Most annoying comic strip

[Lew Stringer]

Most annoying for me were the fleetway filler strips - evil eye, creepy car, fun fear. They probably all started out strong but bloody hell, they got old fast then just seemed to run for years and years and more years.

IPC kept a strict eye on reader's voting forms so they strips that had the most longevity were the ones that were most popular. Hardly "filler" material.

However, I'm not convinced this voting method accurately reflected what the silent majority wanted. The most popular strips often seemed the blandest and each year, and each merger, seemed to dilute the comics more and more. At the same time, sales continued to decline too, so readers must have been unimpressed with the direction the comics were taking.

Lew

[Ian]

Thanks Raven it was indeed Aqua Lad not Aqua boy nevertheless he was too much of a mutant for my liking.As for Ad Lad running around studio sets I think that is why I disliked it so much it was too unbelievable, in my young eyes there was more chance of meeting up with a talking animal such.

I loved Reg Ps Harrys Haunted House but often it would be drawn by another artist and it was so bad.

[Raven]

"Thanks Raven it was indeed Aqua Lad not Aqua boy nevertheless he was too much of a mutant for my liking."

Then surely you enjoyed all those wiggly marine fiends making him a mockery of him every week! SURELY!

With Ad Lad, I did find Trevor Metcalfe's art very lively and fresh.


"I loved Reg Ps Harrys Haunted House but often it would be drawn by another artist and it was so bad."

After a couple of years it was taken over by an another artist and extended to one and a half pages and was such a shadow of its former glory. It lasted much longer in its new format and style than the classic original, too. Bah.

[felneymike]

Oddly i prefer the IPC annuals because of the reprint, usually because i haven't read the original comics so the stories are still 'new' to me, and also because as they where originally done for the weeklies they have the usual ('better') artist and more panels to a page. Hurricane and Jet annuals from the early 70's in paticular are great value i feel, they take a lot longer than half an hour or so to read! Often there's a lot of text stories too...

Oh, er, and, as an attempt to bring the thread lurching back onto topic...

I can remember stopping reading the Beano in the late 90's because Ivy The Terrible was always the same. Can't recall liking Crazy For Daisy much (but i suppose it pleased the girls) and i thought Tim Traveller was wasted, considering the infinite possibility time travel opens up.

In more recent times (like, now) Stalag 666 in 2000ad... i'd rather have somebody show me thier paperclip collection!
(spot the obscure Beano reference and win a prize)
(not actually a prize)

[Muffy]

Loved most of Reg Parlett's story's (nice warm and friendly art, even all the ghouls and ghosts).

Think most story's sometimes get a bit tired after several years, as a child I found 'Chalky' (one of Buster's top story's which most have run for 25 years) irritating, though don't mind it so much today. 'Clever Dick' never appealed to me either (at risk of offending all you Baxendale fans). The lesser known 'Kid Comic' by M. Baxendale (Leo's son) in Wow and Whoopee seemed to be just a long list of jokes - but without the entertaining frames and presentation and background support characters of Frank McDiarmid's Cheeky (which I really liked and collected in 1979).

Taste does change though, as an adult some story's appeal much more, like the adventure story's - I guess it's all "In the eye of the beholder".

[Rob J]

Just remembered one strip that always seems tedious to me - the jocks and the geordies, is it called? Jeesh. I'm guessing it's the bully beef artist - and I like that strip fine. But for some reason I just can't get into it.

[AndyB]

Don't buy Comics in the Classroom, it has the last ever Jocks and Geordies strip in it.

(it's a previously unpublished absolute gem!)

[THE MOOSE]

I was never a fan of "SMILER" which seemed popular at the time or "Danger Mouse" from the ODHAMS comics - wasn't keen on strips like Boxatricks (think that was its name) and strips like that with inanimate objects as the hero (chip etc) although Oddball was great? Loved almost everything that Reg Parlett did.

[Conor B]

The Jocks and the Geordies strip has actually been published in a 2003 Dandy. It was just randomly there in one issue, with no explanation, just as though it were a regular strip :S

[AndyB]

Was that not the one looking for new Jocks? Maurice was still editor at that time, and would have remembered printing it if it were the one in the 70 years book

[felneymike]

I was never a fan of "SMILER" which seemed popular at the time or "Danger Mouse" from the ODHAMS comics - wasn't keen on strips like Boxatricks (think that was its name) and strips like that with inanimate objects as the hero (chip etc) although Oddball was great? Loved almost everything that Reg Parlett did.

They did this in 1995 too. Though i found out the explanation much later!

[dandy mad]

The strips i hated were in the beano in the late 80s the first one being gordon gnome absolute crap and the last series of pansy potter it was terrible

[David]

I was never a fan of "SMILER" which seemed popular at the time or "Danger Mouse" from the ODHAMS comics - wasn't keen on strips like Boxatricks (think that was its name) and strips like that with inanimate objects as the hero (chip etc) although Oddball was great? Loved almost everything that Reg Parlett did.

I liked Smiler. Though in a secondhand comic bought recently, I was suprised to see in one panel he wasn't smiling, as I'd always thought he smiled no matter what ("dissapointed grin" , "worried grin" etc).

[rossmac]

As a kid/teen I used to always hate those strip with so much going on and smelly socks everywhere and little squelchy things... As an adult I now know that the artist of these strips (such as Laughing Planet, Lil' Imp etc etc) was Tom Paterson, and in fact now LOVE those strips. Not sure where my tastes changed, but the amount of detail Tom puts in absolutely amazes me these days. But as a kid I really did not like them!

Ross

[Peter Gray]

I had the same problem.....I am kicking myself...it is obvious how great it is...
It shows your taste can change...
I think when Calamity James arrived...Buster drawn by Tom I had reached the age where I moved on from comics...still collected Best of Topper..Beezer...and Big Comic But stopped buying The Beano/Buster..so Toms wacky, wonderful humour arrived at a time when I was after 16ish..so that must have been a factor as well..

It was quite a shock to me at the time going from Reg Parlett to Tom's Buster....really put me off at the time......seeing Buster getting beaten up in detail was too much for me...after being used to a wonderful large nosh up in Regs version a nice cosy world.....

Now I collect the late 80's/90's comics just for Toms work mostly.
I now put Toms work equal with Leo Baxendale.....how I've changed....