Secret Agent/Spy strips in the 60s and 70s

[klakadak-ploobadoof]

In keeping with the James Bond mania and the general political atmosphere of the sixties and the seventies, it looks like there were quite a few strips themed around secret agents, spies, etc. in British humour comics back then. I Spy has been enjoying extensive coverage on these pages recently. Are there any other heroes of the bygone days who deserve credit for their heroic deeds? Who were the artists and script-writers behind them, when and where did they appear?

[Lew Stringer]

One that springs to mind is the bowler-hatted James Pond drawn by Gordon Hogg (who drew Glugg and other strips for Wham!). This ran in Buster in the mid sixties.

Others include The Cloak (by Mike Higgs) in Pow! (and Smash and Pow). Wee Williw Haggis in Pow! and The Man from B.U.N.G.L.E. in Smash!

They're just a few of the humour strips. There were plenty of adventure spy strips too of course, including The Steel Claw in Valiant, and Secret Agent 21 in TV21.

Lew

[stevezodiac]

I was a secret agent fanatic in the 60s and never missed the Man From UNCLE. TV was awash with them. T.H.E Cat, Amos Burke Secret Agent, Get Smart, Run Buddy Run, It Takes A Thief, Honey West to name the ones I have heard of. One comic secret agent that caught my eye was Nelson Lord TIGER Agent. Obviously influenced by Napoleon Solo. Can anyone remind me what TIGER stood for? Also in TV21 there was Wright CHARLIE which from memory stood for Central Headquarters Atomic Research Liaison for Industrial Experiments.

Sadly I used to cut out pictures of the Man From UNCLE from TV21 and pin them inside my desk lid. (Mind you i have since acquired almost a second set of TV21 so maybe have the holed copies covered).

[Brendan McGuire]

How could you omit to mention the superb Eagle-Eye Junior Spy by Leo Baxendale?

[STARBOY]

You just beat me to it Brendan I was just lookig up an old comic with Eagle Eye in it to check what his "unit" was if he had any (couldn't see it) - What about (scraping the barrel here ) Mervyns Monsters - not really a spy as such but in that type of mould, he was a member of M.UM (Mervyns Underground Monsters) and he fought against his arch enemy Oscar Munch (who looked a bit like Grimmly Fiendish to me) who was in C.RU.S.H (Crafty Rascals Union of Saboteurs and Houdlums)? -

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I think this artwork has been discussed on a seperate thread on here somewhere, but I was pretty impressed with the following AVENGERS artwork in DIANA comic in the 1960s:







this TV series, [huge in it's day, and the only UK show that was ever shown US statewide in prime-time] manifested into a fair few different comic-strip versions in the 60s decade, [including a b/w TV COMIC version], but this version illustrated above is the best contemporary version I have yet discovered.


I also remember a comic from around '67 called SOLO that had a lot of spy-based stuff; this is a comic I can't recall seeing discussed on COMICS UK........anyone else familiar with this comic?

[klakadak-ploobadoof]

How could you omit to mention the superb Eagle-Eye Junior Spy by Leo Baxendale?

Eagle Eye Junior Spy is definitely worth mentioning. He served on M.I.5 1/2. Eagle Eye Junior Spy is the strip where Baxendale introduced his villain character Grimly Feendish. Leo Baxendale was not the only artist who worked on the strip, although it looks like he was doing the work for more than a year since the launch of WHAM! in 1964 before other artists stepped in. My personal favourite after Baxendale is probably Graham Allen, check out his Eagle Eye pages in Wham 1969 and 1970 annuals! But I think there were other artists involved too.

[Kashgar]

Off the top of my head Thomsons weighed in on the comic front with not only I-Spy but also Simple Spyman by Bill Ritchie in Cracker and surely the longest lived secret agent comic strip of all the Topper's Nick Kelly in 'Send for Kelly', drawn and mostly written for over thirty years by George Martin.
As to adventure strips Thomsons had Iron Hands by Paddy Brennan also in Cracker and several series featuring Britain's ace agent of WWI Zigimar- the Master Spy in Hotspur. Hotspur also was the first title to carry strip versions of the exploits of The Wolf of Kabul. With another Thomson story paper agent who made it into strips being Jake Jeffords in the new Wizard.
As for text stories in my era (the 1960's) there was Capt Webb 'The Spy with Flippers' ( a reprint by then in Victor) and Brand of B.O.O.M.A in Rover & Wizard and in the girls titles 'The Girls from N.O.O.D.L.E.S' was a secret agent strip of sorts.
BTW Steve T.I.G.E.R stood for the rather sinister organisation The International Group for Eliminating Revolution.