If, like me, you were born between the mid 50s and mid 60s there’s a good chance that the banner that ran across the top of the first issue of Knockout dated 12th June, 1971, published by IPC, will resonate with you. ‘Colour’ was still a novelty back in June 1971 since the UK had only been transmitting television programmes in colour for 4 years and colour TV sets in homes were still in the minority at that point.
Knockout’s claim to being ‘all colour’ wasn’t strictly true. Only 4 pages of each issue were in full colour - the front, back and centre spread, while ‘spot colour’ was used for the rest of the pages. ‘Spot colour’ is the technical term used by printers referring to pages that only contain one layer of colour and Knockout executed this technique to produce strips in red, yellow, green and blue resulting in a more attractive looking comic compared to the competition.
As usual, free gifts were the marketing tool of the first three issues - #1 had not one, but two free toffee bars. Issue #2 included a ‘super shaking skeleton’ . Issue #3 had a cut-out voucher for a bar of ‘Super Mousse’ so you had to mutilate your comic to get the bar. Be careful in buying that issue it may well not be complete!
Issue #1 featured 16 strips and the best ones were:
‘The Super Seven’ were inspired by ‘The Magnificent Seven’ movie, a gang of kids with individual special skills would race to the rescue of kids being bullied and equalise the odds. It was a great strip and would last the entire run of the comic.
‘Beat Your Neighbour’ also survived until the end. Each week 2 sets of battling neighbours would go to ludicrous efforts to outdo each other.
‘Pete’s Pockets’ was about a boy with bottomless pockets which not only contained people and animals but also everything needed for that weeks story. Sounds silly, and it is, but it worked and was very popular.
No humour comic is complete without a ‘monster’ strip and Knockout had one of the best! It was titled ‘The Haunted Wood’. Each week characters from all walks of life would enter the haunted wood in order to extract timber for their own purposes. This always came at a cost since the wood was cursed and the perpetrator was inevitably taught a painful lesson. The strip stands up well today since it comes over as eco friendly and survived until the end.
‘Boney’ was a skeleton who escaped from a ghost train in issue #1 by jumping into one of the carriages. He immediately befriended Billy - a young boy passenger and together they were pursued by the angry ghost train owner for the rest of Knockout’s run.
‘Son Of Sir’ featured a class of schoolkids with one of the pupils being the teacher’s son who received preferential treatment.
Moose’’ was a simple format that played out like a Roadrunner cartoon. It was about a hunter called Frenchy trying to catch a moose and it reached a conclusion in the final issue of Knockout.
‘TheToffs & The Toughs’ was a class war’ between two gangs. The gangs were made up of 3 rich kids living in a castle and 3 poor kids living in a broken down hut.
When Knockout celebrated its first anniversary editor Bob Paynter felt it was time it had a face lift. This involved a new ‘Knockout’ title design and some new strips replacing some of the least popular ones from the original run.
‘MuckyMick’ was about a boy who always ended up mucky through no fault of his own, much to his mum’s frustration. Such a weak idea couldn’t last and so it only ran for 3 months.
‘CopyKate’, was a more imaginative strip about a girl who was influenced by people, animals or events around her. Her resulting mimicking actions either benefited her or became her downfall.
’Fuss Pot’ was about a girl who drove her long-suffering parents up the wall each week over ‘first world problems’ such as ice cream not being ‘squidgy’ enough, a beach ball not matching her swimming costume or her bedroom curtains being too thin. The strip was probably the inspiration for ‘SpoiltBastard’ in Viz.
Knockout’s most famous strip was undoubtedly ‘Joker’ and he became the cover star throughout the run of its second year and finally benefited from the full colour front page. Joker was a prankster and wore a trick flower squirter in hislapel throughout his entire run. Malcolm Morrison came up with the clever plots and one strip plays out like the famous ‘Four Candles’ sketch 5 years before it was performed by The Two Ronnies.
By the 107th and final issue of Knockout two more strips had been included in its pages. ‘Cooky’ and ‘HotDog & Cool Cat’.
Like ‘SammyShrink’, ‘Cooky’ first appeared in the 1973 New Year issue of Knockout and featured a girl who always cooked up trouble despite having good intentions when creating delicious dishes for her friends and family.
As for ‘Hot Dog & Cool Cat’, it was the final strip to join Knockout when it first appeared in an April issue - just two months before the comic’s final issue. A total of 22 strips graced the pages of Knockout at one time or another as well as a joke section, not bad for a comic containing a mere 20 pages that only ran for 2 years. Knockout merged with Whizzer & Chips on the 30th June 1973.
Knockout also had 2 holiday specials from 1972 and 1973 and 12 annuals from 1973 to 1985 and two Christmas issues in its run.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I don't remember this one but I've learned a new term in "spot colour", having seen it many times but not even knowing it had an official name.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,750Chief of Staff
Wow…that is dragging back memories…I certainly remember Pete’s Pockets, Fuss Pot, Boney and The Toffs & The Tuffs…I also remember going into the newsagents and trying to find a copy that hadn’t had the free gift pilfered off the front 🤣
The drawings of Lugosi are perfect. Without intending to sidetrack this superb thread, it's a straight choice for me between him and Lee for Best Screen Dracula and I must admit to wavering from time to time.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,750Chief of Staff
Using Lugosi here certainly adds extra layers…excellent stuff 👏🏻
I had forgotten there was a brief journey upon the Orient Express.
I'm currently wondering which present day leading actors to cast. Oddly enough, Gary Oldman could still pull off Dracula 30 years after first doing so. Ralph Fiennes for Van Helsing?
Yes, it fits with my mental picture of him too. I'm going to say again how much I'm enjoying this, thank you for sharing it.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,750Chief of Staff
Read both instalments today…I’m enjoying these as well…it’s great to go back to the source material without reading the books again - not that that’s a chore, it’s just I’m a slow reader 🤗
Comments
It's a delight to see Fleming scenes illustrated in this way, especially the ones that haven't been filmed.
I’m enjoying seeing those scenes too…😀
LIVE AND LET DIE (2019) Chapter Fourteen:
More of this superb adaptation next weekend…
And more thanks for posting it.
Been interesting to see Bond playing bingo 🤣
HOOK JAW - Part 8
Continues next Monday…
Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer - Chapter One (Part 2 of 2)
As it says…to be continued…next Tuesday.
Another one I'm impatient to read more of.
I love this…it’s great fun 😆
KNOCKOUT (1971-1973) 107 Issues.
If, like me, you were born between the mid 50s and mid 60s there’s a good chance that the banner that ran across the top of the first issue of Knockout dated 12th June, 1971, published by IPC, will resonate with you. ‘Colour’ was still a novelty back in June 1971 since the UK had only been transmitting television programmes in colour for 4 years and colour TV sets in homes were still in the minority at that point.
Knockout’s claim to being ‘all colour’ wasn’t strictly true. Only 4 pages of each issue were in full colour - the front, back and centre spread, while ‘spot colour’ was used for the rest of the pages. ‘Spot colour’ is the technical term used by printers referring to pages that only contain one layer of colour and Knockout executed this technique to produce strips in red, yellow, green and blue resulting in a more attractive looking comic compared to the competition.
As usual, free gifts were the marketing tool of the first three issues - #1 had not one, but two free toffee bars. Issue #2 included a ‘super shaking skeleton’ . Issue #3 had a cut-out voucher for a bar of ‘Super Mousse’ so you had to mutilate your comic to get the bar. Be careful in buying that issue it may well not be complete!
Issue #1 featured 16 strips and the best ones were:
‘The Super Seven’ were inspired by ‘The Magnificent Seven’ movie, a gang of kids with individual special skills would race to the rescue of kids being bullied and equalise the odds. It was a great strip and would last the entire run of the comic.
‘Beat Your Neighbour’ also survived until the end. Each week 2 sets of battling neighbours would go to ludicrous efforts to outdo each other.
‘Pete’s Pockets’ was about a boy with bottomless pockets which not only contained people and animals but also everything needed for that weeks story. Sounds silly, and it is, but it worked and was very popular.
No humour comic is complete without a ‘monster’ strip and Knockout had one of the best! It was titled ‘The Haunted Wood’. Each week characters from all walks of life would enter the haunted wood in order to extract timber for their own purposes. This always came at a cost since the wood was cursed and the perpetrator was inevitably taught a painful lesson. The strip stands up well today since it comes over as eco friendly and survived until the end.
‘Boney’ was a skeleton who escaped from a ghost train in issue #1 by jumping into one of the carriages. He immediately befriended Billy - a young boy passenger and together they were pursued by the angry ghost train owner for the rest of Knockout’s run.
‘Son Of Sir’ featured a class of schoolkids with one of the pupils being the teacher’s son who received preferential treatment.
Moose’’ was a simple format that played out like a Roadrunner cartoon. It was about a hunter called Frenchy trying to catch a moose and it reached a conclusion in the final issue of Knockout.
‘The Toffs & The Toughs’ was a class war’ between two gangs. The gangs were made up of 3 rich kids living in a castle and 3 poor kids living in a broken down hut.
When Knockout celebrated its first anniversary editor Bob Paynter felt it was time it had a face lift. This involved a new ‘Knockout’ title design and some new strips replacing some of the least popular ones from the original run.
‘Mucky Mick’ was about a boy who always ended up mucky through no fault of his own, much to his mum’s frustration. Such a weak idea couldn’t last and so it only ran for 3 months.
‘Copy Kate’, was a more imaginative strip about a girl who was influenced by people, animals or events around her. Her resulting mimicking actions either benefited her or became her downfall.
’Fuss Pot’ was about a girl who drove her long-suffering parents up the wall each week over ‘first world problems’ such as ice cream not being ‘squidgy’ enough, a beach ball not matching her swimming costume or her bedroom curtains being too thin. The strip was probably the inspiration for ‘Spoilt Bastard’ in Viz.
Knockout’s most famous strip was undoubtedly ‘Joker’ and he became the cover star throughout the run of its second year and finally benefited from the full colour front page. Joker was a prankster and wore a trick flower squirter in hislapel throughout his entire run. Malcolm Morrison came up with the clever plots and one strip plays out like the famous ‘Four Candles’ sketch 5 years before it was performed by The Two Ronnies.
By the 107th and final issue of Knockout two more strips had been included in its pages. ‘Cooky’ and ‘Hot Dog & Cool Cat’.
Like ‘Sammy Shrink’, ‘Cooky’ first appeared in the 1973 New Year issue of Knockout and featured a girl who always cooked up trouble despite having good intentions when creating delicious dishes for her friends and family.
As for ‘Hot Dog & Cool Cat’, it was the final strip to join Knockout when it first appeared in an April issue - just two months before the comic’s final issue. A total of 22 strips graced the pages of Knockout at one time or another as well as a joke section, not bad for a comic containing a mere 20 pages that only ran for 2 years. Knockout merged with Whizzer & Chips on the 30th June 1973.
Knockout also had 2 holiday specials from 1972 and 1973 and 12 annuals from 1973 to 1985 and two Christmas issues in its run.
I don't remember this one but I've learned a new term in "spot colour", having seen it many times but not even knowing it had an official name.
Wow…that is dragging back memories…I certainly remember Pete’s Pockets, Fuss Pot, Boney and The Toffs & The Tuffs…I also remember going into the newsagents and trying to find a copy that hadn’t had the free gift pilfered off the front 🤣
@Sir Miles And removing the free gifts usually meant the front cover was torn as well!
It’s good to see you remember some of the strips - as they say, nostalgia’s a thing of the past 😁
Free gifts still attached to front covers attain premium prices nowadays.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Bela Lugosi (2020) - Chapter Six (Part 1 of 2)
To be continued tomorrow…
The drawings of Lugosi are perfect. Without intending to sidetrack this superb thread, it's a straight choice for me between him and Lee for Best Screen Dracula and I must admit to wavering from time to time.
Using Lugosi here certainly adds extra layers…excellent stuff 👏🏻
I welcome all comments on this thread, good or bad.
@Barbel I’m a lover of both Universal Monster movies and Hammer Horrors and choosing between Lugosi and Lee is very difficult.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Bela Lugosi (2020) - Chapter Six (Part 2 of 2)
APOLOGIES - IGNORE THE 4th PAGE AS IT HAS BEEN INSERTED IN THE WRONG PLACE - IT HAS BEEN RE-INSERTED CORRECTLY LATER.
The final chapter of this superb adaptation begins next Thursday.
I had forgotten there was a brief journey upon the Orient Express.
I'm currently wondering which present day leading actors to cast. Oddly enough, Gary Oldman could still pull off Dracula 30 years after first doing so. Ralph Fiennes for Van Helsing?
Christoph Waltz could play either role.
LIVE AND LET DIE (2019) Chapter Fifteen:
The last page is reminiscent of the Hook Jaw artwork currently being posted every Monday.
Chapter 16 tomorrow.
Yes, please!
LIVE AND LET DIE (2019) Chapter Sixteen:
I like the artists interpretation of Strangways.
Chapter 17 next Saturday.
Yes, it fits with my mental picture of him too. I'm going to say again how much I'm enjoying this, thank you for sharing it.
Read both instalments today…I’m enjoying these as well…it’s great to go back to the source material without reading the books again - not that that’s a chore, it’s just I’m a slow reader 🤗
Good to see you enjoying the medium, gents, comic strips (or the more grandiose title, graphic novels) are a treat when they are as good as this.
HOOK JAW - Part 9
As it says…more next week.
Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer - Chapter Two (Part 1 of 2)
Chapter 2 continues next Tuesday…
Another series I'm thoroughly enjoying. Happily anticipating the next part.
A bit racy…will have to take this into the toilets, where the light is better 👀