''Knockout'' was a weekly

British comics A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips. It is generally referred to as a comic or a comic magazine, and historically as a comic paper. As of 2014, the three longest-running comics of all time w ...

periodical published by

Fleetway Publications Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. History It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies ...

from 12 June 1971 to 23 June 1973. A humour comic, the title ran until 1973 before being merged with another Fleetway title, ''

Whizzer and Chips ''Whizzer and Chips'' was a British comics magazine that ran from 18 October 1969 to 27 October 1990, when it merged with the comic '' Buster''. As with most comics of the time, ''Whizzer and Chips'' was dated one week ahead of the day it actu ...

''.

Stories

Its strips included: * ''Beat Your Neighbour'': two families live next door to each other; although the introductory title picture shows them arguing, the two families often tried to be pleasant to one another while secretly trying to outdo each other. The results were quite often far-fetched but unexpected. One example was when one family said to the other that they should drink more

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

for health reasons: the second family ordered more milk, the first family ordered even more, and eventually they were both ordering milk in churns, until the

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

brought the

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

s to their houses and told them to milk the cows themselves. * ''Boney'': Boney is a

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

. The strip began with a boy called Billy, who went on an inane

ghost train In ghostlore, a ghost train is a phantom vehicle in the form of a locomotive or train. The ghost train differs from other traditional forms of haunting in that rather than being a static location where ghosts are claimed to be present, "the app ...

ride at a

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

. The ride was so boring that one of the artifacts, Boney, decided to escape with Billy. The strip records the pair's adventures as they try to stop the owner of the ghost train from recapturing Boney. ''Boney'' joined ''

'' in 1973 after ''Knockout'' merged with it. * ''Booter'' * ''Dead Eye Dick'' * ''Fuss Pot'': about a teenage girl with a pointy nose of the same name, who fussed about everything and everyone in her path. At one stage the full title was: "Fuss Pot, the Fussiest Girl of the Lot!" Fuss Pot joined ''

'' in 1973 after ''Knockout'' merged into that comic, and became a Chip-ite. She then joined '' Buster'' in 1990 after ''Whizzer and Chips'', in its turn, merged with that publication. Through the medium of reprints, the strip stayed with ''Buster'' until the end. The strip was mainly drawn by

Norman Mansbridge Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

. He was replaced in the 1990s by

Trevor Metcalfe Trevor Metcalfe (born May 1939 in Brotton, Yorkshire) is a British illustrator and comic book artist known for his comic strips in IPC Magazines comics such as Sweet Tooth and Junior Rotter in '' Whizzer and Chips''. Influences include Leo Bax ...

, whose strips introduced Fuss Pot's cousin Scruff Pot. Artist

Jack Edward Oliver Jack Edward Oliver (19 June 1942 – 26 May 2007) was a British cartoonist. He is more usually known as J. Edward Oliver (or JEO, or Jack). Biography Oliver achieved fame in the 1970s with a long-running strip in the UK music paper '' Disc ...

included Fuss Pot on the last page of ''Buster''s final issue, revealing how all the characters in the comic came to an end. Fuss Pot's excuse was that she was too fussy to appear in the comic. * ''Joker'' * ''Pete's Pockets'' * ''Sammy Shrink'' (originated in ''

Wham! Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to ...

'', moved to '' Pow!'', then ''Knockout'') — about a boy who is only two inches tall; by Dave Jenner * ''Stinker'' * ''The Group'' * ''The Haunted Wood'' * ''The Super Seven'' * ''The Toffs and the Toughs'' * ''Thunderball'' * ''Wanda Wheels'' * ''Whistler'' * ''Windy''

References

External links

*
A blog about the series
{{Buster Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom British humour comics Fleetway and IPC Comics titles Defunct British comics 1971 comics debuts 1973 comics endings Magazines established in 1971 Magazines disestablished in 1973