Cliff Hanger (comic strip)
Encyclopedia
Cliff Hanger is the name of two different 1983 comic strip
s, one published in the United Kingdom
and the other in the United States
.
The British Cliff Hanger was written and drawn by Jack Edward Oliver
. It first appeared in the 25 June 1983 issue of the comic
Buster.
Watching a television show called 'Now Get Out of This' (a parody
of Now Get Out of That), Cliff remarks that he thinks he could get out of everything. This is overheard by the Evil Spies, agents of M.E.S.S. (the Mysterious Evil Spies Society). They tell Cliff that he's now a guinea pig
in their traps, and if he doesn't survive, they'll know the traps will be good enough to use against secret agents.
From then on, the premise of the strip every week would be that Cliff is suddenly transported into a dangerous situation by the spies, using the Atomic Matter Transmitter. Three options would be presented to the readers, who would select one by ticking one of the boxes, and turning to another page to see whether their choice was correct or not. For example, in the first strip, Cliff is stranded on a moving artificial desert island. Just as it's about to hit the shore, the current
changes and Cliff is driven back into the shark
infested sea. The choices were 'Take off his shoe and use it to paddle the island to the shore', 'Pull out the tree and use it as a raft' and 'Climb the tree'. A and B were incorrect- using the shoe as a paddle simply sent Cliff round in circles, and pulling out the tree revealed it was plugging a hole, causing the island to sink. The correct answer was C, as Cliff's weight caused the tree to bend over onto the shore, lifting Cliff to safety.
The strip featured several minor background details that would occur in every issue, including a box with a handle, a plaster, the word 'Acme
', an arrow with another (backwards facing) arrow inside it, a warthog
, the initials 'JEO', a worm
, and a sign saying "Abolish Tuesdays". A running gag would feature one of the Evil Spies' constant wondering why his counterpart would frequently call him "Ray" even though that wasn't his name, when in fact he was simply referring to one of the gadgets ("Fire the Transporter Ray!").
Another thing of note is that Cliff's jumper often featured the strip number on it, starting with a "1" in the first, and going on well into the hundreds at the end. Over the years, several continuous storylines emerged featuring parodies of popular film and television series of the day, including James Bond
, the Star Wars
Trilogy, Back to the Future
and Transformers. The strip ended in 1987, replaced by Vid Kid
.
However, as Buster moved into the 1990s, the amount of reprints started to dramatically increase, and several old strips began to reappear. Cliff Hanger was one of these, though as J. Edward Oliver was still working for the comic, he was able to turn the originally black and white pages into full colour. With most of the readers unaware that these were reprints, this gave the impression that they were brand new. In February 1998, when the strips started being reprinted for a third time, rather than continue to advertise them as new, the Cliff Hanger Classic strand was started. Here there would be an afterword at the bottom of the strips, written by Jack, featuring factual information like the original issue dates, background details explained, the most popular television programmes of that week, or the top 5 of that week's UK Singles Chart
.
By 1999, virtually the entire comic featured reprints. Because of this, J. Edward Oliver decided to draw one final strip, which appeared in issue 118/99, dated 7–21 July 1999 (the comic had become a fortnightly publication in 1995). Finding the Evil Spies in danger, all three options led to the conclusion that the Evil Spies would never trap Cliff again (if Cliff called the police, the spies would be arrested, if Cliff helped them out, they would stop trapping Cliff as a gesture of thanks, etc.). This issue also featured the final appearance of 'b-mail', the name used at the time for the Letters Page (which Jack also wrote). Cliff's final appearance was in a cameo appearance in the last page of Buster's final issue, which occurred half a year later. Explaining how all the characters ended, and once again drawn by J. Edward Oliver, Cliff was seen mourning the passing of Bernie Banks (the lead character in Memory Banks, another Buster strip) who had apparently forgotten how to breathe. Symbolising that this was indeed the final issue, his jumper carried the word 'END'.
with artwork by Al Williamson
. The title character was a swashbuckling adventurer who crashlands in an unnamed jungle region in the late 1930s and finds himself in a mysterious plot involving a secret research facility.
The strip originally appeared as a back-up feature in the four issue run of Somerset Holmes
, a 1983 thriller comic book
also by Jones and Williamson. It has been reprinted in collections of Williamson's artwork.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s, one published in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and the other in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The British Cliff Hanger was written and drawn by Jack Edward Oliver
Jack Edward Oliver
Jack Edward Oliver was a British cartoonist. He is more usually known as J Edward Oliver or JEO and to his friends he was Jack....
. It first appeared in the 25 June 1983 issue of the comic
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
Buster.
Watching a television show called 'Now Get Out of This' (a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of Now Get Out of That), Cliff remarks that he thinks he could get out of everything. This is overheard by the Evil Spies, agents of M.E.S.S. (the Mysterious Evil Spies Society). They tell Cliff that he's now a guinea pig
Guinea pig
The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...
in their traps, and if he doesn't survive, they'll know the traps will be good enough to use against secret agents.
From then on, the premise of the strip every week would be that Cliff is suddenly transported into a dangerous situation by the spies, using the Atomic Matter Transmitter. Three options would be presented to the readers, who would select one by ticking one of the boxes, and turning to another page to see whether their choice was correct or not. For example, in the first strip, Cliff is stranded on a moving artificial desert island. Just as it's about to hit the shore, the current
Ocean current
An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of ocean water generated by the forces acting upon this mean flow, such as breaking waves, wind, Coriolis effect, cabbeling, temperature and salinity differences and tides caused by the gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun...
changes and Cliff is driven back into the shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
infested sea. The choices were 'Take off his shoe and use it to paddle the island to the shore', 'Pull out the tree and use it as a raft' and 'Climb the tree'. A and B were incorrect- using the shoe as a paddle simply sent Cliff round in circles, and pulling out the tree revealed it was plugging a hole, causing the island to sink. The correct answer was C, as Cliff's weight caused the tree to bend over onto the shore, lifting Cliff to safety.
The strip featured several minor background details that would occur in every issue, including a box with a handle, a plaster, the word 'Acme
Acme Corporation
The Acme Corporation is a fictional corporation that features prominently in the Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote cartoons as a running gag featuring outlandish products that fail catastrophically at the worst possible times...
', an arrow with another (backwards facing) arrow inside it, a warthog
Warthog
The Warthog or Common Warthog is a wild member of the pig family that lives in grassland, savanna, and woodland in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the past it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P...
, the initials 'JEO', a worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
, and a sign saying "Abolish Tuesdays". A running gag would feature one of the Evil Spies' constant wondering why his counterpart would frequently call him "Ray" even though that wasn't his name, when in fact he was simply referring to one of the gadgets ("Fire the Transporter Ray!").
Another thing of note is that Cliff's jumper often featured the strip number on it, starting with a "1" in the first, and going on well into the hundreds at the end. Over the years, several continuous storylines emerged featuring parodies of popular film and television series of the day, including James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
, the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
Trilogy, Back to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
and Transformers. The strip ended in 1987, replaced by Vid Kid
Vid Kid
Vid Kid was a comic strip in the British comic Buster, first appearing in 1987 when it replaced Cliff Hanger...
.
However, as Buster moved into the 1990s, the amount of reprints started to dramatically increase, and several old strips began to reappear. Cliff Hanger was one of these, though as J. Edward Oliver was still working for the comic, he was able to turn the originally black and white pages into full colour. With most of the readers unaware that these were reprints, this gave the impression that they were brand new. In February 1998, when the strips started being reprinted for a third time, rather than continue to advertise them as new, the Cliff Hanger Classic strand was started. Here there would be an afterword at the bottom of the strips, written by Jack, featuring factual information like the original issue dates, background details explained, the most popular television programmes of that week, or the top 5 of that week's UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
By 1999, virtually the entire comic featured reprints. Because of this, J. Edward Oliver decided to draw one final strip, which appeared in issue 118/99, dated 7–21 July 1999 (the comic had become a fortnightly publication in 1995). Finding the Evil Spies in danger, all three options led to the conclusion that the Evil Spies would never trap Cliff again (if Cliff called the police, the spies would be arrested, if Cliff helped them out, they would stop trapping Cliff as a gesture of thanks, etc.). This issue also featured the final appearance of 'b-mail', the name used at the time for the Letters Page (which Jack also wrote). Cliff's final appearance was in a cameo appearance in the last page of Buster's final issue, which occurred half a year later. Explaining how all the characters ended, and once again drawn by J. Edward Oliver, Cliff was seen mourning the passing of Bernie Banks (the lead character in Memory Banks, another Buster strip) who had apparently forgotten how to breathe. Symbolising that this was indeed the final issue, his jumper carried the word 'END'.
USA Version
The American Cliff Hanger was written by Bruce JonesBruce Jones (comics)
Bruce Jones, whose pen names include Philip Roland and Bruce Elliot, is an American comic book writer, novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter whose work included writing Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk from 2001-2005.-Early career:...
with artwork by Al Williamson
Al Williamson
Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...
. The title character was a swashbuckling adventurer who crashlands in an unnamed jungle region in the late 1930s and finds himself in a mysterious plot involving a secret research facility.
The strip originally appeared as a back-up feature in the four issue run of Somerset Holmes
Somerset Holmes
Somerset Holmes was a 6-issue comic book mini-series written by Bruce Jones and co-plotted by April Campbell with art by Brent Anderson. The first four issues were published by Pacific Comics; after Pacific went out of business the last two issues were published by Eclipse Comics which later...
, a 1983 thriller comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
also by Jones and Williamson. It has been reprinted in collections of Williamson's artwork.