Hot on the heels of the release of a superb collection of Leo Baxendale’s Mervyn’s Monsters, plucked from the pages of Buster and Giggle, Irmantas Povilaika, publisher of the Kazoop! blog, has just published The Swots and the Blots, another hardcover collection of a hilarious British humour strip, also by Leo.
“The Swots and the Blots” debuted in the first issue of Smash!, back in 1966. Three years later, the publisher was absorbed by Fleetway, and the comic fell under new management. Leo Baxendale was invited to take over the strip for the revamped version of Smash!, where he devised a new cast of characters. Baxendale continued writing and illustrating “The Swots and the Blots” until Smash! eventually merged into Valiant, and kept working on it for a few more years, until May 1974.
The strip is absolutely brilliant, “The Bash Street Kids” of BEANO fame (also created by Leo) cranked up to Eleven. It’s probably one of Leo’s best known strips for mainstream British comics and it’s absolutely brilliant that Rebellion has licensed this collection.
This 180-page hardcover volume (also available as a limited edition paperback), with a foreword by cartoonist and British comic archivist Lew Stringer, collects every episode of “The Swots and the Blots” written and illustrated by Leo Baxendale for Smash! between the issues cover dated 15th March 1969 and 3rd April 1971. It also includes Baxendale’s very first instalment from the original era of Smash! and his two stories printed in the Smash! Annual 1971.
A copy of the hardback edition of Mervyn’s Monsters arrived in the downthetubes basement recently, and if the print quality and restoration work of The Swots and the Blots matches that, and I’ve no reason to think it wouldn’t, then humour comic fans are in for a real treat. (Irmantas also published two fantastic Ken Reid collections a few years ago, limited copies still available, which set a high standard for vintage comics collections).
• The first printing of The Swots and the Blots limited hardcover edition consists of 150 numbered copies and features a free colour pin-up and is available to order now here
• The first printing of The Swots and the Blots limited paperback edition consists of 50 copies. Unlike the hardcover version, the paperback books aren’t numbered and have no bonus colour pin-up. Available to order here
Head downthetubes for…
• Check out Irmantas’ brilliant Kazoop! Blog about British comics at kazoop.blogspot.com
• On downthetubes In Memoriam: Leo Baxendale
• From the Archives: Last Words from Leo – An Interview with Leo Baxendale by Joe Gordon
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, Comic Previews, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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