Comics at Christmas

 

Christmas was a very special time during the golden years of British comics (up until about the late-1970s) and the festive season was celebrated accordingly. Of course, school was out for the holidays and the cartoon kids were usually spared the sting of their teachers’ canes.

But not always.

Here are a couple of rare examples of Christmas school stories from the comics. The first is a Whacky strip. Whacky was the star in the British comic Cor!! that was published from 1970 to 1974. As his name suggests he was always being whacked.

In this strip from 1970, Whacky and his fellow school chums are invited to spend Christmas Day at the home of their teacher, Mr. Thwackery. Whacky is taking no chances and he asks Santa to deliver a can of pain easer spray.

Not that it does him much good …

If you don’t remember Whacky, here’s where we met him previously. There are a number of websites and blogs with examples of Cor!!, including Comic Vine and British Comics Compilation.

Picture credits: International Publishing Corporation.

In this second strip we see Billy Bunter, the Fat Owl of the Remove at Greyfriars School. He started as a character in the story paper the Magnet in 1908 and over the next seventy years or so appeared in books, on television, radio, and stage. He finished up as a comic strip in the Valiant in 1976 after previously being in Knockout and the Comet.

Here’s a strip from the Valiant, Christmas 1974.

Picture credit: Amalgamated Press.

For more on Comics or Story Papers, click here

For more Billy Bunter, click here

 

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