Plug

BENJAMIN HEATHCOTE IS THE ONLY PLUG IMPERSONATOR IN THE WORLD HE CAN BE HIRED FOR CHILDRENS PARTIESPlug was a British comic that ran for 76 issues from 24 September 1977 until 24 February 1979, when it merged with The Beezer.

A spin-off from The Bash Street Kids comic strip in The Beano, the comic was based around the character Plug from that strip. His dog (Pug) from Pup Parade, and a new character called Chunkee the Monkey (Plug's pet monkey) accompanied him. Vic Neill mainly drew the title character's strip. The comic also had its own fan club you could join, called the Plug Sports and Social Club.

Plug was never a big hit, the reason possibly being that at 9 pence it was too expensive, compared to other D.C. Thomson comics at the time, which were 5 pence. According to the 2008 coffee-table book The History of the Beano, for a while there were rumours of a "curse of Plug", fuelled by the fact that a number of celebrities featured in Mad magazine-style caricatures on the comic's cover died soon after, most notably John Wayne.

Other strips in this comic included:

• Antchester United - The adventures of an insect football team. Drawn by John Geering
• Ava Banana - This character was as strong as an ox, gentle as a lamb. Her trainer was Charlton Veston, their names being plays on Ava Gardner and Charlton Heston
• The Bandshees - Creatures playing in a band, "fresh from their successful tour of Mars". Readers were invited to send in funny songs that they had written
• Crazy Horse - "The Nutty Nag". The adventures of a talking horse
• Digby the Human Mole - Very odd-looking boy with a large mole like nose, liked digging tunnels and eating. Drawn by Gordon Bell
• D'ye Ken John Squeal and his Hopeless Hounds - a daft celebration of fox hunting. Its title parodied an eighteenth-century Scottish ballad.
• Eddie Daring - A boy obsessed with rugby league, with Randolph, his pet rat (The Original Dirty Rat). His name was a play on Eddie Waring, a popular TV sports commentator at the time.
• Eebagoom - The ancient British settlement of Liverpool invaded by Julius Sneezer and his Roman legions
• First Ada - Always willing to practice her first aid on any unsuspecting passer-by. Ada also had a St. Bernard dog as her companion. Drawn by Gordon Bell
• The Games Gang - "They're Game for Everything". Starred Meltem John, Bee-Bop, Fuzz, Rocky, Modriel, Magnus Spike and Rollerball, a gang who invented games to play amongst themselves. (Meltem John and Magnus Spike are plays on Elton John and Magnus Pyke.)
• Gnoo Faces - A strip about "three screwball Gnoos, trying to break into showbiz!" The judging panel was made up of Mickie Musk (the skunk), Lionel Bear, Arthur Aardvark and Tony Scratch (the tiger). The name was a play on New Faces, a popular UK talent show at the time
• Gulp - "The Galactic Goon with the GIGANTIC Gullet"
• Hugh's Zoo - The adventures of Hugh and his backyard menagerie. Drawn by Gordon Bell, survived merger with Beezer
• The Invasion of the Plug Bugs - A strip about a group of aliens
• Lumpy Gibbon - Starred Lumpy Gibbon (a huge gibbon), Colonel Podgy Whiner (a hunter), Little Gibbon and Man Eating Tiger Moth. The title was a homage to the 1975 song Funky Gibbon, by The Goodies
• Luncheon Vulture - The adventures of a hungry vulture
• The Nutcase Bookcase - "Guidebooks for Goons". Plug would star in a 'guide' to doing something, usually with disastrous results
• Sea Urchin - An amphibious boy who had underwater adventures with his friend Roger, the flying fish. The main enemy of the strip was Silas Sharke, the underwater rotter
• Supporting Life - Starred Elvis, Plug's little brother, looking at a different football team each week. The first was Arsenal F.C.. Drawn by Bill Ritchie
• Tony Jackpot - A boy obsessed with golf. Drawn by John Dallas

See also

• List of DC Thomson publications

External links

• Plug (1977-1979)

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