Scared Stiff Sam
    
                             
    Poor old Sam. He was a great big, braces-wearing, lummox
    of a guy who was absoloutely petrified of everything and
    anything - especially his tyranical, curler-wearing Mum
    who just couldn't get her wayward son to do anything
    constructive.

    Sam was of indeterminate age, but he looked fairly mature.
    Ma meanwhile, was part Hilda Ogden, part Nora Batty
    and not one to cross. Her refusal to accept any of Sam's
    phobias would probably be frowned upon by modern
    medics, but it went down a treat back in the 70's and
    Sam and his Mum proved to be memorable Whoopee!
    creations - They even starred on the Whoopee! annual
    cover in '78...

     

    When we first meet him, in Whoopee! #4, Sam is standing
    on a table with his head thrust through the ceiling in an
    effort to "hide" from a mouse. The next moment, he decides
    he's scared of the table - it's so high, it's making him dizzy!

   

    Sam wasn't the only frightened puppy in this strip, however.
    Occasionally Sam's witless dog Fury would put in an
    appearance. He was a great big useless sheep dog, just
    as fearful of the world as his owner:

    The odd thing was, Sam didn't appear to be scared of Fury,
    which didn't make sense? - Probably, the implication was
    that they were "like-minded souls", but one would have
    thought that canines of any persuasion were right at the top
    of Sam's list of Things To Be Scared Of.

    Surprising as it sounds, Sam, Ma and Fury weren't around for
    quite as long as we might think. The strip was dropped during
    the mergers and reshuffles of the late 70s/early 80s, but
    reprints of Mike Lacey's fabulous work were still being
    scattered through those Best Ofs, Comic Libraries and
    Big Comic editions right up until the demise of the
    Fleetway fun titles...