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 #32
(by Linda Kay)
(from C&G 105 – August 2004)
Issue 167
11th August, 1973 No. 55
There's no doubt the Cor!! comics borrowed heavily from classic comic situations as did the Goodies. The difference is the Goodies usually created a witty parody which made the stories uniquely theirs. Cor!! sometimes succeeded at this as well ... and sometimes not so well.
Header: THE GOODIES ARE "THRONE" IN AT THE DEEP END, TRYING TO RESCUE A PRINCESS!
The Goodies are in their office and Graeme is reading to Bill and Ted from the Daily Drivel newspaper.
GRAEME: Hey, listen to this! Sheikh *Mustapha Bundle* has captured Princess Nocknees of Efgenistan and had locked her away in his *harem*! That gives me a great idea ...
TIM: If we rescue her ... we'll not only be *world famous* but *rich!*
The next panel finds the Goodies dressed in Arab women's clothes and boarding a single prop plane along with their trandem.
GRAEME: We'll have to get *inside* the harem itself ... these costumes should do the trick!
When their plane is over the desert near Shiekh Mustapha's palace, the Goodies parachute to the ground (the trandem is also attached to a parachute and thrown from the plane).
BILL: GERONIMO!
They land with a splash in the water of an oasis.
TIM: *GLUBB!* With all the desert to land in ... we had to choose the middle of an *oasis!*
BILL: *Splutter!*
GRAEME: *GLOOP!*
As they move to get out of the water, they are faced with a man holding a gun on them; one of Mustapha's thugs.
THUG: Ah, ha! More ladeez for Shiekh (sic) Mustapha's hareem! Come wiz me, you are *officially captured!*
The Goodies pedal their trandem up a dune as the thug sits on the back seat and prods them on with his gun.
THUG: *MUSH! MUSH!*
TIM: *GASP!*
BILL: *PANT!*
AND SO, THE GOODIES GOT TO SHIEKH (SIC) MUSTAPHA'S PALACE ...
A second, larger thug kicks the Goodies into the harem room.
TIM: I say ... this is no way to treat up well-brought-up ... er ... ladies! *Giggle!*
BILL: *Oooh!* You great big hefty thing, you! *Tee hee!*
Graeme contemplates their next move as a woman wearing a veil approaches Tim.
GRAEME: Now ... all we have to do is *find* the princess!
PRINCESS: Princess? *I'm* the Princess! *Princess Nocknees!*
BILL (thought balloon): This all sounds like a *pantomime* I saw once!
The Princess acts coy as all three Goodies stare at her with smitten expressions.
THE GOODIES (joint thought balloon): Wow! If we rescue her, we may get a *vast reward* of gold and jewels ... maybe even *the hand of the Princess,* herself!
The Goodies look around the room and Graeme spots some large clay pots nearby.
TIM: But how do we *get out?*
BILL: Everything seems locked or barred!
GRAEME: Aha ... I've *got* it ... over to those *pots* everyone!
The Goodies work to break the bottoms out of the pots and Bill ends up covered with a splash of brine and onions.
GRAEME: Knock the bottoms out of the pots!
BILL: *Yeuk!* Trust me to pick on the Sheikh's *pickled onion jar!*
MINUTES LATER ...
The thugs look into the harem room to see it apparently empty (they don't check the large jars sitting near the door).
THUG #2: *AIEEEE!* The women have gone! The Princess has *escaped!* Search the palace!
The thugs rush from the room and the pots begin to move after them, the Goodies and the Princess' feet sticking out of the bottom so the pots seem to "walk" along.
GRAEME (whisper balloon): Pssst! Follow me, gang! We'll soon be out of here!
PRINCESS: *Muffled titter!*
Outside the palace they sneak out of the jars to climb aboard camel tied to a sign (a camel warden stands facing away from them).
GRAEME: Hurry up! This camel's parked on a *double yellow line!*
They ride the camel all the way to the Princess' home where they find her father, an obviously rich oil sheikh, standing in wait for them.
PRINCESS: We're *home!* We've *made* it ... this is my father's tent!
GRAEME: Ah, ha! We've rescued your daughter from Sheikh Mustapha's evil clutches!
OIL SHEIKH: You will be *rewarded!*
The Goodies look on excitedly, Graeme with pound signs in his eyes, Tim with dollar signs in his eyes and Bill with hearts around his head.
GRAEME: How nice ... just something *modest,* you understand ...
TIM: A chest or two of *diamonds* ... or *gold bars!*
BILL: Or maybe even the hand of your *beautiful daughter* sigh!
The oil sheikh pulls the veil away from his daughter's face to reveal she is in fact hideous-looking.
OIL SHEIKH: You're *welcome* to her, you great steamin' puddin'! It was *me* who *paid* for her to be *kidnapped* in the first place ... and now you 'orrible lot have *brought her back!* Snarl!
PRINCESS: TEE, HEE!
GOODIES: *OOER!*
The Goodies race away on the camel as the Princess chases after them.
PRINCESS: Come back, Goodies! You're *my heroes!*
TIM: Come on, camel ... "sheikh" a leg!
GRAEME: Looks like we got our just "deserts"! *MOAN!*
Sign-Off Line: Our TV Chuckle Champs Return For More Fun Next Week, Pals!
RATING (using the BLACK PUDDING RATING SYSTEM):
II - Fair-y punkmother.
It's hard to put a finger on just what doesn't work in this comic, as the artwork is good and the situation should yield some great comedy moments (and indeed it does offer some laughs). It just isn't up to par with some of the Cor!! comics reviewed so far. For one thing the dialogue rarely moves past the "stating what's going on" point, and the puns and jokes are few and far between. The final pun isn't just a groaner, it's downright bad. And the plot never goes much beyond the predictable plot used in dozens of other comics, shows, movies, etc.
There are some cute background jokes worth looking for. In the first panel the "Daily Drivel" offers such stories as "School Leaving Age Raised to 65 - Official," "Walkout By Hopscotch Finalists" and the soccer scores which show Cortown has lost to Nairobi, 0 to 42. Tim is holding a bank foreclosure notice of some kind while thinking about how saving the princess will make them rich.
A camel is shown in the background standing atop a mountain as the Goodies parachute into the desert. Tim emerges from the oasis with a fish on his head. A bird on a staff watches as the Goodies pedal up the sand dune. The camel park has a sign which reads "No Camels (or Dromedaries) Not Ever! Chad Wazir U.D.C. Directly under this sign is another which reads Max Penalty: 3 oil wells. Of course the camel they mount is tied to this sign. And the oil sheikh is wearing a necklace made of gift tokens.
The writer of this strip threw in some very off dialogue in the scene where the Goodies are being tossed into the harem which indicates they *enjoy* the rough treatment (a joke along a similar vein in the Goodies series occurred in Wacky Wales when Tim enjoys being whipped, but this is a kid's comic book!). The use of the term "great steamin' puddin'" by the oil sheikh also seems odd (although funny). The dialogue is pretty mundane and the author slips several times by spelling "sheikh" as "shiekh."
The clever artwork and fun disguises the Goodies get to wear really save this comic from reaching the lowest rating. Fortunately it was not common for the Cor!! comics to be this uninspired.
.
|
