Nailing the Hammer Man

[Kashgar]

In the current issue of Classics there is a feature on the popular Victor character Chell Puddock, aka the Hammer Man, followed by a reprint of his 'first' adventure. In fact the medieval blacksmith didn't first appear in the Victor in 1973 as he had already featured in a strip published the previous year titled 'The Swordmaker' (Nos 601-610) which in turn was a picture strip reworking of a prose story that had appeared in the final issues of the boys story paper Adventure in 1960/1961 under the same title (Nos 1867-1978). All artwork on the Victor picture strips featuring the character (26 series in the comic itself plus single tales in the Victor Books 1974, 1975, 1977-1989 and Summer Specials 1975-1988) were the work of Ted Rawlings while the original Adventure story featured artwork by Jack Gordon.

[colcool007]

What I found interesting was that the Swordmaker stories were pure adventure, whereas The Hammer Man was always played strictly for laughs.

[Digifiend]

Well being out-and-out adventure doesn't make it inappropiate for Classics (V for Vengence and I Flew With Braddock aren't at all comedic, being World War II stories), so they should've either just admitted that the Hammer Man is actually the second series from Victor, or ran The Swordmaker instead.

[colcool007]

I suppose when you think about it, then it was the first outing for Chell Puddock as a main character, so the reprint could be classed as his first outing. Even though it was a spin-off from The Swordmaker, which I never knew existed until I started collecting the weekly issues of Victor, it was still the first time that Chell was let loose with Sir Jack Jinks. After all, how many of us would class any appearance by Kelsey Grammar in Cheers as the first episode of Frasier?

As a kid, I used to snigger at the name, as Puddock is a Scots colloquialism for a frog. (The ones that go Ribbit! Ribbit! before you ask...)

[grumpy old man]

“how many of us would class any appearance by Kelsey Grammar in Cheers as the first episode of Frasier?”

I’m reminded of the US TV maxim that the Mary Tyler Moore show spun off Rhoda, which spun off Lou Grant (or was it the other way round?)

[Kashgar]

I take your point Col. The tone of the Hammer Man series' from 1973 onwards was decidedly lighter than that in the original Swordmaker series so you could argue that it was the first outing for Chell Puddock as the 'Capt Hurricane' of the Middle Ages. On that basis I do think the right series was chosen for reprinting but I still think it would have been nice if mention had been made of his earlier appearance.
I always thought Ted Rawlings did this sort of period stuff so well as evinced not only by his lengthy run on the Hammer Man series but also on strips like 'The Guns of Timur', 'Stark of the Samurai', 'The Dark Domain', 'The Red MacGregor' and 'The Wolftaker'.
BTW Col in your second post you called the first Chell Puddock strip 'The Swordmaster' rather than 'The Swordmaker'. You and I both know that this was another Victor strip entirely drawn by Harry Farrugia in 1964.

[colcool007]

Mistake corrected!

BTW, I always loved the fact that Ted Rawlings style was so versatile. Not only did he draw Chell Puddock for a large part of the run, he also did Talons Of Terror (I think is the title of the story of giant eagles terrorising the world in the 1930's), the Alf Tupper series Edinburgh or Bust (first ran in 1970 and then cannily reprinted in 1986), Kublai (I can't remember the name, but it was a 60's story about a horse being trained for show-jumping and was the product of an Asian breeding programme where two tribes either revered or reviled horses). Not to mention dozens of true stories as well.

[Kashgar]

I think the strip about the horse you're trying to remember Col ( and this is from memory so I could be wrong) was actually titled 'Kubal the Great'. Still from memory, I'm trying to recall what Ted Rawling's first strip for Victor was and the piracy yarn 'The Dragon Flag' comes to mind which probably appeared in 1962. Before this he had already been working for Thomson's since the mid 1950's on the boys story papers and the Bunty, the Topper and the New Hotspur. Always enjoyed his work. Very distinctive even if his thick pencil line did earn him the cheeky scottish nom de plume 'tarry rope' in the Thomson artroom.

[Digifiend]

Still from memory, I'm trying to recall what Ted Rawling's first strip for Victor was and the piracy yarn 'The Dragon Flag' comes to mind which probably appeared in 1962.

Issue 134 (14th September 1963) to issue 145 (30th November 1963). http://www.victorhornetcomics.co.uk/dragonflag.html

[Phoenix]

I think the strip about the horse you're trying to remember Col ( and this is from memory so I could be wrong) was actually titled 'Kubal the Great'.

This was also a picture adaptation of a text serial in Adventure. The title was the same and it ran from 1721 (Jan. 11 1958) - 1734 (Apr. 12 1958).

[colcool007]

And thank you to both of you. What surprised me was that I am not a horsey person, but that story just came alive for me. Only discovered it this year as I filled in some major collection gaps and thoroughly enjoyed it. The interesting bit is that there is a fair resemblance between the young lad in Kubal and Sir Jack Jinks in Hammer Man (how's that for bringing the topic back? )

[felneymike]

I have the issues with Kubal The Great in if anybody wants photos of the heading blocks? (they're bound in a big book so scanning wouldn't be a good idea)

[Digifiend]

You could always take photos with a digital camera (or scan the photos if taken with a non-digital camera) and post those...

[Colin M]

Hi all, finally joined this board after many a happy lurk!

It was actually thanks to these boards that I was able to put a name to one of my unsung artistic heroes from The Victor Books, namely Ted Rawlings. Something about his style really captured my childhood imagination and years later when i've picked up the ocacsional Victor annual from charity shops a pre-requisite is that it contains at least one historical strip by that 'scratchy line' artist!

I'll have to track down this Classic Comics issue while I can but distribution is patchy my way.

Cheers for the info

Colin

[Peter Gray]

Welcome Colin..
You have to be quick as the next issue will be out on Thursday..