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
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» #41
» #42
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» #52
GOODIES COR COMICS SYNOPSIS #2
(by Linda Kay)
(from C&G 73 – January 2002)
Issue 137
13th January, 1973. No. 25
When The Goodies made the leap onto the comics page it seemed a perfect marriage of character and format. The fact that the lads themselves did not pen the strips meant that the artists and writers needed to work extra hard to ensure the comics were up to the original comic standards of the television series (especially since the Goods themselves had final approval over the stories). Obviously a series such as this would reach highs and lows, but for the most part it maintained a level of style which was well above the standard comic annual and comic adaptations based on other series of the day.
One very appealing aspect of these comics is the tendency for the artists to throw in a lot of extra sight gags and silly nonsense for readers to catch on their second or third readings. Maybe not
noticeable at first, these little extra bits of business add a depth to the comics which make repeated readings quite entertaining.
In the comic strip we are about to review there are several fun things to look for: in the second panel a picture is toppling from its place on the wall due to the excessive noise. A workman is seen still vibrating outside the Goodies window even after a jackhammer is taken away from him. Graeme's glasses remain suspended in midair as Graeme plummets through a hole in the floor. A black cat sits watching the Palace Guards marching while several milk bottles with a note stuck into one of them sit outside the gate (this black cat would appear in many of the Goodies strips over the year!). The people around the swimming pool seem amazingly calm considering the proceedings taking place before them.
On the left side of the same panel one can see the feet of what has to be Gus Gorilla, Cor's star character, with a bottle of sun oil nearby. As the crooks blatantly steal Graeme's invention, a bobby doesn't notice because he is busy writing a ticket for a camel standing next to a parking meter (this cop appears again at the end of the strip writing a similar ticket for a small dog tied to a meter). And the dump contains such items as a phone box, a mostly buried train and a fully visible submarine! A hapless bird also manages to get its feathers blown off in the final blast.
As for the main story, here it is in its entirety:
Header: KEEP IT QUIET, BUT NOISE ANNOYS THE GOODIES!
The Goodies are riding their trandem through a street congested with automobiles honking and a police car with its siren blaring. Tim's feebly tooting the bike's horn.
GRAEME: You know there's too much *noise* nowadays ... I'm going to do something about it!
LATER:
The Goodies are back in their office. Bill is stomping about practicing on his tuba, Graeme is pounding furiously at his worktable with a hammer, the telephone is ringing urgently. Tim slams the window shut, looking pained.
TIM: Cor!! The din! Outside ... pneumatic drills ... inside ... all this!
Graeme leaps forward with a whoop, further unnerving Tim, swinging a strange-looking contraption.
GRAEME: EUREKA! I've done it! I've invented a thing which removes noise!
Tim points to Bill, who's still playing the tuba.
TIM: Good! Try it on *him* for a start!
Graeme points the machine at Bill, whose tuba playing is immediately silenced.
GRAEME: It works! Not a tiny oompah can be heard!
Bill, is baffled about what's happened to his music and starts blowing harder on his tuba, trying to produce a sound while Tim enjoys the silence.
BILL'S THOUGHT BALLOON: Puff ... something ... must be ... clogging ... it ... up!
Graeme switches off his machine and looks around thoughtfully.
GRAEME: I'll switch it off and find something else to test it on!
In the meantime, Bill has continued blowing desperately while the tuba stretches and grows, its opening finally plopping down right over Tim as the sound returns.
TIM: Who turned the light off?
Graeme runs to the window, oblivious to the fact that Bill is now blasting Tim's ears off inside the tuba.
GRAEME: I know just the thing!
TIM: AAAGH! LEMME OUT!
Graeme leans out the window and snatches a pounding pneumatic drill from a workman standing outside. The man is left shaking and looking irritated.
GRAEME: Excuse me, Paddy, just want to borrow your drill for a tick!
A very weary Tim climbs out of the tuba with Bill's help as Graeme hands his invention to him while preparing to control the drill, which is already beginning to bore into the floor of their office.
GRAEME: Here! You point it at the drill!
Bill watches with great interest as Tim turns the machine on Graeme and the drill and not a sound emerges from them, even though Graeme is bouncing up and down along with the machine violently.
GRAEME: S-s-s-see! N-not a s-s-sound!
All at once Graeme disappears through a hole in the floor he has drilled.
TIM: Aw! Stop playing about down in the cellar! Let's go and try it outside!
SO ...
The Goodies have come across a regiment of Palace Guards drilling in a courtyard as their sergeant bellows commands at them. Graeme points his machine at him.
GRAEME: Here's another 'drill' that needs silencing! That drill sergeant!
DRILL SERGEANT: LEFT! RIGHT! PICK 'EM UP THERE! LEFT! RIGHT!
The regiment marches off into the distance as the drill sergeant yells futilely, not realizing what's happening.
DRILL SERGEANT: I'm shouting 'Halt'! ... I know I am ... HALT! HALT! Yew 'orrible little men!
The Guards march right out of the courtyard, through a fence and into a neighboring swimming pool where people stand around watching with interest.
ELSIE, A BLONDE GIRL AT THE POOL: Ooh! Beryl! What discipline!
BERYL, HER BRUNETTE FRIEND: Perhaps they're lifeguards, Elsie!
BUT OTHERS HAD SEEN THE INVENTION WORKING ...
The Goodies are cheering the success of Graeme's invention, unaware that a car has screeched to a halt next to them. A seedy-looking crook jumps out and runs toward them.
CROOK: Butch! Stop! That's just what we want for our work!
GRAEME: We'll turn out millions of 'em, we'll make a fortune!
The crook snatches the machine from Graeme's hand and before the Goodies can respond has leapt back into the car, which speeds off.
CROOK: Thanks, suckers! We're safe-blowers, now we can blow safes in perfect peace!
The crook and his croney, Butch, arrive at a dump and walk into the middle of the garbage excitedly carrying several sticks of dynamite.
CROOK: First we'll test it out on a couple of sticks of jelly!
They hover over the dynamite, which now has a lit fuse, as Butch turns on the machine and they listen for a sound.
CROOK: I've lit it, Butch! Switch on! If this works, we're made ... the cops won't hear a thing, and ...
There is a massive explosion and Butch and his boss end up dangling from a tree, both smoking and tattered, Graeme's machine in ruins.
BUTCH: Boss, it worked, didn't it? Not a sound ... ooer ... but it's a bust, Boss!
In the final panel the Goodies are seen running away from several palace guards and a tank.
TIM: Forget about making a new 'silencer'! Make us *invisible*!
Sign-Off Line: YOUR COMICAL CHUMS RETURN IN ANOTHER FUN-TALE NEXT WEEK!
RATING (using the BLACK PUDDING RATING SYSTEM):
II - Fair-y punkmother.
This entry gets off to a promising start but quickly loses steam. The artwork is entertaining enough but the Goodies aren't rendered as comically or appealingly as they would be in future comics. In no small way this comic fails because the Goodies are left entirely out of the final gags with the crook and his lackey, and the interruption of their exploits totally ruins the timing of the final chase, since the Guards marching into the pool happened a full seven panels previous to it. Not bad enough to rate a Tripe on t' pikelets but close. Fortunately the comic would do much better in establishing running jokes and sustaining them with a better pace in subsequent issues.
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