Best of British: Bonfire night - The Nervs by Ken Reid and others

Looking back, it seems totally irresponsible to have shown kids being so reckless when playing with fireworks on bonfire /Guy Fawkes night in children’s comics. After all bonfire night was an event that regularly resulted in serve injury and sometimes even in death to those taking less care than they should have when dealing with pyrotechnics and fire . Then again it was a very different time and I doubt that any of these strips encouraged children to run around with lit fireworks in their hands. The strip below from "Smash! and Pow!" #145" (cover above, dated 9 November 1968) is by the legendary Ken Reid, and features a different take on the use of fireworks in this stunningly illustrated two pager.

The "Nervs" was a strip that charted the adventures of "Fatty" (not the most PC name) a rather dim-witted boy and the internal microscopic creatures that inhabited his body. Strangely there were a few similarly strips like this in UK kids comics , but the “Nervs” was by far the funniest with poor Fatty being put through some horrendous situations. Fair to say they don't make them like Ken Reid anymore!

Below are a couple of other classic Bonfire night covers.

"Whizzer and Chips" dated 1 November 1969 - Many British comics gave away free gifts at certain holidays/events like the free Guy Fawkes mask presented here. Sadly, I give my original issue away many years ago and only picked up this copy (less the mask) last year.

"Wham!" #125 dated 5 November 1966 - The Tiddlers was a traditional type of British children's comic strip based on out-of-control school kids. This cover is by Mike Lacey in the legendary Leo Baxendale style. The Tiddlers at this time featured a lucky reader being drawn into the strip, in this case Noel from High Wycombe.

"The Beano" #1268 - dated 5 November 1966 - Cover by Dudley Watkins - This image is from the Financial Times online edition (an article on the financial side of collecting British comics).

Above an advert that appeared in kids comics in the 1960s - early 1970's for fireworks, something that would not be allowed today.

Best of British: The manic and funny side of Bonfire night in UK comics

The 5th of November in the UK is Bonfire Night, well technically it’s called Guy Fawkes night, an annual fire festival that marks the anniversary of a failed attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605. To celebrate this failed event an effigy of Guy Fawkes, a member of the men who were behind the Gunpowder Plot and their plan to kill King James I and his government, is burnt on a bonfire. For such a gory celebration Bonfire night was embraced by children who would make life-size effigies of Guy Fawkes, usually made out of straw and dressed in old clothes to burn on the bonfires. Before this kids would parade their “Guy” through the streets and ask passers-by for a “penny for the Guy” . Although this tradition is now a rare sight, it was very popular up to the 1960s as was the tradition of showing Bonfire night celebrations in UK comics. Below are some of my favourite UK comics of that time:

Wham! issue 21 - 7 November 1964 - Cover by Leo Baxendale ( image from EBay)

Buster and Giggle - 2 November 1968-Cover by Angel Nadal

Valiant- 6 November 1965 -

POW! issue 43 - 11 November 1967

The above strip "Dare a Day Davy" was the back page feature to POW! (this strip is from issue 43) by the legendary Ken Reid. Looking at today’s children’s comics it's hard to believe just how violent some of the comic strips of this time could be. Ken Reid was a master of dark humour and his characters would regularly be blown up, sent hurtling off buildings and attacked by wild animals. Reid knew what kids liked and that children knew that the events in his manic and genuinely funny strips were pure fantasy and were not to be repeated.

The above strip (also by Ken Reid) is from Valiant, dated 7 November 1970.

Best of British: Gunpowder treason and errr comics!

Bonfire, Fireworks or Guy Fawkes Night whatever you call it, it is a uniquely British event that has been celebrated in British comics for many years. Although I have never been a big fan of Guy Fawkes night ( it was too soon after Halloween and by 5 November my focus was solely on Christmas) I always enjoyed reading the bonfire editions of my favourite weekly comics. Two of my favourites comics from this time are the above fireworks special edition of WHAM! issue 73, from 6 November 1965 by Leo Baxendale. The manic depiction of kids running amuck in school with a wheelbarrow full of fireworks isn’t as farfetched as it may seem as in the 1960’s /1970’s kids did have access to purchasing fireworks and some of them did actually run around with them lite in their hands . The cover below shows a more traditional version of Guy Fawkes night by Dudley Watkins from the Beano dated 7 November 1964, both are equally brilliant.

Of course the Guy Fawkes theme was not just confined to the covers but was also portrayed in most of the strips within the comic. One of the best of these came from the genius mind of Ken Reid in his legendary “Fankie Stein” strip. This one comes from the above WHAM! comic (issue 73) and is full of the comedy violence that only Ken Reid could do. I mean showing Professor Cube being incinerated by a rockets blast before falling into a box of fireworks is more akin to what todays kids would find in the pages of a DC Batman comic.