Pellephant and His Friends Annual [1974]

[1973] Annual. Original price 70p.
80 pages. Colour and tone art.
Brown Watson Ltd.

Cover by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

Contents:

 2 Pellephant and His Friends Annual title page; illustration by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 4 Fly, Flax and the Balloon Take a Trip to the Moon text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by GIL [Eigil Johansen] (uncredited).

 6 It's Puzzling! puzzle pages; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 8 Susie Susie the Pilot w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Mainow [Jaime Mainou] (uncredited).

15 Fly, Flax and the Balloon In Mexico text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by GIL [Eigil Johansen] (uncredited).

17 Pellephant Pellephant the Ski Champion w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Georges Bess (? uncredited).

25 Susie Susie and the Treasure w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Mainow [Jaime Mainou] (uncredited).

32 Pellephant Pellephant the Musician w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Georges Bess (? uncredited).

44 Susie Susie and the Dragon w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Mainow [Jaime Mainou] (uncredited).

51 Pellephant and the Toy-Shop Gang w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Georges Bess (? uncredited).

59 Pellephant The Snowstorm w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Georges Bess (? uncredited).

67 Fly, Flax and the Balloon And the Flying Mice text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by GIL [Eigil Johansen] (uncredited).

69 Coco the Clown text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

72 Puzzles from Pellephant illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

74 Sammy Salt and the Paper Boat text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

76 Fly, Flax and the Balloon And the Tight-Rope Walker text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by GIL [Eigil Johansen] (uncredited).

78 Out With Teacher! picture puzzle; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

Note: All the material is (presumably) reprinted from European comics, though specific titles and issues are unknown.

"We need a dramatic cover to attract readers."
"How about Pellephant swinging from a rope?"
"Yeah, but... It needs something extra."
"How about if the rope is attached to a helicopter?"
"Sure. But need something to make the cover really exciting."
"How about having the helicopter fly over water?"
"That's perfect."
"Should we include the Liquorice Goblin, on fire, in the background?"

There is, you should note, not a single "Don't attempt this at home" message in the entire book. I would be the least surprised at learning there is, somewhere in the original comics, a feature on the best table-forks with which to bother electrical outlets. While the stories never actually cross such transgressive lines, they skirt the very edge of what is considered appropriate in a manner which can only be read as deliberate.

King Egbert had won a football pool, so he hired an aeroplane and too the queen, Susie and the dwarfs on a trip...

Firstly, how poorly is the royal purse if the king cannot otherwise afford such a trip? Secondly, how many children of the appropriate age are going to know about football pools? And thirdly, dwarfs? So... We're okay with that, are we?

Turbulence upsets the passengers, and Susie goes to tell the pilot off for the bumpy flight, though faced with criticism the pilot bails out, a parachute strapped to his back. With no pilot, the plane begins to spin out of control until Susie takes the controls. Matters seem well in hand until the plane runs out of fuel, at which point she cajoles a flock of birds to keep the plane in the air. Once safely back on the ground, the king decides to celebrate with lemonade and cakes.

There are a lot of things in Susie which work brilliantly, yet an ever-present sense of things being slightly of-kilter keeps it from being a strip which I would feel comfortable with small children reading on their own. Mainow's art is very lively and loose, with beautiful panels displaying a great sense of style, which takes some of the darkness off the story, but there are so many issues in the narrative which feel purposefully aimed at an older audience.

"Where are we going?" Flax wondered, while he crunched a lump of sugar with his beak.
   "If the Balloon wants to, I thought we might visit the Mexicans," the Professor replied, testing the air with a wet finger. "The wind is blowing in that direction anyway, but we might pass it by, as we can't see anything because of all the clouds."
   "Mexicans? What's that" Flax asked, and sat down on the basket edge. "Can you eat it? Does it taste as nice as sugar?"
   The professor looked at him very learnedly.
   "Mexicans are what we call the people who live in Mexico. You'll recognise them by the large straw hats that they all wear. The sun is very hot there, and as you know, everyone likes to have some shade when it gets too warm. We look for shady places when the sun gets very hot, but the Mexicans carry their shades along with them, just by putting their hats on."

Fly, Flax and the Balloon, doing their bit for international relations, set off for Mexico. Because they land on a cactus, the balloon is injured, and they have to swap some of Flax's sugar for a boy's shirt to mend the tear. As much as I want to go along with the sensibilities of the strip, enjoying it for what it is, I can't help but feel that it would work much better had it included actual facts about the countries the balloon travels to, rather than lazy stereotypes.

Pellephant decides that he is going to enter a skiing competition, the prize for the winner being a hundred bottles of ginger pop. Despite not being able to ski, Pellephant thinks he has a good chance of winning, though on the big day the Liquorice Goblin decides to sprinkle sand behind him as he descends on his run. Pellephant, following behind, soon comes a cropper, and begins rolling down the hill in an ever-growing snowball.

A fairly run-of-the-mill story - by Pellephant standards - sees Pellephant coming through in the end regardless of a lack of talent. There's likely a message in there somewhere, though I dread to think what it is.

The King of Gnomeland had decided he wanted to appoint a treasurer, so he asked Susie if she could help him decide...

If the king has been relying relying on winning money to take his friends out on plane jaunts, then a treasurer is long overdue. Susie decides that each of the candidates should take over the job for a day, the one who increases the treasury taking the appointment.

Ignoring the antics which follow, the idea of increasing the value of the royal treasure in a single day would seem preposterous even to younger children, who ought to be quite aware of the difficulty of such a preposition.

Even the puzzles in this annual require a particular sensibility to properly appreciate:

A dolphin is:
(1) a vegetable   (2) a butterfly   (3) a mammal   (4) a shell-fish   (5) a pair of scales   (6) a lady's hand-bag

While it isn't a perfectly balanced collection of material, with far too much of the page-count taken up with non-Pellephant material. I don't mind the Susie stories, as they have a really weird sensibility which fits alongside the main feature, but the rest of the contents are middling at best, and Fly, Flax and the Balloon is simply infuriating.

[1973]

Pellephant Annual

1975

Pellephant Annual No1

1973. Price 65p.
80 pages. Colour & tone.
Brown Watson Ltd.

Cover by Rune Andréasson.

Contents:

 2 UNTITLED [The gang love carol singing - and they love playing hunt the thimble, too.] picture puzzle; a: (uncredited). / Indicia

 4 Fly, Flax and the Balloon Saving the Bus text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by GIL [Eigil Johansen] (uncredited).

 6 Susie UNTITLED [Flying to Gnome Land in a Kettle] w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Mainow [Jaime Mainou] (uncredited).

13 Tommy Teaser's Testing Time picture puzzles.

15 Fly, Flax and the Balloon The Wonderful Hatmaker text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by GIL [Eigil Johansen] (uncredited).

17 Pellephant Trouble in the Treetops w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Georges Bess (? uncredited).

25 Pellephant Pellephant and the Runaway Bus w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Georges Bess (? uncredited).

33 Susie UNTITLED [Susie and Twinkle Arrive in Gnome Land] w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Mainow [Jaime Mainou] (uncredited).

40 Pellephant Pellephant Goes to School w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

48 Susie UNTITLED [Winter in Gnome Land] w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Mainow [Jaime Mainou] (uncredited).

55 Pellephant Fun With a Fancy Dress w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

61 Susie UNTITLED [Gnome Land Asleep] w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Mainow [Jaime Mainou] (uncredited).

68 Fly, Flax and the Balloon To the Rescue! text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by GIL [Eigil Johansen] (uncredited).

70 Pengy Gets a New Scarf text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

73 Berta Beak's Dream Comes True text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

76 Fly, Flax and the Balloon The Professor Becomes Invisible text story by UNKNOWN (uncredited); illustrated by GIL [Eigil Johansen] (uncredited).

78 UNTITLED [The Gang have decided to try and earn some extra pocket-money by window-cleaning] picture puzzle; a: (uncredited).

Note: All the material is (presumably) reprinted from European comics, though specific titles and issues are unknown.

The image of the bright blue elephant is lively and suitably seasonal, though the poor placement of the title box, with the hanging blue rectangle obscuring a portion of the image, isn't the classiest move. On the inside covers are attractive picture puzzles, which any child ought to be able to solve without difficulty, which is only muted by the fact there is no indication of who this work is by.

Professor Fly reads about a boy who has eaten the world's largest ice cream, and who got the world's worst tummy ache. Calling Flax, his parrot, he reads the story out - while disinterested in the story, Flax sees a picture of a bullfighter. Fly and Flax ponder how to save the bulls, coming to the conclusion that the Balloon might be able to carry the bulls away to safety.

There's something about parrots which make them unlikeable. Maybe it is their eyes, but I've never liked parrots. You may have guessed that this isn't my favourite series of stories to read, and you would be right - although the tale is told well, and blessed with a few attractive illustrations which should pacify younger, and impatient, readers.

Susie and her fairy doll, Twinkle, are on their way to see their friends in Gnome Land, but the weather is bad for flying...

Susie takes the kettle up above the storm, though the thin air causes her - and Twinkle - to fall asleep, yet the kettle continues until it reaches the kingdom of the weather gods. Mr. Nice introduces himself, as provider of nice weather on Earth, and asks for help with the grouchy Mr. Sour, whose storm had such an effect on Susie's journey. Twinkle is forced to frighten Mr. Sour into stopping his bad weather, upon which they are free to continue on to Gnome Land.

This is really rather good, for what is essentially a story aimed at the youngest of readers, maintaining a decidedly odd view of the world. The mix of myths and fables which are part of the stories' makeup isn't apparent in this installment, but there's enough to suggest that the seres has some very strange ideas. It is refreshing to read a strip which isn't caught up in elaborate world-building, happy to tumble from one incident to the next.

Flix and Flax are in the balloon at the beginning of their next story, and they can see an enormous hat from their vantage point. It is the home of a hatmaker who has designed a hat which covers him right down to the knees when it is raining, and another - which he calls his 'polite hat' - which lifts itself up and says hello.

While I doubt it is intentional, or even noticed by many, there is a distinct tone to the stories which recalls the Mr. Men stories. Seemingly bizarre events are passed off as everyday happenings, and the maddest twist can reveal a surprise for the attentive reader. It is, in truth, a fairly simple and slightly juvenile tale, and only the obvious enthusiasm of its creators keeps things from being too annoying.

That it takes seventeen pages to reach the star attraction is simply poor layout, though when Pellephant eventually turns up he does so in style - charging along at the front of a line of toys, an axe gripped in his trunk, determined to chop down a tree for Christmas. There's no "don't try this at home" warning, nor any adult characters to warn of the dangers, which is both refreshing and slightly disturbing - I wonder how many children, upon reading this, decided that it might have been a good idea to chop down a tree of their own.

Anyway, he falls off the tree, at which point a bear asks "is he dead?" Yeah, try explaining this story to a five-year old. Pellephant is carted away in an ambulance, before returning (clad in bandages) to discover that the Liquorice Goblin has chopped the tree up for firewood. Pellephant then tricks the Goblin into chopping a treetop for his Christmas tree.

Concluding with the Goblin desperately chopping trees into the night, in order to find gold which Pellephant has described, the story takes one dark turn after another. The next Pellephant story has a title dripping with possibility - a runaway bus? This is an annual for small children not easily frightened.

The Liquorice Goblin steals a school bus, and is unable to control it due to his size. Pellephant attempts to help, though accelerates rather than braking, and the bus flies off a cliff - at which point Pellephant uses the Goblin's tail as an anchor to hold the bus up, saving the picnic food. Never mind the bus, or the Goblin, as all the children care about are their stomachs.

At least the story gets children's priorities right.

Susie's next strip finds a mass of dough causing the inhabitants of Gnome Land to flee for their lives. It isn't quite The Blob, but one can't help making the association. In the surrounding woods Susie meets a giant, who offers to eat up all the dough. What isn't stated, though which hangs over the account, is that he now knows where they live, and should he be hungry again the citizens are the perfect size for a snack...

Pellephant attends school, even though he claims to know everything already. He's soon thrown out for causing trouble, though when the school's funds for a trip have been stolen Pellephant claims he can catch the thief. Of course, there is no thief, and it is all Pellephant's fault in the first place.

Winter has come to Gnome Land, and...

Y'know, with Twinkle able to magic away any problem - as she does here - there really isn't any problem which requires solving through other means. When she doesn't lend assistance, it is because she can't be bothered. This makes Twinkle the villain of the piece through inaction in every tale where there is something to be fixed. It is slightly too cheerful a series to read this much into the characterisation, though her menace does seem evident.

Fun With a Fancy Dress begins with more magic, this time from Pellephant.

To teach Slyboots a lesson Pellephant once turned him into a tree stump...

Wishing Slyboots a happy new year he begs Pellephant to turn him back as it is so cold being a tree stump in winter. With a wave of his wand, Pellephant relents. Angered at being a tree stump for six months, Slyboots paces in his castle working out suitable revenge plans. A fancy dress ball sees the elephant pick out an Indian headdress, though Slyboots is there as well - dressed as a clown.

Once more the dark undertones are present, with Pellephant willing to torture his enemies for six months.

Everyone in Gnome Land has mysteriously fallen asleep in the middle of the day. You might think this is bad enough, but the introduction of the Chimney People are far, far more terrifying a prospect than some people having a nap. Slipping out of chimneys to wash their clothes (thankfully not in the blood of the inhabitants of Gnome Land), one has even stolen Twinkle's wand.

How did children sleep in the early seventies, if this is what they were reading?

Pellephant Annual

#Pellephant and his
Friends Annual