Krazy Comic
The A-to-Z Blogging Challenge continues… and today it’s the letter “K” which stands for Krazy Comic!
Krazy Comic was my favorite comic growing up. Would Americans understand what I mean by this? You know the comic strip supplement in the Sunday papers? It was a comic like that, not a comic book like a superhero comic book. You would have stories that span a page, maybe two, featuring a character or a group of friends and their (usually) comic adventures. Krazy only ran for a few years (1976-1978–yes, I’m old), but it came out every week, and I don’t think I missed an issue. There was something about the characters that enthralled me. Here are some (as I remember them):
Cheeky: This strip (usually two, maybe three pages), followed “Cheeky”–a lanky kid with goofy teeth–as he walked to school. Along the way he would meet regular characters: the postman, the milkman, the lollipop lady (i.e., the school crossing guard), and others.
Handy Andy: A kid who could do amazing shadow pictures with his hands that would come to life.
Mickey Mimic: A master of disguise–this kid had a suitcase full of costumes and masks that would make him look like any celebrity. We assume his voice imitations were also flawless.
Hit Kid: Being bullied in the playground (schoolyard)? Hire hit kid to sort out your problem! This kid wore a trench coat and hat–think 30’s gangster/mafia type–and for a small fee would exact revenge on your enemies.
Birdman and Chicken: My favorite strip of the comic. These were a crime-fighting duo (parodying Batman and Robin, as you might guess). I recall their secret identities were Dick Lane, who had a long chin that formed the bottom half of a beak when he put his Birdman hood on, and… I’m blanking on the name of his young companion. Oh well.
After it’s 70+ issue run, Krazy Comic was folded into the Whizzer and Chips comic. I might have collected that for a while, to keep up with the old Krazy characters… but it wasn’t the same. And not all of the Krazy characters survived the move as I recall.
But the fact that, with a little internet assistance, I can remember this much shows how special this comic was to me. In fact, I found some pictures of Krazy Comic covers. These are some that, as soon as I saw them, I remembered holding that very edition:
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Did you have a favorite comic, comic book, or something similar growing up? Do you look on it as just a fun pastime, or do you think it influenced what you enjoy reading/writing today?
My favorite growing up was X-Men. Although I don’t collect X-Men any longer, I do still read comics on a weekly basis. It’s mostly Batman books now.
Hello, Dave! I was never a big comic book collector as a kid, but I did enjoy reading Spiderman occasionally. I seem to recall we also had a book that contained the very first Hulk story. It’s very possible we’ve bought comic books for our kids in the past… and it’s also possible that I might have read them first… đŸ™‚
Isn’t it funny how we latch on to things as kids and their importance follows us into adulthood? Sometimes I wonder if those things that I loved as a child would still catch my eye today or if I would just glance right past them.
If I was still in the UK, and Krazy Comic was still being published, I’d probably subscribe. đŸ™‚ But whether or not we’d still collect comics as adults, I think we should be careful not to dismiss the role of comics/comic books in kids’ lives. Many kids who read comics end up being readers for life–some go on to be writers. You never know… đŸ™‚
Growing up, I loved reading Archie comics. I wonder if my kids, only one of which is just starting to read, will gravitate toward them like I did.
Enjoyed this post. Happy weekend!
Thanks, Dana! When I asked my wife whether Americans would understand what I meant by a “comic”, Archie was the only thing she could think of aside from comic books of the superhero variety. Interesting.
A love of reading can start anywhere. It is interesting to see what our children end up taking to.
I remember these! I got Whizzer and Chips too but it wasn’t the same so I stopped buying them. I wish I’d kept all mine, not to sell on ebay as people seem to do but to show my own children as all the comics for children nowadays seem to be glossy and full of ads and promotions for Disney/Barbie etc.