Tuesday, November 19, 2013

This Week In: 1984 - Whoopee!


Time to head back to the 1980's, a period when the Fleetway comics (at least, the ones that were around or starting) were at their greatest! Today we'll be looking at the issue of Whoopee and Wow that went on sale this week in 1984 - almost 30 years ago! The cover character is Sweeny Toddler and this particular episode (illustrated by Tom Paterson) will have you laughing out loud! It did with me anyway... (look at the wanted poster on the fifth panel on the second page).



Moving inside and let's take a look at Creepy Comix. This strip was illustrated by Reg Parlett and I've always enjoyed the thought of the creepy characters coming to life from Davie's comics so the strip always had a lot of appeal to me. One thing I can't help but noticing though, is that the ghost looks an awful lot like Harry from Harry's Haunted House. Maybe the landlord finally kicked him out and he found refuge in a Creepy Comic?




Next up is The Bumpkin Billionaires, illustrated by Mike Lacey. As always, they think they are losing money so they can go back and live the simple country life, but in natural comic style it doesn't all go to plan.




A particularly strange strip is Animalad. Illustrated by Roy Mitchell, this strip follows the adventures of Andy who can turn into any animal he wants at will! Definitely amongst the crazier strips in British comics!



Always enjoyable, but crazy just like Animalad, is Calculator Kid, illustrated by Terry Bave and the comic strip that is home to the finest moustache in comics! Or is it a caterpillar? Find it, and decide for yourself!



And finally, here's the Quick Strips from inside the back cover, featuring Bleep!, Cheeky, Here is the News and the try-it-yourself Calculator Corner. Go on - try it yourself!



1 comment:

Peter Gray said...

I loved Whoopee!! as a kid...
loved the wanted poster gag as well..also the boy George reference..lol...

How I wishj these type of innocent comic humour was around today...even in reprints...like Best of whoopee...Big comic..etc...really miss them..