A great benefit of the Beano's new policy of crediting its writers and artists is the unexpected pleasure of seeing that this week's fill-in artist for the Bash Street Kids is Mychailo Kazybrid!
... You know, Mike Kazybrid! The one who drew back-up strips for the Transformers comics for a little while in the mid-1980s! Well, maybe you have to be my generation to get it, but if you were eight years old when the Transformers first came along, you'll have been as enraptured as me with the two-page black-and-white filler strip "Chromobots" with its thrilling robot adventures, every fortnight until the comic went weekly and changed its format in 1985. It was great, it really was. He also drew the longer-running half-page comedy strip Matt and the Cat, but I never liked that one. Still, it's great to see him still around - or if not him (because you can't really tell from the Bash Street Kids art if it's the same person, since he has to copy the David Sutherland style, and someone else wrote the script so you can't see if it's got his old style of writing to it either) then somebody else with the same unusual name. And there can't be all that many artists called Mychailo Kazybrid, so let's assume it is. I'd love to see more Chromobots!
Greetings, really pleased that you like the Bash St KIds artwork. Chromobots, now that's a blast from the past. Yep, I'm still alive 'n' kicking, working behind the board whilst enjoying apple turnovers. Whilst I've worked on a great number of characters over the last 40 years, this ranging from Duckula, Dangermouse to Shaun the Sheep, The Tick etc., I was working with fellow artist, Bambos Georgiou on the Wallace & Gromit daily cartoon strip (The Sun newspaper) for three and a half years. We're on various things at present, but pleased to team up doing Bash St. Kids, i.e. pencils: myself and inks: Bam. Wishing you all the best, Mychailo.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a thrill to get a personal message from one of the iconic names of my childhood, I'm sure you can't begin to imagine! Thank you! :-)
ReplyDeleteChromobots was absolutely the number one talking point of the primary school playground for a little while there, even outstripping the Transformers themselves! It's certainly stayed with me all these years, anyway...
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the Chromobots! I was SO disappointed when it was discontinued. It amazes me that stuff like Combat Colin and Robo-Capers lasted so long in the comic! I even liked Matt & the Cat more than those two. But the Chromobots was my thing. Funny enough, when Toy Story came out, I immediately thought that Chromobots was a better option (it seemed a pale imitation, even though realistically the concept of toys coming to life is an old one. I think it was Buzz Lightyear-I mean he was sure that he was from Star Command (even though in the movie he was a toy)! If they made him actually be from somewhere else (another planet), I would have definitely cried "foul"
ReplyDeleteHas there ever been a compliation of the Chromobot story?
Chromobots was so awesome, and I don't think anyone's ever published a compilation, which is just shocking! I bought a complete Planet Terry collection just last weekend, though, and I always loved that one too, despite what everyone says!
ReplyDeleteBut oh my GOD, your blog talks about the McGurk Mysteries! I loved those books so much! And I never met anyone else who liked them at all!
I forgot about that blog-I actually gave up on it because it had no responses. Say, would you like to communicate? If so, my email address is SHagins_17551@yahoo.com And my phone number (if you are in the US or Canada) is 717-669-2691 (I don't have text messaging) Maybe we can talk sometime.
ReplyDeleteMcGurk, the Bobbsey Twins, the Three Investigators and Trixie Belden are my favourite kid mystery series! I still have the books and crack them open for a reread!
I like how in the McGurk series, Mr Hildick (the author) DOES let them age, albeit very slowly. The first book was written in 1973 and the kids were not quite 10. The last book was in 1996 and they were 13. Also, the Organsation went from 4 to 6 members. I was getting older in the 90s, but even if I wasn't already a teenager, the only misstep I think that was taken were the two fantasy books. They were good, but it seemed out of the spectrum of the series (walkie-talkies that could take the kids back in time!??! Someone's been watching too much Doctor Who!)