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Detective
Fumbly

Part
strip, part story, this cocky bowler-wearing, bike-riding
detective fumbled his way to investigative success
each
week in Krazy Comic, much to the chagrin of his bally-ho
Chief. Fumbly was a cross between Inspector Clouseau
and 007, and he never went anywhere without his
trusty
pair of bicycle clips...
Fumbly's adventures were actually presented in story
form,
as a page of text with occasional illustrations
- a rare event
for the Fleetway weeklies which ordinarily featured
either
"fun" strips or "serious"
strips presented in familiar panel
form. The strip's full title was actually Detective
Fumbly's
(Nut)Case Book. And the first adventure began thus:
"I was called to an urgent conference in
the
Chief's room. Sitting opposite him was a little
old lady aged about 135. She wore a black dress,
a green crash-helmet, and yellow wellie-boots
with pink spots. I was surprised - I thought
I had the only pair in town..."
It got worse from there, but you get the gist.
The first 3
adventures were titled thus:
Krazy #1 - The Mystery of Granny's False Teeth
Krazy #2 - Highway Robbery
Krazy #3 - The Stolen Sparkler
Fumbly and the Chief weren't actually depicted in that
first
story. Instead, the tale was interrupted in bold
text stating
"We interrupt this story for a Police
message". Then
there was a drawing of a policeman telling us
that the
picture which should have been included here had
been
stolen and that he hoped to recover it before
the end
of the comic - which he did, on the last interior
page.
It turned out Pongo
Snodgrass had stolen the piccy!
Fumbly wasn't always presented in illustrated
story form.
In the 1980 Krazy annual, for example, we were
treated to
a full-blooded strip cartoon in which the derring detective
took on the frozen menace of Coldfinger:
Should have taken his bicycle clips off, shouldn't
he?
As you can see, it was all quite droll for a Fleetway
strip,
and proved to be a efreshing attempt at something different...
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