I have just discovered your excellent Beezer webpages, as I
have a couple of Beezers from 1958, numbers 29 and 31 from August of that year. I was researching The Kings of Castaway Island to see if I
could find any more of these fascinating (albeit improbable...but that is the
joy of comics...) stories.
I found that you had a reference to the Bushwhacker, and
that you had been advised by another reader that the story began in 1960. Well,
there is definitely a Bushwhacker in these two comics, featuring Slim Silver,
his young brother and sister, Bob and Tess, a journey across the trackless
outback of Australia, with Karamee, an Aborigine friend, and Ted Blake, a jet
pilot. Their adventures are highly improbable, but very exciting and
entertaining!
I would like to read more.... and of The Kings of Castaway Island!
Yup you were right,
The Bushwhacker did appear earlier. There were three series between
1956- 1961 and the last series ran from 24.09.60.
I remember Kings of Castaway Island well as it was reprinted
from 1967-1969 which is when I first started reading the Beezer.
It was illustrated by James Walker and it originally ran in three series
between 21.4.1956-4.1.1964
The story was about the King family who were
marooned on a mysterious island off the African coast when their plane crashed.
Set during World War II the island was eventually invaded by Japanese soldiers.
The depiction of the Japanese was incredibly racist – bright yellow skins with slit eyes.
The story had the most ridiculous storylines. In one episode the
King family actually managed to make a walking, talking life sized robot from
the remains of the plane.
What I really remember about this series is that it was one
of a few that actually reached a conclusion. They were rescued in the last
episode (issue 6.12.69). Sadly this is one of the few issues from 1969 that I
don’t possess though I’m always looking out for it on ebay.
1 comment:
Remember the Kings very well. As you say, utterly implausible (though fun)! An island capable of supporting a whole pygmy tribe, troops of apes and other large fauna, and of sufficient strategic value to the Japanese to be worth setting up a sizeable military presence. And yet no-one comes looking for the plane and all that valuable cargo ....
The robot ended up having to sacrifice itself to save the family, and couldn't afterwards be rebuilt. Its name was Fred, IIRC.
But even more ludicrous: the Kings managed at one point to get a system of closed-circuit television going!! It's amazing what man can do with a few simple tools ...
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