Plug (comic)
Encyclopedia
Plug was a British
comic
that ran for 76 issues from 14 September 1977 until 4 February 1979, when it merged with The Beezer
.
A spin-off
from The Bash Street Kids
comic strip
in The Beano
, the comic was based around the character Plug who was a distinctive character in the Bash Street Kids strip. His dog (Pug) from Pup Parade
, and a new character called Chunkee the Monkey (Plug's pet monkey) accompanied him. Vic Neill
mainly drew the title character's strip. The comic also had its own fan club, the Plug Sports and Social Club.
The Plug strip was never a big hit, possibly because, at 9 pence
, it was too expensive compared to other D.C. Thomson
comics at the time, which were priced at around 5 pence. According to the 2008 book The History of the Beano, for a while there were rumours of a "curse of Plug", fuelled by the fact that a number of celebrities featured in Mad magazine-style caricatures on the comic's cover died soon after, most notably John Wayne
.
Other strips in this comic included:
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comic
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
that ran for 76 issues from 14 September 1977 until 4 February 1979, when it merged with The Beezer
Beezer
The Beezer was a British comic that ran from 21 January 1956 to 21 August 1993,...
.
A spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
from The Bash Street Kids
The Bash Street Kids
The Bash Street Kids is an ongoing comic strip featuring in the British comic The Beano. The strip was created by Leo Baxendale under the title When the Bell Rings, and first appeared in The Beano in issue 604, dated 13 February 1954. It became The Bash Street Kids in 1956 and since then, it has...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
in The Beano
The Beano
The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
, the comic was based around the character Plug who was a distinctive character in the Bash Street Kids strip. His dog (Pug) from Pup Parade
Pup Parade
Pup Parade was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. It centred around The Bash Street Kids' dogs, known as The Bash Street Pups, and their many adventures. It made its first appearance in issue 1326, dated 16 December 1967, and was drawn by Gordon Bell. The dogs were all anthropomorphic...
, and a new character called Chunkee the Monkey (Plug's pet monkey) accompanied him. Vic Neill
Vic Neill
Vic Neill was a British cartoonist who drew for D.C. Thomson and I.P.C.'s comics. His first notable comic work was on Sparky strip Peter Piper. In 1969, he replaced Dudley Dexter Watkins on Topper cover star Mickey the Monkey after Watkins' sudden death. Neill was a big admirer of Watkins' artwork....
mainly drew the title character's strip. The comic also had its own fan club, the Plug Sports and Social Club.
The Plug strip was never a big hit, possibly because, at 9 pence
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...
, it was too expensive compared to other D.C. Thomson
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, is a publishing company based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando comics...
comics at the time, which were priced at around 5 pence. According to the 2008 book The History of the Beano, for a while there were rumours of a "curse of Plug", fuelled by the fact that a number of celebrities featured in Mad magazine-style caricatures on the comic's cover died soon after, most notably John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
.
Other strips in this comic included:
- Antchester United - The adventures of an insect football team. Drawn by John GeeringJohn GeeringJohn Keith Geering was a British cartoonist with a distinctive, occasionally flamboyant style, most famous for his work for DC Thomson comics including Sparky, The Topper, Cracker, Plug, Nutty, The Beano and The Dandy....
- Ava Banana - This character was as strong as an ox, gentle as a lamb. Her trainer was Charlton Veston, their names being plays on Ava GardnerAva GardnerAva Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
and Charlton HestonCharlton HestonCharlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes... - The Bandshees - Creatures playing in a band, "fresh from their successful tour of Mars". Readers were invited to send in funny songs that they had written
- Crazy Horse - "The Nutty Nag". The adventures of a talking horseHorseThe horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
- Digby the Human Mole - Very odd-looking boy with a large mole like nose, liked digging tunnels and eating. Drawn by Gordon BellGordon Bell (artist)Gordon Bell is an artist who lives in the UK. From the 1960s onward he has worked extensively for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, publishers of The Beano and The Dandy comics . His sketchy, breezy cartoon style places the emphasis firmly on the foreground characters, with the backgrounds often consisting...
- D'ye Ken John Squeal and his Hopeless Hounds - a daft celebration of fox hunting. Its title parodied an eighteenth-century Scottish ballad.
- Eddie Daring - A boy obsessed with rugby leagueRugby leagueRugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
, with Randolph, his pet ratRatRats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
(The Original Dirty Rat). His name was a play on Eddie WaringEddie WaringEdward Marsden "Eddie" Waring was a British rugby league football coach, commentator and television presenter....
, a popular TV sports commentator at the time. - Eebagoom - The ancient British settlement of Liverpool invaded by Julius Sneezer and his Roman legions
- First Ada - Always willing to practice her first aid on any unsuspecting passer-by. Ada also had a St. Bernard dogSt. Bernard (dog)The St. Bernard is a breed of very large working dog from the Italian and Swiss Alps, originally bred for rescue. The breed has become famous through tales of alpine rescues, as well as for its large size.-Appearance:The St. Bernard is a large dog...
as her companion. Drawn by Gordon Bell - The Games Gang - "They're Game for Everything". Starred Meltem John, Bee-Bop, Fuzz, Rocky, Modriel, Magnus Spike and Rollerball, a gang who invented games to play amongst themselves. (Meltem John and Magnus Spike are plays on Elton JohnElton JohnSir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and Magnus PykeMagnus PykeDr. Magnus Alfred Pyke was a British scientist and media figure, who, although apparently quite eccentric and playing up to the mad scientist stereotype, succeeded in explaining science to a lay audience...
.) - Gnoo Faces - A strip about "three screwball Gnoos, trying to break into showbiz!" The judging panel was made up of Mickie Musk (the skunk), Lionel Bear, Arthur Aardvark and Tony Scratch (the tiger). The name was a play on New FacesNew FacesNew Faces was a British television talent show popular in the 1970s and 1980s, presented originally by Derek Hobson. It was produced by ATV Network Limited for the ITV Network. The first run of the show was from 29 September 1973 to 2 April 1978 and was recorded at the ATV Centre, Birmingham...
, a popular UK talent show at the time - Gulp - "The Galactic Goon with the GIGANTIC Gullet"
- Hugh's Zoo - The adventures of Hugh and his backyard menagerie. Drawn by Gordon Bell, survived merger with Beezer
- The Invasion of the Plug Bugs - A strip about a group of aliens
- Lumpy Gibbon - Starred Lumpy Gibbon (a huge gibbon), Colonel Podgy Whiner (a hunter), Little Gibbon and Man Eating Tiger Moth. The title was a homage to the 1975 song Funky Gibbon, by The GoodiesThe GoodiesThe Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
- Luncheon Vulture - The adventures of a hungry vultureVultureVulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...
- The Nutcase Bookcase - "Guidebooks for Goons". Plug would star in a 'guide' to doing something, usually with disastrous results
- Sea Urchin - An amphibious boy who had underwater adventures with his friend Roger, the flying fish. The main antagonist of the strip was Silas Sharke, the underwater rotter
- Supporting Life - Starred Elvis, Plug's little brother, looking at a different football team each week. The first was Arsenal F.C.Arsenal F.C.Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
. Drawn by Bill RitchieBill RitchieBill Ritchie was a Scottish cartoonist. He is known for work on comics published by D. C. Thomson.-Biography:... - Tony Jackpot - A boy obsessed with golfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
. Drawn by John Dallas