The Boy with the Wooden Collar - from The Hotspur

[Raven]

Though The Hotspur was never really my kind of thing, in the issues I have, there always seems to be one strip that stands out for me, with a stronger and more interesting storyline than the others. In the few September 1975 issues I have, it's The Boy with the Wooden Collar, a 15th century-set tale about a boy captured by a Mongol tribe and given to his leader's son as a slave, following which, the two controversially become buddies.

It starts on September 20th 1975 in issue 831. Do any Hotspurites happen to know how long the serial runs and which issue it ends in?

[Phoenix]

The Boy With The Wooden Collar actually started a week earlier than you say, Raven, in issue 830 (Sep. 13 1975). It finished in 837 (Nov. 1 1975).

[Raven]

The Boy With The Wooden Collar actually started a week earlier than you say, Raven, in issue 830 (Sep. 13 1975). It finished in 837 (Nov. 1 1975).

Sorry, yes, I meant September 13th - I do have the opener.

Thanks for the info.

[colcool007]

Is that a reprint of the new Wizard story?

[Kashgar]

Don't think it relates to anything in the revived Wizard Col. From memory I think it was drawn by Ron Smith. At least in my mind's eye that's how I see it.

[Phoenix]

Is that a reprint of the new Wizard story?

Not from The Wizard, Colin. It was a repeat from The Hotspur 431 (Jan. 20 1968) to 438 (Mar. 9 1968), a couple of years, therefore, before the launch of The Wizard (mark 2).

[colcool007]

Ah right. My mistake as I was for some bizarre reason, confusing the story with Chained To His Sword. Mea culpa.

[Raven]

Coo - Thomson certainly seemed to be into reprints more than I used to suspect. I wonder if the stories I consider standouts in the adventure comics will always prove to be reprints - Survivor in Buddy being another.

There's a story I thought really stood out as more interesting and quirky than the surrounding material in the Hotspurs of late 72/early 73: Guardian of Pagoda Light, about a 17th Century Captain and a native boy living on a dangerous headland, operating a navigational light to guide ships to safety and striving to keep this beacon alight. Just of interest ... did this one happen to be a reprint from an earlier comic, too?!

What was Chained To His Sword all about, Col?

[Phoenix]

Coo

The member previously known as Raven must henceforth be known as Pigeon.

[Raven]

Coo

The member previously known as Raven must henceforth be known as Pigeon.

Everyone who read huge amounts of British comics can't stop themselves saying "Coo" or "Bah!" from time to time.

I've even been known to say "Fume!" if something annoys me.

[Phoenix]

Guardian Of Pagoda Light ran in The Hotspur from 685 (Dec. 2 1972) to 694 (Feb. 3 1973). No repeats as far as I can tell, although my records of DCT's boys' picture papers are not complete. Survivor ran in Buddy from 114 (Apr. 16 1983) to 125 (Jul. 2 1983). Again no repeats are indicated in my files. The serial The Survivor in The Victor in 1987 is a different tale. There were two series of Chained To His Sword in The Wizard. The first started on April 20 1974 and finished on July 27 1974. The sequel ran from September 25 1976 to January 1 1977. These were stories about The Quester, who lived in England in the Middle Ages and championed the poor and helpless against barons and outlaws etc. He was an Equaliser type of figure. The idea came from the cricket story Chained To His Bat in The Rover in 1956 and/or the version of it that appeared in The Hotspur in 1964. The tennis serial Chained To Her Racket in Judy in 1971 is another spin-off.

[Raven]

Thanks for that. Well, Chained To His Sword doesn't sound like The Boy With The Wooden Collar, then, but Col did say his confusing of the two was bizarre.

It was mentioned on this very forum a while back that the impressively drawn Survivor in Buddy (1983) was a reprint from Bullet (1976).

[Phoenix]

It was mentioned on this very forum a while back that the impressively drawn Survivor in Buddy (1983) was a reprint from Bullet (1976).

Thank you, Raven, for drawing my attention to the earlier printing of Survivor. I've checked it out and it runs from issue 1 of Bullet (Feb. 14 1976) to 12 (May 1 1976). I do have virtually a complete run of Bullet (just 8 issues to find) but I have not catalogued it at all, which is why no reference to the serial showed up in my files. I've just done a search for references to Survivor on this forum and I very soon realised that I hadn't followed that particular thread at the time either.

[colcool007]

Phoenix, as always, you have come to my rescue. I knew Chained To His Sword was a Wizard story, but it has been a while since I have looked at my Wizard collection, so I would be darned if I could come up with any details.

However, I have figured out why I confused the two. I am 99% sure that at least one run of The Boy with the Wooden Collar featured art by the legendary Carlos Ezquerra. And the starting first two or three episodes of Chained To His Sword was also by Carlos. If I recall correctly, the change in art style is quite jarring.

As to the comments by comics fans, I must admit to a North of the Border bias and I will often use "Jings! Crivvens!" and "Help Ma Boab" rather than descending into Anglo-Saxon vernacular.

I must admit that collecting comics has also surprised me at the frequency of reprints. In my childhood, each story was virgin territory. So, as an adult, it was a terrible disappointment to find out that several of my much beloved stories were recycled.

Did it mar my enjoyment? Nary a jot, as a well written story is a joy forever, but it was interesting to see the evolution of society reflected by the changes in stories to make them accessible to another generation.

[Kashgar]

Col, you are beginning to confuse me now. The Boy with The Wooden Collar didn't have a second series. It was only one series, drawn by Ron Smith, that was published in Hotspur on two seperate occasions. You are right though that Carlos Ezquerra was responsible for some of artwork on the Wizard strip Chained to his Sword (I'll check my records and see actually how much). Note that the Chained to his Sword Wizard cover artwork posted by Phoenix was the work of Thomson staff artist Jeff Bevan.
As for the artist responsible for Guardian of the Pagoda Light my memory is telling me Jim Bleach.