Tiger 24th January 1976

1976 is shaping up to be a very good year indeed, with January already providing some excellent moments in the first three issues. While Skid Solo has stood head and shoulders above everything else, other stories are quietly finding their feet and although there are a couple of stories I would like to see come to the fore, overall the comic is strong. With a balanced mix of drama, action, and humour, I am reminded why I like this comic, and why I am still reading it fifty years later.

24th January 1976

Johnny Cougar

Johnny Cougar is about to face the Masked Maniac in the next round of the wrestling tournament, but first, there is the typical tomfoolery we have come to expect from Johnny Cougar in recent weeks. 

The Masked Maniac calls for Johnny Cougar to come to the ring and is surprised when Johnny jumps down on him from above.

The Maniac is surprised and angry, but Cougar isn't done with his foolishness, taking a photo of the Maniac that when developed shows not the Maniac but rather an ugly face from elsewhere.

With this, the Maniac has had enough and the fight begins. The Maniac is the more aggressive, but Cougar is powerful, and after a strong tussle Cougar has the first pinfall. 

This infuriates the Masked Maniac, and the next time Cougar attacks he is ready to fight fire with fire. He avoids Cougar's first strike and responds with one of his own which sends Cougar crashing to the floor for a knock-out win.

Despite some silliness early on, this was an enjoyable story. I am beginning to tire of the foolishness that precedes these bouts, although this issue was much better in that respect Whereas the prelude to the match against the Footballer took a couple of weeks, here the clowning by Cougar was a page. Perhaps a page too much for some people, but at least we got to the story a lot quicker. 

The in-ring action was what one would expect from a Johnny Cougar story, with heavy forearm smashes, and a pinch of acrobatics. I was pleased to see the Masked Maniac get the win, as not only does it show that Cougar is not infallible, but also sets us up well for the forthcoming matches.

It looks like the next two matches will follow the same form as the opening couple, especially as the opponents Johnny will be facing are named the Pirate and the Chinaman. As far as tomfoolery goes, it looks like we are well set for some more. This would normally detract from my enjoyment, but the art detailing the fights is superb, and with plenty of wrestling action to counterbalance the slow start, I am reasonably happy at the moment.  

Rating: 7.5/10

Best line: "He did it again! He made me look stupid! Grrrr...I'll still get my revenge!"

Roy Of The Rovers

Roy has been carried off the pitch after suffering from total exhaustion. The team step up in his absence and win the game four-two. 

Meanwhile, Roy wakes up in the hospital to find Penny at his bedside. His first concern is for the game, but Penny reassures him as she tells him the score. She also tells him that it's Saturday, meaning that he has been out of it for three whole days. 

Released from the hospital, Roy is taken home by Penny who makes him comfortable and brings him some tea. She tells him that he needs someone to look after him permanently, someone like herself, but before the conversation can go any further Roy leaps from his seat, suddenly realising the Melchester Rovers are playing in the third round of the F.A. Cup.

He rushes to the ground, but all his worries are for nothing. Jumbo Trudgeon has just scored his hat-trick and Rovers are winning four-nil. 

Coming off the pitch after winning six-nil, the team surround Roy, telling him that he needs to settle down a bit. Roy grins at this suggestion and tells the team he has been making a few plans of his own, and in fact, he has been persuaded by Penny to get engaged. 

While most of the team rejoices at this good news, Blackie looks worried. Roy doesn't know it yet, but one of his first jobs will be to find someone to replace Jumbo Trudgeon.

Mark this in your calendars, another historic issue as Roy is now engaged to Penny.  We have crossed the Rubicon, and there is no going back for Roy now as he is irreversibly aged by this milestone. While Penny was merely his girlfriend, Roy was forever young. With the prospect of marriage on the horizon, there is no doubt that he is growing up and firmly embracing adulthood. It has taken us a long time to get here, but once announced it cannot be put back in the box. 

Elsewhere we have several different stories bubbling away. Roy's exhaustion at being a player and manager of Rovers is ongoing, and now we have new drama in the shape of Jumbo Trudgeon leaving. We don't know the hows and whys yet, and this makes the following few issues all the more interesting. How Roy deals with this will be the main thrust of the next issue, and with several questions needing answers, it will be one of the first stories I turn to. No doubt Penny will have to take care of the wedding planning while Roy has all this on his plate!

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "It'll be the wedding of the year, eh, Blackie?"

Martin's Marvellous Mini 

It's the final leg of the New York to Moscow rally, and Tiny and Martin have the lead. Their sponsor Mr Twastrle isn't entirely happy with the situation, having promised the boys a million pounds if they win the race. 

They get off to a poor start in the final leg and find that two of their tyres have been punched by nails. While making a tyre change several cars go by and they must again fight for the lead.

This they do, but in a snowy mountain pass a helicopter appears, dropping an explosive into the snow. This creates an avalanche, and Tiny and Martin are buried in snow. 

Mr Twastle appears and helps dig them out. The other drivers all turn around and make a detour, but the lads are determined to carry on, and as Mr Twastle drives away they continue to soldier on. 

Mr Twastle is still worried bout the outcome, and in the final panel, we see him arrive at the airfield and run toward the helicopter, desperate to find another way to stop them.

A thrilling episode, and one that was fraught with danger. It was only when I read it a second time that I realised how much trouble Martin and Tiny were in when they were struck by the avalanche. It was the sight of Tiny handing Martin a shovel and talking about running out of air that I saw what peril they were in. Mr Twastle running toward the buried vehicle added to this drama, and was one of a number of great panels. 

The avalanche scene was the best part of the strip, but we also saw a large chunk of the story unfold with Mr Twastle's treachery shown both early and late in the strip. He was masked in the helicopter early on, but there was no doubt about who it was when we saw him again later in the strip. Although there was no mystery about his identity, that didn't detract from the drama of it all and we are well poised for a thrilling conclusion next week. It's taken us a while to get here, but the story is peaking at just the right time, and we should be in for a gripping finish to the New York to Moscow rally.   

Rating: 8.5/10

Best line: "I don't know...but we've got to start digging ourselves out, before we use up all the air in here!"

Skid Solo

Although Skid has regained consciousness, he is still in the hospital, bandaged from head to foot. Sandy and Tommy pay him a visit and Skid tells them he has been doing some thinking. There is no way he will be ready for the first of the European Grand Prix races, but if Tommy can do well enough in the sports car races and the Formula Junior event he can drive in the Grand Prix. 

Sandy takes Tommy down to the track and warns him that it's a dangerous sport. Tommy is still keen, and he begins practising in the sports car.

Sandy is happy with what he sees, and the pair fly out to Australia for Tommy's first big race event. Tommy's practice times are fast, and this carries over to race day as he speeds away from the other racers from the start. Tommy drives furiously, and after ten laps has a thirty-second lead. Sandy is unhappy with this and calls him into the pits, where he tells him he needs to learn to nurse the car and not drive it flat out all the time. However, after the next lap, Tommy breaks the track record by two seconds. 

That evening in the hospital, Skid is brought a telegram from Australia. The nurse reads it to him - Tommy has won the race with a new race record and a new lap record. Skid is overjoyed, and a loud shout of glee suggests he is well on his way to recovery. 

This has been on the horizon ever since Tommy first arrived on the scene and, although he still feels too young, the groundwork has well and truly been set out for this. Even so, he seems to be too good for the amount of experience he has, and it was only six months ago that he first got his licence. Despite that, I enjoyed seeing his star rise, and with Skid off the track for the foreseeable future, the next few months will be all about Tommy Carter. 

Rating: 8/10

Best line: "The young idiot!"

Billy's Boots

Billy's bike has been stolen while he's playing for the Merrydowners. Billy only has thoughts of his stolen bike, and his game suffers as a consequence, even after it had been reported stolen to a local policeman.

Billy remains upset about his bike for the rest of the week, and in his next school game, he continues to play badly. Things look up though as the policeman appears at the game, wheeling Billy's bike. This puts Billy in a new frame of mind, and as the strip ends Billy tells Jimmy now he is ready to have a real go at the opposition.

Billy's bike troubles blew away rather easily this week, and despite his concern about it, it all came to nothing as a policeman appeared with the bike. I am glad to see it resolved, yet I can't help but think that more could have been made of this incident. Perhaps it will, and next week we may well see some repercussions. However, a little more drama with Billy and the boys who took the bike would have helped give this week's story an edge that was sadly lacking. I didn't feel the tension of Billy playing with his thoughts on the bike, nor did his bad play seem to have any great implications for the team. The Merrydowners won despite Billy's play, and in the school game it is still early and there is plenty of time for Billy to perform some heroics. 

With this in mind, the best part of the story is the single panel when Billy tells his Gran that his bike has been stolen. The moment when she told Billy that she had brought a lock for it was touching, yet sad with the realization that the bike had already been taken. This was by no means a bad story, I rate it highly. However I wanted more from it, and it had the potential to be even better. 

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "It's been stolen, Gran. I told the police...they're looking for it. I - I couldn't help it...someone took it while I was playing..."

Tornado Jones 

A new adventure for Tornado this week, as we see him preparing to jump over two open-top cages at a safari park, one containing lions and one containing tigers.

Of course, the jump doesn't go as planned, and Jones clips the fence of the tiger's cage, pulling it down. The zoo keepers hasty prop the fence back up, but it is too late and one of the tigers has escaped.

The owner of the park, Maxie Leroy waves his finger under Jones' nose, telling him that it's his fault and the biggest, most serious tiger in the park has now escaped and is heading straight for the local village. 

This looks to be a step backwards for Tornado Jones, and the premise of him jumping over a cage of wild animals did not fill my heart with joy. Luckily the story ended on a high note, and the balance was restored as I saw the story was about to deliver more than it promised. We have a strong foil for Tornado Jones with Maxie Leroy looking and sounding fierce on the page. In some respects, he is even scarier than the tiger running loose. This is captured wonderfully in the penultimate panel as we see him giving Jones a telling-off and waving his finger under his nose. A picture is worth a thousand words, and the picture of Maxie here spoke volumes about his character. 

Although the human faces looked fantastic, the tiger did not, and this was a low point of the story. Just as the drama was reaching a peak we saw an unrealistic tiger, not once but twice in the final panels. I can't fault the artist, the rest of the story looked great, but in these two images the essence of the tiger wasn't conveyed, and he looked more like a soft toy escaping than a ferocious predator. Maybe next week it will look better, I hope so, for now, the story is well poised, and with a village under threat, there is plenty of scope for drama and action. 

Rating: 6.5/10

Best line: "Take a look at yourself, you dim-witted idiot! The biggest, most ferocious tiger in the park has just got loose!" 

Nipper 

Nipper is on the field for Blackport, but with no memory of who he is, he is completely lost. He is unaware of the rules of football, and despite trying to do his best he creates chaos. 

On the sideline, the couple that found Nipper lost beside the road explain to Andy Stewart that Nipper has no memory. Andy is shocked, but on the field Nipper shows that he still has his pluck and determination, scoring a goal through sheer willpower. This leaves Andy Stewart with a problem - should he substitute Nipper, or let him play on?

This week we are treading water. Nipper is on the field playing football, but the story doesn't advance far from where we already are. The story did give a good sense of how bad Nipper's memory loss is with him failing to remember the rules of football. He is struggling to play the game, yet on the other hand, his tough character is still intact, as demonstrated by his plucky goal. Next week we need to see him get seen too, or receive a headknock to recover. To see the game continue with Nipper having no memory would retread the same ground as this week, and at this stage, we really need to see the game accelerating. 

I did enjoy seeing Nipper's enthusiasm for scoring a goal, and this gave the story a lift. It was one of several moments that kept me involved in the story and made me rate it higher than perhaps it deserved. Next week is make or break for this story as far as I'm concerned, and it wouldn't hurt to see the hunt for Nipper's kidnappers thrown into the mix.    

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Very spectacular, lad! The only trouble is, you were about five metres off-side!"

Hot Shot Hamish

Hamish has taken up lodgings with a wealthy fan in a manor house, and in the first panels, we see that McMutton is already causing potential trouble. 

The next day at Princes Park Hamish and the team are introduced to Bertie McFrame, the famous photographer. He is there to take a photo of the team after the game. 

McFrame takes an instant dislike to McMutton, and this intensifies as the game progresses. Things reach boiling point after Hamish scores a goal and McFrame finds that McMutton has been chewing his cape. McFrame leaps to his feet, telling Mr McWhacker that he'll be getting a bill for this, while Mr Whacker tells him to sit down and be quiet.

The flamboyant dress of McFrame dominates my thoughts on the story, and he was a sight to behold on the sideline with his cape and garish dress. He was instantly dislikable, yet was the character who caught the eye throughout this week's issue.

Hamish took a backseat in this week's strip, and it was very much the McMutton and McFrame show. This brought the humour to the fore, and oddly enough it was even funnier without Hamish's involvement. Hot Shot Hamish is always a humorous strip, although it does keep its shape with the football framework it is built around. That is the case this week, and although there were plenty of laughs from McFrame and McMutton, it was hung on the frame of a tough football match showcasing the skills of Hamish. I am enjoying the fine balance we have here, and with the issue of Hamish's lodgings bubbling under this storyline of McFrame and McMutton, there should be laughs a plenty to be mined in future issues.    

Rating: 7/10

Best line: "Stalks...without flowers? Who would put those in a vase?"

Issue final ratings:

Overall: 7.5/10

Best Story:  Martin's Marvellous Mini 

Best Line: "...starting with Penny! She's sort of persuaded me that we ought to get engaged!"

Best Panel:

Roy's Sports Quiz: