The Sparky File 1965 to January 1969.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

the very first [dis]-appearance in SPARKY from the TONY SPEER-penned INVISIBLE DICK:

If only the remainder of the strip's run had shown such scriptwriting potential as this debut outing:





more Medievel mishaps and mirth from the beautifully-rendered WILLIE THE WOEFUL WIZARD:






all todays examples are dated 11 FEB 1967, [issue 108].

[Peter Gray]

Liked the invisible Dick one...with the top floor invisible and also a floating hand holding the torch..very steel clawish..

[alanultron5]

After Ep1 of Invisible Dick, it was downhill RAPIDLY!! All the way!

Willie in `Nohow`land! Oh! I really loved that one! God, the memories it brings back! My second fave -only just behind I. Spy-in all time Sparky line-up!

[Digifiend]

Cosmic rays? Is that a reference to the Fantastic Four?

[alanultron5]

Probably is! Strip stated Dick's dad was an Astronaut-No UK Astronauts in 1967! His dad made a few appearances in the strip over the years with no nod to him bieng an astronaut mentioned!

My nomination for the worst ever comic strip in the entire history of the universe! BY FAR!!

[Digifiend]

No UK astronauts until this year in fact, any Brit who's already gone into space had to become an American citizen (renouncing British citizenship) in order to join Nasa, or pay privately to fly with the Russians. But last month, it said on the news that a Brit was finally going to space via the European Space Agency - the first official British astronaut.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8058601.stm

[Phoenix]

After Ep1 of Invisible Dick, it was downhill RAPIDLY!! All the way

This does seem a pity, given that the original started out so promisingly and then went on to maintain that standard. Invisible Dick debuted as a text story in the very first issue of The Rover (Mar. 4 1922). When his sister May catches measles, Richard 'Dicky' Brett's parents send him to stay with his uncle, the eminent scientist, Professor Peter Knowles. Uncle Peter knows nothing about children but he does know a lot about fossils. One day he gets very excited on receiving a dull metal casket covered in strange pictures of birds and animals. The casket, he tells Dicky, comes from the tomb of a very learned doctor and magician who had died two thousand years before the Christian era started. He discovers the special catch on the carving that opens the box to reveal a small, stoppered bronze bottle. When the professor is called away suddenly to give a lecture he has forgotten about, Dicky investigates the bottle. On removing the stopper he sees that it is full of round, hard pellets which shine with a mysterious radiance and seem to change colour through the spectrum. He sniffs the strange perfume and very soon becomes aware of the unusual properties of the pellets when he realises that he can no longer see his hand. Shortly after that, he looks at himself in his uncle's mirror and is startled to discover that no reflection is looking back at him. Although the effects do not last for much more than half an hour, Dicky's life has taken a serious turn for the better. He 'confiscates' the bottle and replaces it with a similar one from a shelf in his uncle's fossil room. A burglar that night is scared off by an invisible Dicky Brett, but Uncle Peter is convinced that the only thing the burglar has stolen is his mysterious, new bottle. Dicky gets away with this substitution, or theft, depending on which way you look at it. Naturally, he gets up to a huge amount of mischief but, with it being the Twenties and The Rover being a DC Thomson paper, he is obviously not even going to think about going anywhere near girls' changing rooms.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I woder if the 'girl's changing rooms' theme would come into a modern-day spin on 'INVIIBLE DICK', phoenix?

the first two pages from today are dated 11 FEB, 1967 [ISSUE 108]:





these next two items are circa issue 134 [12 AUG, '67]:

'HARRY CARRY' had some brilliantly clean artwork courtesy of JAMES MALCOLM:





the basic premise of this next strip was reworked as 'TINY' by TOM BANNISTER in the 'TOPPER' later on:

[Raven]

NEXT WEEK - Sparky , do you think you should, be in such a daredevil mood?


Does this only rhyme if you say it in a Scottish accent?

[Phoenix]

Further to my remarks on The Rover's Invisible Dick above, this is the heading block picture from the first episode. I meant to upload it at the time but I must have got distracted.

[Digifiend]

NEXT WEEK - Sparky , do you think you should, be in such a daredevil mood?

Does this only rhyme if you say it in a Scottish accent?

Yeah, should would be pronounced as shood. Similar situation with Sparky and Beano character Pansy Potter the Strongman's Daughter - daughter and potter don't rhyme in my accent. But in Scotland, daughter probably sounds like dotter!

[alanultron5]

One thing I noticed about Sparky 1965 to 68 was the prolifference of Animal based stories! I counted 14 to Sept 30 1967. Includes `Walrus' (Kipper Feet) Young Elephant (Wee Tusky) Three Bears (Huffy, Muffy & Tuffy) Greedy Gus (Horse) Big Ossie (South African Ostrich) and so on. Obviously, the comic was in a rut!!

[Digifiend]

Yet the cover star wasn't an animal, unlike Dandy's Korky the Cat, Beano's Biffo the Bear, and Topper's Mickey the Monkey. Quite the anomaly...

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

how do you pronounce 'should' in England? In Scotland it sounds: 'shood'.

I lived in LONDON for 5 years, but I can't for the life of me work out how to write 'should' as it sounds in an English accent.

[Digifiend]

how do you pronounce 'should' in England? In Scotland it sounds: 'shood'.

I lived in LONDON for 5 years, but I can't for the life of me work out how to write 'should' as it sounds in an English accent.

Well I'm glad I got shood right. In England, it's shud, and rhymes with could (cud) and would (wud). In fact, wood and would are pronounced the same.