BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: Davy Law

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Wednesday, December 19, 2018

The Christmas BEANO (1969)

I remember reading this issue on Christmas Eve 1969 before I went to bed. This is the actual copy I had. One of the few issues of the Beano that I kept from those days.

The cover is by David Sutherland, and was an unusual departure from the standard Biffo comic strip that adorned the cover any other week.

Inside, Billy Whizz by the strip's original artist, Mal Judge, plus the answers to the cover quiz...

General Jumbo by Sandy Calder...

The Bash Street Kids by the ever-versatile David Sutherland. One of the great things about the Beano is how the characters are aware they're in a comic. Something I use myself in many of my strips.

Dennis the Menace was on the back page in those days, and it'd be a few more years before he'd oust Biffo from the front cover. Good stuff by David Law (or possibly David Sutherland ghosting his style)...

A different year, a different comic tomorrow!

By the way, you might want to visit my other blog too, where I'll be posting a few of my own Christmas strips from the past 35 years...
http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com

Sunday, June 18, 2017

50 year Flashback: BEANO SUMMER SPECIAL 1967

When I was a kid, I'd wait until I was on holiday to buy the latest summer specials. Picking up this Beano Summer Special from a stall on Blackpool prom in 1967, accompanied by the sea air and the sounds of seagulls and trams, was all part of the holiday experience. It also provided something to read in the guest house during the inevitable rainy days.

Let's take a look at a few pages from this wonderful special. The cover artwork is by Dudley Watkins, showing a seemingly reckless Biffo the Bear leaping off the pier, but there's a safe resolution on the back cover...

Inside, the 32 tabloid sized pages were packed with all-new strips and features. The layout was often interesting, with strips sharing space, such as this spread with Punch and Jimmy by David Jenner alongside Dennis the Menace by David Law...

Most of the strips had a holiday theme of some sort. This Roger the Dodger page by Robert Nixon shows an old-style railway carriage and a stereotypical boarding house landlady...

This special had a good selection of adventure strips too; General Jumbo, The Q Bikes, and a great full colour centrespread with The Iron Fish, drawn by Sandy Calder...

A really nicely illustrated Lord Snooty and His Pals story by Dudley Watkins...

A very funny Dennis the Menace page by David Law...

...and what I think may be the very first Bash Street Dogs story, simply titled Dogs' Tale. The dogs had appeared in a few Bash Street Kids episodes in the weekly, but this is months before they achieved their own Pup Parade strip. You'll notice that they look a little different to how they appeared in the regular series. Art by David Sutherland...

That was a few pages from the 1967 special. Don't forget that the current Beano Summer Special is in the shops now!

Cover by Nigel Parkinson

All artwork in this post ©D.C. Thomson and Co. Ltd.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Christmas comics: THE DANDY (1966)

This Christmas issue of the much-missed Dandy was published exactly 50 years ago today. (Despite its cover date it was published on Monday 19th December 1966.) Full of traditional festive fun, the cover star was of course Korky the Cat, drawn by Charlie Grigg. That final panel covers a lot of the sort of presents that children would have had back then, although for commercial reasons the biggest toy of 1966, Action Man, isn't amongst them. Perhaps Korky was holding out for an Action Cat instead.

The Dandy only had 16 pages a week in the 1960s, but it made the most of it, with Desperate Dan for example having 19 panels on one page. Artwork by the legendary Dudley Watkins...

D.C. Thomson always did compelling adverts for their annuals, as this one proves. A simple but lively layout that made the book a must-have Christmas present. The price of 8/6d (42 and a half pence) seemed expensive then...

The centre pages at this time were always taken up by Corporal Clott, drawn by Davy Law. Genuinely funny stuff...

The Smasher, by Hugh Morren. (For the Smasher's latest exploits, which I've drawn, see this year's Dandy Annual.)

Finally, in this selection, the popular Brassneck, illustrated by Bill Holroyd, one of the best (and often underrated) artists that worked in comics...

The sad thing is that all of the artists who drew these strips have passed on now, but at least they leave behind a legacy of laughs and wonderful artwork we can still discover and appreciate.

Tomorrow; a journey even further back in time! See you on Tuesday!

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

This week in 1962: THE TOPPER

The Topper had a very long run, from 1953 to 1990, then was relaunched as The Beezer and Topper from 1990 to 1993. For most of its original run, The Topper was a large format, A3 sized comic, unmissable on the stands.

Here's a few pages from issue No.491, that was on sale this week in 1962. The Mickey the Monkey cover strip is by Dudley Watkins, albeit in quite a loose style for him. (Understandable, considering he was drawing at least half a dozen regular pages a week at this stage.)

In her usual position on page two was Beryl the Peril, drawn by Davy Law. The last panel may seem alarming to modern sensibilities but many strips ended with the child being beaten in those days. The humour came from the inventiveness of the deed but it happened so regularly it sometimes felt like a lazy solution to a story.

The Topper only had 12 pages a week in these (relatively) early issues. (It increased to 16 in 1964.) In the centrespread of this edition was the second chapter of the adventure serial The Last Warriors, drawn by Ron Smith. Stunningly detailed artwork...

One of the comic's most popular strips was Send For Kelly, drawn by the brilliant George Martin. Secret Agents were in vogue in the 1960s and this series was not only a great spoof of the genre but a superb strip in its own right.

For many years, The Topper ran Ernie Bushmiller's Nancy strip in its pages, reprinting the American newspaper strip. In 1962 it was also featuring another U.S. strip from the Sunday papers; The Katzenjammer Kids, renamed The Bustem Boys for British readers...

On the back page of this issue, Dudley Watkins' glorious adaptation of Treasure Island, - but this too was a reprint, as it had previously appeared in The Topper in 1953... and before that in The People's Journal in 1949... as well as being collected in book form in 1950 and 1959. A popular strip! (Source of that info: Topper Tales by Ray Moore.)

The Topper was a great comic, and a favourite of mine in the late sixties. Long gone now, but still fondly remembered by many.

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

The Christmas BEANO (1967)

Published on the same day as the Christmas issue of The Topper I showed here the other day this festive 1967 edition of The Beano was packed with seasonal stories. The cover by Dudley Watkins is superbly designed, incorporating a 'Merry Christmas' message in the centre of the page whilst still being part of the strip.

Inside, Billy the Cat showed off his all-white 'snow-cat suit' for the first time. Usually of course Billy was dressed all in black. Art by Dave Sutherland.

Here's Little Plum! Art by Ron Spencer.

The Beano featured two adventure strips every week at this time, with the other being The Q-Bikes. Art by Andy Hutton.

On the back page, Dennis the Menace in his regular slot. Art by Davy Law.

Sunday, December 06, 2015

The Christmas TOPPER (1967)

Like the "Wagon Wheels are smaller now" myth, some people misremember The Topper as a broadsheet-size comic. It wasn't as large as that, but was still a big 'un at A3 size. Here's a few pages from the Christmas edition from 1967.

The Mickey the Monkey cover strip was by the fantastic Dudley Watkins, who was then drawing at least seven pages every week for D.C. Thomson. All of which were superb examples of illustration. How did he manage that output?

Inside, Davy Law's Beryl the Peril. Another great strip...

Nice to see Foxy have a happy ending for Christmas. Art by Charlie Grigg...

Not every strip featured a festive theme but here's another that did. The Inky-Top Imps was a sort of Famous Five type strip. Art by Sandy Calder...

Here's Big Uggy celebrating Christmas... in the Stone Age!?! Art by George Drysdale...

Finally, poor old Desert Island Dick isn't having much of a Merry Christmas at all. Art by Tom Bannister...

Another blog post soon.

Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Beano bits and bobs from the 1950s

My thanks to Jimmy Tweed again for sending me more comic scans from his collection. There's some fascinating items here that I've certainly never seen before.

Above is an early appearance of Dennis the Menace gatecrashing Biffo the Bear's cover strip in 1952. We all know that Dennis eventually gained the cover slot in 1974 but back then he was just an interior strip. Considering that Dennis the Menace had only started in The Beano the year before, I'm guessing that this 1952 strip is the first time he'd appeared on the cover. A sign of his immediate popularity perhaps, and a foreshadowing of great things to come! The brilliant Dudley Watkins drew Dennis a bit bulkier than his regular artist Davy Law did, but it's a great strip all the same.

Moving on a few years and here's a 1958 cover with Dennis making another appearance! Again, artwork by Dudley Watkins who drew him closer to the traditional version this time. (Although to be fair, like most comic characters, the design of Dennis did fluctuate a bit even under Davy Law until he settled on a comfortable design.)

As a bonus item, here's a Dennis the Menace strip by Davy Law from the back cover of The Beano from late August 1955, ending with an ad for the very first Dennis the Menace Annual. (Proving that annuals have always been published several months before Christmas, although these days they come out even earlier, in July.)

Friday, August 17, 2012

Memories of The Dandy

Preview of the final episode of The Dark Newt

It's been a very strange week in British comics. Saddening, to hear confirmation that The Dandy's days are numbered (literally, if you follow the countdown clock to the demise of the paper edition). Unsettling, for the artists and writers, wondering if there will be work for us in The Dandy's digital future. Heartwarming, to read of the interest and affection that Britain's oldest comic has inspired in people.

I love The Dandy comic. Have done since I was four years old and my Mum bought me a copy in January 1964. It became the first comic I had regularly. I looked forward to it every Monday and I can still recall sitting at home with my Mum reading Black Bob to me. It helped teach me to read, putting my reading skills so far ahead of my classmates at infant school that the teacher asked my Mum if I'd had private tuition. (I should add that I levelled out a few years later. I didn't turn into a living brain, as any reading of this blog can attest.)

The first issue I had. Jan 11th 1964. Art: Charlie Grigg.

Some say The Dandy was too old fashioned by the 1960s, but it was having stories set in that sooty, post-war working class land of factory chimneys, seaside deckchairs, horse-drawn milk floats and Dads in pullovers that made it so appealing to me. You see, the Sixties may have been swinging in Carnaby Street but most of Britain still looked like it was the 1950s so the environment of The Dandy reflected the world that I lived in.

The first Ken Reid strip I read. Instantly hooked!

Then there were the strips themselves. Charlie Grigg on Korky the Cat and The Red Wrecker. Dudley Watkins' Desperate Dan. Davy Law's Corporal Clott. Jack Glass' The Crimson Ball. Jack Prout's Black Bob. Bill Holroyd's Brassneck. George Martin's Sunny Boy. Eric Roberts' Winker Watson and Dirty Dick. Ken Reid's Big Head and Thick Head. All brilliant. All by top class creators. The Dandy was different to The Beano. Unlike many other comics of the period it never had the influence of Leo Baxendale and as such it was more diverse in its art styles I think. That diversity has returned in recent years, perhaps too late.

I've been reading The Dandy every issue since 1964, give or take a few breaks. I did stop for a year in 1968, possibly to afford all the Odhams comics, and I gave up all humour comics for about three or four years in 1975 when I left school, thinking I was too old for them. Fool!

Brilliant comic violence from Davy Law.

When I decided to focus on a career in comics in 1980 I sent off some art samples to The Dandy, hoping for work. They were politely rejected, and rightly so. I just wasn't good enough. Even after I started freelancing for Marvel UK and IPC in 1983/84 DC Thomson still proved to be a tough nut to crack. Eventually I managed to get in there, firstly drawing several Fun-Size Dandy comics (including a couple of Korky the Cat dream jobs, ghosting Charlie Griggs' style) and then, in 2010, being invited to be part of the big relaunch of The Dandy as a weekly comic.

Working for The Dandy has been fantastic. An ambition fulfilled, and a pleasure to be part of a great team of creators whose work I admire and respect. A team that includes Jamie Smart and Andy Fanton, who read my work in Oink! when they were kids, which pleases me no end even if it does make me feel ancient.

In next Wednesday's edition my six-part series The Dark Newt comes to an end. (See the preview at the top of this post.) At this moment in time I don't know what else I'll be doing for the weekly apart from a few strips in the final issue for December. (The Dandy Annual will continue next year though, and I've written three scripts which I'll be illustrating for that very soon.)

I'll miss The Dandy, both as an employer and as a comic that's been part of the landscape all my life. I hope its proposed digital future will feature originated material and that it proves successful enough to continue for many years to come. (I also hope it'll feature archive material, to show the younger readers what great classics were around before their time.)

The Crimson Ball by Jack Glass. Eerie and exciting.

It'll be a day of mixed feelings on December 4th when the comic celebrates its 75th anniversary with its final issue. It will come with a reprint of The Dandy No.1, bringing it full circle. The ending is the beginning. What's next?

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Running from 2006 to 2019, BLIMEY! was dedicated to British comics past and present. The images of old comics on my blog are copyright their respective publishers and are only used here for review purposes. They have been scanned from my own personal comics collection, in over 50 years of collecting.The prose articles, with the exception of press releases, are Copyright © Lew Stringer and must not be reproduced without permission.