   #copyright

The Dandy

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Cartoons

   The Dandy logo

   The Dandy is a British children's comic published by D. C. Thomson &
   Co. Ltd of Dundee, Scotland, which was first issued on 3 December
   (dated 4 December) 1937, and is currently the longest running comic in
   the UK, which it became as of issue 3007 (dated 10 July 1999). This
   beat the previous record holder, Comic Cuts, which ran for 3006 issues
   between 17 May 1890 - 12 September 1953. Internationally very few
   titles surpass the Dandy’s achievement, beaten in terms of duration by
   Detective Comics (USA) which began in March 1937 and is still running
   today. In terms of number of issues Pepin (Mexico) ran for 7,561
   issues.

   The original editor was Albert Barnes from the first issue up until
   1982 - legend has it that Desperate Dan's chin was based on Albert's
   own chin. He was succeeded by Dave Torrie in 1980, before Dave went to
   edit The Beezer when he was in turn succeeded by Morris Heggie. Morris
   handed over to Craig Graham in 2006.

   There have been several long-running strips in The Dandy over the
   years. The most enduring is Desperate Dan who has been in all issues
   since the first one in 1937, bar a brief period in 1997 where he 'left'
   the comic, only to return for the comic's 60th anniversary issue in
   that year. Korky the Cat also featured in the first issue, and despite
   being quietly dropped in January 2005, he returned in November and
   still makes irregular appearances in The Dandy today. Other
   long-running characters include Winker Watson, Brassneck and Cuddles &
   Dimples.

   Also, because many strips in The Beano are drawn by the same artists,
   crossovers between the two comics also occur occasionally. As well as
   this, the comics develop a friendly rivalry. (e.g. "I quit! The Dandy
   is much safer" "This would never happen in The Beano!")

   Nutty merged with The Dandy in 1985, followed by Hoot in 1986.

   An 8 foot bronze statue of Desperate Dan stands in the centre of his
   birthplace - Dundee.

   A first issue of The Dandy, complete with free gift, sold for a record
   £20,350 on 7 September 2004; the highest price ever paid for a British
   comic at an auction.

Image updates

   After issue 3282 (dated 16 October 2004) in an attempt to boost sales,
   The Dandy underwent a radical format overhaul. The comic was turned
   towards a more television-oriented style, now printed on glossy
   magazine paper instead of newsprint. The price was raised from 70p to
   £1.20 (99p for the first two weeks), a new comic strip called Office
   Hours appeared, and two supposedly new ones also started, though were
   actually revivals from a few years earlier. The first was Dreadlock
   Holmes from the late 1990s, billed as The Dandy's first ethnic minority
   character (though this wasn't true either- Barney the Wonder Winger was
   the first back in the early-mid 1990s) and the second was Jak. The
   pictures were also increased in size.

   Originally, Korky the Cat occupied the front cover, but Desperate Dan
   took over in 1984. Cuddles and Dimples also occupied the front page
   between 1999 - 2000, when Dan reclaimed his spot on the cover. With the
   advent of the 2004 relaunch there is no longer a comic strip on the
   cover, just a picture (but sometimes a Desperate Dan comic with no
   title). Even through these image changes Desperate Dan has remained in
   the comic.

   The comic now costs £1.30 for 36 pages weekly, and is still going
   strong.

Dandy characters

   Stars who are currently in the Dandy as of March 2007:
     * Bananaman (from Nutty)
     * Blinky (from The Beezer and Topper)
     * Blubba and the Bear (Reprints from Nutty)
     * Brassneck
     * Class Act - Reprints of Jimmy Hansen's P5
     * Cuddles and Dimples
     * Desperate Dan - from the fictional American town of Cactusville. A
       man tougher than iron living with a long suffering old aunt and
       later, a nephew, a niece and a dog.
     * Dreadlock Holmes
     * Jak
     * Ollie Fliptrik
     * Space Raoul by Jamie Smart
     * Ted and the Animals - by Ten Watt Spot artist Dan Gaynor

   Other Dandy stars over the years have included:
     * Addie and Hermy - misadventures of Adolf Hitler and Herman Goering,
       the nasty Nazis.
     * Auntie Clockwise - Misadventures of a girl and her aunt travelling
       through time in a Grandfather clock, a subtle parody of Doctor Who.
     * Bad Max
     * Bamboo Town - laughs among jungle animals in their town.
     * Barney Boko - a tramp with a nose about two foot long.
     * Beryl the Peril (from The Topper)
     * Big Head and Thick Head - the adventures of two friends, one making
       stupid mistakes, the other too clever for his own good
     * Bing-Bang Benny - an American fur trapper
     * Black Bob
     * Boy with the Iron Hands - two separate series under that name.
     * Brain Duane - A bald, big-headed spectacled boy genius whose
       inventions seem to go pear-shaped when used.
     * British Boys and Girls go West to Canada.
     * Bully Beef and Chips
     * Bertie Buncle and his Chemical Uncle
     * Captain Handsome - Seemed to have replaced Bananaman. When
       Bananaman returned, Captain Handsome ended.
     * Claude Hopper - a boy with extremely large feet
     * Corporal Clott - an incompetent Corporal effectively acting as
       manservant to his superior officer
     * Cowrin' Wolf
     * Daring Deeds of the Sheriff's Little Sister
     * Desperate Dawg - a sheriff who was also a dog
     * Dinah Mo - a tomboy
     * Dirty Dick - drawn identically to Winker Watson, a boy who could
       not help getting unclean during his misadventures.
     * Dopey Dinah - a girl who always does wrong.
     * Drake's Drummer Boy - text.
     * Dumb Belle
     * Fiddle O' Diddle
     * First Class
     * Frawg
     * Freddy the Fearless Fly - misadventures of a fly.
     * Greedy Pigg
     * Growing Paynes
     * Hairoil Hal - "your barber pal".
     * Ham and Egghead
     * Harry and his Hippo
     * Hector Spectre
     * Hungry Horace - a kid forever hungry.
     * Hyde and Shriek - Misadventures of the nerdy descendant of Jekyll
       and Hyde and his vampiric butler.
     * Izzy Skint (You Bet He Is)(He Always Is) A young boy who is always
       broke.
     * Jack Silver
     * James the World's Worst Schoolboy
     * Jimmy's Green Genie (revised reprint of Ali's Baba from The
       Sparky(and later The Topper).
     * Jimmy's Pocket Grandpa - text stories in 1940, 1941.
     * The Jocks and the Geordies
     * Jonah (from The Beano)
     * Keyhole Kate - a skinny young girl who can't resist peering through
       keyholes.
     * Korky the cat
     * Little White Chief of the Cherokees - a British boy is made chief
       of the Cherokees but must complete a number of tasks against
       monsters.
     * My Pal, Baggy Pants - about a boy and his best friend, a
       twelve-foot tall Arabian 'wizard' complete with magic carpet
     * Meddlesome Matty - her meddling gets her into trouble.
     * Molly
     * Monkey Business - a group of monkeys who ran a supermarket. Drawn
       by John Geering
     * Mr Mutt - a gullible teacher often tricked by his class
     * My Own Genie
     * The Nutters (revised reprint from Cracker)
     * Oliver Twister
     * Our Gang - from the last lot of Our Gang films, Alfalfa, Spanky,
       Buckwheat, etc. Pictures with text underneath.
     * Owen Goal (still will appear very occasionally)
     * P.C. Big Ears - a policeman with very large ears. Drawn by John
       Geering
     * Peter Pest (from Nutty)
     * Peter's Pocket Grandpa
     * Podge - the misadventures of a boy.
     * Postman Patel a Sikh postman who orginaly came from the Cuddles and
       Dimples stories
     * Puss 'n' Boots (from Sparky)
     * Rah-Rah Randall Each frame either cheering or booing
     * Robin Hood's Schooldays - similar to The Bash Street Kids but set
       in medieval times
     * Robinson and his dog Crusoe - a boy apparently living in an African
       jungle
     * Roly Poly Joe - a short strip taking incongruous settings
       characteristic of some strips to the extreme. Joe appeared to be an
       Eskimo, an Indian and army boy combined
     * Rusty - a generic resourceful/mischievous boy
     * Screwy Driver A bungling DIY handyboy
     * Sir Coward de Custard - a craven knight
     * Smarty Grandpa - a crafty old man appeared in the early days of the
       Dandy (He is a lookalike to Granpaw Broon of The Broons)
     * The Smasher - a boy with a tendency to destroy things and who was
       reminiscent of Dennis The Menace from The Beano
     * Sneaker
     * Spunky and his Spider
     * (Eddie Potter at) Strange Hill School
     * Swallowed by a Whale - two airmen stranded on a living island.
     * Sunny Boy - a highly intelligent boy who misbehaves as he is bored
       by school
     * Ten Watt Spot
     * There's a curse on the King! - text story about Magic Land.
     * Tin Lizzie (Dandy cartoon)
     * Tom Tum Hungry obese schoolboy looking for his next meal.
     * Tony and Alberto (translated version of French comic strip Tony et
       Alberto
     * Tootuff (translated version of Swiss-French comic strip Titeuf by
       Zep)
     * Tricks of Tommy - a boy ventriloquist who gets into trouble.
     * Tricky Dicky Doyle
     * The Tricks of Screwy Driver - the misadventures of an inventive
       schoolboy. This strip seems to have been the inspiration of Gilbert
       Ratchet from Viz
     * Whacko
     * Wildfire the War Horse - a horse in WWI helps the allies.
     * Wild Man of the Woods - a native who mistreats animals in the
       jungle.
     * Winker Watson
     * Young Dandy

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