On this day, 3 February 1973: Knockout
Joker: Sid Burgon (artist)
On this day, 3 February 1973 … costing 2½p, presumably aimed at kids in a lower bracket of pocket money, Knockout was the cheapest of all the IPC comics on the newstands in 1973 (Cor!!, Buster and Whizzer and Chips would all set one back a hefty 3½p, while Shiver and Shake would launch in April at 4p!), a fact which is reflected in its low page count and extremely thin paper (apparent in the poor quality of the scans and photographs below). It packed a hefty punch however, its 20 pages full of some of the best-known characters in the publisher’s history. A couple of days ago I was flicking through a 1970 issue of Whizzer and Chips – the title which became my own regular comic just a few years after this edition – and was surprised that only three of the strips in it were ones that I recognised from my time as a reader. By the time I came to it, a large proportion of the contents of Whizzer and Chips was stories that you will find below from the pages of Knockout (which was taken over by Whizzer and Chips in June 1973): Joker, Pete’s Pockets, Sammy Shrink, Boney and Fuss Pot.
Also of note in this issue of Knockout is Whacky, today possibly the most anachronistic of all IPC’s humour strips.
Beat Your Neighbour: artist unknown
Pete’s Pockets: Mike Lacey (artist)
Little Devil: Murray Ball
The Haunted Wood: Sid Burgon (artist)
The Toffs and the Toughs: Reg Parlett (artist)
Sammy Shrink: Terry Bave (artist)
Whacky: Mike Lacey (artist)
The Super Seven: Mike Lacey (artist)
Cooky: Trevor Metcalfe (artist)
Boney: Paul White (artist)
Son of Sir: artist unknown
The Full House: Jim Crocker (artist)
Moose: Alf Saporito?
Fuss Pot: Clive Stewart (artist)
