BANANAMAN IN STORMY WEATHER

A Dandy Special No.6: Bananaman in Stormy Weather

1991's A Dandy Special No.6 is the third Bananaman adventure in the series.  No prizes for guessing Stormy Weather involves regular bad guy Weatherman, who teams up with fellow baddie General Blight to play havoc with the weather.

The story begins with the residents of Dandytown experiencing sudden extreme changes in the weather, resulting in flash floods one moment and heatwaves the next.  Fed up with having to bail water out of his home, Eric Wimp transforms into Bananaman to speed things up before investigating the cause.  This results in the first of several instances throughout the story where Bananaman's costume gets ruined while he tries to do some good.  With his costume shrunk, Eric's mum hastily knits him a replacement.

Don't sweat it! Bananaman in knitted costume

Unfortunately, the knitted costume becomes too much for Bananaman to bear in the heat.  It saps his energy and he transforms back into his secret schoolboy alter-ego Eric Wimp.

It's not long before Eric changes back into Bananaman, inexplicably with a new suit, which results in an exchange between "the reader" and Bananaman that breaks the fourth wall!  As with The Secret of Willie Boggins, this continuity error is casually dismissed thanks to "artistic licence".

Both reader and Bananaman break the fourth wall

It's not the only time the excuse is used in the story but, as can be seen in the picture below, Bananaman doesn't get away with being so rude to his fans!

Bananaman gets a clout for being rude to his audience

As the story progresses, it's revealed the extreme weather is down to Weatherman and General Blight cutting holes in Earth's ozone layer, literally, with a huge pair of scissors!

Weatherman and General Blight up to no good

To put things right, Bananaman uses giant sink plugs to close the holes in the ozone.  A bonkers solution typical of the writers at the time, it's moments like these that I especially enjoy. 

Giant sink plugs available from all good DIY hardware stores

Crisis over, Bananaman decides to take a holiday.  However, during his departure he experiences severe acid rain, which ruins his costume mid-flight.  It's soon revealed this too is down to Weatherman and General Blight, who managed to get their hands on the notoriously awful tea served in The Dandy office.

In-joke about the tea served in The Dandy office

Unable to contain the deadly brew, the villains are forced to abandon ship.  Coming down to Earth with a splat, the supervillains agree to join forces with Bananaman to retrieve the airship and close the remaining holes in the ozone.  Despite the agreement benefitting all, the pair attempt to double-cross  Bananaman when back safely aboard.  However, this backfires and both end up getting the punishment they deserve.

The story concludes with Bananaman bringing an end to global warming.  It's not such a happy ending though, because the residents of Dandytown resent the weather returning to grey, miserable, rainy days.  There's just no pleasing some folk!

Coming up next: Bananaman in Dr Jackal and Mr Hide!