Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Formerly known as Classics from the Comics, this forum covers all of DCT's retired titles, like Beezer, Topper, Victor, Nutty and Sparky!

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Phoenix
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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by Phoenix »

Kashgar wrote:My Grockle and Me was a revival of the strip Jimmy and his Grockle that had appeared in the first 106 issues of the Dandy drawn by James Clark and before his reappearance in Sparky the Grockles last appearance had been in a text story published in the Dandy Monster Comic for 1948.
As we are dealing here with antecedents, it should not be forgotten that The Dandy's Jimmy And His Grockle owed its very existence to the highly-entertaining 22-episode text serial Jimmy Johnson's Grockle from The Rover 514 (Feb. 20 1932) - 535 (Jul. 16 1932).

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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by Kashgar »

Thanks Derek. I knew that the Grockle had originated in Rover but I didn't have the details to hand.

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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by alanultron5 »

Such wonderful Data Ray! How am I going to `shoe-horn` it into my file? I'll find a way!! Harking back to the `Moonsters` in my file- I prefer the format connection to "When the Bell Rings" For me -it is the design of that pre `Bash St` strip i'm sure influnced the style of the `Moonsters` But the actual idea of the two principal characters (Peter & Penny) stranded in an alien envoirnment while the `natives` get up to `all-sorts` each week; would obviously be influenced by the strip you mentioned.
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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by alanultron5 »

There was a 1968 run strip "The Magic Sword" which I think Ray on another thread told me was an old `prose` strip. "Lonely Lad of Blue Lagoon" was an actual re-print of - I think a `Hotspur` strip `Lonely larry`

Puzzling me though are the three `classic` story adaptations "Uncle Tom's Cabin" , "Old Curiosity Shop" and the "Coral Island" (All in Sparky 1968) had these run in another comic previous?

Regarding "Clever Claire" most unusual in what was -to me - a `fun` (rather than Adventure) strip had just a eight week run! I wonder if `Claire` had further adventures in European comics etc?
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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by Kashgar »

alanultron5 wrote:There was a 1968 run strip "The Magic Sword" which I think Ray on another thread told me was an old `prose` strip. "Lonely Lad of Blue Lagoon" was an actual re-print of - I think a `Hotspur` strip `Lonely larry`

Puzzling me though are the three `classic` story adaptations "Uncle Tom's Cabin" , "Old Curiosity Shop" and the "Coral Island" (All in Sparky 1968) had these run in another comic previous?

Regarding "Clever Claire" most unusual in what was -to me - a `fun` (rather than Adventure) strip had just a eight week run! I wonder if `Claire` had further adventures in European comics etc?
Yes Alan 'The Magic Sword' had been a prose story in the early issues of Dandy. I'll be discussing it more after the weekend as I'll be away for a few days. Similarly those other strips you mention 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and 'The Old Curiousity Shop', both drawn by Paddy Brennan, which both originally appeared in Bunty and 'The Coral Island' drawn by Bill Holroyd, which was first published in the New Hotspur I'll also be discussing them in more detail too.
There are also a number of other strips that fall into this category which I'll be giving a mention, not least the 'Lonely Lad of Blue Lagoon' which was three series featuring the New Hotspur character Lonely Larry stitched together.

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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by alanultron5 »

I'd like to thank Ray for this `thread` as it has been a tonic for me -coming back after a long illness! Much of the background data to the setting up of the comic and extra facts for artists is invaluable. I'm putting it into my file! I hope to soon aquire a laptop with function to send large attachments and if folks want updated copies of file, hopefully I can provide.

One bit of data from me. `Sparky` gave away more free gifts (as far as I know) in a nine year period than any other DCT title. From Sept 1965 (I don't count its debut free gits promotions of Jan 65 as all new comics did those) to August 1974 (The last such promotion) it had nine sets of gifts Sept 65, March 66, Sept 66, Sept 67, Feb 69, Jan 70, Feb 71, Oct 72 and Aug 74! In the same period; Sept 65 to Aug 74, Dandy & Beano just two each, Beezer and Topper six each! I don't have figures for Hornet, Hotspur, Victor, Bunty, Mandy or Bimbo, but I doubt if any do nine in that period!
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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

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Kashgar wrote:'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and 'The Old Curiousity Shop', both drawn by Paddy Brennan, which both originally appeared in Bunty
Just to whet your appetite, Alan, for Ray's more detailed reply when he gets back from his weekend away, and to save him some time into the bargain, here are the details on the two Classics In Pictures from Bunty. Uncle Tom's Cabin ran from 1 (Jan. 18 1958) - 20 (May 31 1958), and The Old Curiosity Shop ran from 39 (Oct. 11 1958) - 58 (Feb. 21 1959). The Coral Island ran in The New Hotspur 1 (Oct. 24 1959) - 16 (Feb. 6 1960).

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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by Kashgar »

Thanks for saving me a bit of time there Derek.
As to 'The Magic Sword' it was originally a text story illustrated by Dudley Watkins in Dandy Nos1-18 and 'Lonely Lad of Blue Lagoon' was the first three series of 'Lonely Larry - Castaway' from New Hotspur/Hotspur stitched together. These had appeared in the issue Nos 47-79 with artwork by Guido Buzzelli and Steve Chapman,and
209-219 and 247-361 the latter two series with art by Bill Holroyd.
Another one of Sparky's literary adaptations 'David Copperfield' was also a reprint from the girls papers. This time from Judy Nos 1-19 in 1960 with artwork provided by J.T. Higson.
There is absolutely no need to thank me Alan. Just pleased to hear you're on the mend.
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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by Lew Stringer »

alanultron5 wrote:I'd like to thank Ray for this `thread` as it has been a tonic for me -coming back after a long illness! Much of the background data to the setting up of the comic and extra facts for artists is invaluable. I'm putting it into my file! I hope to soon aquire a laptop with function to send large attachments and if folks want updated copies of file, hopefully I can provide.

One bit of data from me. `Sparky` gave away more free gifts (as far as I know) in a nine year period than any other DCT title. From Sept 1965 (I don't count its debut free gits promotions of Jan 65 as all new comics did those) to August 1974 (The last such promotion) it had nine sets of gifts Sept 65, March 66, Sept 66, Sept 67, Feb 69, Jan 70, Feb 71, Oct 72 and Aug 74! In the same period; Sept 65 to Aug 74, Dandy & Beano just two each, Beezer and Topper six each! I don't have figures for Hornet, Hotspur, Victor, Bunty, Mandy or Bimbo, but I doubt if any do nine in that period!
Very nice free gifts too. I wonder if that meant that Sparky wasn't selling as well as the others? Sometimes quirkier comics can have less appeal than those that follow a formula. But I'm glad that Sparky was as unique as it was or we wouldn't remember it so fondly.
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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by Phoenix »

alanultron5 wrote:`Sparky` gave away more free gifts (as far as I know) in a nine year period than any other DCT title. From Sept 1965 (I don't count its debut free gits promotions of Jan 65 as all new comics did those) to August 1974 (The last such promotion) it had nine sets of gifts Sept 65, March 66, Sept 66, Sept 67, Feb 69, Jan 70, Feb 71, Oct 72 and Aug 74!
This may well have been true in the post-war period, Alan, but at any point between 1921 and 1940, starting wherever you like, and in whichever story paper you choose, groups of nine free gifts were given to readers of Thomsons' text story papers as a matter of course over as little as two years, occasionally making an incursion into a third. In quite a few cases an individual group of these gifts would be given over say ten to twelve weeks. Just as an example at random, between the beginning of 1930 and the end of 1938 Adventure gave away 33 groups of gifts, The Rover 31, The Skipper 27 and The Wizard 26. They were also more carefully, more imaginatively, and more lovingly produced than most post-war supplements, and that's not just my opinion.

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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by dishes »

Good luck with your new version of the Sparky File, Alan. If you'd like it proof-read for free I'd be happy to do it.
Is it weird to have no interest in keeping or collecting free gifts?

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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by alanultron5 »

Thank you Phoenix- very helpful indeed! Yes Lew! Though we don't have access to Thomson's sales figures- I think it's sal;es wern't too strong and it had to try something to keep going. Had it been an IPC title- I think it would have been merged within a year!

Oh! I forgot one of those `classic` serials the first that was run Sept 67 to Feb 68 "David Copperfield" Had this been in another comic? I thought it was superbly drawn - any ideas of artist please? :)
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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by alanultron5 »

My apologies Ray! I hadn't noticed you had put the `David Copperfield` data in that post! Many thanks indeed.

Phoenix- I had no idea there had been so many gifts back then. I wonder if sales were not too healthy? Certainly in the 50s, both Dandy and Beano had no free-gift promotions; and we know they were huge sellers then! Sadly- comparitive sales data for DCT comics post war is most thin on the ground; but I do offer that Sparky was the least seller out of Dandy, Beano, Topper, Beezer and itself. In that period- (Late 60s- early 70s) it surely gave away more gifts than other titles.



Dishes! I have some -re-jigging and other adjustments to make! When I have done it- i'll contact you on P.M and if you give me an E.mail adress I'll try to send the 1965 section as attachment. I'm on Yahoo and that has had trouble with sending large attachments, so I can't be sure it will get through! I'll be in touch when I have 1965 ready! The full `file` runs over 550 pages -hence I had to split it into yearly segments as even the largest capacity mem stick has problems with that much. Its all the photos! I did post sections on here a few years back- but only the text would `take` All photos wouldn't go!!

Not sure if better laptop might make any difference.
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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by Kashgar »

The only other adventure strip to be directly reprinted in Sparky from elsewhere was 'The Boyhood of Deadwood Dick' which had originally appeared in New Hotspur Nos 48-60 (1960) with artwork provided by an artist with the surname Bowyer.
Other strips did appear with previous connections though eg 'Lonely Wood' which had been used as a backdrop for a number of nature stories and strips in the past, in particular in Wizard in 1954 (1464-1484) and 1955 (1529-1540) with prose tales illustrated by James Crighton and in Bunty in 1958 (1-20) and New Hotspur in 1960/61 (61-73) with picture strips 'Molly in Lonely Wood' and the True Life Nature Series respectively with artwork in both cases by Ken Hunter. The artist Urnau provided the artwork for the Lonely Wood strips in Sparky.

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Re: Sparky's Golden Jubilee

Post by alanultron5 »

Fantastic data Ray!! Afraid i'm after another artists identity if possible! This one intrigued me as apart from one strip- they never contributed on anything else in Sparky- apart from a `non comic` strip in the 1967 book- I think! Artist in question penned "Granny Cupp" in the comic and "Dotty Daydream" in the book. Had very intriguing style in my view!
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