Index
» Introduction
» #1
» #2
» #3
» #4
» #5
» #6
» #7
» #8
» #9
» #10
» #11
» #12
» #13
» #14
» #15
» #16
» #17
» #18
» #19
» #20
» #21
» #22
» #23
» #24
» #25
» #26
» #27
» #28
» #29
» #30
» #31
» #32
» #33
» #34
» #35
» #36
» #37
» #38
» #39
» #40
» #41
» #42
» #43
» #44
» #45
» #46
» #47
» #48
» #49
» #50
» #51
» #52
GOODIES COR!! COMICS SYNOPSIS #45
(by Linda Kay)
(from C&G 121 – December 2005)
Issue 180
10th November, 1973 No. 68
It would be hard to compete with the Goodies' episode in which they have to battle a giant Dougal, but the comic strip we'll be reviewing this month pairs them up with what would normally be a very large dog.
Header: THE GOODIES "MUTT-N'T" FAIL TO GUARD A DOG THIS WEEK!
The Goodies are in their office when a man and a very big dog come barging into their office, knocking the door off its hinges. The dog practically knocks over their desk as the man explains his request.
DOG OWNER: Goodies - I want you to guard the Champion of Chomp! A rival owner is trying to stop him winning the big prize at the dog show!
GRAEME: Rely on us, sir!
The Goodies rummage through their trunk of disguises until they find three dog costumes which they begin to put on.
GRAEME: These costumes will help us fool any dognappers!
AND SO ...
They mount the trandem and head to the dog show with the dog taking up the third seat behind Graeme and in front of Bill, who clings onto the back. They pass an estate with a high brick wall where a man with a bone tied to a stick is waiting for them.
BILL: The rival owner won't know which is the real champ!
RIVAL OWNER: This bone will foil The Goodies' plans!
As they ride beneath the dangling bone the dog leaps up and clamps onto it with a loud GLOP! and is lifted up and over the wall.
RIVAL OWNER: Got him!
BILL: Oh, no! Let go, you mutt!
GRAEME (thought balloon): ?
The Goodies stop and try to climb the wall but it is too high. Bill hurries away from them excitedly.
GRAEME: How are we going to get in and rescue the champ?
TIM: This wall's too high to climb over!
BILL: Leave it to me, lads, I've got an idea!
Bill runs to an open gate in the wall and hurries inside, giving his companions a thumbs up.
BILL: I'll go in through the gate and haul you up over the wall from inside!
GRAEME: Good thinking, Bill!
Bill climbs onto the wall from inside the yard and helps pull Tim and Graeme over.
TIM: Fancy the villain thinking he could keep geniuses like *us* out!
INSIDE THE GROUNDS ...
The Goodies spy a dog house which is chained, boarded and locked and can hear the dog barking from within. Graeme puts the head of his dog suit back on and looks confident.
TIM: The dognapper's locked the pooch in that hut! Now what?
GRAEME: Leave this to me!
Graeme acts like a dog and begins to dig his way into the locked doghouse.
TIM: Hey, Graeme's burrowing his way in! I dig this!
GRAEME: Woof, woof!
The rival owner watches as the champion dog emerges from the hole, jumping on Bill to lick him happily. The villainous-looking man winds a toy rabbit.
BILL: Gottim ... now let's get to the hall before anything else happens!
RIVAL OWNER: *Ho, ho!* Wait till the dog sees my clockwork rabbit!
The rival owner releases the clockwork rabbit and the champion dog takes off after it, pulling Tim behind on its lead.
TIM: ARRGH! STOP!
DOG: WOOF! WOOF!
Tim grabs onto a tree with one arm and hangs on to the dog's leash as tightly as possible as the dog leaps into some nearby bushes, the leash pulled taut.
TIM: Come out of there!
BILL: We'll give you a hand!
Suddenly a signpost which says "Fooled You" flies out of the bushes, tied to the other end of the leash, and hits Tim in the face. In the background the rival owner has left the grounds with the dog and is locking the gate behind him.
TIM: *Ouch!* The villain's attached the lead to a post!
GRAEME: There he goes ... and he's locked us in!
Tim, now sporting a black eye, holds up the sign.
TIM: Come on - we'll use this post as a vaulting pole.
The Goodies run toward the wall holding the long pole as they prepare to vault.
THE GOODIES: UP THE GOODIES ... !
They vault over the wall and end up landing on top of the rival owner with a CRUMP!
TIM: ... and we've DOWNED the baddie!
LATER ...
At the dog show we see the Champion of Chomp has won the blue ribbon. The owner pays the Goodies from the prize money.
DOG OWNER: We won first prize! Take half for your trouble!
GRAEME: *Wow!* But the banks are shut and we've no safe!
BILL: Yeah! It wouldn't be *safe* leaving that loot lying about!
Back in The Goodies office Tim stands outside the door with the dog, who is now stationed at a sentry post with a military hat on, saluting with its paw.
TIM: We've guarded *him* all day, now we can guard *us* all night!
DOG: GRRR!
Sign-Off Line: Our TV Chuckle Champs Return For More Fun Next Week!
COR-RESPONDENCE
This letter from a reader was published in this issue:
Christopher Oxlade, of Ipswich
Recently, I organised a COR!! popularity poll amongst my school friends. We each wrote down our favourite COR!! feature on a piece of paper, and the votes were then added up.
Top of the poll with nine votes was IVOR LOTT AND TONY BROKE - closely followed by THE GOODIES with seven votes. Third, with three votes, came JASPER THE GRASPER.
RATING (using the BLACK PUDDING RATING SYSTEM):
II - Fair-y punkmother.
Sad to say this comic just doesn't have a lot going for it. The artwork is very good and the action is rendered well but unfortunately the dialogue and story isn't as solid. What little dialogue and jokes do exist are overly emphasized ... practically every sentence ends in an exclamation mark.
There are a few background jokes worth noting. In the first panel the Goodies' office door is knocked off its hinges and several muddy paw prints make it clear who the culprit was. There are past due bills laying on the Goodies desk, which help explain why they would accept what amounts to a dog-sitting job. When they dig through their trunk of disguises we know it is such because a sign on the trunk reads "Disguises - Goodies for the use of." There is a tag which reads "Acme Cleaners" on one of the dog suits and several moths fly away from the furry costumes.
Oddly enough the panel where they are riding the trandem past the brick wall seems a bit strange because the dialogue balloon seems to be pointing right at the dog, the only one who wouldn't be saying the line! The joke of Bill running through the open gate to help the others over the wall is a pretty old bit but still works well here. The locked up doghouse is not only tightly chained and locked but also bears a big sign which reads "Not to be opened until after the show. Goodies keep out!"
When Graeme starts to dig underneath the dog house he kicks up all the dirt into Bill's face. When the signpost flies out from the bush and hits Tim on the face it knocks him back into the tree he's been holding onto, knocking a squirrel out of the branches above. Tim's elbow also flies back and hits Bill in the face with a DUNCH! The signpost pole somehow becomes quite a bit longer in the following panel when they use it to pole vault. And when the owner gives them half of the prize money he goes one better and gives them half of the trophy as well!
While this isn't the best of the Cor!! Goodies' strips by a longshot, it's still a fun entry which likely appealed very well to kids, their target audience.
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