On this day, 5 February 1977: Krazy — GREAT NEWS FOR ALL READERS!

Feb 5

Feb 5 On this day, 5 February 1977: Krazy

On this day, 5 February 1977 … Robert Nixon produced the latest cover of Krazy comic – Nixon was the creator of Kid Kong for Monster Fun but we can assume that this is a different great ape pounding down the streets of Krazytown. Krazy is an odd comic, and one that I’ve always found it hard to warm to. On the one hand it’s responsible for some brilliant characters – Cheeky started his life here, as did Pongo Snodgrass and Steve Ford, the 12½p Buytonic Boy – while Birdman and Chicken, Scaredy Cat and Hit Kid were all great strips. On the other hand, it’s always seemed (to me) a little bitty and messy. There’s a lot of non-strip material in each issue – gags and games and crazy photos, and of course the back cover of each issue which would attempt to disguise the comic as something boring or worthy to allow readers to read it secretly in the classroom. It also seems to me to have more than the usual amount of hard-to-read printing, such as this purple episode of Scaredy Cat or the misaligned colour on Fit Fred and Sick Sid.

That said, I know it’s fondly remembered and I admire it for attempting to establish its own identity – a wackiness and unpredictability which I’m sure will have proved instructive to the creation of Cheeky when the toothy one went it alone in October 1977. It also has quite a satirical edge which I think is a very good thing for a kids’ comic. Bill Titcombe’s A Krazy Look at TV offered a weekly alternative look behind the scenes at a popular TV show, and Micky Mimic gave Alf Saporito the chance to draw some great caricatures – the frames below, of Callaghan, Thatcher and Steele are especially memorable.