SPLODGE, LAST OF THE GOBLINS... ~ Comics Live Updates

People say I'm so ugly, I should wear a mask - so here it is...

This is mainly the same post as one first published in December 2019, though it's been revised and updated to include new information of an event that happened only recently. So if it seems familiar to regular readers, that's why. This time it has a happy ending, so give it a read and rejoice with me in my celebrations.

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I couldn't say with absolute certainty when I first bought #924 of The Topper, because a comic's cover date can be confusing. Some comics were dated the week after they went on sale (to give them a longer shelf-life), some maybe only 3 or 4 days - or were they? Some, like The Topper, might say 'every Thursday' on the cover, but (though I don't know in regard to The Topper itself) come out before then, so being absolutely sure of precisely what day a periodical hit the shops can be a bit of a problem so many decades after the fact.

Presumably, the Splodge, Last Of The Goblins glow mask was intended for Hallowe'en, but it was a bit early. Or maybe it wasn't meant for All Hallow's Eve at all, and the mask and the celebration were just coincidental, though it seems to me unlikely. Looking back, I at first thought, in memory, that I was yet a primary school pupil when I bought this comic, but I'd actually been attending secondary school for around a couple of months - certainly several weeks.

I wonder if I was off school that day due to some minor ailment, because I remember lying in bed after purchasing the comic, fascinated by Splodge's luminous goblin features. I'd have been across to the shops over the road for just after 8 a.m. to buy The Topper (so I must've known about the free gift in advance), unless, despite saying every Thursday on the cover, it actually went on sale on a Saturday. (Anyone know for sure?) Or maybe I was buying another comic and spotted it by chance. I don't suppose it matters, and I know you probably don't care, but I would've once been able to recall every detail. Age, alas.

Anyway, the mask came up for auction recently, and this time I won. It's taken me over 50 years to acquire a replacement for my original, and even though it was a wee bit expensive for what is, essentially, a piece of card, the memories it renews and refreshes are worth the price. Last time, my image of the mask was borrowed, this time it's my very own. Surprisingly, it still glows in the dark, which I didn't expect, thinking its ability to do so would've faded over time. I've included a pic of it glowing away, which I took on 'idiot-proof' mode on my camera, but as you can see from the result, I'm not even qualified to use it in that setting.

Splodge was a great wee strip, drawn by Charles Grigg originally, and then later by Ken H. Harrison. I suspect I didn't read The Hobbit until after this issue came out (though it could've been before), because I always imagined Bilbo Baggins as looking a lot like Splodge (despite Tolkien's illustrations), but perhaps that was a retroactive impression. I wish The Beano would reprint the strips, 'cos I'd buy it if they did.

Ah, Splodge - how have you been all these years? Good to have you back.