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 #35
(by Linda Kay)
(from C&G 108 – November 2004)
Issue 170
1st September, 1973 No. 58
COR!! GRAND SUMMER BANK HOLIDAY ISSUE!
A botched magic act is a pretty common staple in comedy, but this theme is given a unique twist in the Goodies Cor!! comic we'll be reviewing this month.
Header: HERE'S A THOUGHT TO CONJURE WITH - THE GOODIES ASSIST A MAGICIAN!
The Goodies are sitting at the desk in their office when a magician suddenly appears in a cloud of smoke, startling them; Graeme spins his head away from the letter he is typing (to the editor of Cor!!, no less) to look over his shoulder, Tim spills the tea he is sipping and Bill cowers behind Tim.
WUZZY WIZ: Allakazam! I is *Wuzzy Wiz*, ze *Master Magician* ... available for parties, weddings, and stage shows!
Wuzzy points with his wand to one side and conjures a disappearing cabinet.
WUZZY WIZ: My assistant has left me ... *Zut!* Disappeared! Will you assist me in my magic act, old chaps? Kindly step into zis cabinet!
The Goodies obligingly step into the cabinet as Wuzzy Wiz jumps up and down excitedly, waving his wand.
TIM: Er ... are you sure this is alright?
GRAEME: Remember our motto ... we do anything ... anytime!
WUZZY WIZ: Stiff upper lips, my hearties ... *Up, up and away!*
IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE, THE GOODIES FOUND THEMSELVES BACKSTAGE AT THE LOCAL THEATRE ...
The Goodies step out of the cabinet into the wings of a large empty theatre.
BILL: Gosh! How did you do that?
WUZZY WIZ: It's all done with mirrors, old socks ... and now we must rehearse for tonight's show.
Bill appears from the wings onto the stage where Tim and Graeme and standing ... he's under a sheet, seemingly floating on his back several feet in the air.
BILL: *Look!* I'm a magician, too! I can *float!*
GRAEME: Huh, *impossible!* A big puddin' like you couldn't even float in the *sea!*
Graeme pulls the sheet away with a flourish (smacking Tim squarely in the face as he does so), revealing that Bill is simply walking under the sheet with his shoes on two sticks extended straight out in front of him.
GRAEME: I thought so ... you're a *fraud!*
BILL: *SPOILSPORT!*
LATER ...
Wuzzy Wiz is preparing to saw Tim in half. Tim is in a long box with his head sticking out one end and his feet the other. Graeme and Bill watch from the wings.
BILL: Hey! He's going to give Tim a *centre parting* ... with a *SAW!*
Bill rushes onstage to save Tim. Wuzzy Wiz reaches offstage and grabs hold of something.
BILL: Oi! Stop the act! You can't do that to Tim!
WUZZY WIZ: You're right ... I'll try something different! *Heh, heh!*
Wuzzy Wiz pulls a lever which causes a trap door to suddenly open beneath Bill's feet.
WUZZY WIZ: How about zis *disappearing act?*
BILL: *NEYAAARR!*
Bill falls beneath the stage and lands on a trampoline, bouncing him back up at an angle.
BILL: *WAHAAY!* Going up!
Bill's head comes crashing through the stage floor. Wuzzy Wiz is enraged.
WUZZY WIZ: Ah, ha! You are out to ruin my act, yes? You are what we call ze stage hog! I teach you!
Wuzzy drops a cloth over Bill's head and waves his wand over it as Graeme and Tim watch.
WUZZY WIZ: *By crystal pools with water brimming, a spell to set your head a-swimming!*
Wuzzy lifts the cloth to reveal a goldfish bowl where Bill's head had been.
WUZZY WIZ: Behold ... *FISHFACE! Hee, heeee!*
GRAEME: There's something *fishy* going on here ... I hope Bill's alright!
Bill is actually standing beneath the stage now. He discovers a strange funnel in the stage above his head and sticks his hand into it.
BILL: I'm trapped under the stage . . . I wonder what's up with this funnel?
Wuzzy Wiz is preparing to do his next trick. He steps to a small covered table where a top hat and a small box are sitting. What look like rabbit ears are sticking up out of the hat.
WUZZY WIZ: Now ze fat freak is out ze way ... I'll do my famous trick and pull ze bunny from ze hat! *Zut!*
Wuzzy Wiz leans down to the hat and the rabbit ears, which turn out to be Bill's fingers, grab hold of the magician's nose. Graeme has found the lever which opens the trap door in the stage and pulls on it.
WUZZY WIZ: *Erk! Leggo by dose!*
The trap door opens and Bill leaps up from beneath the stage, knocking the table one way and Wuzzy Wiz the other. The Goodies rush into the disappearing cabinet.
GRAEME: I think we've spoiled things, gang ... into the cabinet, quick!
WUZZY WIZ: Rascals! Rogues! Come here ... I turn you into *frogs!*
The Goodies emerge from the cabinet to find themselves in a tropical paradise ... a beautiful beach with an even more beautiful woman dressed in a magician's assistant outfit sunning herself.
BILL: Coo! We've ended up in a tropical paradise!
GRAEME: And that must be Wuzzy's *ASSISTANT* ... so this is where she disappeared to!
The Goodies surround the beautiful assistant, all wearing leis. Graeme is holding a drink in a coconut shell, Tim (with a handkerchief on his head) fans the assistant with a palm leaf and Bill serenades her with a guitar.
WUZZY'S ASSISTANT: Wuzzy's such a meanie ... he never gave me a holiday!
GRAEME: He'll forgive us when he knows we've found you ... but until then we'll enjoy a holiday with you!
BILL: Until next week, that is!
Sign-Off Line: Our T.V. Chuckle Champs Return Next Monday!
RATING (using the BLACK PUDDING RATING SYSTEM):
III - Goody goody yum yum.
For a comic with a thin plotline, not many verbal jokes and virtually no visual jokes in the background this strip works surprisingly well. The evil magician is immediately established with his scary entrance and cliche-ic bad guy accent, and he is made adequately nasty enough for one to take the Goodies side even when they inadvertently mess up his show.
One thing which saves this comic is the artwork, which is energetic and fun. When Wuzzy appears in a cloud of smoke he's formal enough to offer the Goodies his card. Kids probably enjoyed seeing Bill's trick of supposedly "floating" onstage. When Wuzzy performs his spell on Bill's head and Tim and Graeme watch from the side Tim is still inside the box, standing upright (Graeme is even leaning on the corner of the box). As Bill grabs Wuzzy's nose through the hat we can just see the ear, nose, whiskers and eyes of the rabbit peering out from the box on the table. And as the Goodies arrive on the tropical beach there is a parking meter next to where the cabinet is. The payoff in this comic is particularly good, with the Goodies finding the "lost" assistant and enjoying her found paradise with her.
Maybe this comic isn't as rich, as clever or as detailed as some of the ones we've previously reviewed, but all in all it's fun and unique which is more than enough in this case.
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