The Numskulls
Encyclopedia
The Numskulls is a comic strip
in The Beano
, a UK
comic
. The strip is about some tiny human like creatures that live inside the head of Edd Case (a pun on head case), a boy, and control his actions.
The Numskulls are:
Occasionally other numskulls are seen who control Edd's other body functions including germ fighting numskulls, numskulls in the stomach, pelvis numskulls and blood numskulls.
in 1962 and was drawn by Malcolm Judge
. In this version they lived inside a man's head rather than a boy's head. The man was never named, but the Numskulls referred to him as "our Man". There were six Numskulls during this time - instead of the aforementioned Cruncher, the 'Mouth Department' was home to two Numskulls, named Alf and Fred. They also looked different. Luggy (Radar) looked a lot like Cruncher, Snitch looked like Cruncher as well except Snitch wore orange, Brainy had no glasses and had no hair apart from around his ears and wore black, Blinky looked the same except he was bald and Alf and Fred had two hairs on their head and wore black and yellow.
Judge drew the strip until 1979, at which point Tom Lavery
started drawing the strip. Judge returned as artist in 1984, and continued to draw it until his death in 1989. Following his death, John Dallas took over as artist. In 1990 the comic became The Beezer and Topper following the acquisition of The Topper
by The Beezer. It was at this point that the man was replaced by a boy. In the Beezer and Topper, Dallas continued drawing the strip for a few months, before Steve Bright took over as artist for most of the comic's remaining run. Three years later the comic folded, and the strip joined The Beano in issue 2674, dated 16 October 1993, drawn by Tom Paterson
. it was at this point "Our Boy" Became Edd, and each numskull was given a new look. The strip in the 60th anniversary special was drawn by Trevor Metcalfe
.He continued drawing it until 2000, as shortly afterwards he took over Minnie the Minx
from the retired Jim Petrie
. The strip was later drawn by Barry Glennard
, who became the permanent artist in 2003, although Dave Eastbury drew some strips on occasion in the past. Tom Paterson returned to contribute a number of strip in 2007-2009.
After "Our Man" became "Edd" and "Luggy" became "Radar" and "Nosey" became "Snitch", Edd became aware of the Numskulls' existence inside him, after a doctor discovered them on his X-ray system. Despite the doctor's alarm and decision that they had to be removed, Edd was very calm and wondered whether getting rid of them was a bad idea.
Some earlier strips had suggested that everyone had Numskulls. A Bananaman
summer special, for instance featured an X-ray of Bananaman showing the "Nanaskulls". Even animals and other Beano
stars were revealed to have Numskulls, in fact, the centre story of the 2008 Annual was centered around Plug's Plugskulls, reacting to true love. A rare trope in their strips would occur when the Numskulls of animals (such as dogs, rabbits and pigeons) would invade Edd, causing him to behave in the same characteristics as their animal hosts.
It transpires that Blinky, who is in charge of the man's eyes, has neglected his duty by staying in bed. The other two Numskulls burst into his department and force him out of bed. Grumbling, Blinky opens the man's eyes with a hand-crank whilst Brainy and Luggy stow his bedding in cabinets under the eyes. In the last panel we see "our Man" reflecting that he couldn't open his eyes this morning and now he has bags under them, caused by the bedding.
The above description is typical of the Numskull's formula. The Man (who represents 'us') is totally determined by the decisions and actions of the numskulls. He has the freedom only to reflect on what has occurred, all his decisions are made by Brainy. As all the thoughts sent from Brainy's 'suggestion box' appear to "our Man" as his own he little suspects the existence of the numskulls. Much of what he reflects on is actually a consequence of the Numskulls' free will
, rather than his own. In the story above the Man notices the bags under his eyes, which he puts down to a normally bodily reaction to tiredness, when they are in fact the bulges caused by Blinky's bedding. The man has bags under his eyes, not because he chose to have a late night but because Blinky chose not to get out of bed.
The Numskulls stood out from the other comic strips in the Beezer in that it addressed the metaphysical
questions that fascinate children and philosophers
such as - where do thoughts come from and why do people do as they do?
'Our man' was also referred to as 'our boy' before settling on the name of 'Edd' for their human home. According to the 2008 Beano Annual, Edd's full name is Edd Case (a pun on the word Headcase).
comic strip "Driving Mr Beckham", in which we are privy to the thought processes of David Beckham
, in a style akin to the Numskulls.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
in The Beano
The Beano
The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
, a UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comic
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
. The strip is about some tiny human like creatures that live inside the head of Edd Case (a pun on head case), a boy, and control his actions.
The Numskulls are:
- Brainy - Controls Edd's brain.
- Blinky - Controls his sight/eyes.
- Radar (originally called Luggy)- Controls his hearing/ears.
- Snitch - (originally called Nosey)- Controls his smell/nose.
- Cruncher - (replaced Alf & Fred) Controls his mouth/taste.
Occasionally other numskulls are seen who control Edd's other body functions including germ fighting numskulls, numskulls in the stomach, pelvis numskulls and blood numskulls.
History
The strip first appeared in The BeezerBeezer
The Beezer was a British comic that ran from 21 January 1956 to 21 August 1993,...
in 1962 and was drawn by Malcolm Judge
Malcolm Judge
Malcolm Judge was a British cartoonist, best known for his contributions to DC Thomson's range of comics. He was married, had one daughter, and lived in Bishopbriggs near Glasgow....
. In this version they lived inside a man's head rather than a boy's head. The man was never named, but the Numskulls referred to him as "our Man". There were six Numskulls during this time - instead of the aforementioned Cruncher, the 'Mouth Department' was home to two Numskulls, named Alf and Fred. They also looked different. Luggy (Radar) looked a lot like Cruncher, Snitch looked like Cruncher as well except Snitch wore orange, Brainy had no glasses and had no hair apart from around his ears and wore black, Blinky looked the same except he was bald and Alf and Fred had two hairs on their head and wore black and yellow.
Judge drew the strip until 1979, at which point Tom Lavery
Tom Lavery
Thomas Patrick Lavery was a South African athlete who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.He was born in Scotland and died in Germiston....
started drawing the strip. Judge returned as artist in 1984, and continued to draw it until his death in 1989. Following his death, John Dallas took over as artist. In 1990 the comic became The Beezer and Topper following the acquisition of The Topper
Topper (comic book)
The Topper was a UK comic published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd that ran from 7 February 1953 to 15 September 1990, when it merged with The Beezer....
by The Beezer. It was at this point that the man was replaced by a boy. In the Beezer and Topper, Dallas continued drawing the strip for a few months, before Steve Bright took over as artist for most of the comic's remaining run. Three years later the comic folded, and the strip joined The Beano in issue 2674, dated 16 October 1993, drawn by Tom Paterson
Tom Paterson
Tom Paterson is a Scottish comic artist who drew characters for Fleetway in 1973–1990, and D.C Thomson from 1986-onwards. He lives in Leith, with three kids, and is a Hearts supporter.He is famous for drawing comics such as:-Fleetway:...
. it was at this point "Our Boy" Became Edd, and each numskull was given a new look. The strip in the 60th anniversary special was drawn by Trevor Metcalfe
Trevor Metcalfe
Trevor Metcalfe born May 1939 in Brotton, Yorkshire is a British illustrator and comic book artist. Known for his comic strips in IPC Magazines comics such as Sweet Tooth and Junior Rotter in Whizzer and Chips....
.He continued drawing it until 2000, as shortly afterwards he took over Minnie the Minx
Minnie the Minx
Minnie the Minx is a fictional character in the British comic The Beano. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953 making her the third longest running Beano character, behind only Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger...
from the retired Jim Petrie
Jim Petrie
Jim Petrie was a British comic artist. He is most notable for drawing 2,000 episodes of Minnie the Minx, a comic strip featured in The Beano, after taking over from the strips original artist Leo Baxendale in 1961...
. The strip was later drawn by Barry Glennard
Barry Glennard
Barry Glennard is a British comics artist who works mainly for Scottish publisher D. C. Thomson & Co.. He has drawn a number of strips for The Beano over the years including Pansy Potter, The Beano Birds, Gnasher and Gnipper and The Numskulls. Only one of these four currently remains in The Beano...
, who became the permanent artist in 2003, although Dave Eastbury drew some strips on occasion in the past. Tom Paterson returned to contribute a number of strip in 2007-2009.
After "Our Man" became "Edd" and "Luggy" became "Radar" and "Nosey" became "Snitch", Edd became aware of the Numskulls' existence inside him, after a doctor discovered them on his X-ray system. Despite the doctor's alarm and decision that they had to be removed, Edd was very calm and wondered whether getting rid of them was a bad idea.
Some earlier strips had suggested that everyone had Numskulls. A Bananaman
Bananaman
Bananaman is a British comic book fictional character. He originally appeared in Nutty as the backpage strip in Issue 1, dated 16 February 1980 drawn by John Geering.-Original strip:...
summer special, for instance featured an X-ray of Bananaman showing the "Nanaskulls". Even animals and other Beano
Beano
Beano can refer to:* The Beano, a British children's comic* Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, a 1966 John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers album nicknamed The Beano Album as the cover shows Clapton reading a Beano comic...
stars were revealed to have Numskulls, in fact, the centre story of the 2008 Annual was centered around Plug's Plugskulls, reacting to true love. A rare trope in their strips would occur when the Numskulls of animals (such as dogs, rabbits and pigeons) would invade Edd, causing him to behave in the same characteristics as their animal hosts.
Discussion
We can see the typical interaction between the numskulls in the story "An Alarm clock gives them a shock" which appeared in The Beezer Book 1980. "Our Man" is pictured asleep in the first panel and in the second we see Luggy in the Ear Dept. awoken by the sound of the alarm clock next to "our Man's" bed. Using an intercom system Luggy sends a message to Brainy that the alarm clock is ringing. Brainy, in turn uses his intercom system to wake up all the other numskulls and feeds the written message "Switch off alarm!" into the suggestion box. We then see "our Man" thinking "Noisy alarm! I'll switch it off. Where is it?" In the following panel we see Luggy informing Brainy that the alarm is still ringing whilst Brainy reads a print-out from the computer "Where is it?".It transpires that Blinky, who is in charge of the man's eyes, has neglected his duty by staying in bed. The other two Numskulls burst into his department and force him out of bed. Grumbling, Blinky opens the man's eyes with a hand-crank whilst Brainy and Luggy stow his bedding in cabinets under the eyes. In the last panel we see "our Man" reflecting that he couldn't open his eyes this morning and now he has bags under them, caused by the bedding.
The above description is typical of the Numskull's formula. The Man (who represents 'us') is totally determined by the decisions and actions of the numskulls. He has the freedom only to reflect on what has occurred, all his decisions are made by Brainy. As all the thoughts sent from Brainy's 'suggestion box' appear to "our Man" as his own he little suspects the existence of the numskulls. Much of what he reflects on is actually a consequence of the Numskulls' free will
Free will
"To make my own decisions whether I am successful or not due to uncontrollable forces" -Troy MorrisonA pragmatic definition of free willFree will is the ability of agents to make choices free from certain kinds of constraints. The existence of free will and its exact nature and definition have long...
, rather than his own. In the story above the Man notices the bags under his eyes, which he puts down to a normally bodily reaction to tiredness, when they are in fact the bulges caused by Blinky's bedding. The man has bags under his eyes, not because he chose to have a late night but because Blinky chose not to get out of bed.
The Numskulls stood out from the other comic strips in the Beezer in that it addressed the metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
questions that fascinate children and philosophers
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
such as - where do thoughts come from and why do people do as they do?
'Our man' was also referred to as 'our boy' before settling on the name of 'Edd' for their human home. According to the 2008 Beano Annual, Edd's full name is Edd Case (a pun on the word Headcase).
Miscellaneous
The strip bears close resemblance to the VizViz (comic)
Viz is a popular British comic magazine which has been running since 1979.The comic's style parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with incongruous language, crude toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and either sexual or violent storylines...
comic strip "Driving Mr Beckham", in which we are privy to the thought processes of David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
, in a style akin to the Numskulls.
See also
- Chinese roomChinese roomThe Chinese room is a thought experiment by John Searle, which first appeared in his paper "Minds, Brains, and Programs", published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences in 1980...
- HomunculusHomunculusHomunculus is a term used, generally, in various fields of study to refer to any representation of a human being. Historically, it referred specifically to the concept of a miniature though fully formed human body, for example, in the studies of alchemy and preformationism...
- Herman's HeadHerman's HeadHerman's Head is an American sitcom that aired on the Fox network from 1991 to 1994. The series stars William Ragsdale as the titular character, Herman Brooks.-Synopsis:...
- The Beezer
- Meet DaveMeet DaveMeet Dave is a 2008 American family comedy film directed by Brian Robbins and starring Eddie Murphy. The film was co-written by Bill Corbett and Rob Greenberg...
External links
- Philosophy of the Numskulls (fustar.info)