Did you / do you actually find old british comics funny?

SOS · Post by **SOS** » 09 Jan 2008, 11:08

As a kid, I always loved the comics, cos of the "comicness" - the drawings, presentation, typography etc ....even the smell of the paper and ink, but I never really found them funny. While my friend actually really ho ho ho-ed out loud to the Jocks and the Geordies etc, I was left wondering why it had managed to provoke this reaction. Is it just me?

What's the funniest strip / character / issue that you reckon?

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 09 Jan 2008, 11:33

It's a bit of a generalization isn't it? It's like asking if people find tv comedy funny. Some shows are, others aren't.

I've laughed out loud at some work by Leo Baxendale, Ken Reid and Jamie Smart for example, but I don't recall Cor!! even raising a smile.

Lew

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 09 Jan 2008, 12:42

Hire a horror is funny.....it has the twist at the end which makes me smile..

rob jackson · Post by **rob jackson** » 09 Jan 2008, 13:01

I used to get the beano for years when i was little and don't remember laughing a lot though I did enjoy them. I remember finding some parody stories with fatty from the bash street kids in different adventures very funny.

SOS · Post by **SOS** » 09 Jan 2008, 18:54

Lew Stringer wrote:It's a bit of a generalization isn't it? It's like asking if people find tv comedy funny. Some shows are, others aren't.

I've laughed out loud at some work by Leo Baxendale, Ken Reid and Jamie Smart for example, but I don't recall Cor!! even raising a smile.

Lew

Haha yeah you're right. but I guess it's a general question. Maybe I should have said DC/IPC funnies in the 70's or something, but hey keep suggesting the really funny ones.

ISPYSHHHGUY · Post by **ISPYSHHHGUY** » 09 Jan 2008, 19:33

when I got my appendix out back in 1973, the aftermath of the tiny operation was proportionally so painful, I couldn't walk for a few days------I made the mistake of getting someone in the kid's ward to get me some comic annuals-----

----there was an early 70s 'DANDY' annual in which BRASSNECK is depicted [going haywire], flying through the air towards a greenhouse------this primal, absurd image struck me as being so hilarious , I was laughing out loud-----and the after-effects of the operation ensured I suffered as I laughed-----------PLEASURABLE TORTURE!

Post by **AndyB** » 09 Jan 2008, 22:59

Where's the "Hilarious and I LOVED them" option?

SH · Post by SH » 09 Jan 2008, 23:00

Lol ! that must have hurt!
when I was a lad along with my mates we read everything from beano and dandy to asterix and true its not always funny, as long as it was a good story I was happy. I remember just losing myself in this other little world of comics.
seeing what the outcome would be at the end of each story always kept me coming back for more. although looking at Leo baxendale's work made me laugh out loud just because of the sheer daftness of the drawings he could turn a boring panel into something hilrarious just by the way he drew it, which fit very well into one page story's. it still makes me guffaw now, when I look at his work.
On the other hand I always loved Winker Watson as a kid , sometimes it was funny but I think that more often than not it was more about the story.
Some people are more easily amused aswell , I work with someone who would laugh at paint drying!

felneymike · Post by **felneymike** » 09 Jan 2008, 23:30

As somebody who is very easily amused and who can grin like a maniac at a joke or something stupid that happened weeks before, un-nerving everybody... i never used to laugh very much the Beano etc at the time (and also at old WB cartoons). But when i see them now i do... i only wish i had kept 'old of more!

Raven · Post by **Raven** » 10 Jan 2008, 02:48

I've mentioned before that I didn't really laugh out loud at humour comics - they weren't really funny in that way - but they held you spellbound with their oddball characters, situations and stories. And though, say, Cheeky's weekly round of gags in Cheeky Weekly didn't make you guffaw out loud, you could be quite fascinated and entertained by the wordplay and nonsense of the riddles.

I thought Cor!! had quite a few very enjoyable strips - Reg Parlett's Hire a Horror, Freddie Fang - Werewolf Cub Scout, and Ivor Lott and Tony Broke, for example, all of which were full of outlandish comedy ideas which I certainly took delight in - also the sometimes clever punchlines of Gus Gorilla on the cover.

As SH says you were really losing yourself in that magical, intense, warped, freakish world of comics - often a quiet, introverted delight and one which certainly made you happy.

Strip I'd find funniest - and still do - the Puss 'n' Boots double pagers from Sparky.

tolworthy · Post by **tolworthy** » 10 Jan 2008, 09:03

Good question. Not funny as such - though I'm sure that some pages must have raised a smile. I just loved the idea of exploring amazing worlds in a light hearted way. I guess that's why I was never drawn to the straight humour or action stories, but LOVED the quirky and clever and exotic.

I loved Cheeky's world of characters, and the unexpected stuff in Krazy comic, and the stranger kinds of monster stories, and Ken Reid's crazy situations, and Leo Baxendale's dark humour and cultural references. But the standard humour strips about kids like me, well they left me cold.

I guess that's why I love comics but never agree with the mainstream. I love 2000AD but don't care for the action. I love superhero comics but hate the fighting. I love humour comics but don't care for the humour. I must be very hard to please.

kevf · Post by **kevf** » 10 Jan 2008, 10:13

I remember laughing out loud at Baron Von Reichspudding in Sparky and being surprised by that, because comics were usually for smiling at. I was starting to get puns, I think.

Then I laughed at the BC and Wizard of Id books, and pretty soon I'd grown out of funny comics and was onto 'serious' ones.

Admired greatly but never laughed at Asterix, Ken Reid, Leo Baxendale and Giles.

Steve Bright · Post by **Steve Bright** » 10 Jan 2008, 11:19

I think Kev summed it up with his "comics were usually for smiling at" comment. I started the 70's as a kid avidly reading as many humour comics I could get my hands on, and finished the same decade writing for the Beano, then Nutty. As a writer, I think we aim for smiles rather than guffaws, and any belly laughs are a bonus.

All-out slapstick laugh-a-second stuff is great for clown acts in the circus, but
would be impossible to sustain over the length of a comic, leave alone desirable. Clowns may be many people's favourite circus act, but an entire show of them would dilute the fun completely. At its best, comic humour is clever, even subtle, not relentless and blatant. If it raises a smile, job done. If there's a laugh-out-loud moment or two, bonus time.

Also, the nature of comics means we enjoy them alone. If you're watching your favourite TV comedy with friends or family, you're far more likely to laugh out loud as a group than if you're watching it alone (the theory behind live audiences, as well as the odious canned laughter). On your own with a comic in a room full of people doing other things, anything more than a quiet chuckle might either result in your comic being swiped by the nearest human to see what all the fuss is about, or in extreme cases, have them reaching for the phone to call in the men with white coats. So we don't do it.

steelclaw · Post by **steelclaw** » 10 Jan 2008, 12:30

I don't usually laugh while I'm reading a strip, it's at the end of it I will smile or laugh because the last box is like the punch line.

Steve Bright · Post by **Steve Bright** » 10 Jan 2008, 12:48

The traditional 'formula' for a script, as explained to me at age 18 by then Beano Editor, Harry Crammond, was an opening, three funny incidents and a twist at the end (this would be for a single page in the 70's, as most of the stories were back then; around 12 pictures long). I hated following this formula, and would always do my best to deviate from it, although when you're doing five or six pages a week, it's impossible to do that every time.

But yes, obviously you try to go for the big smile/laugh at the end - that's no different from almost every other form of comedy. Strange that before it was rightly banned from the comics, certain stories 'twist at the end' always resulted in the eponymous anti-hero getting whacked. Not much of a twist on the face of it, but it's a testimony to the scriptwriters' art, the sheer volume of inventive variations that appeared on that one scenario alone over the years.

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