*Humour Comics: ‘Why Is A One-Wheeled-Bike Easy To Pedal?’ ‘Because You’re Never Two-Tyred!’. Such was the calibre of the jokes delivered by our host, Sammy, and his canine sidekick Flash on most covers of this humour weekly from D.C. Thomson, launched in 1975. Although seemingly barely remembered these days, Cracker managed a respectable 87 issue run before being absorbed by big brother Beezer; it starred, among others, ‘Simple Spyman’, a brain-challenged espionage agent, incompetent Knight Of Old ‘Rip Van Tinkle’, the completely inexplicable ‘Jim Kellie’s Wonder Wellies’, and – under the heading of ‘You’d Never Get Away With That These Days’ – ‘Young Foo’, a bright yellow, slant-eyed, barefooted Asian schoolboy who beat up bullies while being unable to pronounce his R’s. All together now: Oh Dear. Reservations aside, Cracker did have an engaging off-kilter humour, more engaging than much of the D.C. Thomson line, which by that time had become extremely formulaic. We have 40 issues newly listed, nearly half the entire run, ranging from the very first through to #86, which ominously promises ‘Great News Next Week, Chums!’ – and we all know what THAT means in Editorspeak, don’t we, readers?