Badtime Bedtime Book checklist

About the scans:
For copyright reasons I haven't included many complete stories on this page, but sometimes there are extra pages that aren't linked (e.g. if an image is name1.jpg try typing name2.jpg). Reading scans on computer isn't ideal, as half the fun of the Badtime books was their compact size and holding them in your hands. Maybe one day the Badtime books will be reprinted in a single paperback (I'm allowed to dream, aren't I?). Egmont (the copyright owners) are always helpful and polite when you email them so who knows?

About the information:
43 of the books were in the comics, the rest in the annuals. 21 were by Leo Baxendale before he left at the end of 1975. Early comments are based on Leo Baxendale’s autobiography ("A Very Funny Business"), with other information generously provided by "Kashgar" and others at comicsuk.co.uk, or just my own biased and ignorant opinions. Unless stated, all Badtime books (except in the annuals) have color covers and middles, and black and white other pages.

Book 7, in issue 7: Little Boy Glue. This one also took over nine days to complete. In those days the weekly comics took about six weeks from finished art to the title appearing on the newsstands, so all the previous stories were finished before the first issue went on sale. But from now the pressure was really on. Any title that took more than a week would mean an issue of Monster Fun with no Badtime book! Sure enough, after Little Boy Glue appeared in issue 7, there was no Badtime book in issue 8, replaced by a center page poster and readers’ letters and art instead.

Book 8, in issue 9: Trouser Island. Because of the pressure on time this one was drawn actual size, rather than being drawn extra large and shrunk down. A later non-Baxendale book, Traffic Island, parodied the same novel. Don't tell anyone, but I actually prefer the other one - at least, it had a great impact on me as a child.

Issue 15: Sherlock Bones. All in black and white. This one is not by Baxendale, and is probably drawn by Mike Brown, but very few of these artists signed (or were allowed to sign) their work in those days. Baxendale signed 13 of his 21. Sherlock Bones is a lot closer to a regular comic of the time, in plot, dialogue, layout, characters, etc, with just a nod of comic horror and badtime twists. It even has the classic comic ending of the heroes being rewarded with a pile of money (or in this case, tickets).

Issue 17: Marzipan of the Japes. This was another “vintage” Baxendale book, and took him eleven days. By this time, fan mail had been coming in for five or six weeks, even from adults. British comics almost never got adult fan mail. IPC magazines, one of the big two British comics publishers (the other was DC Thompson, publisher of the Beano) had never seen adult fan mail for its comics. So when Monster Fun started to generate adult fan mail, they were intrigued. This was a first. Although Baxendale had planned to do some merely “good” stories to make time for the “classic” stories, it made more sense for him to concentrate on just the classic, and let others do some Badtime books as well. He asked his editor, who of course was plunged into despair. Badtime books took much longer to write than other stories, and would take much longer to draw. But they had little choice, and so other artists started to take on some Badtime books.

Book 5, in issue 5: Red Riding Hood. This, the fifth Badtime book was one of the best, with crazy stuff packed into every square inch. Just insane fun like Dr Who's TARDIS passing by, or a dubious guide to the lifecycle of the elephant. (To see how good these things are you need to compare them with normal strips of the time, in their original size.) This piece took ten days to complete: one day for the script and nine for penciling and inking. The comic came out every week, so you can see why the Badtime book sometimes missed an issue. As a kid reading the comic I thought the editors just didn’t bother with a Badtime book those weeks. But now I realize that they knew perfectly well how important they were.

Book 6, in issue 6: Jack and the Beanstalk. Baxendale had a short rest after Red Riding Hood, then this new classic took over nine days to complete. It was worth the wait. I should maybe comment that American readers may be amazed that a four page comic can take ten days to write and draw, especially when the finished result looks good but nothing stunning. But you have to remember that this is an entire story. There is more pleasure and satisfaction to be had in those four pages than in a typical twenty page superhero comic. After seeing these I never got over my sense of disappointment that twenty page American comics seemed so empty. (With a few notable exceptions of course.)

Issue 12: Little Miss Stuffit. The previous book was produced quite quickly, allowing more time for this classic. The memorable ideas, the dark humour, and the little details are vintage Baxendale. As an "under the bedclothes reader" myself, I could really identify with the little kids in the stories. One highlight is when the kid in bed looks at you, the reader, and tells you to go away because he's having his bedtime story and you're just being nosy.

In this book you can see that the printing quality wasn't really good enough for the tiny text. Sometimes the writing is almost obliterated by the dots in the background colours. But it's worth the effort to decipher the crazy stuff.

Issue 14: Oliver Twister. All in black and white. This was another “quick” Badtime book. Baxendale realized he couldn’t produce his very best work in just seven days, and he didn’t want to compromise. So his plan was to produce maybe two or three merely “good” books then one “vintage” classic, then two or three good, then one classic, and so on.

Issue 11: I Spy with my little Guy. All in black and white. This was the first book that apparently wasn't by Baxendale (see the comments elsewhere about some books needing more than seven days to write). If so, the creative team have tried very hard to mimic his style. The kids, the humour, even the ducks have his distinctive look, though the final picture of Rottingsocks doesn't look quite right. The whole story seems modeled on his earlier classic strip, "Eagle Eye Junior Spy."

Issue 18: Star Truck A nice little story about bin men trying to win the award for best truck... notable for the giant monster Mickey Mouse. Page 7 is my favorite, combining classic Baxendale monsters and British streets with the "giant fish supper as reward" motif. It's hard for modern readers to realize that, for the entire history of the world (and still in most countries), the natural state of children was to be hungry.

Issue 25: The Underwater World of Jacques Custard This one is just full of Baxendale hallmarks: crazy tiny kids, flying stuff, underwater stuff, TV, very strong villain character, anarchy, crazy asides, the cat, and even the classic mad factory at the end. Lovely stuff!

Issue 30: Dick Twittington: This is the only badtime book by the immortal Terry Bave, and is signed at the foot of the title page. Back in those days almost no comic art was signed, so the signed Badtime books were very unusual. Mr B was probably the most recognizable IPC artist in the 1970s, and his style pretty much defined IPC comics.

Issue 28: William the Conk (reprinted in the 1982 annual) A very nice piece, with familiar Baxendale touches like details of Rottingsocks' life, and the monsters in the bed - both of which could have come straight from Willy The Kid, which was created soon after. I particularly like how the story has just a tiny bit more genuine history than we might expect. I like the hint of real depth amidst all the nonsense.

Issue 72: At the Apple's Core: That was the last ever badtime bedtime book in the pages of Monster Fun, and it's a good one. It's the end of an era. There was one more Monster Fun (issue 73) but the centre pages showed who was going to merge with Buster. But do not fear! There are still the annuals and specials....

Issue 41: A Fist Full of Chips - this Wild West parody could be classified as "uninspired but still very funny." It's like a pantomime where every line has to be a joke, no matter how old or forced. But we have to remember that these were aimed at little kids - to them all this stuff was novel, fresh, new, and memorable. Compared with any other use of four pages in a comic this was a classic.

Issue 39: Doctor Poo If the Badtime Bedtime Books are ever reprinted (and I sincerely hope they will be one day) this will need to be near the front. Not because it's the best (though it is quite fun) but because a parody of Tom Baker's Dr Who is still instantly recognizable and understandable more than thirty years later. Though a very long essay could be written on the 1970s references in this strip, from TV to domestic arrangements to postal service and beyond.

Issue 34: Gong of Kong: All in black and white. I really like the opening page, with a giant ape in the kind of street that I grew up in. It all felt so familiar. Except for the giant ape part of course. The giant ape (and giant eye at the window) idea, from King Kong, was used by Baxendale in his Willie the Kid books and no doubt elsewhere. Brilliant!

Issue 43: Planet of the Japes: This is another story where you can see the difference between the Baxendale strips and the others. This is more like a regular comic, following the well trodden path of kids at school, with some kind of twist, this time being set in outer space. It's a nice enough story, and ticks all the boxes, but it's not off-the-wall crazy or slightly disturbing like the best badtime books.

Issue 47: Cooljock: I hate to say it, but if pushed I'd probably say this is the "least inspired" badtime book. This is no insult to the writer or artist: they were probably in a hurry. The story is probably beter than the Hound of the Backstreet Villa, but it and the story both seem rushed, and the jokes seem forced and unfunny. But that's just me. It's probably someone else's favorite.

Issue 48: Ten Little Renegades: All in black and white. Another story supposedly written by Jack the Nipper, but this time of course not by Baxendale - it's still a nice story, but the difference is striking, especially in the lettering. This lettering is clear and readable, but Baxendale's own "Jack the Nipper" lettering was just insane and wonderful.

Issue 56: The Greatest Escape: A very nice parody on "the Great Escape." A strong plot and strong characters (this story lends itself well to the 1970s comic format). A highlight is the big maze... I've always liked mazes... come to think of it, a very large number of my personal interests can be traced to my childhood experience with Badtime Books. No wonder I'm so messed up... :)

Issue 58: Rumpimpleskin This story, by Mike Brown, is a return to the original Badtime book concept, with the emphasis on the "badtime." As with Baxendale's best badtime books it has a gruesome villain and a black humour twist at the end. It also sticks to parodying the original story (instead of completely ignoring it as many badtime books do) which is a plus in my book - I like a good parody.

Issue 61: The Hound of the Backstreet-villa
A fairly ordinary dog-versus-postman story with fairly ordinary art. But there are some nice touches, in particular the editorial comments. It feels like the writer knows he's doing a bog-standard forgettable story, but is enjoying it anyway.

Issue 69: The McCurse o' Red Hairy McLegs Every Scottish cliche you could possibly want! Haggis, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Porridge, hoots mon and och aye the noo! But of course we should remember that for the target audience, the under tens, these ideas are all new: the cutting-edge of literature, history, and comedy.

Issue 62: Space: 999 This is one of my favorite badtime books. I'm a sucker for science fiction, and this one has it all: even pirates! And a cameo by Mickey Mouse's dog... they wouldn't get away with that in today's litigious times. A lovely example of what badtime books are all about. I was going to add the complete book to the website, but for copyright reasons I'm trying to exercise self-restraint.

Issue 64: The Wonderful World of Hannibal A really different kind of badtime book. Very creative, very fresh (even though I don't get half of the references), all about Hannibal the frog, with lots of elephants, armies, and educational pages about nature. Weird and wonderful!

Issue 71: Supa Spyderbat: This seems to be influenced by the UK Marvel Spider-man comic, which at this time (mid 1970s) was called "Super Spider-man" with a similar logo. It was natural to make the link with Superman, as in this story. It's interesting to see Rottingsocks in his own strip, and to see the difference in writing and art. It's obviously trying to copy Baxendale's style, but it's very obviously different. More formal in its layout, more predictable in the jokes and asides, without Baxendale's trademark gruesome ending and characters-who-hate-each-other. It's more like a regular comic strip, though still fun. It ends as usual with Rottingsocks asking readers to write in and to tell him their favorite stories. Which is a very good idea, since it gives the writers some guidance - badtime books were notoriously difficult to write, since they required so many new ideas. But it's also a sad note, since that was the last but one issue and no more badtime books would ever be written, except for the occasional annual or special.

Book 1, in issue 1: Jack the Nipper. Crazy Little kids have been Baxendale’s hallmark over the years. Jack the Nipper started as a rough pencil idea, the same size as the comic, intended as a concept to show the publishers. They liked it so much they decided to put it in the first issue, and gave Baxendale TWO DAYS to finish it! So he only had time to ink in the small size rough version. Normally these things were drawn at a much larger scale, with maybe a day spent on each page, and then the finished result is inked, colored, lettered, and shrunk to fit the comic. But Baxendale had to do everything on the tiny comic-sized rough draft to meet the deadline. As he said, this was “a good recipe for going blind if done regularly.”

Issue 20: Humpty Dumpty - this is the only classic badtime book to not have the mini-comic format. I still call it a classic badtime book because it has every other element in spades! A dark parody of a classic story, filled with craziness, and all by Leo Baxendale at his loony best. The middle pages of MF issue 20 contained a pull-out poster of Frankie Stein, but pages 14 and 19 had this "Badtime Bedtime Special Story." I suspect this is a direct result of the Baxendale's need for more time, but nobody else was yet ready to take on a badtime bok. So a half size story plus a poster was a fair compromise. Note: this would fit perfectly in one of Baxendale's later "Willy the Kid" books.

All comic art copyright IPC magazines (1970s) and Egmont International (today).

Thanks to Scandy, Irmantas, Muffy, the Hornet, Toonhound, Peter Gray, John Pollock, Al, and Andy & Sharon Laney-Davis for most of the scans. Thanks to Kashgar, Lew Stringer, Bustercomic, philcom55 and SteveZodiac of comicsuk.co.uk for general help and information. And of course thanks to Leo Baxendale and all the writers, artists and editors who created these gems in the first place! If you know something about the badtime books, something that isn't already here, let me know! My address is tolworthy at hotmail dot com.

Thanks!

Book 3, in issue 3: Punch and Chewday
This is one of Baxendale’s personal favorites (and one of mine). He says it shows his work at its best, with a strong central character and panels full of extra fun, or “everything but the kitchen sink” as his editor enthusiastically observed.

Every Monster Fun Issue and Badtime book number, if any:
1: 1 - Jack The Nipper's Schooldays(Baxendale)
2: 2 - Robinson Gruesome(Bax)
3: 3 - Punch and Chewday(Bax)
4: 4 - Dr Jackal and Dr Snide(Bax)
5: 5 - Little "Red" Riding Hood(Bax)
6: 6 - Jack and the Beans (in tomato sauce) Stalk(Bax)
7: 7 - Little Boy Glue(Bax)
8: - poster of kid kong
9: 8 - Trouser Island(Bax)
10: 9 - Davey Jones(Bax)
11: 10 - I Spy with my little Guy(Ghosted)
12: 11 - Little Miss Stuffit(Bax)
13: - monsters booklet
14: 12 - Oliver Twister(Bax)
15: 13 - Sherlock Bones(Mike Brown)
16: 14 - Ghoul Dilocks and the Three Scares.(Ghosted)
17: 15 - Marzipan of the Japes(Bax)
18: 16 - Star Truck(Bax)
19: 17 - Moby Duck(Bax)
20: 18 - Humpty Dumpty(Bax)
21: 19 - Little Bo Creep(Bax)
22: -Draculass Poster
23: 20 - King Arthur & the Nightmares of the Round Table(Bax)
24: 21 - Dick Twerpin(Bax
25: 22 - The Underwater World of Jacques Custard(Bax)
26: 23 - Babes in the Woad(Bax)
27: 24 - Dough Nut & Rusty Poster
28: 25 - William the Conk(Bax)
29: -?
30: 26 - Dick Twittington (Special Panto issue)(Terry Bave)
31: -Creature Teacher Poster
32: 27 - The Ghoul and the Pussycat(Terry Bave)
33: -Dinosaurs
34: 28 - Gong of Kong(Bax?)
35: -Action comic promo
36: -Badtime Bedtime Poster(Bax?)
37: 29 - The Half a Dollar BoyTerry Bave
38: ?

39: 30 - Dr Poo
40: -Teddy Scare Poster
41: 31 - A fist full of chips
42: -Monster Jigsaw
43: 32 - Planet of the Japes
44: -X-ray Specs Poster
45: -Man Made Monsters Booklet
46: -Easter Egg Race Game
47: 33 - CooljockNo
48: 34 - Ten Little Renegades
49: - - Monster Gags Booklet
50: 35 - The Scarlet Pimply-Neddy(Bax?)
51: 36 - Mummy's the Word
52: -Monster Mix Ups Game Part 1
53: -Monster Mix Ups Game Part 1
54: -Monster Mix Ups Game Part 1
55: -Monster Mix Ups Game Part 1
56: 37 - The Greatest Escape
57: -Monster Fun HQ Poster
58: 38 - Rumpimpleskin
59: ?
60: -Terror TV Poster
61: 39 - The Hound of the Backstreet-villa
62: 40 - Space: 999
63: ?
64: 41 - The Wonderful World of Hannibal
65: -Land of the Monsters
66: -Land of the Monsters
67: -Land of the Monsters
68: -Land of the Monsters
69: 42 - The McCurse o' Red Hairy McLegs
70: 43 - The Ghoulies
71: 44 - Supa Spyderbat
72: 45 - At The Apples Core
73: Important News