MadMap’s Comics Blog: Tom of the Titans—The Strange Case of Spanking and Soccer
Hey, what’s up, comic fans? It’s your boy, MadMap, back with another deep dive into the weirder side of vintage comics. Today, we’re stepping into the cleats of *Tom of the Titans* (TOTT), a British comic strip that ran from the 1960s to the late 1970s. If you haven’t heard of it, buckle up—because this story comes with controversy, short shorts, and enough over-the-knee action to make anyone raise an eyebrow.
Let’s set the scene: TOTT was written and illustrated by Bob Goodhand, a London-based artist whose artistic talents were matched only by his apparent, uh, “enthusiasm” for very specific scenarios. The strip followed the adventures of Tom Trace, an 18-year-old soccer prodigy with a jawline as sharp as his penalty kicks. On the pitch, Tom was a hero. Off the pitch? Well, the guy had a knack for finding trouble—and for landing himself in situations where he’d end up over the knee of some authority figure, usually an older man.
Now, comic book spankings were not unheard of back then—spankings were a slapstick trope, used to show discipline or comedy. But TOTT wasn’t like other comics. For one thing, it focused on an adult (well, barely adult) male character getting punished by other adult men. For another, those authority figures bore more than a passing resemblance to Goodhand himself. Coincidence? Not so much.
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