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The Funny Comics Fan Club

The golden ages of British comics are brought to life in this glorious rustle through their back pages by the matey double act of Mark Hibbett and John Dredge, who each week review a specific issue of a classic 1970s title. This moves from old school D.C. Thomson stalwarts such as Dandy, Beano and Topper, to the more anarchic IPC new wave embodied by Whoopee! and Krazy. The riot of wild artwork and puntastic characters including Frankie Stein and Leo Baxendale’s magnificent Sweeney Toddler that followed was akin to moving from music hall to punk, with lashings of junior school surrealism thrown in.

 

The twelve editions so far take us from Jackpot to Cheeky Weekly, as we discover the class-based roots of many strips, with one in which a posh private school and a scruffy comprehensive are merged even being called Class Wars. Umberto Eco gets a mention, as does Trevor Metcalfe’s superhero homage The Amazing Three’s second life by way of Grant Morrison’s Zenith in 2000AD. The first David Bellamy impression heard in the wild for many a year is here, as are Proustian reminiscences of Emu puppets, all punctuated by Kenny Everett style jingles and a chirpy bubblegum theme tune.

 

Hibbett and Dredge’s fanboy enthusiasm suggests they still play conkers while waiting for the newsagent to open. The comics themselves can be seen on the show’s social media pages. These scans may not have what the duo call the ‘whiff of Thatcher and punk venues’ of the paper versions, but it all makes for a bumper size summer special of a show.

 

Episodes of The Funny Comics Fan Club are available every second Sunday at Podbean. 


The List, February 2025

 

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