Comic cuts
Sir : Like Mr Christopher Reekie I enjoyed Benny Green's article on boys' papers, but must enter a mild protest at the way in which two relative johnny-come-latelies as Strang and Wilson have received all the limelight and acclaim.
There must be many who still have fond memories of other Thomson hero-figures such as The Wolf of Kabul, our man on the North-West Frontier; The Rcd Macgregor, Highland superman, and Catamount Jack, a buckskin and moccasin type, deadly with twin axes slung six-shooter fashion. The Wolf had an Asiatic liege-man named Chung who decimated the foes of Empire with 'Clicky-ba' a copper-bound and murderously wielded cricket bat. Macgregor's modus operandi was to paralyse the enemy with a hideous battle-shriek of 'Gregalach!' before dealing out execution with the claymore.
Mr Green also overlooks those gift-booklets which so often tum- bled from an eagerly opened Rover or Wizard. These contained intelli- gences of crucial importance to be weightily considered during the school break, such as where to apply for entry to the French For- eign Legion (21 Rue St Dominique, Paris, or Fort St Jean, Marseilles).
It would be interesting to know if any reader can recall the publish- ing history of The Boys' Magazine which appeared circa 1932-35. Pink-paper covered and smaller in page format than the Adventure etc, it's stories were powerful in imagination and illustration. A fair- ly typical serial, obviously inspired by Conan Doyle's work began with a converted ocean liner bringing a menagerie of prehistoric animals to England from a South Ameri- can Lost World. Wrecked on the Cornish coast the cargo escapes in- land and the foundation is laid for several tasty episodes. Tyrano- saurus Rex run to earth at Stone- henge, mammoths spreading havoc in the Scottish Glens, and a Kong- size gorilla straddling Tower Bridge while death-grappling with a giant anaconda!
A. A. Garner 24A Warwick Avenue, Grimsby, Lincolnshire
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