Odd Ball
    
                             
    Oh yes, he was odd all right. Odd Ball was a hovering red
    ball who could morph into any conceivable shape, like
    Robert Patrick in T:2. Only, Odd Ball was a good guy.
    He would help his pal Nobby out of various tricks and
    scrapes. Our red round friend would do a lot of thinking,
    with his thought bubbles usually preceding his next big
    morph, so you always knew what he was about to do.
    And just occasionally he would speak. Although why
    he didn't utilize this facility more was never explained.       

    Very odd origins

    Odd Ball and Nobby were ever-present in Whizzer & Chips,
    from the very first edition, in 1969. The origin strip in issue
    #1 told us that he was orginally from the planet Bounco.
    Two spring-heeled inhabitants were playing a popular ball
    game (ie: football) when their ball got booted out into space.
    It consequently zipped across the solar system, bounced
    off an orbiting space capsule (this was 1969 and Apollo XI
    and all that...) and rebounded down to earth, smack into
    the middle of Nobby Noodle's football match.

    Trivia Hounds will note that, in this first strip, Odd Ball
    doesn't morph in quite the way we're used to. Instead, he
    stretches out an "arm" dramatically to deflect an oncoming
    football from Nobby's goalmouth

    Oh, and we learn a curious fact at the end of the strip.
    Odd Ball apparently eats grass. And Nobby's happy with
    that, 'cos it means it won't cost anything to keep him.


      

    The strip was drawn throughout its entire run by Terry Bave.
    and Nobby and Odd Ball have consequently earned
    themselves a place on the top table of Fleetway stars.

    But hang on, what's all this about "Mr" Odd Ball?
    Was he a "he" or a "she", and how on earth would you
    distinguish between the sexes anyway? Hmm. All we
    know is that Mr Bave imbued our bouncy friend with a
    very masculine face...

    Blowing bubbles

    Normally, the kids in the Fleetway comics supported
    local football teams, like Cortown United and such. But
    our friend friend Nobby was an exception. He was a fan
    of West Ham. In Whizzer & Chips dated 30th August
    1975 we see him walking down the street blowing bubbles
    and signing the classic terrace chant:

   "I'm forever blowing bubbles!
    Up the Hammers!
    West Ham! West Ham!..."

    Methinks the artist was letting his own preferences slip
    into the strip here. Even so, this may well have been a
    fun comic first...