Weird occasion for a free gift

[klakadak-ploobadoof]

I always thought free gifts were given away with first issues, or to celebrate first issues of merged titles, or other such important events, but certainly not with the last issues. I was therefore quite surprised to find a free gift advertised in the penultimate issue of Film Fun dated 1st September, 1962. It had the Great News Inside caption on the cover and advertised 9’’ Model Plane - The Vickers ‘Vanguard’ to be given away with the next week’s edition, the last issue of Film Fun before merger with Buster on 15th September, 1962.
Perhaps the idea was to lure readers into buying the combined comic because the first issue of Buster and Film Fun also had a Model Plane free gift, only a different one. Anyway, quite an interesting tactic, don’t you think? Were there any other last issues with free gifts?

[Peter Gray]

Wow great to see this..

Reg Parlett must have drawn one of those strips...Bruce F or Terry the Terror..
would like to know...also if it is alright could I use it for my blog on Reg Parlett..

thanks for putting up these scans..

[Phoenix]

Were there any other last issues with free gifts?

Yes there were, KP. In the then last issue of The Rover dated November 16th 1963 The Ace Album Of Britain's Football Stars was issued along with the first of four sheets of stickyback pictures. Exactly the same gift appeared that same week in the last issue of The Wizard. The following week the first issue of the combined paper Rover and Wizard landed on newsagents' counters and railway station bookstalls complete with the second sheet of stickybacks. The covers of the two November 16th issues are below.

[colcool007]

Completely But this thread is confirmation that I frequently fly in planes older than me! I last flew in a VC10....not that long ago!

[STARBOY]

Nice to see those covers - thanks. Film Fun looked really nice - I think the Reg Parlet strip was only the "Terry" strip although on a closer look the Bruce F strip does look like his wok as well - would be noce to know - I really miss Reg Parletts work in UK comics suprised no one has "ghosted" or based their "art style" on his.

[Lew Stringer]

I really miss Reg Parletts work in UK comics suprised no one has "ghosted" or based their "art style" on his.

They did, many years ago. The style that Reg drew in was the house style of the old AP comics and looking at those 1930s/40s comics it's not always easy to immediately distinguish between Reg, his brother George, Roy Wilson, John Jukes, or others. (In fact, evidence of that is above, as I believe the Bruce Forsyth strip is by Roy Wilson, not Reg Parlett.)

As time went on, Reg simplified his style to move with the times (and, I suspect, due to his advancing years), - but he was always a reliable artist for clear storytelling and pleasant fun comic strips.

Thankfully these days editors don't demand a house style, so artists can develop their own styles more easily. Great as he was throughout his long career, I think Reg's style might be considered "old fashioned" by modern editors. Time moves on and styles change.

Lew

[STARBOY]

Yeah I though that the Bruce F strip looked a bit like Ron Wilson myself Lew, but wasn't sure - I didn't realise Reg's style was the AP house style for a while - I thought his 60s/70s style was ptretty modern even for todays kids (with a few tweeks to it) but that's probably me thinking back rather than forward as the Beano / Dandy style is very different now - as are kids tastes. Still its always a treat seeing Regs work.

[Peter Gray]

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogs ... m-fun.html

I've done a post on Terry the Terror by Reg...
and a link back to here..

thanks again
klakadak-ploobadoof

Terry the Terror seems like todays Dennis the Menace...or Dennis and Gnasher

things happen to him...rather than going out to be a terror or a menace..

[Kashgar]

Just to confirm what Lew has said already, Bruce Forsyth was indeed drawn by Roy Wilson. The premise of this Film Fun strip, which began in the final issue of 1961 if I'm not much mistaken, was based around his rabble-calming catchphrase 'I'm in charge!' which he used while compering the TV variety show 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium'. The strip seeing Bruce wade into any given situation with the intention of helping and invariably making things worse.

[philcom55]

The strip seeing Bruce wade into any given situation with the intention of helping and invariably making things worse.

Plus ça change...!

- Phil Rushton

[Kashgar]

The year before Film Fun merged with Buster and signed off with a free gift Radio Fun had merged with Buster in exactly the same way. The final issue of Radio Fun giving away three 'Men of Danger' cards Edmund Hillary, Richard (Robin Hood) Greene and Hugh (Wyatt Earp) O'Brien with the rest of the series, including the folder to keep them in then, appearing in the first issues of the merged Buster and Radio Fun.