On this day, 6 June 1970: Cor!! — GREAT NEWS FOR ALL READERS!

Jun 6

Jun 6 On this day, 6 June 1970: Cor!!

Cover artwork: Mike Lacey (borders) and Alf Saporito (Gus Gorilla)

On this day, 6 June 1970 … Cor!! Following yesterday’s post on the launch issue of IPC’s first humour comic of the 1980s, here is the fantastic first issue of the publisher’s first humour comic of the 1970s. Like Wow!, Cor!! is full of loads of great stories, many of which would have a long life and influence in the IPC range for years to come. The first episodes of Tomboy, Ivor Lott and Tony Broke and Hire a Horror – which would go on to appear in Whizzer and Chips, Buster and Shiver and Shake respectively – are all here, and Cor!! would also be the first home for Buster’s Chalky and Whizzer and Chips’ The Slimms.

There is a whopping 27 different stories in this first issue – to many to scan and list them all here, but highlights include: Eddie (a boy in search each week of a new salve to his aching boredom), Whacky (a boy who each week gets his butt caned), The Gasworks Gang (a Bash Street-style school posse), Spoilsport (a boy who each week aims to ruin the games of others), Barney’s Brain Box (a boy with a highly active and visual imagination), and Teacher’s Pet (a girl who isn’t, but wants to be, the teacher’s favourite). As well as the funnies, Cor!! has two adventure strips – Kid Chameleon (a boy who grows up in the Kalahari Desert develops skin-changing abilities) and Four Alone on the Abandoned Island (a group of children are the subjects of mysterious experiments at a remote North Wales research station).

I mentioned on yesterday’s blog post that Wow!’s Adam and the Ants strip (from 1982) had a very particular influence, and I think a comparison with the first episode of Cor!!’s Andy’s Ants tells the full story. Again.

Adam and his Ants (from Wow! 1982): Mike Atwell (artist) — Adam and his Ants (from *Wow!* 1982): Mike Atwell (artist)

The only other thing I know for certain about this issue of Cor!! is that the ‘Gulp’ fizzy drink powder contained in a free gift sachet within was fairly lethal stuff. I’ve seen various people remark in forums and comments sectionsthat it had near-radioactive qualities. Every now and then an original, unopened sachet appears on eBay for several hundred pounds. If anybody wants to bow out of this mortal world in style, that could be the way to go.