Score 'n' Roar

a.k.a.: Score

Publisher: IPC

Format: Weekly anthology

First Issue: Score 'n' Roar #1 (19th September 1970)

Last Issue: Score #41 (26th June 1971)

Absorbed: None

Absorbed into: Scorcher

Strips: Cannonball Craig, The Do-It-Yourself Team, Give It To Gregory, Jack of United, Jimmy of City, Lord Ramsey's Rovers, Mark Your Man, The Mudlarks, Nipper, Peter the Cat, Phantom of the Forest, The Star Seekers, Trouble Shooter

Comments: Score 'n' Roar was a football weekly published from Sept 1970 to Jun 1971 (41 issues), containing both comic strips and magazine features. Like the earlier Whizzer and Chips, and subsequent Shiver and Shake, it intially presented itself as two titles in one - Score, and a second, internal comic, Roar, both of which had 16 pages. After 33 issues though, Roar was dropped from the title and it became purely Score.

Although all of the strips revolved around football, their genres ranged from fantasy ("Phantom of the Forest", about a ghostly footballer) to humour ("Trouble Shooter", starring "the go-anywhere, do-anything, soccer twit" Bertie Bentboot). The intitial issue had 9 strips, with 4 more coming in to replace strips that didn't ended while the title was still active, a total of 13 during the run.The first nine strips were:

• Jack of United

• Jimmy of City - twin strips about two brothers, Jack and Jimmy Chelsey, who had signed for rival football teams in the same town, Castleburn United and Castleburn City respectively, a situation presumably meant to mirror the real world rivalry between Manchester United and Manchester City.

• Cannonball Craig - an exceptionally skinny youth who was initially a terrible footballer, until he ate bubble-and-squeak made from giant vegetables grown in his grandfather's garden, and somehow gained the power to deliver a "cannonball" kick powerful enough to project his football through brick walls.

• Peter the Cat - the tale of a schoolboy who was an exceptional goalkeeper, and who was also hunting down his goalkeeper father's stolen medals.

• Mark Your Man - a police officer goes undercover in a professional football team to discover which one of them is a wanted criminal mastermind.

• Phantom of the Forest - the ghost of top footballer J.R. Phantom becomes corporeal again after his old football is accidentally kicked, and joins his old team incognito to help restore them to their former glory.

• The Mudlarks - a team of canal barge boys who are incredible footballers, but only when playing on the kind of slippery mud they are used to playing on next to the canals.

• Nipper - the comic's most successful strip, which survived not only Score's cancellation and merger Scorcher, but Scorcher's subsequent absorption into Tiger. The story of a diminutive football protege.

• Lord Rumsey's Rovers - to prevent the council taking his ancestral home, Lord Rumsey turns his staff into a motely football team.

The later strips were:

• Trouble Shooter - comedy strip about an inept footballer who is hired to clubs on a day to day basis; despite his incompetence, he somehow always seems to fulfill the specific requirements laid out in his contracts, usually be lucky accident. Began in the 14th issue.

• Give it to Gregory - a mysterious benefactor offers to anonymously help out a financially ailing team, but there is a catch. They have to hire Gregory Gibbs, a seemingly inept player, and will only be paid a set amount every time he scores.

• The Star Seekers - Jeff Knight's promising playing career is brought to an abrupt end by injury, so he becomes a talent scout and coach instead. Both of these last two began in #21, replacing The Mudlarks and Mark Your Man, which ended in issue 20.

• The Do-It-Yourself-Team - a group of youths decide to put together their own football team, and persevere despite having to put everything they need together from the ground up. Began in issue 32, replacing Phantom of the Forest, which ended in issue 31.

The comic lasted for 41 weeks before merging into Scorcher, with four strips making the transition to their new home - Nipper, Lord Rumsey's Rovers, Jack of United and Jimmy of City.

There were also 13 annuals from 1972 until 1984, far outlasting the run of the comic itself.

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