One of the interesting things about going abroad is finding out about their pop culture.
On the European mainland their are many pop culture icons that we simply never had in Britain.
Continental Europeans have always been comics mad for decades. You just need to go into any magazine shop or railway station shop to see what I mean with countless home-grown titles on the shelves.
These comic characters are a rich source of vintage and modern popular European culture and whilst strolling round the Salzberg Toy Museum in Austria I saw two such icons of the German speaking countries, Fix und Foxi.
Fix und Foxi are basically two small cheeky foxes and have been released many many times in toy form for more than half a century - like these two soft plastic vintage figures I saw online. I'd never heard of them before until meeting them in Salzberg.
Lauritz.com
Fix und Foxi began their life in comics in the early Fifties. They were created by Ralf Kauka, a sort of German Stan Lee , first appearing in his comic Till Eulenspeigel and first debuting on the cover of issue 6 in 1953.
They have lasted in some form ever since: a website, TV series, collectables and of course comics. I can well imagine their being passionate collectors of toys and merchandise for such a vintage comic pair.
There is an English Wikipedia page on the characters and a much more detailed Kaukapedia site showcasing every Fix and Foxi comic cover over the line's 64 years which you can see here.
My Missus Moonbase read Fix und Foxi comics as a nipper and like some of the comic characters from my own tender years such as Caspar and Sad Sack they have receded to the far reaches of our memories only really remembered when we see them again like this.
Do you know Fix and Foxi readers? Who were and are your favorite comic characters?
Dan Dare is front and center the best of British characters to have appeared in comics.
ReplyDeleteYoure a Dan fan then Terranova? I never really got the dare bug - I was born a little too late for Eagle - but I know lots of people like you who love Dan Dare. What made it so special do you think?
DeleteBritain in the early 50's was a grey place. Growing up in London 'bomb-site' was an every day phrase and some items were still available only with 'Ration Cards'. While WW2 was over the economic effects were not. Then in 1950 appeared Eagle Weekly Comic. It was printed in colour, was the size of a newspaper and was on smooth paper not newsprint. The lead charactor was Dan Dare with two pages of glorious colour, an uplifting and interesting story with real personalities. The story took you beyond earth into space, a few years earlier 'space' ment V2 rockets that brought death and destruction to civilians without warning. Suddenly Britons were heading to other worlds carrying with them a sense of decency and fair play that was the Edwardian self image. Visually, if you were a child images from the comic strip burnt into your memory. To this day I can look at a random page of Dan Dare and remember first seeing it at breakfast as a child as Eagle was delivered with the morning newspaper. It's the same for many of us who were there in the early 50's reading that comic. When computers and email became the way to communicate it seemed very futuristic, hence Terranova as part of my email address. Terrranova was the last story from 1959 that the creator of Dan Dare worked on. I have a page of original art that shows Dare and party landing on the planet Terranova which inspired me when I moved from the UK to the USA. A NEW WORLD! Unlike other science fiction strips, Dan Dare didn't promote violent action to solve every problem, it showed co-operation between different nationalities and species from other planets. Star Trek was just a faint copy. I suspect that you Woodsy are old enough to have been sucked into Star Trek? To me Star Trek was just the cheesy American summer replacement for Dr Who on Saturdays. Sadly Space 1999 had such slow pacing the stories just put me to sleep. The brilliant hardware however of the Anderson shows reflect what Dan Dare inspired, and certainly you enjoy that!
DeleteThat's a fabulous set of memories Terranova and very evocative of austere post-War Britain. The connection to your online name is really fascinating and I can see that Dan Dare meant and means a lot to you. I find it very moving that you had that final story in your mind as you moved Stateside. We could all learn a lot from non-violent diplomacy and cool thinking, especially just now as powerful men rattle nuclear sabres at each other. Yes, I did love Star Trek I have to say and enjoy watching the original series on TV even now as its shown every night at 6pm on the British Horror Channel. As for the hardware of Gerry Anderson's worlds, yep, that's what essentially drives this blog. Space toys and monsters filled my childhood in the Sixties and its basically who I am 56 years later! And to think the shed where Dan Dare was being created was just down the road in Southport from where I grew up in Preston! We've featured pictures of the shed here on MC in the past. Such a humble place for such grand galactic visions!
DeleteHi Woodsy, Nice that you took the time to visit that museum. I have been there twice. It is not so big, but quite nice, with lots of toys from central Europe. I had also never heard of Fix and Foxi before I came to Austria.
ReplyDeleteIt is a great Museum and very interactive for children Gog. It was an interesting visit and I always enjoy seeing European toys. Hope you're enjoying living in Austria.
DeleteGlad you had a brilliant break Woodsy... hopefully with a couple of strong continental lagers along the way :D
ReplyDeleteMarvel and DC aside, as a kid I also enjoyed Battle Picture Weekly (IPC Magazines). Some fave stories were The Bootneck Boy, Joe Two Beans, and Charley's War. I also enjoyed reading a lot of the smaller size Commando Comics which often had brilliant cover art.
Thanks Tone. It was superb but then again holidays always are aren't they! You know, I've not heard pf any of those characters. I do recall the small Commando Comics, which I used to see at Car Boots in bundles. The soldiers on the covers always reminded me of the Airfix toy figures I had!
Delete