Strange comic policies of the 70s

[Captain Storm]

Felneymike wrote:

Starlord being born pretty much soley to develop good strips for later incorporation into 2000AD

STARLORD AND 2000ad!

If rumours are correct Starlord enjoyed the higher sales but 2000ad sounded better and also was cheaper to produce.I believe serious consideration was given to which title would be the lead!2000ad at the time was kinda crap and the new strips from Starlord boosted the quality exponentially!The editor of Starlord even took over 2000ad's day to day running for a while(name escapes me)!Strange days indeed!

[Raven]

I genuinely thought that the very early 'WHIZZER and CHIPS' was pretty good, sure, 'ME and my SHADOW'creeped me out, slightly, but i still remember it almost 4 decades later, so it must have had something........similarly, 'MINNIE'S MAGIC MIXER' on the back-page lingers in the memory......surreal to be sure, but not bland. And who can forget the free gift of a D-I-Y flickbook in issue one......i'm sure it was 'SID'S SNAKE' doing the animated honours on this one...........i may be right in saying that a very early free gift in W+C was a GUY FAWKES mask. I have vivid memories of the night of NOV, 5, 1969, in which said mask, being added to a 'guy' effigy constructed by my dad, catching ablaze.........

Yes, the free Guy Fawkes mask came with issue three of Whizzer and Chips.

[Raven]

Speaking of colour in the IPC comics the 'king' of these was surely the revived Knockout which was in fact promoted as 'the all-colour comic'. It was all a bit of a swizz as it turned out though as most of the colour was just a single wash added to almost every page.

And on such thin paper that the colours often meant you could see the strip on the other side of the page showing through, sometimes making reading difficult!

I suspect Knockout was an attempt to do a D C Thomson style comic - just 20 pages of quite solid characters with (usually) no ads and a cheaper price.

Does anyone else think the 70s Knockout is somewhat underrated? Some of the more popular later 70s Whizzer and Chips strips were all from Knockout - Pete's Pockets, Beat Your Neighbour, Fuss Pott, Joker, The Toffs and the Toughs; the comic's 'The Full House' cover feature was an inventive idea, showing what was going on in every room of a house, making for some of IPC's most striking and creative humour comic front covers; The Toffs and the Toughs was prime Reg Parlett, and Sid Burgon was at his best with The Haunted Wood.

I'd like to know who drew the manic Little Devil strip. And who drew the equally hyper Hot Dog and Cool Cat in later issues. Could be the same artist as they have a very similar style.

[Kashgar]

It's weird I mentioned Murray Ball the other day as the artist on D C Thomson's 'Ghastly Manor' and then lo and behold two other of his strips get a mention. He having drawn both Little Devil and Hot Dog & Cool Cat for IPC's Knockout.

[Raven]

It's weird I mentioned Murray Ball the other day as the artist on D C Thomson's 'Ghastly Manor' and then lo and behold two other of his strips get a mention. He having drawn both Little Devil and Hot Dog & Cool Cat for IPC's Knockout.

You know, I wondered if it was him as I queried - I'd noticed a similarity between the Ghastly Manor and Little Devil styles particularly; thanks for that. I've long admired those strips but never really seen them enthused about. A little obscure, I suppose.

Do you know of any others he did for IPC?

[AndyB]

Really? His style on Hot Dog and Cool Cat is VERY different.

[Raven]

Really? His style on Hot Dog and Cool Cat is VERY different.

Are you referring to my comments: "I'd like to know who drew the manic Little Devil strip. And who drew the equally hyper Hot Dog and Cool Cat in later issues. Could be the same artist as they have a very similar style." (Sorry if you're not referring to that!)

I had noticed a similarity in the exaggerated cartoony style, the characters' facial expressions, the body shapes they throw, and the type of action (including a fair amount of bounding through the air), yes.

[Kashgar]

Really? His style on Hot Dog and Cool Cat is VERY different.

It is certainly Murray Ball on the Little Devil strip as I've got a number of issues for reference in front of me and they are all by him. I've only checked one Hot Dog strip though, which is also by him, but it would be sod's law if the rest weren't. When I get the time I'll check out a few more of the Hot Dog strips since it seems there may be some doubt.

[BH]

Felneymike wrote:

Starlord being born pretty much soley to develop good strips for later incorporation into 2000AD

STARLORD AND 2000ad!

If rumours are correct Starlord enjoyed the higher sales but 2000ad sounded better and also was cheaper to produce.I believe serious consideration was given to which title would be the lead!2000ad at the time was kinda crap and the new strips from Starlord boosted the quality exponentially!The editor of Starlord even took over 2000ad's day to day running for a while(name escapes me)!Strange days indeed!

The editor of Starlord was Kelvin Gosnell, lovely bloke.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

They don't seem to celebrate GUY FAWKES night in comics with the same vigour as in bygone days......perhaps they have even stopped celebrating NOV 5 altogether in today's comics.........a shame, as these editions always seemed quite special........BAXENDALE in particular seemed to particular enthusiasm for fireworks gags.

[Lew Stringer]

They don't seem to celebrate GUY FAWKES night in comics with the same vigour as in bygone days..

Unfortunately we're not allowed to. Although this has been the case for well over 20 years so it's not exactly a new policy.

Lew

[moose]

Felneymike wrote:

Starlord being born pretty much soley to develop good strips for later incorporation into 2000AD

STARLORD AND 2000ad!

If rumours are correct Starlord enjoyed the higher sales but 2000ad sounded better and also was cheaper to produce.I believe serious consideration was given to which title would be the lead!2000ad at the time was kinda crap and the new strips from Starlord boosted the quality exponentially!The editor of Starlord even took over 2000ad's day to day running for a while(name escapes me)!Strange days indeed!

The editor of Starlord was Kelvin Gosnell, lovely bloke.

i believe KG was editor of 2000AD first and foremost, but was moved sideways onto Starlord to over see the launch. whilst he was away, nick landau, his assistant editor, took on tooth, and created one of the worst gaffes in the progs history by letting tom tully do exactly as he pleased on inferno, the harlem heroes sequel.

post-Action, the idea of a revenge crazed cyborg deciding to barbecue the story's hero with a tank full of pertol and a stray jet pack didn't sit well with the high-ups at IPC, who were on the verge of axing the title. landau was removed from office [to battle , i think] and gosnell had to return to the helm on tooth. he didn't last long before steve macmanus was brought in to sort things out and merge the titles.

[BH]

Kelvin Gosnell was the editor of Starlord. Nick Landau was sub-editor and Jan Shepherd Art editor. It was a long, long time ago and I was very young, but I do remember because I was the Art Assistant and shared an office with them all for the whole run. When that finished we went on to do another comic with the same team.
Don't remember Steve M having anything to do with Starlord at all. IIRC he was too busy with 2000. Nick was always up to something and at that time was just starting Forbidden Planet, I still have one of the early adverts I did for him for a signing there.
Things did used to get confusing at times at IPC back then, because you wouldn't always be on the payroll of the comic you actually worked on. This happened to me when I started on there and worked on Whizzer and Chips, but my wage slip said I was being paid by Krazy? It was something to do with shuffling the budgets about.

[Raven]

Cor!! seems similar with the first couple of years packed with strong strips and great artists and much better than its latter period - Reg Parlett was even taken off Ivor Lott and Tony Broke after a short while, let alone Hire a Horror (at least he was replaced by Robert Nixon on that, who could also draw charming monsters with great skill). The 1970-71 issues seem miles better than the 73/74 era.

I agree with Raven, Cor ! in its first 2 years it was full of fantastic strips but by mid to late 1973 it was shade of its former self.I only continued to get it because my Mum had it on order for me at my local newsagents and I had a certain loyality to it as it was the first comic that I was allowed to get every week.
Some of the strips in the 73/74 period of its life were pretty dire ie wonder worm,jellybaby and the slims.

Having read some 1974 Cor!!s lately, I'm starting to disagree with the me of 2007, above, as I'm finding some great stuff.

Attached - from a single issue: samples from a Robert Nixon Hire a Horror (great one, this), Frank McDiarmid's Gasworks Gang (which the blue really suits and enhances) and, I do believe, Mike Lacey on Ivor Lott and Tony Broke, all the artists putting lots of effort in. The comics still seem to have lots of highly distinctive, strong and lively artwork and imagery, and good storytelling towards the end.

[Raven]

Some great Terry Bave takes on Hire a Horror, too!