Saturday comics: First weekend of May 1972 — GREAT NEWS FOR ALL READERS!

May 7

May 7 Saturday comics: First weekend of May 1972

Cor!!, Tammy, June, Valiant, Buster, Sandie, Knockout, Tiger, Lion, Scorcher, Whizzer and Chips, Saturday Comics

Saturday comics, 1972! Here are some of the fantastic IPC comics available in the shops (for only 3½p – or less!) fifty years ago, on the first Saturday of May. But what else was going on in a young reader’s world that day?

T. Rex’s Metal Guru ruled the airwaves, the day before it entered the charts (and No.1 a week later). What’s it about? Nobody but Marc Bolan seems quite sure, but it's a great accompaniment to funky Gus Gorilla’s scrap yard genie exploits in Cor!!.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQr9WbBfoD8

Elton John, David Bowie, David Cassidy, The New Seekers and Vicky Leandros were among others on the radio this week, and the actual top of the pops was the Pipes and Drums and the Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Band. Tammy and Sally just played the records and danced.

Sindy dolls had been hugely popular in the UK since 1963, with regular releases of new models and outfits. The 1972 catalogue included a Sindy Walker in houndstooth skirt, and you can see more at https://www.oursindymuseum.com/1972sindy.htm. She had her own Sindy Club page in June.

Among the most popular boys’ toys at this point in time were Dinky (producing mini vehicle replicas since 1934) and Matchbox (1953). Both carried full-page adverts for their latest products in this week’s Valiant and TV21.

One of the very first domestic pocket calculators, the Rapidman 800, went on sale in the UK in May 1972 – handy for household budgets just a year after decimalisation, and for writing 5318008. Fuel prices were relatively steady, but gas was going up in Buster’s Dream-World.

Buster’s Dream-World artist: Angel Nadal

In the adult world there were tensions following a tough winter – a seven-week miner’s strike, a state of emergency called, the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry, and reported unemployment doubling over two years. Sandie was suitably bleak and portentous.

Bonnie’s Butler artist: Julio Bosch; The Captives of Madame Karma artist: Jaume Rumeu; Friends and Neighbours artist: Bill Baker.

The first of eight series of Love Thy Neighbour recently started on ITV, and was on the cover of this week’s TV Times. Full House in Knockout was another home-based comedy of sorts, but representation of Britain’s racial diversity in kids’ comics of 1972 left a lot to be desired.

BBC1’s Saturday evening telly included The Pink Panther, Doctor Who: The Mutants #5, and movie Seven Cities of Gold (gold-seeking missionaries in conflict with native Americans). In Tiger, ‘Redskin wrestler’ Johnny Cougar is hired for strong-arm work with an Aquadome enterprise.

Wonderful World of Disney: Ranger’s Guide to Nature sat between Doctor Who and the movie. J. Audubon Woodlore taught Hughie, Dewey and Louie some facts of life. IPC published regular Disney-licensed comics at this time, and issue 8 of Donald and Mickey was out today.

Children were starting to become better informed by television. John Craven’s Newsround had started in April – here’s a brief archive clip https://fb.watch/cNZFVQ61vv/ Some comics still carried an educational/reference brief, the cover of this week’s Lion and Thunder an example.

This Saturday saw Leeds United beat Arsenal 1-0 to win the FA Cup Final. It was a sore week for the Gunners in the world of comics too, as Scorcher and Score remembered their League Cup Final defeat to 3rd Division Swindon Town three years earlier.

Two days later, Leeds would fail to win their expected Double, beaten 2-1 by Wolves. Liverpool were held by Arsenal on the same evening, meaning the league title went to Brian Clough’s Derby County. Whizzer and Chips’ Sid’s Snake was set on a soggy post-match walk home.