FOR FAWKES' SAKE - (Too good not to use again)...

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What can match the thrill, as a kid, of one of your favourite comics having a free gift every so often?  I never used to be able to sleep properly the night before the 'big day' and would be up around 8 a.m. to run over to my local newsagent's (handily located just across the road from me) and plunk my money down on the counter to pay for the anticipated paper periodical and its treasure within.

Talking of paper reminds me of the heady aroma of all the newly arrived daily newspapers, as well as whatever comics came in on that particular day, that pleasantly caressed my nostrils.  I loved it!  Then back across to my house to savour the delights of comic and gift, before either getting ready for school or jumping back into bed if it was a Saturday. Ah, unparalleled, intoxicating memories of yesteryear - long may they linger.

Whizzer & Chips #3 had a cardboard Guy Fawkes mask within its pages, which I assume was intended to double-up as a Hallowe'en mask too, as the November 1st cover-dated issue actually went on sale on or around October 25th 1969.  Yeah, 53 years ago - shocking, innit?  (The same mask had been given away in a 1965 issue of Buster, but I only discovered that fact a few months back.)  A year later, DCT's Topper comic #924, cover-dated October 17th (on sale on or around the 10th), gave away a Splodge, Last of the Goblins glow-in-the-dark mask.

Thinking about it now, I wonder why, in those two instances, the publishers didn't coordinate the gifts closer to the actual occasions they celebrated?  Never mind, we'll let them off with it seeing as how it was so long ago, eh?  Anyway, Hallowe'en may be over, but we still have Guy Fawkes Night to come, so I'm going to give you the best of both worlds by presenting, for your perusal, both masks in the one post.

If you have any reminiscences about the times they represent, feel free to record them in our comments section.  Oh, one more thing - "Penny for the Guy?"  (Nowadays, it would be "Fiver for the Guy?", which is probably why we don't see that particular practice being perpetuated in present times - nobody would pay it.)

Oh, before I forget, below is a Guy Fawkes mask from a 1997 issue of Buster.  If I recall correctly, Buster presented this mask on the centre pages every year for quite a few years, though it may have started life as a cardboard giveaway to begin with.  (Anyone know?)  It's perhaps ironic that though we presumably celebrate Fawkes' failure to blow up the Houses of Parliament every November 5th, there's probably a sizeable proportion of the population nowadays that wishes he'd succeeded.  (Hands up if you're one of them.)

Posted in: Cartoons