Nigel Parkinson, Cartoonist

Nigel Parkinson, Cartoonist
Me at a Comic Con

Thursday 16 June 2011

Uh Oh

A year ago The Beano ran 3 episodes of a strip I drew called 'Uh Oh, Si Co'.
Yeah, not my choice of title.
It got a lot of (negative) attention, and one or two people liked it. Although 3 were published, I had drawn four - and as it's not remotely likely this last one will ever be printed, I thought it would be nice (is that the right word?) to present it here, without word balloons, but the story is fairly clear.

Coloured by Nika.

13 comments:

Peter Gray said...

Wow!

It really does have punch that strip..
maybe the anger looks too realistic unlike Vic Volcano..

what a purple face though!!

Kid said...

Nicely drawn. If I remember correctly (and I may not), the minor stushie was caused by the character having problems controlling his temper. I can see why some people may have been slightly disconcerted by this, but it was probably blown out of proportion - on both sides of the divide. I suppose the way around any difficulties (real or imagined) would have been to show the unfortunate (but funny) consequences of his actions. And you may well have done so - I never saw any of the three strips that I recall.

Lew Stringer said...

Nice page Nigel. It's a shame the strip didn't enjoy more longevity. I wonder if the killjoys who complained about the supposed bad influence of Si Co's temper tantrums also complained about Hulk comics as well?

Kid said...

I think monsters are expected to have temper tantrums - it kinda goes with the territory.

Lew Stringer said...

I'm wondering if Si Co would have been better suited to the more robust, cartoon-violence humour of The Dandy. Perhaps it could be revived over there one day Nigel?

Anonymous said...

i miss him,definitely better stories than...some other stories
still can't understand how people may had 'problem' with it
nika

NP said...

Thanks everyone. Maybe Si Co should have his day again, I did feel the media hoop-la blighted whatever chance the strip may have had. I don't feel I'd really made it work properly either... who knows...

Lew Stringer said...

Yes, the media has done a lot of damage to comics over the years. Treated as a reliable source of information, a newspaper planting the idea that a comic strip can be dangerous is taken as fact by many people. British comics are already tame enough without such bad publicity reigning them in even more. Let's hope Si Co can return oneday.

Kid said...

I think it reflects a condescending and patronising attitude towards the intelligence of most adult readers to suggest that people can't make up their own minds on the subject once a newspaper has brought it to their attention. Or have newspapers the power to influence their readers in a way that some people claim comics don't?

Lew Stringer said...

"have newspapers the power to influence their readers in a way that some people claim comics don't?"

Definitely.

Kid said...

Look for my new book called "Irony, And How To Recognize It" - available from all good bookshops in August.

Alec Dever said...

I love the crazy expressions on the strip and the art style is very appealing to look at but the main character has a real tendency to be very mean-spirited and kind of unlikable. But oh well. It was worth taking a look at.

Anonymous said...

Ironically the News of the World complained. Strange that they were never concerned about racism and sexism but found Si Co to be an offensive parody of a large section of their angry readership.