80 pages. Colour & tone.
Brown Watson Ltd.
Featuring Boss Cat & Quick Draw McGraw
Cover by UNKNOWN (uncredited).
Contents:
2 This Book Belongs To; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).
3 Hanna-Barbera's Big Show Number One title page; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).
4 Quick Draw McGraw The Taming of 'Shorty' Warty text story (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).
9 Odd But True! UNTITLED [A lake in East Africa / The Archer Fish / The 'Swamp Rabbit' / African Jacana] (half page) feature by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).
10 Boss Cat Dogs of War text story (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).
16 Giggles pocket cartoons; a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).
17 Quick Draw McGraw The Boothill Brigade w: Joe Gill; a: George Wildman.
r: Quick Draw McGraw (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
22 Boss Cat The Hopeless Case w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).
r: Top Cat (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
26 Quick Draw McGraw Three Times as Bad! w: Joe Gill; a: George Wildman.
r: Quick Draw McGraw (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
30 Boss Cat Brain Drain w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).
r: Quick Draw McGraw (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
34 Quick Draw McGraw I'll Drink tuh That! w: Joe Gill; a: George Wildman.
r: Quick Draw McGraw (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
38 Boss Cat A Friend in Need w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).
r: Top Cat (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
42 Quick Draw McGraw After You, Ma'am w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).
r: Quick Draw McGraw (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
46 Boss Cat Dibble's Double Duty w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).
r: Top Cat (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
54 Quick Draw McGraw 6 Guns Sam w: Joe Gill; a: George Wildman.
r: Quick Draw McGraw (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
59 Boss Cat Nothin' But the Best w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).
r: Top Cat (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
62 Quick Draw McGraw The Build-Up w: Joe Gill; a: George Wildman.
r: Quick Draw McGraw (Charlton) #01 (Nov 1970).
64 Quick Draw McGraw pin-up; w: Joe Gill; a: George Wildman.
65 Boss Cat All at Sea text story (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).
71 More Giggles pocket cartoons; a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).
72 Draw and Colour connect-the-dots; a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).
73 Quick-Draw McGraw The Jail-Breakers text story (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).
79 It's a Fact... fact-feature [Frigate bird / Hurricane / American Warship Wateree / Cobwebs / Kilauea]; a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).
Reprinting a couple of Charlton's Hanna-Barbera comics in hardback makes more sense than you might, at first, imagine. On better paper, the art is given a chance to really shine.
Heavily-accented western dialogue get very old, very quickly, when done to a great degree, and The Taming of 'Shorty' Warty suffers from relying too much on its replication of Quick Draw's vocabulary is irritating rather than endearing. A half-page fact-feature following this is, bizarrely, almost impossible to read - black text sitting on dark blue tinting making the legibility extremely difficult, though it is a nicely illustrated piece.
Officer Grabb, Dibble's deputy - with police dog in tow - arrives to give Boss Cat's trouble in Dogs of War. Deciding to set Bulldog Drumbo, his worst enemy, on Officer Grabb, Boss Cat sets out to put things right again. As if a new character would be allowed to upset the status quo... While the story is slightly too clean and easy for Boss Cat, there's much to enjoy in seeing his sense of order in the universe being so upset.
Quick Draw faces off against a bunch of ghosts in The Boothill Brigade, though it is far too soft and comedic a tale to elicit any sense of threat to the lawman. Had he been up against some of the spooks from Scooby Doo there might have been a decent story to be made from the idea, but the walking marshmallows are hardly likely to frighten even the youngest of reader.
Dibble has been drafted to the detail watching the Hopeless Diamond at the Metropolitan Museum, and when it goes missing Boss Cat finds himself wanted by the authorities. A nice tale, with a clever ending which actually makes sense - while it is too short to really explore the theft of a priceless diamond, or the media storm which would ensue, it does what it sets out to do well.
Quick Draw McGraw plays host to Snooper, who has tracked a criminal straight to McGraw's town. Or rather, a trio of identical criminals. Refusing to believe that there is a criminal element loose in his city, his mood soon changes when he realises that his badge has been stolen. Capturing one of the trio, he soon draws the others out of hiding to rescue their brother.
I do like stories of identical twins and triplets. So many classic gags ready to be set up.
Unfortunately there is little done with the set-up, and Snooper manages to scare the trio into surrendering immediately, rendering the whole opening sequence rather redundant. Had more classic fake-outs been employed in the middle-section of the story, this could have been a truly great strip rather than merely a fine one. Disappointing.
Brain Drain sees Brain crowned 'King of the Classroom' in a television quiz, and is awarded ten years' supply of beauty cosmetics. He's soon kidnapped, and Boss Cat must set out to rescue him. When they locate where Brain has been taken, he discovers a robot which speaks with Brain's voice, and fears that Brain's brain has been transplanted...
Boss Cat then takes over Dibble's duties, thanks to a lifelike mask and Dibble's uniform, when the officer is too ill to do his route.
The rest of the strips are largely forgettable, though the remainder of the text stories make up for any deficiencies in reprint material. All at Sea sees the cats go fishing, with the usual complications. I wonder how the name of the ship (Naughty Nell) slipped past the editorial staff...
A final fact feature (which is, thankfully, legible) rounds out the issue in style.
Not the greatest example of the form, but an entertaining annual regardless.
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