Comics UK

Nice seeing the different artists..good one Spy..
Bob Webster what else did he draw?

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote: Next, the final front-page appearance of the much-maligned, ultra-controversial 'SPARKY' character, who even to this very day, can elicit much gnashing of teeth [and hair being torn out] by right-minded liberals, not to mention the well-meaning 'P C' set: little did artist RON SPENCER realize his cartoon creation would kindle such heated debate a full 4 decades later.

Actually I'm kind of apolitical, apart from loathing the BNP, but I do like to follow common sense. The Sparky character, a reworking of Fifties character Sooty Snowball, was a bad and outdated idea to launch in 1965 when society was trying to make some headway in racial integration and civil rights.

One can argue that facial exaggeration and stereotyping is part of comics, but when Sparky is the only grossly exaggerated character in his environment of white, near-realistic supporting characters, and he's dressed in a grass skirt in modern-day Britain, then the racist aspect becomes even more indefensible. I hear lots of put downs of "political correctness" but I'm yet to hear of a positive reason why Sparky was deemed an ok concept.

Lew

However! As far as I know Sparky was never called "Sambo". That word was used at least twice in 1966 `Dandy's. Going backl to 1969 "Sparky's" The pre- Relaunch of 1 Feb 1969 dis see the shift towards a more hard-hitting style! Both "L. Cars" &"Spoofer McGraw" had arrived on 21st & 28th Dec respectively! And "John (Later to be Barney) "Bull Dog" had replaced "The Moonsters" on 16 Nov 68.

There was a short lived strip called "Cheating Charlie" drawn by the artist who would draw early 70s "Pansy Potter! There were also two `half-page` strips tasking up one page "Charlie Chutney" (Comic adventures of a Cook) and "Meddlesome Matty" (Always tried to help but messed up! Matty was drawn by one of the artists who drew "Dreamy Dave & Dozy Dora". Am I the only person who thinks Matty looks very like Melinda Messenger?

Charlie was `culled` by the 1 Feb relauch but Matty held on for a couple of months!

I'm just indifferent to the 'SPARKY' character, LEW; I personally found the 'cartoon' books put out by the NAZI regime for 30s GERMAN schoolkids [which included 'JEWS not wanted here'-type brainwashing ] to be more basically evil than the 'SPARKY' strip, which I felt was more misguided ,---- like 'STEPTOE' dialogue from the same era------than some sort of deliberate fascistic manifesto.


however, for better or worse, this character is part of the comic's history, and is deservedly included here; it's controversial to be sure, but to ignore this character completely, as if he never existed ,is equally wrong.

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:I'm just indifferent to the 'SPARKY' character, LEW; I personally found the 'cartoon' books put out by the NAZI regime for 30s GERMAN schoolkids [which included 'JEWS not wanted here'-type brainwashing ] to be more basically evil than the 'SPARKY' strip, which I felt was more misguided ,---- like 'STEPTOE' dialogue from the same era------than some sort of deliberate fascistic manifesto.


however, for better or worse, this character is part of the comic's history, and is deservedly included here; it's controversial to be sure, but to ignore this character completely, as if he never existed ,is equally wrong.

Before this becomes one of those common misunderstandings that occur so frequently on internet forums I should point out that at no stage have I considered Sparky to be "evil" or "fascistic", nor have I ever suggested you shouldn't show those old strips here.

I'm just amazed such a character was considered a good idea in 1965, in the context of the times, that's all. As a child of the sixties I remember how out of touch it seemed even then.

Lew

The 'Sparky' character was certainly an unfortunate throwback, but not by that many years. When I was at Infant School earlier in the same decade it was still quite normal for teachers to read 'The Adventures of Little Black Sambo' to appreciative groups of children, just as they had done for many years beforehand. For an editor at DC Thomson who'd spent a lifetime working with such comic stereotypes it's easy to understand how he might not have noticed that the moral climate had changed so abruptly - what's more, for most of the adult population in the Sixties, happily watching Love Thy Neighbour, The Black & White Minstrel Show and It Ain't Half Hot Mum, it probably hadn't!

- Phil R.

good points, very clearly made, LEW; many other strips I have show the 'SPARKY' character coming off far worse than the example I placed here; I simply wanted to show the last-ever cover of this character, and I would have shown whatever that happened to be.

In the 60s I actually thought this character looked more bizarre than anything else......it was 'sort of' an African, but distorted to the pont in which it might as well have been a being from another planet.

Phil:in my day, the 'BLACK-and-WHITE minstrels was regarded by millions as the ultimate in inoffensive entertainment!

By all accounts, sexism, racism, and many other 'isms' are presented as never before in the media, but they're tarted up in the guise of 'satire', which somehow makes it 'acceptable'.

There was a grotesque 'blackface' character relatively recently----at least, well after the 'B& W MINSTRELS'----in 'LEAGUE of GENTLEMEN' [or similar title], but it was 'OK', as it was 'post-ironic', it's all just nonsense.

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:In the 60s I actually thought this character looked more bizarre than anything else......it was 'sort of' an African, but distorted to the pont in which it might as well have been a being from another planet.

That was pretty much my reaction too. In fact it's only just occurred to me that due to Immigration and TV mine was probably the first generation to grow up with a realistic image of black people instead of relying on exaggerated versions in picture books, comics and films. For most previous generations the native inhabitants of Africa might just as well have been Martians!

- Phil R.

couldn't have put it better myself, Phil!

philcom55 wrote:For an editor at DC Thomson who'd spent a lifetime working with such comic stereotypes it's easy to understand how he might not have noticed that the moral climate had changed so abruptly - what's more, for most of the adult population in the Sixties, happily watching Love Thy Neighbour, The Black & White Minstrel Show and It Ain't Half Hot Mum, it probably hadn't!

- Phil R.

Two of those shows were 1970s programmes but I take your point. The media was still perpetuating the black stereotype for years. However, those tv programmes were family shows, not specifically aimed at children as Sparky was. Also, as I keep mentioning, the most alarming thing in Sparky is context: white characters drawn almost realistically, whilst Sparky himself is a gross caricature dressed in a grass skirt. It's the imbalance that's unfair.

It was just a strip that was way out of touch for 1965, and thankfully it didn't last too long because presumably it wasn't very popular. I was pleased when The Moonsters took over the cover. Now they were the sort of "funny aliens" they should have had fronting Sparky from the outset. (Although in that instance, as the two white kids were visitors on the Moon, they were the aliens of course. )

Lew

Peter Gray wrote:Nice seeing the different artists..good one Spy..
Bob Webster what else did he draw?

For Sparky Bob Webster drew Flubberface, Jeff ye Jolly Jester, Slowdown Express, Klanky, Pansy Potter etc. He first came to prominence at Thomsons illustrating, usually light, adventure strips in Bunty and the New Hotspur. In fact a strip of his, the name of which escapes me but which had the byline 'The No Gun Sheriff', was the first strip to appear in the very first issue of New Hotspur in Oct 1959. Just remembered the strip was called Bandy Walker.
BTW Robert Harry Carry was drawn by James Malcolm not James Cameron.

PHEW! Thanks for that, kashgar, as I have more JAMES MALCOLM material coming up......JAMES CAMERON directed 'ALIENS', I think!

------okay, after the politico-discussion regarding the previous cover star, time for more on 'SPARKY' 1969:

Early Feb [Feb 1, to be exact] would herald in the biggest upheavel in the comic's history, in fact one of the biggest transformations of any non-merger title during this period:



[above; next week's 'coming attractions' including the first time the 'shhh! guy' is named in print....however, a 'pink paper' ad that appeared as a 4-page pull-out supplement for this edition has so far eluded me]. Artwork by VIC NEILL.

Here's the first edition of the new-look 'SPARKY', with it's familiar 'fireworks' masthead. BARNEY BULLDOG had been kicking around since 1968, ---on the back cover----as 'JOHN BULL DOGG'.




The content of 'SPARKY' from here on takes on a noticably more 'zany', openly-manic direction, that I certainly appreciated; up until this point, I had regarded the comic as an almost archaic, curio-piece, and by all accounts it appeared to have been put together by slightly stuffy 'old-school' Editors, who seemed to be trying to second-guess what 60s kids would look for in a comic.

New editor IAN CHISOLM transformed 'SPARKY'S' fortunes from hereon in, blowing away much of the previous cobwebs that had entangled the title in a musty, mouldy mire [though early editions of the comic still entertain on a wholly seperate level].

Many of the same artists were retained, however the utilizing of top talent alone was no guarantee to the success of a character, as illustrated here:



'WYATT TWERP' was a beautifully-rendered RON SPENCER vehicle in lavish 'technicolor' that failed to set ratings on fire, lasting only a few short months. Quite remarkably, the main character's moniker was ressurected the following year, with scaled-back, b/w values, a completely-different-looking titular star, and even artwork from the same artist:




another top artist used by 'SPARKY' during early '69 was ROBERT NIXON, then at the top of his game. Again, the following character, though beautifully-executed, had a fairly short run:



---however, this very easily could have been due to BOB'S talents being sorely needed over at 'BEANO' during this time, as following the passing of DUDLEY D WATKINS at approximately the same tame as 'ESKY MO' was withdrawn could very likely have seen an increase in BOB'S 'BEANO' output.




above; the honours here are split between HUGH MORREN [top] in this brilliantly quirky strip, and 'MEDDLESOME MATTY' down below, smoothly rendered by JAMES MALCOLM.

I love the advert Spy..

must check my one copy of the New Hotspur to see if I can find his work...Bob Webster.
thanks for the info Kashgar..

I have to disagree slightly with Rab here (Sorry Rab!) I don't think the Feb 69 changes were that drastic at all! Of the new strips only "I.Spy" and "Sparky People" really worked! Though I loved the "Helpful Henry" strip it barely lasted three months!

"Harry Presto" got tedious very quickly and went even sooner! Neither "Cap'n Hood" (on back cover) or "Wyatt Twerp" really made the grade either! I never ever found Wyatt Twerp or its follow up with "Bugsy" any fun at all.

"Esky Mo" was a "Little Plum" copy and soon departed! In fact, many pre Feb stories returned, such as "Big Billy Big" "Davy Spacer" and "Klanky". Three of the more sucessful stories, "Spoofer McGraw", "L.Cars" and "John/Barney Bulldog" all debuted in 1968.

In fact! the REAL change to Sparky content happened over the weeks 23rd & 30th September 1967. It really changed a lot in those two weeks!

Alan: I never actually started buying the comic until after the revamp mentioned above......you followed 'SPARKY' from the beginning, so maybe the changes seemed more natural to you. In 1965, I couldn't even read, and was at the 'looking at the pictures' stage: even in 1969, there were certain words in comics I weren't too sure of the meaning of, and had to ask.


'SPARKY': the ARCHAIC and the ANARCHIC:

The best way to illustrate what I percieve to be the yawning gulf between 'pre' and 'post' FEB 1969



COMIC, I think is to contrast the two following sets of images; the first, dated DEC 14, 1968, shows the final appearance of 'DREAMY DAVE and DOZY DORA', ---perhaps the prime example of the comic's more whimsical, 'ALICE-in-WONDERLAND' dream-like qualities of the early period:






------it's nursery-rhyme stuff, unforgettable, but definately characteristic of the 'olde-school' SPARKY.



----the new style of humour wrought after the 'FEB '69 REVOLUTION' seen a new brand of comedy which is perhaps best illustrated by this following JOHN GEERING-penned work:







the freewheeling, anarchic dealings as seen above evolved out of the new direction in comedy taken after FEB '69 [topped by lush-n-lustrous inkmanship] looks totally inconsistent with material from 'SPARKY'S' earlier period: it barely seems credible these works originated from the same comic.