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...