FRONT PAGE

  COMICS
  those Fleetway
  fun comics

  STRIPS
  star strips
  and characters

  ARTISTS
  the folks behind
  the toons

  INTERVIEWS
  the artists speak!

  POSTER PARADE
   a gallery of
   pull-out stars




  cartoons,
  animation,
  comic strips and
  puppets in the UK

  back to
  TOONHOUND
 
  CONTACT ME


  

 

   

    
     
    Gremlins
    
                             
   "Have you ever wondered what it is that stops
    things from working properly?"

    So asks Steve Bell in this anarchic strip starring a band of
    misbehaving, riotous little ink blots who wrought havoc
    upon a poor lad called Gilbert. Those Gremlins followed in
    the footsteps of The Little Monsters, those mischievous
    mites from Monster Fun Comic, only these jackpot stars
    were infinitely more destructive...

    In their first appearance (Jackpot #1) they destroy Gilbert's
    ink pen and his bike before undermining the work he does
    with his father, decorating the house...

    Name that Gemlin

    That Gremlin with the hat, top right, is Grasping Grenville
    Gremlin. There was also a viking-hatted blot called Great Big
    Grizelda Gremlin, and Greasy Graham Gremlin, Gruesome
    Greta Gremlin, Grotty Gregory Gremlin, and Gormless Gordon
    Gremlin - not that you could really tell these little blots apart
    from one another!

    Steve Bell has since gone on to a bountiful career
    in the broadsheets. Notably, cartooning for The Guardian.
    Meanwhile, Trivia Hounds might like to know that the first
    strips were reprinted without fanfare in the first issue
    of Big Comic, in June 1988...