I Spy in Whoopee

[George Shiers]

I Spy, a well-known Sparky character attempted to win the million at Scream Inn in 1974, despite the fact Scream Inn was in an IPC comic! I've posted it, and another interesting Scream Inn post, here:

http://www.wackycomics.com/2014/04/i-sp ... oopee.html

Thanks to Irmantas of Kazoop for the scans. He blogged Scream Inn in Shiver and Shake in a four part blog post last year:

http://kazoop.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/a- ... m-inn.html

[Lew Stringer]

I Spy, a well-known Sparky character attempted to win the million at Scream Inn in 1974, despite the fact Scream Inn was in an IPC comic! I've posted it, and another interesting Scream Inn post, here:

http://www.wackycomics.com/2014/04/i-sp ... oopee.html

I've been intrigued about this since you mentioned it the other day... but it's not really I-Spy is it? The IPC one is lankier, and has a Russian accent and different hat, - and none of I-Spy's gadgets.

The long black coat, big hat, and partly hidden face was a typical way of drawing a cartoon spy. Reminds me more of Funf from the 1940s Tommy Handley strip:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_448y6kVhntg/S ... andley.jpg

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

The Scream Inn strip definitely seems to be a homage to I SPY, and of course the Sparky character had been extensively drawn by the same artist , Brian Walker, not that much earlier. I see this sort of inter-publishing house 'blending' just as a bit of harmless subversion .

The closest I ever discovered to any 'origins of I Spy' was a detail of a 40s strip I discovered in the Roy Wilson book, of all places......that featured a character very similar in design to the later Sparky character [sans the gadgets of course: it might have been the Handley strip that Lew mentions, I really need to check, it's from the same era.

The likeness to I Spy was striking, far more than say, THE CLOAK .

[philcom55]

I'm sure it would've been Tommy Handley and Funf you remember seeing Rab as the Roy Wilson book did indeed devote two pages to it. Funf was a comic German spy whose voice was regularly heard in Handley's radio show 'ITMA' during the war years - though his distinctive appearance in Radio Fun must have sprung directly from Wilson's own inspired imagination.

I must admit that my first thought on seeing the character was of the 'Spy vs. Spy' cartoons in Mad Magazine - though I-Spy was a close second. Here's another example of the strip from 1940:



(I love Handley's weird dialogue by the way. The writer really seems to have got into the spirit of the radio show!)

- Phil Rushton

[Lew Stringer]

The likeness to I Spy was striking, far more than say, THE CLOAK .

Speaking of which, I think it's a fair bet that I-Spy was inspired by The Cloak. Mike Higgs certainly thinks so, and I'm inclined to agree. Both strips were comedy adventure serials with black-garbed spies who had outlandish gadgets on their person, (rockets in hats etc) encountering weird and fantastic villains. I-Spy debuted about a year after The Cloak had proven to be a big hit in Pow!

Both great strips though! (Of course, Eagle Eye Junior Spy predates both of them, but there are more similarities between The Cloak and I-Spy.)

[colcool007]

Would Mad's Spy vs Spy not appear in that chronology somewhere? As I always assumed that the Mad version had some bearing on the invention of the cloak and dagger comedy characters.

[klakadak-ploobadoof]

Here’s another one which Brian Walker sneaked into the episode of Scream Inn printed in Shiver and Shake No. 51 (February 23rd, 1974). Isn’t it Chief from Sparky’s I.Spy reading the paper behind the conductor?..

[dandy mad]

Hmm I Spy and Scream Inn a character that has a vague likeness to one another the publishers own the copyright to each character DCT didn't do anything about it then and won't now after 4 decades will they

[klakadak-ploobadoof]

Well. that's not what the thread is about, is it?

[dandy mad]

What is it about then? And was the IPC character done to rile DCT? Was DCT thinking that imitation is the best form of flattery?? Who knows...

[Lew Stringer]

Here’s another one which Brian Walker sneaked into the episode of Scream Inn printed in Shiver and Shake No. 51 (February 23rd, 1974). Isn’t it Chief from Sparky’s I.Spy reading the paper behind the conductor?..

Yes, I'll admit that one's definitely a crafty cameo by the Chief.

[klakadak-ploobadoof]

What is it about then? And was the IPC character done to rile DCT? Was DCT thinking that imitation is the best form of flattery?? Who knows...

It is about Brian Walker having fun. He drew I.Spy in Sparky for DCT and worked for the other publisher at about the same time, drawing other strips, so it's interesting to see how he played around.

[philcom55]

I wonder if Hanna Barbera's Secret Squirrel could have been another influence? He might not have been dressed all in black like the Cloak and I-Spy but I remember being hugely amused by the way in which he concealed a seemingly inexhaustible array of unfeasibly large weapons and gadgets in his trench coat and fedora hat!

- Phil Rushton

[dandy mad]

What is it about then? And was the IPC character done to rile DCT? Was DCT thinking that imitation is the best form of flattery?? Who knows...

It is about Brian Walker having fun. He drew I.Spy in Sparky for DCT and worked for the other publisher at about the same time, drawing other strips, so it's interesting to see how he played around.

I always thought it was Les Barton who drew the I Spy strip

[klakadak-ploobadoof]

He did, but then Brian Walker took over.