Island of Monsters by Paddy B

[Peter Gray]

http://www.petergraycartoonsandcomics.b ... -very.html

This strip is amazing...as Spy said on the comments its the large insects which get to you!!!

can someone please put up the first story how it began....love to use it for a blog post and to see how it started...also wonder how it ended...
I'm trying to collect the Dandy's of this series...

Thanks again...

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Thanks for putting this on for us, Peter: it's an extremely memorable DANDY strip that gripped me from the first instalment: as I said on your blog, this featured an un-nerving image of a native islander dragging a dead [giant] beetle on a creeper vine---an extremely revolting , unforgettable image that set the tone of the sheer Horror that was unleashed over the coming months.

Sadly I have never seen this image since 1969, and would love to see it, hope someone on here can help me and Peter on this one?

If you are up for collecting these [I have several instalments, but by no means the full set] the issues ran from;


1451 [Sep 13, 1969]


Ended;


1493 [July 4 1970] Thanks kashgar---this is still in my notebook--very handy indeed]


--so that means 41 instalments, quite an epic. To me, this story ranks as good as anything in 2000 AD, which specialized in horror-fantasy, of course.


I think the story ends with the white lad 'Davie Dunbar?' leaving the island on a ship, however a giant monkey of King Kong sized proportions intervenes!


Yes, the depiction of giant insects especially singled this one out as true Horror; swarms of giant flies, etc, the absolute stuff of nightmares.

Absolutely top-quality work by Paddy Brennan, and the use of captions underneath the frames helped give the look of the story a more cinematic feel. Paddy gave even the Master of this adventure field Dudley Watkins a run for his money, I reckon---he was absolutely brilliant at depicting poise and character, on top of the pure fantasy-escapist elements that so embellished his work.

Wonder if Paddy struggled to find work after the 'funnies' took over all of the comics' content?

[Kashgar]

Paddy spent his latter years working for the Thomson girl's papers Rab, so he was never short of work.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Glad to hear it, kash!

Thanks for the info.......

[Peter Gray]

Here's a list

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... 127&t=3397

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

BEING FOR THE BENEFIT OF UBER-COMICS FAN, MR. PETER GRAY:









Hiya Peter---like myself , I know you love this story, and although I do not yet have every single episode, I have located a fair few admidst my considerable archives.


Just last night, I rediscovered the notorious Page One [Dandy, 1451, Sep 13, 1969] that horrified me as a nipper---the 'dead beetle' scenario, this image has been burned into my psyche ever since, and this is the first time I have been able to revisit this.

The only difference is, my memory played slight tricks on me, and I wrongly assumed the dead beetle was dragged in in a flipped mirror angle, but other than that, this is still potent, vital stuff, and the first three pages of this tale is terrifying stuff, with an army of rampaging beetles doing their collective damage:






Flash-forward to the final page of this tale---again, from a three-parter, and we see a jovial ending to the disturbing events depicted in this fantastic [in more ways than one] tall tale: [issue 1493/ July 4, 1970]:







Another adventure story that gripped my imagination from the pages of DANDY in this period was THE PURPLE CLOUD, a repeat from the early 60s, that I am also collecting---this also still looks great, if somewhat dated, but that is part of the charm------I have a fair whack of these also but not, alas, as yet the final episode [ ish 1449] where the PURPLE MASK is justly and finally thwarted.

[Phoenix]

This theme of plant and animal life grown huge had been a well-hoed furrow in Thomsons' text story papers for many years, well before 1969. Examples could include The War Of The Gi-Ants in The Skipper in 1941 (self-explanatory) The Big Tree in The Rover in 1945 (humanoid tree-men, women and children, rats, spiders, caterpillars), The Menace In Pit 19 four years later, also in The Rover (moles), The Silent City in The Hotspur in 1948 (snakes, gorillas, rats), The Revenge Of The Doomed Ten Thousand in Adventure in 1949 (undersea monsters such as lobsters, octopuses, crocodiles), and Lower Twittering stories in The Wizard in 1954 (birds, frogs, rabbits, stoats).

[stevezodiac]

The one that has always stuck in my mind is the giant animals and insects in Fireball XL5 in TV Century 21, superbly painted by Mike Noble. I was nine or ten years old at the time.

[Peter Gray]

Thanks Spy...so the island of monsters is still out there ready to come back!!

is it possible you could put up page 2 and 3 has well please...thanks..

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

no, probs, Mr Gray---you have been good enough to help me out with scans of missing comics in the past---here is the entire first three pages of the opening episode---sorry, I do not know how to make this any larger, but it should be readable.


Yes, the islands of monsters in these films especially usually get sunk by a volcano at the end, but here it still exists---maybe time for a Beano Summer Special revisit?

This is a hellish scenario here, indeed!:

[Digifiend]

Yes, the islands of monsters in these films especially usually get sunk by a volcano at the end, but here it still exists---maybe time for a Beano Summer Special revisit?

I think the Dandy Annual would be a better place for it.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I would just be glad to see it put out anyywere under DCT, Digi.

[Kashgar]

'The Menace in Pit 19' was revived as a picture strip in Victor Nos29(9/9/61) - 36(28/10/61) drawn expertly by Ron Smith. Sadly his only strip for the picture paper.
But for sheer jaw-dropping depictions of monster creatures you won't find better than
another Ron Smith effort 'The Giants from the Sea' which appeared in the full colour centre-spread of the tabloid sized Topper in issues 653(7/8/65)-677(22/1/66). Absolutely brilliant!

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

yes kashgar, I have a few of those Topper issues-----stunning stuff indeed.

Consequently, I am sure I discovered some hyper-unusual 50s Ron Smith BEANO material in one of the annuals, where he attempted a more overtly cartoon look------very strange indeed, and I don't think the experiment was repeated.

[Kashgar]

Hi Rab,

If it's Ron Smith cartoon work for the Beano then you must mean 'Goggo in the Goldfish Bowl' about a wizard trapped in said receptical. Ron drew this for both the 1954 and 1955 Beano Books. His only other work for the Beano being the illustrations for two text stories 'The Walkie-Talkie Tree' also in Beano Book 1954 and 'Mickey's Magic Bone' in the Beano Book for 1960.