Need help finding early 70s comic

[darren72]

Hello, I'm new here -- I wonder if anyone can help me? I'm looking for an ongoing boy's adventure story that I remember seeing in a comic as a child, roughly around 1973/1974? Alas, I don't remember the title, or even which comic it appeared in. My memory of it is quite vague, but a couple of things I do remember is that the main character was a boy (wearing glasses?) and he travelled across a lake by walking inside a see-through plastic drum-like thing that floated on the water. Sound familiar to anyone?

I also remember liking the art, which is the main reason for my quest in finding it again. I know it's a long shot, as there's not many clues to go on with, but I'm hoping what little I've given will be enough to jog someone's memory here.

Thanks for your time.

[stevezodiac]

Was it Billy Binns? I'm sure that Whizzer & Chips had a story involving a boy who wore glasses - possibly drawn by Roland Turner but my memory is vague (I have hundreds of W&Cs here but they are in a cupboard among hundreds of other titles and a bit difficult to access).

[Raven]

That's The Spectacular Adventures of Willie Bunk, SZ (Billy Binns was much earlier in Boys' World and Eagle in the '60s). Willie Bunk ran from 1969-1970 in Whizzer and Chips, and was about a boy with magic glasses - when he rubbed them, they'd translate everyday reality into exciting historical events, which he'd appear to participate in.

Darren, it's possible that what you describe could potentially have happened in a Willie Bunk episode, but it's so vague that it could be anything, really. (And it sounds like you're not even sure he wore glasses.)

[darren72]

Thank you both for the replies.

stevezodiac, I just googled Billy Binns and that's definitely not the character I'm looking for.

Raven, "The Spectacular Adventures of Willie Bunk" could very well be the strip I'm trying to find, but there's no way of confirming this, as there's hardly anything on the web about it.

Can anyone please post some links to any images/sample pages of Willie Bunk? Or if it's not too much trouble, maybe someone who has the comics would be kind enough to scan a page or two and post it here? I would be really grateful.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Willie Bunk had noticable freckles and an upturned polo-neck jersey if that's any help,Darren.

He looked like an older version of the 'Milky Bar Kid'.

[dishes]

As reprinted in the Cor!! Annual 1975:

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I'll be Frank with you...




----Mc Diarmid, anyone?!


Thanks for posting, dishes...the yellowed paper makes me feel really old [koff! wheeze!]

[Digifiend]

That's the cheap newsprint for you, you wouldn't see such bad yellowing on a DC Thomson annual from the same era.

[jakob1978]

Here's a "Willie Bunk" from 26th December 1970 in which he waterski's using an old pram. it'll give you more idea about the art style

[darren72]

ISPYSHHHGUY, thanks for the description. I'm certain the lad in the story I seek wore glasses too (no special powers), but he had dark hair and no freckles -- the posted scans confirm Willie Bunk is definitely not that strip.

dishes & jakob1978, thank you so much for the nice scans -- Sadly, it's not what I'm looking for. Lovely artwork, though... I'm going to try and find out more about Frank McDiarmid.

My memory of this comic strip is bizarre to say the least. I don't remember what the story was about, which comic it was in, nor any of the other characters in it. I just remember the dark-haired bespectacled boy travelling inside a plastic drum across a lake, circa 1973/74... And yet, I'm compelled and determined to find it, lol.

An online database that lists every British comic that's ever been printed, in chronological order, would be useful in these situations. I don't suppose there is one out there, is there?

Thanks again, everybody! My search continues...

[Niblet]

It's just struck me that the Willie Bunk scenario is very similar to TV's Joe 90 (1967-68) - young lad gains extraordinary skills via spectacles.

[felneymike]

An online database that lists every British comic that's ever been printed, in chronological order, would be useful in these situations. I don't suppose there is one out there, is there?

I was trying to start one, but nobody contributed to it XD. Then somebody else started a "UK Comics Wiki" but apparently "never promoted it" despite the fact it's quite big, so somebody else started a "British Comics Wiki" and claimed to have "not found anything similar" despite the fact my one had been announced on here and in my sig for about a year, and about a month before the creation of the third I'd had the second in my sig.

Soooo now there's three, take your pick!

[dreamticket]

Hello, I'm new here -- I wonder if anyone can help me? I'm looking for an ongoing boy's adventure story that I remember seeing in a comic as a child, roughly around 1973/1974? Alas, I don't remember the title, or even which comic it appeared in. My memory of it is quite vague, but a couple of things I do remember is that the main character was a boy (wearing glasses?) and he travelled across a lake by walking inside a see-through plastic drum-like thing that floated on the water. Sound familiar to anyone?

I also remember liking the art, which is the main reason for my quest in finding it again. I know it's a long shot, as there's not many clues to go on with, but I'm hoping what little I've given will be enough to jog someone's memory here.

Thanks for your time.

Hi Darren, the story you are looking for was called When the Green Mist Came, and it appeared in the Wizard during spring 1973 (mar/apr). It's about fifteen year old Hub Hodson and his science master "specs" memery. Specs has invented a plastic travel bubble which the two of them are inside when a green mist descends and knocks out everyone else in their village.

I'm not surprised you remembered the artwork as it appears to be by Ian Kennedy and is lovely to look at. Maybe somebody else could supply a scan? I'm unable to do so.

I only have a few episodes so I don't know exactly when it started or for how long it ran, but if you narrow your search to above mentioned months I think you will pick up most of the story.

Happy hunting. Gordon.

[jakob1978]

Here's the 3 pages from the 2nd June 1973 issue

[steelclaw]

Well found out dreamticket.
Here's the first time it appeared in Wizard March 10th 1973 & ended June 9th 1973.
(Don't know what happened to my scanner )