mini-comic gems: early 70s newspaper strips.....

[felneymike]

I think Jane ran all the way through the war, and reportedly lost items of clothing on a regular basis, but the first time she was completley nude and "you saw something" was on D-day (i have an old 50th anniversary supplement from the Mirror kicking around which mentions what a morale booster it was... one wonders if it had been drawn and was sitting in a cupboard for years awaiting just such an event)

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

GRUMPY OLD MAN and PHIL have both mentioned the 'FOSDYKE SAGA' which I actually don't remember seeing in any newspaper.........the name comes from a source so obvious, I ain't gonna mention it, and followed the ongoing shenanigans of a TRIPE-FACTORY dynasty-----I first came accross this strip when some of it was reprinted in book-form, around 1975...........it looked refreshingly adveturous, with locations zig-zagging around the globe, apparantly.....


-------my abiding memory of this tale is set aboard a trapped GERMAN submarine, [in the grip of a giant octopus] ---and there is a rer-view panel of a less-than-shapely woman stripping, making the SAILORS all flee in terror.......I also remember a recurring theme of 'TRIPE-DANCERS' who somewhat resembled the knotted-handkerchief-and-wellies troupe 'THE GUMBYS' from MONTY PYTHON.

[philcom55]

I also remember a recurring theme of 'TRIPE-DANCERS' who somewhat resembled the knotted-handkerchief-and-wellies troupe 'THE GUMBYS' from MONTY PYTHON.

Funnily enough, after The Fosdyke Saga Bill's next best remembered strip would probably be The Cloggies which appeared for several years in Private Eye:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cloggies

If anyone is still labouring under the mistaken impression that all morris dancers are a bunch of limp-wristed big girl's blouses one look at this paean to Northern manhood should be enough to instantly change their mind!

- Phil R.