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Cor!! No.2, 13th June 1970 — Anglo Bell Boy Double Treat — Somportex Combat Bubble Gum

IPC printed one of their standard four-page pink paper advertising inserts in their comics, this time to announce their latest new comic — the ungrammatically-named "Cor!!". The page shown above is from "Smash!", 6th June 1970, & it prepares you for the arrival of issue 2 of "Cor!!" on the 8th June.

Unfortunately, as you can see from the front cover of "Cor!!" No.2, the cover date actually turned out to be 13th June.

But notice how thoughtful the writer was, in tipping his hat to SPLAT — many decades before we even came to exist.

Also shown here is the wrapper for a packet of "Double Treat", & (courtesy of Martin Davies, eBay ID: bricabrac1965) some pieces of Anglo Bell Boy Bubble Gum still in their wrappers.

Of course, the parts of all this that most directly concern us are the transfers. Their use in this promotion is, in fact, a re-use; the transfers had been used a couple of years earlier, in packets of Somportex "Combat" Bubble Gum.

Front cover:

Combat Bubble Gum
Instant Picture Sheets
Letraset Dry Transfers. Pat. No. 906934
Collect the Series of 80 Pictures

Back cover:

Soldiers — Pirates — Normans — Gladiators — U.S.Troopers — Zulus

How to use your Combat Instant Pictures
1) remove backing paper
2) press picture onto any clean smooth surface
3) rub over with finger nail or pencil
4) peel back transfer film

A Series of 20 Sheets totalling 80 Pictures
Ideas! Create your own battle scenes
Use for school projects — all figures authentic

Made of gum base, sugar, glucose, natural & artificial flavours, starch and U.S. certified colours.
Made for Somportex Ltd, London

However, it turns out that the vital & controversial bit of the wrapper is the last line, which is torn off & missing from mine. So Ace of Cards comes to the rescue with his wrapper:

What was the controversy? Just the usual; Letraset had supplied these Combat transfers to Somportex for their chewing gum, & then later on they turned up along with Anglo's chewing gum. This confusion has led to catalogues & dealers listing the transfers under the wrong company. I don't honestly know if Anglo & Somportex had a relationship, or if Letraset had simply performed their usual trick of selling the same transfers to two different companies without compunction. — You be the judge!

No.1 — Stone Age
No.2 — Romans v Britons
No.3 — Cavaliers v Roundheads
No.4 — Japs v Americans
No.5 — British v Germans
No.6 — Normans v English
No.7 — Tudor Pirates v Spanish
No.8 — Redcoats v Scots
No.9 — Apaches v Troopers
No.10 — Zulu War
No.11 — French Marines v British Sailors
No.12 — Medieval Knights
No.13 — Frontier Scouts v Redskins
No.14 — Roman Gladiators
No.15 — North v South
No.16 — Japanese Samurai
No.17 — Foreign Legion v Tuareg
No.18 — Mongols v Bulgars
No.19 — Vikings v Saxons
No.20 — Cops v Robbers

We only had this one (above) of these twenty transfer sheets for a very long time, but here's one of those serendipitous happenstances that makes running this website worthwhile: StellarX came across these fourteen brilliant sheets very neatly rubbed-down & documented in pencil.

Anyone familiar with the film "Amélie" will understand the importance of tracking down the author of this work.

Another fascinating anecdote concerns a Seller on eBay who listed, back in 2012, thirty-eight identical sheets of three different gravure rolls. I bought one each of his Disney & Patterson Blick 'Monsters to Caveman' rolls, but he was a mysterious fellow whose address was a disused petrol station in the middle of nowhere, & he vanished suddenly & completely while we were trying to negotiate a price for his Combat sheets. One of our members had luckily already managed to buy one for a small fortune, but then arranging to get it here for a quick scan turned out to be a logistical nightmare which we could never accomplish!

We did, however, have the auction listing photo which showed us what a complete sheet would look like:

Then quite recently I was able to purchase a complete set of all the individual transfers for a very reasonable sum. Having scanned them & having referred to the auction photo, I can now show you an accurate simulation of an uncut sheet of Combat transfers:

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Free Gift Transfers in Comics

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Cor!! No.2, 13th June 1970 — Anglo Bell Boy Double Treat — Somportex Combat Bubble Gum

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