KIDS FROM STALAG 41

[Lew Stringer]

I have been pondering about the stereotypes too and wonder if Stalag 41 would be up for reprint. These days it may not be so PC because of the stereotypes. That is probably the case with some of the older strips in the funnies. Though I haven't had much chance to view funnies from the sixties and early seventies, I suspect there would be other stereotypes in them that could be questionable today.

I don't think we're ever likely to see a collection of those strips in book shops as there simply wouldn't be the demand for it. I suppose it's possible an indie company may gain permission from Egmont to do a small print run but how many people would buy it (apart from than those of us here) to justify the time and expense of producing a book? It wouldn't be my first choice I must admit, but then I've never liked war strips (apart from Charley's War). As for the dialogue, poking fun at foreign accents always seemed a lazy way to get laughs.

But you wouldn't expect foreigners to speak perfect English in the funnies.

Well it helps differentiate various foreign accents I suppose but it still felt cringeworthy to me. (I wonder if foreign strips mocked English people trying to speak in other languages?) Then again, jokes about WW2 felt dated to me in 1971 too so perhaps it's just me. I'm afraid I never liked the Stalag strip even back then.

[dishes]

I'm reluctant to pursue this discussion further, but I wanted to clarify that I was specifically questioning the good taste of latter-day childrens' humour strips featuring Nazis (avowedly dark humour for adults is another matter.) Just because of the shadow of the Holocaust. I have no problem with strips poking fun at them from the time of the war itself (good morale-boosting stuff, great propaganda). Nor any problem with general "funny foreigner" stuff, if done well (e.g. The Asterix books.)

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I discussed this problem of incorporating Nazi imagery into humour comic strips with one D C T editor, and he thought it was acceptable as long as it was handled with delicacy and never glorified the Third Reich.

I myself would have been interested to have seen a story tackling the death camps, [in the War comics] but understandably, it's just too heavy a subject to handle for mainstream kids' comics.


On a more light-hearted note:

Whatever happened to Captain Haggis?

[Tammyfan]

I discussed this problem of incorporating Nazi imagery into humour comic strips with one D C T editor, and he thought it was acceptable as long as it was handled with delicacy and never glorified the Third Reich.

I myself would have been interested to have seen a story tackling the death camps, [in the War comics] but understandably, it's just too heavy a subject to handle for mainstream kids' comics.


On a more light-hearted note:

Whatever happened to Captain Haggis?

In Jinty's Song of the Fir Tree we get two kids who are liberated from a Nazi concentration camp. Later in the story they encounter another camp, which has been abandoned.

In The Sentinels (Misty), which features an alternate reality where the Nazis won, we see a group
of prisoners, including a child, at Gestapo HQ who look like they are on their way to a prison camp, or maybe even a death camp.

So the girls comics sometimes touched on Nazi concentration camps in WW2 stories. But it was brief and fleeting and the Holocaust itself delicately sidestepped.

And I don't know what happened to Captain Haggis. Fact is, I don't even know who Captain Haggis is.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

The Cap was an early regular contributer on here, Tammy, and he authored this thread years ago...I think he was from Glasgow.

Never forgotten his unique username, though!

Thanks for the info regarding Nazi camps on the girls' comics---I only have some MISTY, so I will look out the Sentinels strip you mention.

[Tammyfan]

The Cap was an early regular contributer on here, Tammy, and he authored this thread years ago...I think he was from Glasgow.

Never forgotten his unique username, though!

Thanks for the info regarding Nazi camps on the girls' comics---I only have some MISTY, so I will look out the Sentinels strip you mention.

The Sentinels is #1-12. If you don't have those numbers, I can send scans if you send your email.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Reckon I have them, Tammy, on the-less-than-sanctioned MISTY scan-disc that is no longer availible on e-bay.

I have noted the numbers you have helpfully provided and will tune in later.

Many thanks for the kind offer all the same, though! Much appreciated.