Oink!

Who remembers Oink! comic? It ran from 1986 to 1988  - I think I was a subscriber for pretty much the entire run.

Oink! was a British comic book magazine for children which was published from 3 May 1986 to 22 October 1988 (with summer specials through to 1990). It was kind of like Viz for kids, although when it first came out I don't think us kids knew what Viz was.

But what we did like was the anarchy that Oink! bought - a perfect next step for kids who still wanted to read comics but had outgrown the Beano, Dandy, Whizzer & Chips, Buster etc. 

Many of my childhood comics were binned not long after they were read. Or cut up with favourite strips and posters  blue-tacked to walls. The exception to this was my collection of American comics, including Groo, X-Men and Transformers. Okay, my some UK Transformers and Return of the Jedi comic survived too but that was different.

Sadly I don't have them all but I found 3 old Oink! comics surviving amongst my comic collection; No 6, 9 and 10. There is no specific reason as to why these ones were kept, at least not to my recollection. I think I was a member of the Oink! Fan Club too - pretty sure I have a badge somewhere. If I ever find it I'll add it to this page.

There were some great characters in the comic, including Uncle Pigg,  Mary Lighthouse (parody of crazy ultra-conservative, Mary Whitehouse), The Street-Hogs, Harry the Head, Pete and his Pimple, Tom Thug, Burp The Smelly Alien, Hugo the Hungry Hippo and, of course, the legendary Frank Sidebottom.