'widescreen' comics: original-format BEEZER and TOPPER

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Thanks for those two nuggets of information, kashgar.....some Michael Barratt work coming up shortly. I got to page 9 without asking for info on artists.......fair to middling, I reckon!

[philcom55]

Over the years Beezer and Topper ran a number of strips about fantastic vehicles in the manner of Gerry Anderson's various futuristic TV series. Early examples included Bushwhacker and Spacewhacker, but when Dan Dare artist Keith Watson arrived on DC Thomson's doorstep in 1968 (having been peremptorily fired from Fleetway's Tina) they lost no time in giving him a brand new story on the centre pages of Topper featuring the Supercar-style adventures of Sky-Shark.



This wonder machine starred in three series between 1968 and 1974, with further stories turning up in Annuals where the art was shared by Watson and Ian Kennedy. Although Watson drew most of the weekly strips I was surprised to discover that Kennedy also drew a few of these towards the end of the first series (a fact that isn't mentioned in Kashgar's Index):



...This is particularly interesting as, offhand, I can't think of any other examples of his work appearing in the colour centrespreads of Thomson's 'Widescreen' comics.

- Phil Rushton

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Thanks very much for adding these splendid visuals, Phil; I do have some examples of SKYSHARK, and I agree they are very untypical of THOMSON output of this period: the artwork and design of the futuristic hardware [and even the look of the human characters] looks more akin to that of contemporary TV 21! Nothing wrong with that of course, but another example of surprizes that can be thrown up within this field. Ta muchly for info on the artists.


GENERAL JIM: BEEZER, 1969-70. Artwork: Ken Hunter.


This intruiging piece goes largely uncelebrated today, but it's another finely rendered work from the Ken Hunter archives: this is , of course, the debut instalment, from FEB, 1969. Remarkable for the final frame on page one: Jim crawls through a window framed with dangerous-looking broken glass: we never batted an eyelid at images like this as kids, but the Health and Safety mob of 2010 would be up in arms at the likes of this!


The final 3 frames on page 2 slightly disturbed me in far-off 1969; who were these strange aliens, and where were they taking Jim? They kids were only playing at soldiers!

The remainder of the episodes set on the planet of Zoomobia [I THINK it's called!] yielded impressive retro-set design, and I'll likely show a more typical example at some stage. A great strip, and a vivid personal memory for yours truly.

[AndyB]

General Jim was reprinted in the Beezer in 1981. The resemblance to Alfie Johnson was fairly notable.

[Digifiend]

Reminds me of General Jumbo Johnson (no T!) as well. Of course in the Buddy version recently reprinted in Classics from the Comics, Jumbo was called Jimmy instead of Alfie - could they have gotten these two stories confused?

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Andy; was the rerun of 1981 on GENERAL JIM in the original large format, or the scaled-down A4 size? The comics changed to small size in this year.

[Kashgar]

Quite right Phil. I did fail to mention that Ian Kennedy drew the final five instalments (Topper Nos 842-846) of the first series of 'The Sky Shark' in the Topper Index.

[AndyB]

Scaled down to A4. Two were in the Belfast Telegraph facsimiles earlier this year.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Thanks for that, Andy: I'm not so sure of this part of the comic's history, though I did buy TOPPERS/BEEZERS sparodically throughout the 80s.

[philcom55]

In many ways the saga of the Silver family ran parallel with the early development of Gerry Anderson's TV series. Beginning in 1956 with the very first issue of Beezer the original Bushwhacker was a sleek red land yacht in which they set off on an action-packed 'voyage' across Australia. By the time Terry Patrick took over from Bill Holroyd as artist for the third series in September 1960, however, their miraculous vehicle had evolved into a true 'Super-Car' that was capable of traveling on land, sea or air. Finally, with this page from March 1962, the Silvers exchanged their old vehicle altogether for the brand-new 'Spacewhacker' in which they proceeded to explore other worlds in the manner of Fireball XL5!



...Offhand I'm not certain how this compares with the dates of Gerry Anderson's first two supercraft - though I'm sure the redoubtable Shaqui will be able to work out who was following whom!

- Phil Rushton

[blaing]

Didn't have time to do a full single image scan as I'm due to go shopping shortly.

Today, I have "The Banana Bunch" from the Beezer Summer Special 1976

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Looks cool in colour, blaing! Many thanks. It must have been a very early Summer Special [1975]..I think the first BEEZER special was from 1973.....priced a princely 10p!

[blaing]

Just returned from shopping.

The 1976 summer special cost a cool 18p.
(I did write 1975, but I checked the copyright on the back page, and it was 1976)

I like the Pop, Dick and Harry front cover.. (you can tell, as ususal, it's not going to look good for Pop. )



here's the back page

[blaing]

OK Rab, time for some more from my recent lot which arrived today.

Another Mickey the Monkey from the Topper, issue dated7/9/74



I'm in the process of updating my library, so I'll post another Topper scan either later today, or tomorrow.

[blaing]

and one more today...

This time, it's Splodge, from the issue of the Topper dated 10/3/1973