.
(from C&G 71 - December 2001)
.
The Goodies Cor!! Debut
Issue 136
6th January, 1973. No. 24
The comic strip Goodies are featured in color on the front cover wearing safari-style outfits and riding their trandem (inadvertently over a cliff, unfortunately) as a snake, a lion and two gorillas look on. (This same drawing was also used on the cover of The Goodies Fun Book, another IPC publication released in 1977). "Goody-Goody! It's . . . The Goodies! Follow their fun-filled frolics - Inside!" hails their introduction to the pages of Cor!! Another new feature called Five-Minute Wanda was added to Cor!! in this same issue.
Each strip was introduced at the beginning with a header line and concluded with a similar sign off line.
Header: COR!! HERE ARE OUR NEW SUPERIFIC STARS - THE GOODIES!
The Goodies are seen riding their trandem past a country estate, but they are being rudely halted by Lord Lolly, a gentleman in hunting pink wearing a top hat and riding upon a horse. Lolly's horse leaps over a bush toward them, causing them to come to a quick and messy stop (but just in time to keep them from running into a cowering bunny).
LORD LOLLY: "I say! GOODIES! Whoa there! I've got a job for you!"
The Goodies, now toppled, listen as the gentlemen explains his predicament. Graeme and Tim sit on the ground near the fallen trandem while Bill, already jumping up to action, rounds the horse eagerly with a can of striped paint.
LORD LOLLY: "Mine is the only stately home in the district that has no safari park! So ... you Goodies get off to jolly old darkest Africa and bring me back a load of wild animals! Hurry now - I've got the programmes printed already!"
Graeme and Tim have remounted the trandem and look confidently at Lord Lolly, whose horse seems confused.
GRAEME: "We're no slouches, Lord Lolly. We provided you with one "wild" animal already - you're sitting on it!"
HORSE'S THOUGHT BALLOON: "?"
Lord Lolly is surprised to find his horse is now a striped zebra, thanks to Bill's quick paint job. The Goodies peddle off, leaving Lord Lolly very pleased and his horse very confused.
LORD LOLLY: "I say! You're jolly well right! *A zebra!*"
HORSE'S THOUGHT BALLOON: "Boy, I am *wild!*"
GRAEME: "Goodies, forward - to darkest Africa! Er . . . after a rummage through the wardrobe."
SO ...
The Goodies are seen coasting downhill on their trandem. Tim is wearing a full safari outfit, Graeme is in a Legionnaire's-style costume and Bill sports a pith helmet.
TIM: "No use going to darkest Africa - no lights on the bike! We'll stick to England."
They ride through the front gates of a zoo.
TIM: "First we'll kidnap a couple of giraffes ... we'll decoy them out of the zoo!"
Bill attempts to attract the attention of the giraffes with a bun, but their heads are so high they aren't even visible within the comic panel (Graeme is attempting to see their heads with a pair of binoculars).
BILL: "Oy, you lot up there! Look - a *bun!* Oy! Come down and follow me and the bun! Oy - it's useless! They can't hear me way up there!"
As Graeme works to tie the bun to the tail of an elephant with a string (everybody needs string!), Bill sticks an air pump into the animal's trunk and begins to pump him up.
BILL: "Suppose we'll have to send the bun up to them!"
The elephant floats into the sky with Bill sitting on his trunk, still pumping away. Tim and Graeme watch happily from below while a passing aviator looks startled.
BILL: "WAHAAY! We have lift off!"
As the elephant passes over the heads of the giraffes they spot the bun dangling from its tail and begin drooling. Tim stands at the gate of the zoo, pointing the way as the giraffes and a camel stampede across a zebra crossing after the drifting elephant.
TIM: "*Follow that bun!*"
Graeme and Tim ride out of the zoo atop a rhinoceros which has been fitted with a steering wheel on the tip of its horn (Tim is driving) and four tires hanging on its sides to make it look like a car.
GRAEME: "Terrific - what a round up! We're doing well - would you ever believe "disguise" a rhino?"
TIM: "The job's as good as done!"
BUT ...
As they pass a circus, Tim brakes the rhino with a screeeechh and Graeme leaps off, heading for the big top.
GRAEME: "Wait a minute! LIONS! We haven't got any lions!"
Graeme rushes into the tent where a lion tamer is in the midst of his act.
GRAEME: "H'mm - this could be a problem! The lion act is on!"
LION TAMER: "I weel perform the impossible!"
As the lion tamer bends down, preparing to place his head into a lion's mouth, Graeme reaches through the bars brandishing a pair of false teeth.
LION TAMER: "I weel put my 8 - 7/8" head down Leo's 8 - 3/4" throat!"
Graeme snaps the false teeth shut on the lion tamer's posterior with a GNASH!, ripping the man's trousers and causing him to leap high into the air.
LION TAMER: "YEEOW!"
The lion tamer dangles from a trapeze above the lion's round cage, looking downward with concern.
LION TAMER: "OOH! AAGH! EE! Hey! Leave that cage alone! OOH! OY!"
As the lion tamer watches in startled surprise Graeme uses the round, barred cage, now on its side, like a running wheel, the lions and himself inside and running (the lion's eagerly chasing him) to give it forward momentum.
LION TAMER: "Bring back my lions!"
As an amazed Lord Lolly and his horse look on, The Goodies arrive at his estate, Bill still riding the floating elephant, Tim driving the rhino car and Graeme rolling along with the lions.
GRAEME: "We've made it - Hoi, Lord Lolly! The job's done - nearly!"
LATER ...
Lord Lolly stands looking very pleased.
LORD LOLLY: "Those Goodies did a very good job ... crowds of folk are pouring in to see ...
!"
The final panel shows The Goodies inside the round cage with a large crowd of tourist types of all nationalities (Australian, Dutch, Spanish, French, Indian, American and German are among them) stand staring at them. A sign reads "Do Not Feed The Goodies."
LORD LOLLY: " ... THEM!"
TOURIST: "Cor!! They're wilder than any wild animal I've ever seen!"
Sign-Off Line: GRIN WITH THE GOODIES AGAIN IN NEXT WEEK'S COR!!
Additional material from this issue:
The Cor!! News-Sheet, a section of the comic devoted to news and reader's letters, mentioned their new additions in this manner:
"NEW YEAR GREETINGS, girls and boys - you'll be pleased to learn the COR!! team have made their own special resolution ... to make the best comic around even funnier and brighter.
"To prove we're as good as our word, we're giving COR!! a New Year boost, with the introduction of the two funtastic new features: THE GOODIES of television fame, and FIVE-MINUTE WANDA - a real "craze-y" kid.
"Happy reading ... Ed."
RATING
(using the BLACK PUDDING RATING SYSTEM):
III - Goody goody yum yum.
A very good start to the series! It sets the tone of the comic adaptation well, incorporating many Goodies standards - their clothes are accurate, the trandem is well represented in this and subsequent strips and the use of inventive visual gags is true to their live action comic style. It's clear their characters are going to translate perfectly to the comics page.
.
.
