Tiger 24th August 1974

With the Premier League season behind us, I suddenly have a lot more free time on the weekends. My wife thinks that means that I have more time for her, but what it really means is I have a lot more time for comics. In the next three months, I hope to catch up with a lot of reading, and it starts right here now with Tiger from 24th August 1974. 

Tiger

24th August 1974

Skid Solo

Skid Solo takes a break from the Grand Prix season this week with a diversion to a seaside resort where he and Sparrow are to drive in a veteran car race. 

Unusually for a Skid Solo story some car action doesn't feature on the cover, but rather a winged figure leaping from a cliff top in an attempt to fly. It doesn't go well, and the figure ends up in a crumbled heap at the bottom of the cliff, where we learn about Sandy's school friend Andy McLoughan and his attempts to fly. 

The failed flight is not by Andy, but rather a dummy he used for his flight experiment. While Sandy and Andy examine the wreckage to see what went wrong, Skid and Sparrow head for the track for the day's racing. 

The veteran car race is exactly as you might expect, with the veteran cars delivering plenty of power, and Sparrow and Skid are soon out in front. 

Back with Sandy, Andy is showing him another one of his winged creations. Sandy is concerned that he should return to the track, but Andy convinces him to take a flight in his ungainly-looking machine.

The two threads of the story come together soon after this, with Skid and Sparrow suddenly seeing this flying contraption appear over the track. It drops down low, sending both drivers into evasive action and swerving off the track and into a hedge. Both drivers emerge unscathed, although never can believe what they have just seen. 

Later the two parties are reunited as Sandy and Andy arrive at the track, Sandy full of excitement for the flight he has just taken. He is particularly happy that they didn't crash and looks aghast when Skid tells him that he's had a better afternoon than them and that both Skid and Sparrow crashed. 

Sandy asks how it happened, but neither Skid nor Sparrow can quite bring themselves to tell him. 

The cover image for this story looked fantastic, and the story had a lot to live up to as I turned the page. I am pleased to report that the story inside not only explained that first image, but continued with this theme throughout the whole strip. I was pleased to see that it wasn't Skid who did the flying, that is something that happened too often with Skid taking a turn on every vehicle that appears, and that this time it is Sandy in an unusual vehicle. Of course, Skid wasn't in his usual car either, but he was racing on a track which gave us several memorable images of cars from years past still racing at their best. It looked realistic, and I could feel the rumble of their engines and the power of the cars as they raced through the panels. A strong Skid Solo story, and a strong start to this week's comic. 

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "Tell me, Sparrow...did you see what I saw?"

Roy Of The Rovers

The saga of Charlie Carter continues, with the variety agent Larry Sharp watching on in glee as Charlie makes several errors on the field. Sharp is hoping that Charlie will have a disastrous game and be forced to take up singing for a living.

It looks like Charlie is about to concede a goal, but Roy comes steaming back and manages to clear the ball at the back post out for a corner. 

Charlie is still jittery as the corner is taken, and Roy tells his players to do as much as they can to cover Charlie. However, an opposition player overhears this, and uses it to his advantage, getting into Charlie's ear as the corner kick is taken and distracting him. It is no surprise to see Charlie missing the ball when it comes across and the Castledene player poking the ball into the back of the net for the first goal. 

Charlie is visibly upset and asks Roy to take him off. Roy is having none of it and firmly tells him that he's paid to play for Rovers, and that's what all he should be focused on right now. 

Roy is at his angry best now and at the other end of the field, he thumps in a goal, tying the scores at one all. 

From here the game proceeds as normal, with Rovers pressing for another goal that never comes, while at the back Charlie makes the saves as required. 

It all wraps up with Tony Storme confronting Charlie in the dressing room telling him that he needs to make a decision right now between Melchester Rovers or Show business. 

The football action this week looked so good that the problems besetting Charlie became secondary in my thoughts. It was mentioned every couple of panels, but even so, I found myself lost in the football action. Roy's goal looked spectacular and easy the best part of the story. It looks like we have reached the climax of this arc with Tony Storme demanding a resolution, so I'll be back in seven days to see if Charlie remains at Rovers, or if he will be off to seek fame and fortune in the pop world. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Until you decide to accept Sharp's odder, you're still under contract to this club...so you'd better get your head down, and concentrate on this game!...or I'll personally see to it that you're fined a month's wages!"

Martin's Marvellous Mini

This was easily my favourite story last week, and I can't wait to see what happens next as I turn the page from Roy Of The Rovers. 

With a wild bunch of horsemen descending on them, Martin and Tiny are left with only one option, flee the oasis as soon as they can. 

Speeding off in George, their desert escape becomes a pursuit, with the horsemen keeping up with them. Finding a bit of speed on the flat sand, they also find a bit of luck as the horsemen suddenly stop. 

After a short while, we see why they have stopped, with George becoming stuck in quicksand. Fast action is required, and Tiny and Martin rapidly attach a rope and pull George to safety before he can sink too far. 

From here on they proceed cautiously, with one walking ahead and finding solid ground while the other drives. 

Finally, they find a road of sorts and driving for an hour they come across an old temple just as darkness falls. They enter the temple and there they find two fellow competitors, Steve Birch and Wally Jones, who have also become lost. They too had been caught in the sandstorm and need up lost and seeking shelter in this temple. 

We learn this and in the very next panel, the temple doors slam shut. Feeling spooked, they look up to see that the old idol in the temple of beginning to glow. 

Just as good as last week, I loved every single panel of this story. It would have been easy for the horsemen to catch up with Tiny and Martin, but the choice to instead have our heroes escape into the desert was much more rewarding. I was surprised to see quicksand, but at the same time, it was satisfying to see the pals dragging George out of the sand. Quicksand was very popular in the pop culture of the 1970's so perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, and it was a nice reminder of the era this was written in. On the art side, the Temple looked magnificent, and even in the small panels of a comic page, it looked impressive. The last two weeks of Martin's Marvellous Mini have been superb, and one can only hope that next week it completes the hat trick for the story of the week. 

Rating: 10/10

Best line: "Whatever's happening, I don't like it!"

The Tigers

With the Digby Cricket team about to take on a village team of six-foot giants, everyone except Chunky is visibly nervous. Chunky on the other hand is overly confident, even suggesting to his captain that he might score a century. 

Things go bad from the coin toss, with a yapping dog grabbing the coin. This leads to some chaos and Burton and Scully bang their heads together. 

It is Burton and Scully who open the batting, and once again an animal takes a hand, with Chunky's encouraging clapping of them startling a mule who then kicks a clod of dirt into the back of Burton's head, much to the delight of the local villagers. 

Burton is bowled out the first ball, bringing Biff to the crease. Biff hits out bravely, but offers an easy catch. The catch isn't yet taken as the strip ends, the ball still arching towards the fielder while not far away Chunky watches on, all the time shaking a bottle of pop in his hand. 

I think we can all see what's going to happen next here. It's taken a while for us to finally get on the pitch, and the opening pregame antics of the dog and mule did little to add to the story. Once on the field things improved considerably, and I quite liked what we saw. Some angry bowling and the village team looking dangerous were much more to my taste. Next week's story has been telegraphed somewhat, but I don't mind that too much and it was a nice hook to end the story with. Still not my favourite story, but it remains likeable. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "Haw, haw! That ould Chunky boy be a real comic...we like 'im!"

Football Family Robinson

The pagan god of ill fortune is taking its toll on Thatchem United, with Bert coming off hurt in their opening game to be replaced by a reluctant Dave. 

This bad luck continues through the game - Titch scores a goal, only for it to be waved off as offside, and then a stray back pass leads to Nottborough scoring against the family. 

The flow of the game seems to go against Thatchem, but then there appears to be an obvious handball against Nottborough. The Thatchem players all stop to appeal to the ref, and while they do so the Nottborough players continue playing and score a simple goal. Just as we all learnt as children, you should always play to the whistle. 

At home later, anger is in the air and Viv points out that the idol head is the cause of their problems. Others disagree, and Ron points out that it is their own fault they lost, not the head. Others see it differently, with Fred appearing with a hammer in hand ready to smash the head. We finish with the thought that it might turn nasty if such a thing happened and they'd be even worse off than ever. 

A weird story, I can't decide if I like it or not. One thing I am sure about though is I love the range of characters we have in the family. These characters are far more interesting than the story they are in and really are the driving force of the story. The football action fell flat, the idol remained off the page until the final panels, and the connection between the football and the idol wasn't obvious. My enjoyment of the strip comes from the faces and lines of the characters, and that was enough for me this week in the absence of a gripping storyline. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "Don't stand there appealing, the whistle hasn't gone"

A Horse Called Ugly

With Joe and Ugly off to save Angela, there is little time for an introduction this week. 

They quickly arrive at the meeting point with the crooks, only to find Luigi waiting for him with a pistol dawn and again demanding the treasure. 

Joe still doesn't know what he is talking about and Luigi tells him that he has no interest in his horse, only the painting. The penny finally drops for Joe and he tells Luigi that the painting is hanging on the wall of Ugly's stable. 

They race back to get it, but much to Joe's surprise it has gone missing from the wall. Spluttering with rage, Luigi rushes back to his car, telling Joe that he has until midnight to produce the painting. 

Back at their hideout,  Luigi tells Ferdi what has happened, and pointing at Angela tied up on the floor tells them that she is going to help them get out of the country, as their hostage. 

Joe has been busy, and speaking with Farmer Coker he tells him all that has happened so far. Upon hearing that the painting is missing from the barn, farmer Coker tells Joe that he can guess where it has gone, but it may take weeks to find. As we know, Joe only has until midnight and we are poised for a fast-moving next episode. 

We did have some panels of Ugly early in the story, and he looked magnificent riding at full speed in the dash for Angela. Elsewhere it was all about Joe and Luigi, and their panels together had their own sense of drama, while keeping the story moving forward. Not quite as good as last week's issue, but still fast-moving and with Angela in peril the story continues to keep me on edge. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "That 'rotten old thing' as you call it, is worth a fortune!"

Johnny Cougar with Splash Gorton 

The tag-team contest is delivering plenty of heavy blows, and not just in favour of Johhny and Staff Sergeant Martin. 

Johnny is competing against more than just his large opponents, and the spiked drink that the K.O. Kid gave him begins to take effect early on in this week's story. Johnny has one of his opponents in a full Nelson when suddenly he lets him go and begins to clutch his own head. With his head swimming and eyes beginning to lose focus, he can only see swirling images before his eyes. An attempted forearm smash misses completely, and Johnny finds himself in trouble. 

Johnny is thrown across the ring by the large Dutchman and finds himself taking a seven-count from the referee. He attempts to fight one, but in a daze, he walks the wrong way across the ring and straight into a savage forearm smash. 

Tagging out, Johnny is questioned by Splash, with Splash asking does he think he can carry on. Johnny isn't sure but behind him in the ring, his partner is in big trouble with the other team dishing out heavy punishment. 

Another strong outing for Johnny Cougar, and this story still has some way to go. I loved seeing the big bodies pounding into each other, and I thought the spiking of Johnny's drink was handled well. The effects of this drink are obvious, and as strong as Johnny is, the drink is all too much for him. He may not be back in the ring for next week by the looks of things, and that would be a shame as it really was the in-ring action this week that kept me hooked. I'm not sure where this story will go next, and that's a good thing. As long as it stays as solid as this issue, I'll keep on readying. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "Cougar heap sick...must finish fight..quickly..."

Tallon Of The Track 

I almost forgot - it's a new Tallon Of The Track story this week. 

The Ospreys are out on the track, training hard under the intense instruction of Jo. All seems normal when a mysterious letter arrives for Jo - marked urgent. 

It is covered in oil and grease and Jo tells us that there's only one person in the country that would send a letter like that. The letter tells her that a good rider has been discovered for her, and is signed off by G.J., who she excitedly tells Dave in the next panel is Greaseball Jackson.

She is enthused no-end by this letter and tells Dave they must go immediately to see Greaseball Jackson, and to be ready in ten minutes. 

They come to Greaseball's place and it is, as you might expect from the letter, an incredibly messy-looking motor-engineers. 

Greaseball appears out of this mess and is reacquainted with Jo while telling her that he has found a Swedish fifteen-year-old who is a natural speedway rider. Jo would like to meet him, but Greaseball tells her to be prepared for a bit of a shock, as Speedway isn't the only interest in his life. 

An hour later they arrive in the middle of Exbury and enter The Swing High disco club. It is here that Greaseball points out the wunderkind, the singer on stage. Jo can't believe it and it does seem a million miles away from the dirt and grim of a speedway track.

We are in the early stages of this story, and as such it's hard to get a gauge on it. The introduction of two new characters was a pleasant surprise, although we haven't properly been introduced to the fifteen-year rider yet, and this kept my interest throughout the story. This is the second story in a row we have had a teenager appear, and it feels like we are moving away from the intensity of the early stories where it seemed Jo was constantly battling villains. This is a much gentler Tallon Of The Track. I am not sure I like the storyline direction we have been moving into the last couple of months, but the artwork remains one of the highlights of any Tiger comic.

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line:  "I'm not, Miss Jo! That's Jansson over there - the singer on the stage!"

Issue final ratings:

Overall: 8/10

Best Story: Martin's Marvellous Mini 

Best Line: "You stay where you are, you muddle-headed chump!"

Best Panel: 

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