Mummy's Boy
   
                             
    "Choochikins", "petal", "honneybunny" - poor old Mummy's
    Boy was kept firmly under his mother's thumb, wasn't he?
    The sorry lad was forced to wear a bonnet and baby clothes
    and was pushed around in a pram by his overbearing mother,
    even though he was almost a teenager. Everything Boy
    wanted to do was "too dangerous", or "for bigger boys".
    The latest gadgets and games he yearned for were
    "too sharp" or "too difficult" for him - he was hopelessly
    swaddled.

    Boy tried to wreak revenge, of course. Each week he would
    escape or evade Mum's clutches somehow. But - alas - he
    would invariably only succeed in getting into scrapes and
    affairs which really did hurt or injure him, thus putting him
    well and truly in his place, and justifying Mum's twisted 
    point of view...

    
    That image of Mum, head scarfed and tear stricken, pursuing
    her boy is something of a Fleetway classic. And yet again, it
    highlights the change in social mores since the strip's
    publication.

    Today, the lad would probably be placed in care whilst Mum's
    obsessional behaviour  was investigated by a panel of social
    workers...

    Mummy's Boy proved to be perennially young. The strip was
    drawn throughout its run by the great Norman Mansbridge,
    an artist with a distinct recognizable style which he also applied
    to the likes of Teacher's Pet and Fuss Pot. Norman, like the
    equally-great Reg Parlett, seemed to be  rather publicity shy
    and never usually signed his strips. But stop the presses,
    because, after too many years spent sifting through Fleetway
    comics yours truly has finally unearthed a Mansbridge initial.
    Here it is, tagged on to the back of Boy's chair in a Buster
    strip from 9th November 1985:

       

    Mummy's Boy moved from Monster Fun into Buster when the
    titles merged in October 1976, and there it stayed as a regular
    weekly feature until September 1987 when Nipper merged with
    the title and our lad and his mother were dropped to make room
    for the newcomers...