CRACKER COMIC COVERS

87 appearances (over 87 pages) from issue no. 1 (18/01/75) to no. 87 (11/09/76).
All were printed in colour.

Unlike most (if not all) of DC Thomson’s other comics, there was no strip on the front cover. The page was used to plug strips or tell a joke or sometimes both. Sparky comic had done something similar 1974 -1975. The covers of the first four issues of CRACKER highlighted that week’s free gift. The first strip to be ‘plugged’ (in issue no. 5) was The Nutters.

In issue no. 2, Sammy had become the first CRACKER character to appear on the cover. In all, Sammy appeared on the cover 38 times. The biggest part of these (16) were plugging his Jest-A-Minute readers’ jokes feature. The rest were appearing with other strips / characters / features (14), promoting the Summer Holiday and Christmas issues (nos. 33 and 49), and to tell a joke. Sammy was absent from the cover that promoted his Special Report feature (issue no. 56) – his stand-in was Tim. Sammy’s longest consecutive run on the cover was five appearances (issue nos. 13 to 17). In contrast, he was absent for the twelve issues between issues nos. 34 and 45.

Apart from issues no. 1 and 4 (which were free gift issues), the only cover not to feature a CRACKER character or strip was issue no. 63. This was a plug for Jest-A-Minute and featured a man on the back of a kangaroo asking, “How do you get rid of a boomerang?” (Answer : throw it up a one-way street). The cover of issue no. 51 portrayed Joe Soap and his grandfather, Young Foo, Slojak and Little ‘Orror (a cropped version appears on the Home Page).

The strip that was featured on the cover most times was Young Foo (10 times). For others, see table below :-

Young Foo -	10
The Nutters -	8
Billy The Kid -	7
Little ‘Orror -	5
The Headhunters of Skookum Skool / Fiends Beans -	4
Big Head Branny / Slojak / The Astro-Nuts / Rip Van Tinkle -	3
Wonder Wellies / Jimmy Jest -	2
Curly’s Commandos / Simple Spyman / PC McGraw / Joe Soap -	1

(Jest-A-Minute appeared 17 times, Ghastly Geezers twice and Sammy's Report once)

Below :- Covers from first and last edition (issue no. 87) of CRACKER.

The latter contained the news that CRACKER would be merging with THE BEEZER the following week. Usually, in these circumstances, the final cover would be emblazoned with an announcement on the lines of "GREAT NEWS - SEE INSIDE!" that would fill a reader with dread - this often meant that their comic's number was up. The poor CRACKER reader discovered their comic's imminent demise (assuming they read the pages in order) at the bottom of page three after the end of the Young Foo strip, where Sammy informed them :- 'You'll be able to see Young Foo in the great, new two-in-one "Beezer and Cracker" - NEXT WEEK'.

(DC Thomson may have assumed CRACKER readers didn't read the pages in order as the message
'There's great news for all "Cracker" readers on page 24!' appeared at the bottom of the following page.)