Calamity James

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Beano strip
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Calamity James
Current/last artist	Tom Paterson
First appearance	Issue 2311 (November 1, 1986)
Last appearance	Ongoing
Regular characters	James, Alexander Lemming, James' Mother, Little Squelchy Thingies

Calamity James is a fictional character who has his own comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. He first appeared in issue 2311, dated 1 November 1986. Created and drawn by the Leo Baxendale influenced Tom Paterson (of Sweeny Toddler fame), James is, apparently, the unluckiest boy in the world. He has a pet lemming, Alexander (whose favourite pastime is plummeting from a large height) who oftens helps James overcome his fate, although Alexander rather likes to see him suffer. James' name is a play on Calamity Jane, whilst Alexander Lemming's name is a play on Alexander Fleming.

James regularly wears a shirt with the number 13 on it, probably the cause of his disastrous nature. However, even without the shirt, James is still unlucky. In the early years he was seen with a black rain cloud floating above his head.

A recurring feature in the strip is the appearance in the background of generally absurdly named buildings including a "Laughably Obvious Wig Factory" and "Knicker Elastic Testing Sheds". There have even been large storage tanks labelled "Town Emergency Custard Supply" and "Town Tomato Sauce Supply", each with their respective contents overflowing out of the top.

Often there are items like million pound notes or chests of treasure in the background, but James is always looking in the other direction or talking to someone, so he does not notice them.

In one strip, he gave his 13 shirt to Alexander Lemming, and while Alex suffered bad luck, he had a day of good luck. However, he was gullible to accept his shirt back when Alex got fed up of it.

Calamity James hates black pudding, a food which is usually served to him by his long suffering mother.

Due to its somewhat black humour, this strip's concept was very unusual for The Beano at the time of its release, although James' bad luck is shown as exaggerated and immature.

[edit] Squelchy Thingies

Little Squelchy Thingies are small blob-like creatures that are frequently shown "squelching" around the background of some panels in the comic strips. To get the reader's attention "Look! A little squelchy thingy!" is usually written in a brightly coloured caption, with an arrow pointing to it.

Squelchy thingies sometimes have nothing to do with the plot, existing merely as sight gags. But occasionally they play a more significant role: James may trip over one, for example. One series of strips included a planet of the apes parody where James was trapped on a planet completely inhabited by them (ironically, after trying to get away from them).

There are various different types of squelchy thingies that are usually accompanied by a different text-box. For example, a squelchy thingy that is blowing a raspberry or sticking its tongue out would be accompanied by the caption "A very rude squelchy thingy".

Due to the popularity of squelchy thingies, various Calamity James stories have been based around them. Plus, readers have sent pictures of their own variations of squelchy thingies to the Beano, which has started a section of the comic called "The Squelchy Corner" which showcases these pictures.

[edit] Other Usage

Calamity James is also the nickname of England football goalkeeper David James, due to his goalkeeping "howlers".

[edit] References