The Best of The Rest

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Launched: 12th June 1971

Ended: 23rd June 1973

Merged into: Whizzer & Chips

Annuals Released: 1973 - 1985

My resources: The 1978, 1979, and 1982 Annuals

The characters that made it to Buster: Joker, and Fuss Pot both started in Knockout.

The Best of the Rest:

The stars of Knockout were The Super Seven, who not only had their team strip, but also appeared individually too. The Super Seven were Wanda Wheels, Whistler, Dead Eye Dick, Booter, Thunderball, Stinker and Windy. Aside from the Super Seven, the other top strips from Knockout were:

Sonny Storm - Sonny Storm was sent a weather stick for safe keeping (from his uncle I believe). This stick could personalise weather to just a small area, which helped Sonny no end
The Toffs and the Toughs - The Toffs (who had a castle) and the Toughs (who had just a small wooden hut) were always good for laughs and the Toughs knew how to stick up for themselves
Son of Sir - The teacher's kid gets the preferential treatment, but as the class come up with a plan, son of sir always gets it wrong
The Haunted Wood - Simple story (later followed by the Haunted Lake in Shiver & Shake) any wood taken from the Haunted Wood would always fight back
Beat Your Neighbour - Arguably the best non Buster strip this takes competition to a brand new level
Sammy Shrink - everyone's favourite titch started his small life in Knockout

The Award for Most Promising Strip:

The idea behind Sonny Storm was a great one, and it is a very good strip, but not quite the best in my opinion. Son of Sir also holds one of those top spots if only for the little challenge towards the end to guess what the class are really saying, but the best has to be Beat Your Neighbour. I'm sure most of us know someone, or even ourselves, who get involved in these neighbourhood wars, trying to be the very best. It's still looks just as fresh today as it did in the 70s.

The Award for Most Disappointing Strip:

Moose wasn't a particularly good strip. Exactly why Frenchy was after the Moose I don't know but it got extremely repetitive very quickly - a bit like Wile E. Cyote and Roadrunner, you kind of see the ending before it happens.

Have Your Say

Were you a Knockout reader? If so, tell us what you thought about the comic. E-mail knockout@bustercomic.co.uk with your views. We'll print the best comments here!

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