Help please

[wilsia]

Can anyone out there in Comic Uk land give me some information on a comic strip called "Mickey Merlin " which appreared in Eagle comic in the late 60s and was drawn by Frank McDiarmid.

For example what was the strip about, when did it first appear and for how long, was it humour or adventure etc

Any background info would be appreciated.

Thank you very much

[dwitefry]

Mickey Merlin went to Hardford's, a boarding school and had telekinesis though he called it variants of 'though power', I don't have any early strips of his so I don't know why or how. He was a weedy, clumsy sort of boy otherwise but good intentioned and was always getting into scrapes that wasn't his fault and was usually quite heroic, he had a teacher Mr Firefly who was his nemesis (by the looks of what i have he was the P.E. teacher) and some bullies, i think Crawker and Scugg seem to be their names. His strip was funny but realistically drawn. I can't tell you the dates on his run sadly but I can tell you he was in the 1969 Eagle annual (two strips) and post a page or two from that annual below, I hope that helps.

From the first strip:



and from the second, showing (and naming) Firefly and the bullies:

[wilsia]

Thank you very much Dwitefry that is a great help and is just the info I was looking.

The artist Frank McDiarmid has kindly agreed to do a small interview for me for
a comic fanzine and as it is Eagle related I wanted to mention his strip "Merlin" which he produced for the comic. I dont have any Eagle comics and the era in question
I would have been reading the likes of "Playhour" not Eagle so I had no knowledge of this strip.

Thanks also for taking the time to scan some images for me, thats a real bonus.

Much appreciated mate

[dwitefry]

You're welcome, though I will have to admit i didn't scan these myself. My scanner broke two pages into a Wham! Annual.

[philcom55]

Mickey Merlin made his debut in Eagle Vol.18, no 38 (23rd September 1967), replacing Sam Fair's 'Cornelius Dimworthy' strip (I'd guess that Frank was originally asked to work in a similar style). Mickey was the most clumsy boy at Hardford 'Outward Bound' School until he gained his superhuman 'thought power' by falling into water in which a meteorite had just dissolved.

- Phil Rushton

[wilsia]

Thanks Phil, more than helpful amd its much appreciated.

I wonder did JK Rowling read it?

[Niblet]

Thanks for posting the strips, Dwite.

Wilsia, please let us know when your Frank McDiarmid interview is published. I sent Frank a message via his website a while back, but got no reply

[dwitefry]

Mickey Merlin made his debut in Eagle Vol.18, no 38 (23rd September 1967), replacing Sam Fair's 'Cornelius Dimworthy' strip (I'd guess that Frank was originally asked to work in a similar style). Mickey was the most clumsy boy at Hardford 'Outward Bound' School until he gained his superhuman 'thought power' by falling into water in which a meteorite had just dissolved.

- Phil Rushton

It says on one of the strips I have, one I posted I think, that he has 'meteoric thought powers', I assumed it was just a dramatic adjective (is adjective right?), heh, that's amused me.

Thanks for the info.

[Phoenix]

Mickey was the most clumsy boy at Hardford 'Outward Bound' School until he gained his superhuman 'thought power' by falling into water in which a meteorite had just dissolved.

The writer could have got the idea for this strip from the excellent TV serial Quatermass 2, in which meteorites exuding some gaseous substance frightened us all out of our wits over several weeks in 1957.

[wilsia]

Niblet - No problem, I know you are a big "Cheeky" so I will make sure you get a copy
of it. Ian

[Niblet]

Niblet - No problem, I know you are a big "Cheeky" so I will make sure you get a copy
of it. Ian

Ta! I will of course mention it on the Cheeky blog when your article is published (actually I have already given it a plug). http://cheekyweekly.blogspot.co.uk/2012 ... erlin.html

[AndyB]

Definite antecedents of Willie Bunk in there, not to mention Theo's Thinking Cap.