All Hail The Eyeballs in the Sky!

I remember reading a British cartoon strip. I think it was in the Daily Mirror and I was working at the Royal Mail in London. I would often read various newspaper funnies. One such strip was the Eyeballs in the Sky. It was an off-shoot story of The Perishers and was by Maurice Dodds and Dennis Collins.

The Perishers cartoon strip had four children who had this old dog called Boot. When the family went on holiday Boot stayed back at the house. One of the dog’s little delights was to wonder to the garden rock pool and stare down through the still water at the pond life that lived below. The crab creatures would stare up at Boot and wonder. All these tiny living things could see was Boot’s eyes and nose. Eyes that peered down from Heaven. Consequently, this society of crabs fashioned a religion around the phenomenal appearance of the Eyeballs in the Sky. Religious crabs preached that there was life beyond the Pooliverse, etc. There were also scientist crabs who tried to discredit the Eyeballs in the Sky as being non-existent. The stories became on going with loads of splendid innuendo jokes. How so many stories could be invented from Boot the dog staring into the rock pool was an absolute delight.

I never wanted The Perishers to come back from holiday. Like the little crabs, “All hail the divine Eyeballs in the Sky.” Boot the dog would cause all sorts of mayhem and deep philosophy among the tiny creatures and walk off with his own oblivious thoughts. Usually leaving upheaval of biblical proportions in the rock pool.