Hogan (also 2000AD and The Sandman Presents) and comedian & actor Bethany Black are the third episode’s guests. Quite the start.
Kev brings an unbridled sense of joy to the proceedings
Two of my favourite guests so far have been Beano‘s Nigel Auchterlounie (far too many Beano and The Dandy strips to count, including Dennis) and Laura Howell (Minnie the Minx, The Bizarre Adventures of Gilbert & Sullivan). OiNK’s very own David Leach also pops in, joined by Laura Watton, a renowned Manga-inspired artist and the chemistry between the three makes for some genuinely hilarious moments. Their episode features a Manga comic book series which sounds really fascinating and a panel from one of the most famous British cartoonists of all time. I just wish it had lasted longer than 30 minutes!
Listening to Laura describe the panel David brought is a real highlight. Her laughs and giggles at each new little detail she uncovers upon closer inspection brought a huge grin to my face. Kev himself brings an unbridled sense of joy to the proceedings and to say things can get rather crazy at times may sound like a cliché but that doesn’t make it any less true. I mean, are you expecting anything less from that man below?
To quote Kev, “Happiness is lining up guests for my new comics-based podcast. Tomorrow I start recording with guests you won’t believe. I’m looking at their CVs and we’ve got everything from Beano to Netflix, from Radio 4 to Channel 4. One guest drew the cover of a Kaiser Chiefs record and another was in a Fairy Liquid advert directed by Ken Loach. When they were five. I’ve got a mixture of comic creators and comedians (and RSVPs from a couple of invitees I thought would never say yes, and I’m blown away that they have). I hope this podcast works and I can get round to getting all these guests on it, cos they’re amazing.”
From the initial episodes I’d say it’s working very well indeed Kev. The format lends itself to a long-running series and I hope this will be the case. It certainly deserves to be a success. Kev seemed to announce it and then have the first episodes up within days, then to have so many more people recorded and their episodes in the bag so quickly just shows the dedication he’s putting into his new project.
Comic Cuts: The Panel Show is available now on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts and you can also check out Kev’s official website right here.
Lew Stringer is synonymous with OiNK thanks to his creations Tom Thug, Pete and his Pimple and Pigswilla alongside a multitude of one-off strips and the scripts for Ham Dare, Pig of the Future. I remember Lew being everywhere back in the 80s, popping up in my Transformers and The Real Ghostbusters comics as well as a slew of other titles. But before all this he’d created a certain smelly little troll by the name of Derek whose comic collection is available to buy again thanks to a second printing.
Derek the Troll was originally created in 1984 for a competition in the role-playing magazine Warlock. He may not have been the winning entry but the editors liked him so much he became a regular strip in every issue. When it folded Derek made the transition to White Dwarf for a few issues before he was retired in 1987. He made a return for the book You Are the Hero in 2013 and then most recently in digital comic Goof, the last issue of which was never released so hopefully we’ll get to see the conclusion to that story in the future.
So who is Derek? Well, in the world of role-playing games the trolls are a breed of character generally overlooked as grunts in bigger battles, cannon fodder for the enemy. Think vile, smelly, disgusting versions of pawns in chess. To quote Lew, Derek is “a likeable troll with obnoxious habits”, which sounds like a character OiNK fans can get behind. The strips are highly imaginative, given the almost limitless scope of the tabletop games universes he’s meant to be set in.
Sometimes Derek is downtrodden, sometimes he gets the upper hand, so you never know where each tale is headed. There are more fun monster designs, plenty of puns, a rhyming strip, a make-your-own-adventure strip and loads of genuine laughs. Included are all of Derek’s stories from the aforementioned magazines, the 2013 book and even the original story sent in as part of that competition, which sees print here for the first time.
But that’s not all. As noted on the cover, the complete run of a character called Rock Solid is alsoincluded and right at the back of the comic you’ll even find a little bit of Combat Colin.
Rock Solid is an egotistical, self-centred space hero whose ego is a lot more evident than any actual talent. Lew explains how Rock was difficult to write as he was deliberately created to be unlikeable, yet the readers had to enjoy the strip and want to see more. It’s a delicate balance and I think it works, even if by the end you’re hoping he’ll get his comeuppance. Does he? You’ll have to buy the comic to find out.
Rock Solid was created for early 80s independent comic Swift Sure and all five chapters of the story are present here, fifteen pages in total. Just as we’d later see with Combat Colin every week in the pages of Transformers, Lew’s ability to create enjoyable villains has always been strong. The gross Lucas Mucus is the highlight here and you can see him channelling his inner Tom Thug above. He’s a mutated human ruling over the gross alien race, the Grots. On this following page we’re introduced to their very alien language and the need for reader translations.
Rounding off the package are two half-page Combat Colin strips. This was originally released before Colin’s own series began, four issues of which have been published at the time of writing. Unfortunately, the website host of Lew’s online shop closed down a while back and his comics have been unavailable. But he’s now selling again through his own eBay seller’s page, starting with Derek’s comic.
Derek the Troll has 32 pages in total on very high quality paper with card covers and two pictures cards of Derek and Colin are also included. There’s an interesting editorial and under each strip you’ll find the original dates of publication and little snippets of information from Lew about each. All of this is only £6.50 including postage at the time of writing. It comes bagged and boarded, posted in a card-backed envelope to keep it safe in the post and every issue will be signed on the inside. So if you haven’t bought any of Lew’s independent comic releases yet make sure you start now with your own copy of Derek the Troll, then keep an eye on the blog for reviews of the other titles as they become available again.
To finish with, here’s a brilliant little sequence from the top of Derek’s final appearance in White Dwarf magazine. The magazine’s editors loved him but apparently opinion amongst readers was divided, so Lew decided to concentrate on his OiNK and Transformers work instead. I think this is a hilarious response!
I have a little personal story about this issue I’d like to share. I started collecting OiNK with #14 and some time after that I was at my cousin’s house when he gave me a couple of his back issues. One of these was #3. I remember coming back downstairs from his bedroom and sitting next to my late nanny, who looked at the cover. I didn’t know how she would react and was delightfully surprised when she giggled and gave me a little wink.
It’s just one very happy memory I associate with this comic and I’ll share more as we go along. My nanny’s giggle was completely justified with Tony Husband‘s cover and its bare piggy bottoms, which actually wraps around to the back page and its explanation for the image. I always loved a good wraparound cover on a comic. Marvel UK were very good at them and while this one isn’t advertised as such (the poster mentioned on the cover refers to a Star Wars spoof inside) it would make for a funny addition to the wall.
This is the first of the themed editions, which over the course of the majority of the fortnightly issues would include everything from traditional Hallowe’en and Christmas themes to music, health, families, war, revenge, love… the list goes on. It added another original element to OiNK and made each individual issue a unique experience. In the early issues editor Uncle Pigg and critic Mary Lighthouse would often introduce the theme, mostly written by Mark Rodgers and drawn by Ian Jackson.
I wonder if Colin Baker ever saw himself drawn in Ian’s style? This wouldn’t be the last time The Sixth Doctor would influence Uncle Pigg but that’s a story for a future issue so you’ll just have to be patient. Mary’s TARDIS pops up on the Grunts page as she desperately tries to phone the operator before reappearing in her own strip near the end of the comic. But she wasn’t the only character to materialise throughout the issue.
Next up is undoubtedly the star strip of the issue. Boldly going where no photo story had gone before, the OiNK team were really pushing the boundaries of what they could achieve with the format, the characters literally bursting out of the panels and running amok throughout the comic. My original exposure to Star Truck was with the sequel story in the first OiNK Book, which was even more chaotic! Here, in only the third issue, the imagination of the OiNK team is on full display.
Our cast is made up of Mark Rodgers as Captain Slog, PatrickGallagher as Sock, Marc Riley as Jock and Tony Husband under the chicken mask as the alien, Jerm. Can you imagine the fun these guys had creating this? Imagine this being part of your job! Jerm would make his escape and pop up in various other strips, a few examples of which I’ve included below.
First though, prolific IPC Magazines comics writer Graham Exton was also part of the creative team behind OiNK and contributed many stories and countless amounts of puns. The first full strip of his I’m showing is the first appearance of regular nutball Roger Rental, He’s Completely Mental, as drawn by local Northern Ireland artist Ian Knox.
Roger was always a favourite of mine. Most of the time he’d appear in quarter-page strips like this one, each with an innocuous beginning, only for Roger to take the meaning of something completely the wrong way. Roger would appear in most of the fortnightly issues before disappearing when the comic turned weekly. But that’s still a lot of short, sharp gags and he would never disappoint.
Turning the page and discovering an OiNK version of your favourite cartoon or toy was always a thrill
There are so many highlights within the pages of this issue it’s been difficult to select just a few for review purposes. They include Billy’s Brain, a story about a young boy who inherits his genius uncle Vincent’s sentient brain and together they outwit the thieves wishing to use his knowledge for their own nefarious needs. Burp the Smelly Alien‘s page makes a bold impact with its use of one colour (and check out that final panel gag), the Star Truck crew pop up in Horace (Ugly Face) Watkins, Ian Jackson‘s depiction of penguins is a highlight of The Golden Trough Awards and Maggie Pie, Collector of Weird Things goes on a wig collecting spree.
Billy’s Brain by David Haldane Burp by Jeremy Banx Horace Watkins by Tony Husband Golden Trough Awards written by Tony Husband, drawn by Ian Jackson Maggie Pie written by Tony Husband, drawn by Clive Collins
The comic never shied away from spoofing all the things its readers loved. Ghostbusters, He-Man, James Bond and more would all end up getting the OiNK treatment. Turning the page to an OiNK version of your favourite cartoon or toy was always a thrill, a bit like seeing your favourite celebrities on Spitting Image. One franchise they were quick to latch on to was Hasbro‘s Transformers.
Central to this particular take was the simple idea these robots could disguise themselves as anything, and I do mean anything. Everyone remembers the toys transforming into cars and airplanes but there were also guns, stereo systems, cassettes and all manner of original ideas. OiNK took this concept and ran with it.
The Transformoids is gloriously illustrated by Ralph Shephard whose style I distinctly remember, mainly because he’d give the same treatment to Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends which I was a fan of at the time. So it’s surprising to discover he only contributed to nine issues in total. But such was the impact of his work he was still a highlight of the entire run.
The Transformers would also be the subject of a Madvertisement much later in the run but this is my favourite take on the Robots in Disguise. The ludicrously giant robots appearing out of the flimsiest of objects reminds me of being puzzled, even as a kid, as to how Decepticon leader Megatron could transform from giant robot into a gun held by his comrades in the cartoon. It never made sense to me, but it ended up giving us this delightful, genuinely hilarious spoof so I’ll forgive it.
The inhabitants keep their animal instincts, insights and best of all their appetites
Time to take a trip to a town that sounds just lovely but in reality is one you may wish to avoid. First though, just above it is a quick pun from Tony Husband in the ongoing Star Truck chase sequence.
Zootown sounds innocent enough and on the surface this looks like a strip you could find in any other comic; a town where the residents go about their daily lives and who just so happen to be animals. But this is OiNK, so of course there’s going to be a twist in the tale. Here, the inhabitants keep their animal instincts, insights and best of all their appetites.
The creatures were never given names as far as I remember so every issue we were seeing different random inhabitants, but each species would act in specific ways with each other. The carnivores would often get the upper paw, terrifying the little docile animals, but thankfully I don’t think they were ever on the buffet menu. Of course, I could be wrong but there always seemed to be some kind of strange friendship there.
“We knew you’d come this way, so we took a shortcut through the staples!”
Captain Slog, Star Truck
This episode may not have that particular aspect of the ongoing series but it’s still the perfect example of the daft humour we’d enjoy every time. Zootown felt like such a richly populated place even though we saw so little of it each issue, such was the talent of its creator David Haldane.
Before we finish off with the final part of our space saga we’re joined by Albert Einswine and his fascinating Science Facts for Simpletons.
Any excuse for some more Ian Jackson artwork, right? I’ve included it for more than just the art, obviously. It’s a genuinely funny read and sums up how unpredictable the humour in OiNK could be, in particular in these little one-off additions to every issue. Ludicrous stuff.
Speaking of which, we’ve made it to the last page so it’s time to rein in Jerm once and for all as we conclude the first outing for the crew of the Enterpies with Star Truck: The Final Chapter. What I love the most here is the fact they’re self-aware of being inside the pages of a comic. From the reference to it being on page 31, to the shortcut through the staples taken by the Captain and his men, the daftness doesn’t let up for one panel. Check out the cardboard tube/tennis racquet gun, elaborated upon with some quick hand drawn lines.
A brilliant, genuinely very funny strip the likes of which you just wouldn’t have seen anywhere else. As the comic continues the photo stories become more elaborate but never losing their cheap and cheerful feel, never forgetting they’re taking the hand out of those in other comics and magazines which were trying (often failing) to look serious and professional.
Star Truck would return in The Oink! Book 1988 and that’s when I first met the crew. Somehow the sequel is even funnier, again taking place across several other pages but in the much bigger book format there was more scope for what they could do with the idea.
That’s us all done for another fortnight, at least as far as OiNK reviews go anyway. There’s always more going on here on the OiNK Blog so make sure you keep up to date on the latest additions by subscribing or by keeping an eye on the social media feeds. OiNK #4, the World Cup ’86 issue will be here Monday 14th June2021.
This Monday sees the third issue of OiNK up for review right here, and it may be going where others comics have gone before but have they ever dared bare their bottoms to a vacuum? The first of the regular themes that would grace almost every fortnightly issue is space, bringing with it possibly the greatest photo story action epic to ever grace the page, Star Truck! Come back to see Mark Rodgers as Captain Slog, Patrick Gallagher as Sock, Marc Riley as Jock and Tony Husband as the evil alien chicken Jerm.
Promo by Patrick Gallagher
Anyone with memories of those characters won’t want to miss this. So come back on Monday 31st May2021 for #3 of OiNK, apparently “The Cheekiest Comic in the Universe”. Who am I to disagree?
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