Lolly Pop
   
                             
    Pop was a hugely-wealthy businessman with a never-ending
    succession of factories and businesses bearing his name.
    But he was also an oh-so-tight-fisted father who would stoop
    to any length to prevent his long-suffering son Archie from
    spending any of his hard-earned lolly. Trouble was, every time
    he tried to fob Archie off with something ridiculously cheap,
    consequences would aride which ended up costing him
    a hefty sum...

                   

    Originally, Pop was given a "reet proper" Northern accent,
    probably to highlight his working class upbringing, getting his
    hands dirty learning the trade, and all that. His firms were
    ridiculously varied and included such diversities as:

    Lolly Pop Soap Products
    Lolly Pop Semolina Co.
    Lolly Pop Fish Packing Factory
    Lolly Pop Home Help Service
    Lolly Pop Foundaries Ltd
    Pop's Tar Spraying Company
    Pop's Patent Corks (We make corks for everything),
    Lolly Pop Novelties Ltd
    Lolly Pop Toffee Apples Ltd,
    Lolly Pop Bagpipe Factory
    The Lolly Pop Building Society,
    Lolly Pop Security Co. (We protect anything),
    Poprow Airport
    Lolly Pop Plasters Ltd....

    Basically, there was a factory or division for every conceivable
    plot twist. And most ended up in rubble after Archie's clumsy
    intervention.

    This was all well and good, but we were never actually told
    which trade Pop had originally mastered. How had he gained
    his multitudinous wealth? And what about poor Archie.
    Given the abuse and suffering the lad endured, why didn't
    he just bump the old git off and swipe the inheritance...?


    Lolly Pop proved to be a true Fleetway stalwart. The strip
    survived the merger between Shiver & Shake and Whoopee!
    and it was still appearing regularly in The Best of Whoopee!
    Monthly in the mid-80s. Pop's luck was also on a roll in the
    annuals. He and Archie started life in the Shiver & Shake
    editions, but then, in 1979 they were cunningly shifted into
    the Whoopee! Annuals  - very smart, eh?

    Trivia Hounds might like to note that Archie and Pop
    originally had a dog called Julius (ShSh issue #2). But the
    poor old pooch seems to have been dropped after his
    premier appearance.

    Also, in the same strip which featured the Van detail (below)
    we learn that the number plate on Pop's limousine reads
    LP1000000 - an obvious choice, methinks...

   

    Van-tastic!

    Look closely at the Lolly Pop panel detail in ShSh #64
    and you'll find a fantastic hidden revelation:

     

     See?- There's an IPC Cor!! van driving on the motorway
     when a runaway crop spraying plane passes overhead.
     And then, at the end of the strip we see the same van
     buried in a tangle of motorway wreckage created by our
     duo, and Archie's standing by the pile-up, exclaiming:

    "Once again Pop's reaped the harvest
     of his stinginess!"

     So what's the Big Deal? - Well, this issue was published
     25th May 1974, just two weeks before the merging of Cor!!
     with Buster comic!

     

     Was this was a warning sign from our Fleetway artist?
     I guess we'll never know for sure, but it surely can't all
     be coincidence...