Faceache

Template:Short description Faceache was a comic strip appearing in British comics in the 1970s and 1980s. He was created by Ken Reid.

Publication history

Faceache first appeared in issue #1 of Jet, dated 1 May 1971. The strip was retained when Jet merged with Buster later that year, the first merged issue dated 2 October 1971. Reid continued drawing Faceache until his death in early 1987. Dez Skinn and Frank McDiarmid took over from then on, until the strip ended in the issue dated 1 October 1988.

Proposed collected edition

Rebellion Developments is due to republish the Faceache series as part of The Treasury of British Comics.

Fictional character biography

Ricky Rubberneck was a boy with a "bendable bonce" (head), his skin like stretch rubber. At will, he could Template:Not a typo his face into anything. The term "faceache" was commonly used in England from the 1950s onwards to mean "miserable-looking person".Template:Cn

Several of the stories were set at Belmonte School, home to two other recurring characters — his friend Cyril, and the headmaster Mr. Snipe. The word scrunch had been slowly overtaken by Template:Not a typo.

As the years went by, the name Ricky Rubberneck was dropped, and the character was simply called "Faceache". Also, his Template:Not a typo got more and more complex, with him able to appear identical to other people, and even Template:Not a typo his entire body into various (monstrous) shapes, rather than just his face. In one strip he turned himself into a dodo, tricking his teacher into believing that that bird was not extinct; in another, he became a grotesque mole-like creature, burrowing under a smoke chimney and causing it to collapse.

Later appearance

An adult Faceache appears in the 2005–2006 comic book limited series Albion, as one of a number of comics characters who have been imprisoned by the British government. In Albion Faceache's real name is said to be "Frederick Akeley".

See also

• British humour