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OiNK Media Coverage

OiNK: A SHORT TAiL

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As announced in the post introducing OiNK’s 40th anniversary , the funniest comic ever created is getting its very own documentary. It’ll be a short film, running to 15-20 minutes but aims to pack as much as possible into its runtime. The people behind it are Claire Bend and Rob Reed of Bread and Butter Films, who reached out to me last summer in their research of OiNK, and to ask if I’d like to be filmed for it too!

Our original Zoom chat may have been hampered by an audio-only link (thanks to my home internet) but we chatted at length and had a great laugh along the way. I was confident OiNK was in safe hands as they began to talk to some of its contributors throughout the rest of the year. Originally, I had planned to make the trip to England to see them but unfortunately in the end I just couldn’t. But that didn’t stop Claire and Rob, who were determined to include me in the film.

So, a couple of weeks ago I found myself very excitedly setting up part of my living room for another call (this time with a faster connection and video intact). Surrounded by my favourite comic (and my phone camera precariously held up by anything I could find) I had a great time discussing all things OiNK. Claire and Rob are a joy to chat to and I can’t wait to see the finished film.

While I can’t give too much away yet about what I know, I did ask if I could turn the tables on them for the blog. I’m pleased to say the bribes worked, so here are both Claire and Rob to tell you all about an honest-to-gosh OiNK short film you’ll get to see later this year! Enjoy.

OiNK Blog: What attracted you to OiNK as a possible documentary subject?

Claire Bend: I have a long list of ideas for films that no one will pay me to make, and OiNK had been on there for a while. I’d done some work for Lakes International Comic Festival and came to realise that a lot of the creators of OiNK had gone on to do other brilliant, interesting things. And as I began to mention OiNK to more people, I began to see that it had a real cultural impact. Rob and I had met through work and on some long car journeys to filming locations we’d chatted about the idea and both thought, if no one else is making it, I suppose we should. 

Rob Reed: Claire used to work at a creative agency I sometimes freelance with and getting to know each other through those chats we discovered we shared a similar taste in films, music, hobbies etc. and comics was one of them. I grew up a huge comics fan in Essex but it was so hard to get anything from the local newsagent that wasn’t the Beano or the odd Marvel comic. OiNK wasn’t on my radar at the time but since making the film I realised that I did recognise some of the covers from the comics shop I used to have to travel to in the nearby town. I was a huge fan of Round The Bend which the same creators went on to make for TV so it was brilliant making that connection. When Claire was telling me all about OiNK, its origins and her passion for it, I knew it would make a great subject for a documentary. As a filmmaker I’m a huge believer of just getting started on something that interests you and see where it leads. Thankfully the journey with this so far has been one of the most enjoyable experiences yet for something I’ve worked on. Also there are hardly any documentaries on British comics and it’s a hugely overlooked part of British pop culture. 

OB: So what we all really want to know is which OiNK contributors can we expect to hear from?

Rob: We were so glad to spend time with and interview Patrick Gallagher [above – Phil] the sole remaining member of the original trio as Mark [Rodgers] and Tony [Husband] have both sadly passed away. There’s Lew Stringer [below] and David Leach [he and Helen Jones can be seen further below] alongside a few other contributors. I’m really pleased we hear from Laura Howell who was a huge OiNK fan growing up and then went on to be the first regular female artist to draw for the Beano and Viz. 

Claire: Loads! But there are so many we haven’t interviewed (yet) because Rob keeps telling me we only have 15 minutes and I have to stop now. We haven’t spoken to [Jeremy] Banx or Ian Jackson for example, but we’re hoping that we might be able to keep working on the film and add in some more creators if we can (please email us!). There are people you will know like Lew and Patrick, and a few people you may not know, like OiNK fan Dr Nik Taylor [Director of Teaching and Learning for the School of Arts and Humanities at the University of Huddersfield… and a practicing magician]. Oh, and some bloke called Phil [sounds like an eejit].

OB: Were there any revelations about OiNK we can look forward to hearing about?

Rob: Nothing I would say surprising but it’s been so great to hear all the memories and stories from all the creators. It’s also funny hearing how their own recollections of certain moments can vary from person to person.

Claire: I’m not sure if we’ve uncovered any shocks, but hearing all the brilliant creators talking about their memories of the time has been such a lovely experience. I feel really honoured that everyone has been so willing to take part and has been so welcoming to us.

Rob: The main point that has been hammered home is that it definitely wasn’t Viz for kids!

OB: Indeed! Did you read OiNK yourselves as children? What are your fondest memories? But if you didn’t read it as a child, what did you think when you read it as an adult?

Claire: I was 7/8 yrs old when I read OiNK and remember feeling incredibly smug that I was allowed it and my best pal was not. Thanks mum! It was a very different experience to reading Twinkle comic for girls. I particularly loved the GBH products, how they seemed to critique the adult world, they gave me excellent grounding for my ‘E’ grade in Media Studies A-level many years later. I bought a pile of copies from eBay during lockdown to see if it was as good as I’d remembered and found I still enjoyed the Torture Twins very much and Frank Sidebottom of course, who was a huge figure in my childhood. Frank had a daytime digital radio show that I used to listen to at my desk in work. I emailed him during his show once and to my delight he sang, “She’s called Claire Bend, she really is”, which was one of the best days ever. 

Rob: I didn’t read it as a child. As I previously mentioned it wasn’t something I saw or could buy in my local newsagent (unless it had been put higher up with the mountain of ‘adult’ reading material). It’s a shame as I would’ve loved it. Reading it as an adult and for film research has been great. I think there’s a real lack of media made today across most art forms that is funny, smart, subversive and just plain weird. Silliness and joy within comedy seems to be at a premium these days and I would like to see the dial shift a bit more towards that. 

OB: With that in mind, what do you think the overriding message of the documentary is?

Rob: I guess the main thing I’ve taken from it is just how much impact a cult comic that ran for a couple of years in the late 80s can have. Both in terms of giving the fantastic contributors to OiNK a wonderful start to their careers and also seeing how its tone and style has permeated into things like the Beano and Aardman’s animations, with it’s influence still being felt. 

Claire: That the impact of the comic reached far beyond its short run. And, “If you can’t fight, wear a daft hat”. (May not be a real quote.)

OB: With this being a short 15-minute film, what other plans do you have for all of the footage you’ve shot?

Claire: There will be so much that doesn’t make it into the film. No fixed plans as yet, but we’d love to find a way to share more with the fans.  

Rob: The final cut may end up being longer! Haha. We’re still working out what to do with all the extra material. We would love to take this further and expand the film into something longer but first we’ll see what the response is like and have a think. We’ll definitely be putting out exclusive extra clips and are working on ways the fans can be involved in the film.

OB: So the big question is where and when will pig pals actually get to see the OiNK documentary? Are there plans to release it online?

Claire: We’ve got a preview at MaccPow at the end of June which is brill because it’s where we did our first interviews last year, and everyone at the festival was so supportive. And as long as we don’t get any boos or rotten fruit thrown at us, we’ll arrange some more showings as soon as we can. We’ll let you know! 

Rob: After that we’d love to screen at other festivals and comics conventions. Ultimately it will end up online for everyone to enjoy and OiNK Blog will be the first to know about it!

Huge thanks to Claire and Rob for agreeing to this, for including me in both their research and interviews, and for doing the project in the first place!

As Rob says, the OiNK Blog will be the first place to know when the film is in its final finished state and ready to be released to the sties of the general public, so make sure you follow along by subscribing to the blog or joining in on socials (menu at the top of the page). For news on preview showings at comic cons this year you can follow the film’s Instagram account.

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OiNK’S 40th ANNiVERSARY

Creating OiNK

THE OiNK SCRAPBOOK

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These days we can document our lives as much (or as little) as we like thanks to the phones that never leave our vicinity. In fact, now I’ve a cat living with me it’s become my camera that just so happens to have a phone built in. Back in the 80s the process of getting our hands on the photos we’d taken was a more involved process, for me it required trips to the local chemist and at least a 24 hour wait and everything! So we were a lot more selective with our documenting back then.

Over the last several years some of the OiNK team have either very generously sent me photos or shared them on the Facebook group which I’ve then saved. This has endied up becoming a little collection of its own. So I thought the festive season, when we’re taking lots of photos to capture new memories with each other as well as thinking back to our own younger days, would be the perfect time to show these off in a kind of random scrapbook-like post. And here we are.

Let’s kick off with Jeremy Banx (Burp, Mr. Big Nose).

“So this is me posing in front of some pictures I’d drawn of Supercar when I was about 4”, Jeremy tells me. “I’m looking dubious because my dad or my gran or maybe both had told me by taking the photo it would make my drawings come to life just like on TV. This of course did not happen and I’ve never trusted anyone since.”

Jeremy’s photo reminds me of the comics my friend Roger and I created as kids. Roger created The Battle-oids, The School Busters and The Wally, while I created WarBots, The Real Smoke Busters and The Idiot. (Hey, he inspired me!) Also, together with our friend Bruce we made a monthly comic for our primary school classroom called The Moo! But anyway, back to the OiNK team and David Leach (Psycho Gran, Dudley DJ) 

“Reading that article again after all this time is funny”, said David when I asked him about it. “The strip I’m working on in that picture is the birthday strip for the OiNK anniversary issue, where Psycho emerges from a birthday cake. The story about me working for Bob Godfrey is true, he was the first person I worked for as a cartoonist, I did that for a year drawing Henry’s Cat. I was Bob Godfrey’s ghost artist.”

At the end of the article a potential new OiNK character who never made it into the comic is revealed. “Brian Damage was something I was noodling with back then, but never got beyond the planning stage, although he did become a female character called Maxine Damage: Hit Girl for Hire, that was drawn by Jim Cheung and scheduled to appear in a Marvel UK comic magazine I developed called HYPER. It was to be a frenzied monthly anthology based on the style of Japanese Manga and would have featured a strip called B.O.B about a sentient walking bomb walking through a battlefield in search of his target written by Banx.”

Co-editor Patrick Gallagher has shared a plethora of old photographs both online and over our email exchanges, often jazzing them up with graphics and behind-the-scenes insights, such as these example. Below, you can see OiNK photographer John Barry with a rather familiar looking crocodile in front of him, but it’s the unfinished sculpture in the background that caught my eye, hence the superimposed OiNK Book 1989.

As described by Patrick, “John also helped out when we were pitching the TV show Round the Bend. Here he’s sculpting a model of Doc Croc in clay and on the desk in the background is a cast from a previous sculpt based on the butcher on the cover of The OiNK Book 1989. Also on the desk is a junior hacksaw he moulded from Play Doh.” Typical Patrick!

You’ll also see in the background Ian Jackson’s cardboard cutout of Mary Lighthouse from the first OiNK Holiday Special casting a beady eye over John’s work. Speaking of Round the Bend, it was co-created by OiNK’s three editors, Patrick, Tony Husband and Mark Rodgers and was nominated for a Royal Television Award. Tony shared these photographs from the night of the awards event, the first showing (from left-to-right) Patrick, Mark and Tony, while the second also includes Mark’s partner and friend of the blog Helen Jones, and rather randomly Rory McGrath!

“Patrick, Mark and me at the Royal Television Awards with Round the Bend,” said Tony. “Where we came runners up so we got pissed, and me and Rory McGrath were nearly thrown out for shouting abuse at Richard Stilgoe, who was doing a set and we thought he was smug and shit.” (Stilgoe is a songwriter, musician and broadcaster and has contributed lyrics to Cats, Starlight Express and The Phantom of the Opera, in case you didn’t know.)

These weren’t the only photos in Tony’s archive. Next up is a wonderful collection of polaroids and snaps by OiNK photographer Ian Tilton that Tony scanned in, mainly of #30’s OiNK Awards when they worked with the Spitting Image Workshop to produce an apparently star-studded event. You’ll also see one of the actual celebrities, John Peel amongst the chaos, a photograph taken of Marc Riley as a disguised Snatcher Sam and Tony’s son, Paul Husband who you’ll also see in the next photo posing with some of his dad’s creations.

Today, Paul is a renowned commercial photographer and OiNK had its very own renowned snapper in the guise of Ian Tilton. That last photo in the collage was taken during the making of The Bully Who Went Bald in #2 and according to Tony, “With Marc all hunched over dressed like this, passers-by and car drivers were stunned and puzzled.” As for Ian, he has worked with such icons as Kurt Cobain, Iggy Pop and The Stone Roses, and has been praised by Q Magazine for “one of the six best rock photographs of all time”.

He also photographed the equally iconic (in my eyes anyway) cover to The OiNK! Book 1988 and there’s a special post about that cover and Ian’s other OiNK work which went up on the blog earlier this Christmas season. Something less plasticine based and more liquid based is next. Ian first met the OiNK guys at its launch party in some nice, plush pub in Manchester when he’d been asked to come along and take a portrait of the three editors for some pre-publicity. Family and friends were all watching as Ian attempted the photo session. “Attempted” being the operative word.

As told to me by Ian, trying to find Patrick, Mark and Tony had been difficult with the crowds in attendance, never mind trying to organise the three of them under his studio lights now that they were so drunk! Ian says it was great fun and the shots of them grinning and gurning were worth it. (I think we can all agree on that.) Not that they hung around though, they immediately ran back off to get even more drunk.

The next horrifying image is of Hunchback Boar of Scare Boars fame from #13, the last surviving member of the terrifying trio… or the only one we know the whereabouts of! According to Patrick he found him lurking under the lid of his scanner in the lead up to Halloween 2021, just in time for the review of 1986’s spooky spectacular. Check it out and you’ll even see a video of Patrick and the Scare Boar together again after two-and-a-half decades.

The next photos will be rather small when you click on them because that’s the size they were when shared by Patrick. First up is a photo of him and Marc Riley (of The Fall and BBC 6Music and creator of Harry the Head, Doctor Looney and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth) on holiday, followed by a shot of some lucky pig pals getting to sit in on the recording of the OiNK 45 record. Not only did they get to meet Patrick and Marc (fresh back from that holiday and rather tanned), they also hung out with Frank Sidebottom himself, Chris Sievey. Then, a photo of Patrick with someone who didn’t work on OiNK but who you just might recognise.

Patrick met David Bowie when he was tasked with looking after him for half an hour before the Mark and Lard radio show (Mark Radcliffe and our own Marc). The photo was taken by David’s manager and you can tell Patrick’s just a little bit happy, can’t you? While there were no mentions or clippings on the Grunts pages mentioning this particular celebrity, Patrick tells me David Bowie confirmed he was a bona fide OiNK reader!

I’m going to wrap up our OiNK Scrapbook with some of my own photographs. The first time I met Patrick was during the days of the old blog. He was on a family vacation in Donegal and took the rather long drive to Belfast (across the island!) to see me in my old house to discuss some future projects. Not long after that I then got to meet Lew Stringer (Tom Thug, Pete and his Pimple, Pigswilla) and Davy Francis (Cowpat County, Greedy Gorb, Doctor Madstarkraving) at the Enniskillen Comic Fest.

I’ve spoken with Patrick and Lew ever since and count them as true friends. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Davy a few times over coffee or a Greggs sausage roll, and I’m glad to say he’s an absolute gent and a really funny guy to hang out with. In the photo with Davy is the fantastic Jenika Ioffreda (Vampire Free Style) and the last photo was taken during what ended up being a simply hilarious chat in a local bar after the comic con with Lew, Ian Richardson (Sinister Dexter, Captain America, Judge Dredd) and the man who had us in stitches most of the night, Yanick Paquette (Wonder Woman, Batman Incorporated, Swamp Thing).

Yes, these last few aren’t from the time of OiNK but they’re most definitely memorable moments from the time of the OiNK Blog. Maybe one day I should share more of the behind-the-scenes of this site and the work (and fun) that goes into it, but for now we’ll close the OiNK Scrapbook. These photos are just the smallest of hints at what it must’ve been like to put our favourite anarchic comic together.

Wouldn’t it be great to know more…?

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DAViD LEACH CONQUERS THE UNiVERSE #4: THEY SAY HE’S VERY FUNNY

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How many times in your life have you heard someone start a sentence with, “They say…”? For example, “They say the best way to beat a cold is…”, or “They say it’s better to have loved and lost…” etc. How many times have you used that phrase? Countless, I’m sure. But have you ever wondered who “They” are? This has been the silly premise of David (Psycho Gran) Leach’s hilarious David Leach Conquers the Universe self-published comic series, which reaches its conclusion with the long-awaited #4.

Starting out as deranged conspiratorial ramblings in the first issue we soon came to realise David’s life is supposedly being controlled by a bunch of strangers playing a Dungeons & Dragons-type game. Now it’s time for the inevitable confrontation. But how on Earth did our hero possibly survive the end of the previous issue? (If you don’t know what I mean, go and buy it!) David’s solution takes a few pages to explain.

By this stage we all know this version of David loves to talk. Incessantly. Inspired by the cliffhanger serials of his youth and how they foiled their own seemingly impossible cliffhangers, he’s basically cheated. But the long-winded explanation is not only worth the price of entry on its own, it also speaks to something that seems to have niggled at David’s (real life) brain for decades. 

It’s a great start! The issue is chock full of ludicrous storytelling and so many quick fire gags you may need to catch your breath every few pages. For example, in a flashback scene David arrives at a hospital to be greeted by a man who asks, “Mr. Leech?” To which David replies, “It’s ‘Leach’”. Obviously this spelling correction only works on the written page of a comic, seeing it as part of a verbal conversation is really funny.

There’s a surprise return of a former foe, housed in a corridor of cells reminiscent of Silence of the Lambs. In fact, David walks straight past Hannibal on the way to his much scarier enemy. Apart from this diversion the whole issue takes place in the games room of ‘They’, which sounds small in scale compared to the previous issues but have faith in David; what transpires here is bigger, sillier and funnier than everything that came before.

“I set out right from the first issue to make an autobiographical comic that was a complete pack of lies”

David chatting to me about the series

It all boils down to a one-on-one with the main baddie and as seems tradition with this series it’s dialogue-heavy, with David often talking the ear off the villain and driving them crazy in the process. Below are two excellent examples taken from just such a scene including another staple of the comics: David’s pot shots and wry digs at himself, his personality or his career. (It’s all very meta, but in a good, non-social media way.)

Now and again an item will pop up which will seem completely random and out of place. Anybody familiar with the dramatic principle of Chekov’s gun should know these things aren’t random at all and will pay off at a later stage, especially in the hands of such a talented writer. With David Leach Conquers the Universe you soon start trying to anticipate the groan-worthy pun to come, which is ultimately the real reason behind the introduction of these seemingly random things.

Throw in a surprisingly touching moment involving David’s family and a funny epilogue to conclude it all and you’ve got a well-rounded ending to this years-long mini-series. Any OiNK fan, or simply any fan of genuinely funny comics, will find loads to enjoy throughout these four issues and I can’t state emphatically enough how much you’ll love laughing along with them. This final issue is a great pay off for the end of the series too.

While the above advert doesn’t include the third issue of Psycho Gran Comic Capers Cavalcade you can check out highlights from it on the blog already, but we’re here to talk about David Leach Conquers the Universe. If you’ve already read the first three instalments you can purchase the 36-page finale for just £5 (plus £2 postage) from the Dead Universe comic shop in Aylesbury by popping in, phoning (07852 836307) or emailing them (info@deaduniversecomics.com).

Alternatively, you can simply order direct from the horse’s very talkative mouth and get yours from David himself. Just use his email (davidleach2000@yahoo.com) on PayPal. What if you haven’t read any of the series? Then get caught up for just £20 for all four issues (plus £5 postage) and David will happily send you them all in one great big bundle of joy! I highly recommend that you do.

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AGEDLY ACE: PSYCHO GRAN iN ACES WEEKLY

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If you’re unfamiliar with this logo it belongs to the digital anthology comic, Aces Weekly, the creation of its editor David Lloyd (V for Vendetta, Wasteland, Knight Rider) and Bambos Georgiou (The Real Ghostbusters, Knights of Pendragon, Spider-Man). Every volume contains a variety of strips from across a wide spectrum of creators and genres, with each of these volumes consisting of seven weekly 20-page issues designed specifically for your iPad, computer or TV and you can purchase a full volume for only £6.99 (€7.99). That’s £1 per issue!

There are over 70 volumes in total so far and one of OiNK’s fan favourite characters has appeared on a handful of occasions along the way. David Leach’s Psycho Gran began (her late) life back in #15 of OiNK and, alongside her own print publications, she also makes the leap into the digital world now-and-again in Aces Weekly. That’s just what’s happened recently with a brand new three-page strip called Tiger! Tiger!

Pig pals will instantly be trying to work out why she’s pouring a powdery substance onto the road in the middle of the night . Of course, nothing she’s innocently doing at the beginning of a strip is ever really all that innocent, and any OiNK fan will know those police officers are about to find out! I obviously won’t ruin the surprise, but even if you’re only wanting to read this one strip it’s worth the entrance fee of one issue on its own! Yes, you have to buy a complete volume of Aces at a time, but you’ll get your money’s worth with up to 150 pages for the price!

As I said though, this is far from her first appearance in the comic. Some previous strips (again, I’ll only show quick previews) include Dog Toffees which sees the little old dear taking her flight-capable dog Archie for a walk in the park when someone approaches her to ask for a doggy bag for their own pooch’s plops. For anyone unfamiliar with Psycho Gran it’s an innocuous beginning, but we know better don’t we? Just like her pages in OiNK, David’s strips never fail to surprise with where they end up!

Fantastic Voyage II was a rather topical outing for ol’ Psycho when it was released during the Covid pandemic, and quite literally there’s something in the air. But don’t fret about her age. Don’t fret about her unknowingly walking into danger. Don’t even fret about the fact the virus has easily entered her body. If there’s anything we know about her it’s that she can hardly be described as vulnerable. In what ends up feeling like something akin to a hilarious cross between Psycho Gran and Jeremy Banx’s Burp, you’ll love the outcome of this one!

Billed as a Christmas horror story, Confessions of Psycho Gran sees her head off to the local church to speak about her sins. I think it’d take a whole 20-page issue of Aces Weekly to fully cover this lady’s confessions but, brilliantly, the focus of the strip is on the poor priest who’s just there to listen and forgive. As you can see from this first page it appears she’s taken quite a toll on him. Just a little bit. It’s a darker story than usual even by Psycho Gran standards, but as always it’s laugh-out-loud funny.

These last two samples may not actually feature Psycho Gran much (or at all) on the pages I’m showing you, but fans will already feel her presence in their set ups and will surely look forward to seeing her impact in both. Still Waters takes place at the local swimming pool where Gran is enjoying a paddle in the swim lane. None of the other swimmers want to share it with her but one man isn’t having it, he’s paid for his swim time and so pushes through, jumping the entire queue and into the water. I’m not even going to hint at what comes next but it’s a brilliant final page which I personally found particularly funny, and it includes a nice nod to a classic comic star.

In conclusion, what are you waiting for? You should get yourselves over to the Aces Weekly back issue page where you can scroll down and find each volume that contains David’s brilliant creation. Alternatively, he’s also personally published a whole bunch of Psycho Gran’s digital strips in the third issue of her Comics Cavalcade physical comic, a review of which you can check out on the blog. Between that and a subscription to the simply superb Aces Weekly you’ll never miss out on a bit of psychotic happiness.

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OiNK iNTERViEW SERiES: PART FOUR

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It’s my birthday today! I can’t think of anything I’d rather post today than the final part of what has been a really enjoyable series focussing on OiNK’s wonderful creative team and their memories of producing one of my very favourite things in my whole life. It’s been a wonderful experience to put this together and get to ask these questions to some of my childhood (and let’s face it, adulthood) heroes.

Despite what the critics thought of it from the outside looking in, in reality OiNK gave us many great messages along the way. From anti-smoking to anti-bigotry, from never judging someone by their looks to being proud of who we are no matter what, all packaged up in comedy gold of course. So to wrap things up I was curious what messages the team had for us.

QUESTION FOUR

Finally, if pig pals could take one thing away
from your work on OiNK, what would it be?

DAVEY JONES
Henry the Wonder Dog, Pop-Up Toaster of Doom,
Kingdom of Trump

“No idea how to answer this. There were a couple of strips in the later issues which I had to draw in a bit of a rush, and some of the drawing was very ropey. So if everyone would be kind enough to overlook the ropey drawings, it’d be much appreciated.”

DAVY FRANCIS
Cowpat County, Greedy Gorb,
Doctor Mad-Starkraving

“The friends I met, my fellow artists, the readers who are artists and writers themselves who say OiNK was such an influence on their work. I loved every minute I worked for OiNK, I would have done it for nothing!” (“What?!” – Uncle Pigg)

IAN JACKSON
Artist Mary Lighthouse, Horace (Ugly Face) Watkins,
OiNK Book 1988 covers

“It was great having fun with my mates on the project. Uncle Pigg was a tough bugger though.”

LEW STRINGER
Tom Thug, Pete and his Pimple, Pigswilla,
writer of Ham Dare

“I hope they enjoyed the irreverent style of fun and lunacy I tried to put into my work. We were allowed to be more edgy than other kids’ comics of the time. Little did we know how much children’s comics would be toned down in the years that followed.”

DAVID LEACH
Psycho Gran, Dudley DJ

“Don’t underestimate the elderly.”

GRAHAM EXTON
writer Fish Theatre, Herbert Bowes,
Murder in the Orient Express Dining Car

“Just that I was proud to be a part of such an influential team. The current Beano owes a lot to OiNK.”

ED McHENRY
Wally of the West, umpteen OiNK puzzle pages,
Igor and the Doctor

“If any of the readers liked my stuff in the way I enjoyed certain artists in all the comics I read as a lad that would be nice.”

KEV F SUTHERLAND
Meanwhile…, The Three Scientists,
March of the Killer Breakfasts

“I’m just honoured to have been a part of such a landmark comic, so when they’re writing about it, I hope I get remembered occasionally, alongside the real stars.”

PATRICK GALLAGHER
co-creator and co-editor of the whole shebang,
designer of the OiNK logos

“The joy and reward of working with Tony and Mark.”

STEVE GIBSON
artist Judge Pigg, countless GBH Madvertisements,
Ponsonby Claret

“I just want anyone who remembers OiNK (and I have met lots of fans who grew up reading it) to know that we had fun and I hope that a little bit of the cheeky anarchy that we intended stuck with all our readers to this day.”

JEREMY BANX
Burp, Mr. Big Nose, Jimmy ‘The Cleaver’ Smith

“Never trust your liver.”

I can’t thank everyone enough for taking part in this series! Everyone I reached out to couldn’t have been more helpful and it’s a testimony to how fondly OiNK is remembered by all that everyone was happy to take part and keen to reminisce. On a purely selfish basis it’s a brilliant birthday present to be able to present the now completed series of posts, too.

I hope pig pals have enjoyed this, and to everyone above I hope you’ve enjoyed reading what your fellow OiNKers (to quote Jeremy) have said too. I’ve waxed lyrical about how much OiNK has meant to me and the memories it’s brought back. It’s been a delight to see the same applies to those who worked so hard to entertain us for those few fantastic years.

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