Lew Stringer Comics: The Smasher

Showing posts with label The Smasher. Show all posts

Tuesday, 11 November 2025

Dandy and Doctor Who artwork for sale

I'm selling my original artwork from The Dandy Annual and Doctor Who Magazine! Auctions end this coming Sunday (16th Nov). All bids appreciated.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47

There's a mini strip of The Smasher from The Dandy Annual 2017, a Postman Prat strip from The Dandy Annual 2023, and a full page Keyhole Kate from The Dandy Annual 2019 plus a Daft Dimension comic strip I did for Doctor Who Magazine No.484 back in 2015.

All original hand drawn artwork, not prints or facsimiles. Good luck with your bids!

Tuesday, 18 March 2025

The Smasher (2015)

It always felt a privilege being assigned to create new stories of the classic comic characters I'd read as a child. One such character being The Smasher, a strip that was drawn by Hugh Morren in the 1960s. Other artists had drawn him in subsequent decades including the great Brian Walker, and several years ago I was asked to create new Smasher stories for The Dandy Annual.

Here's a two pager I did for The Dandy Annual 2016, that I drew in 2015. Script, art and lettering by me, and I also did the logo which I digitally remastered from one of the 1960s Smasher logos.

The Smasher was basically The Dandy's answer to Dennis the Menace, but I redesigned his appearance a little. Always favouring sci-fi, I came up with Smasher fantasising about a situation that enabled me to include aliens and a giant robot that I thought would lend some visual impact to the pages. I hope the readers enjoyed it.

Click / tap on the image above to see it at a much larger, readable size.

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Sunday, 24 July 2016

POSTMAN PRAT is back, and so are KID COPS!

Here's the final reveal of my contributions to The Dandy Annual 2017, which will be out in a few weeks. Postman Prat is back, and Kid Cops too, in all-new stories! Those characters were created for the 2010 revamp of The Dandy and proved to be popular with the readers so I was very pleased to be asked to revive them for this annual. Some scripts on Postman Prat are by David Mason, some by me.

There will be several full page Postman Prat stories in the book, and five Kid Cops mini-strips.

The characters join the other strip I've done for the annual that I've previously announced, The Smasher, along with many favourites from other artists and writers of course. (I can't give more info right now as I haven't seen the book yet.)

The Dandy Annual 2017 will be available from 1st August.

Cover by Ken Harrison.

Friday, 8 July 2016

The SMASHER is back!

The Dandy comic ended in 2012 but the annual lives on! Here's the first preview of one of the strips I've done for The Dandy Annual 2017 that will be published next month! Yes, The Smasher is back again, doing what he's infamous for!

I did five Smasher mini-strips for the book, along with strips featuring other characters (some mini-strips, some full pagers). I'll reveal what they are over the coming weeks so keep following this blog!

You can pre-order The Dandy Annual 2017 now:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dandy-Annual-2017-Annuals/dp/1845356055

Sunday, 23 August 2015

Keep a Dandy Handy!

Just a quick reminder that the 2016 annuals are out now! The Dandy Annual 2016 features 10 pages of my material, with several strips featuring The Smasher and Keyhole Kate! The weekly may be gone, but the annual survives, packed with all-new material with your old favourites! There's an extreme close up of one of my Smasher panels above. why is he out for revenge? Buy the book and find out!

Monday, 13 July 2015

Return of The Smasher

Here's another advance preview of work I did for The Dandy Annual 2016. Yes, The Smasher is back again, in three brand new stories that I wrote, drew, coloured, and lettered. As you can see from the preview panel, in one story he's in trouble with his teacher for not doing his homework. What's his excuse? Find out when the annual is published very soon!

Friday, 17 April 2015

Annual advance previews

Again, my apologies for not being able to attend the Birmingham Comics Festival (see previous post). As a tiny bit of compensation for anyone hoping to see me there here's an advance preview of some of the work I did for forthcoming annuals.

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that although The Dandy folded over two years ago after a valiant last stand, The Dandy Annual 2016 will be out this year, full of new material again. I was commissioned to write/draw/colour/letter 10 pages in all, featuring The Smasher and Keyhole Kate. (There's a panel from one of the Kate pages above.)

And here's part of a two page Smasher strip. I've brought back Smasher's old pal Willie for this one. I also re-used one of the original logos from the 1960s as a nod to the past.

For The Beano Annual 2016 I've written, drawn, and coloured 3 Lord Snooty pages. The lettering will be added in-house although I designed the logos. Here's a preview of the opening panel to one strip...

Both annuals are scheduled to be published in July, although from my experience shops may hold them back until September but they should be available online in July. In fact you can pre-order them from Amazon now if you wish.

Support the British Comics Industry! Buy The Dandy Annual and The Beano Annual this year!

(Right, that's me finished for the weekend. Back to my sick bed.)

Sunday, 20 July 2014

The Dandy Annual 2015

I received a copy of The Dandy Annual 2015 the other day, which I'd ordered online from the DC Thomson shop. It should also be in the shops by now, unless distributors are holding them back again.

It's an excellent book this year and I'm very proud to be part of it. My contributions are:

Script/art:
The Smasher (Three full pagers, one two pager).
Korky the Cat (One full page, one two pager).
Keyhole Kate (Three full pagers.)

Art only (script by David Mason):
Smashing Word Search.

Plot only (script and art by Nigel Parkinson):
Cuddles & Dimples (the three page beach holiday story).

The three Korky the Cat pages were a last minute commission and had to be written and drawn over a weekend, but it was great to have a chance to draw my favourite cartoon cat again. (Last time was about 14 years ago for the Fun-Size editions of The Dandy.) I was asked to draw him in my own style, rather than imitate Charles Grigg's Korky, but Charlie's definitive version was an inspiration.

For the Keyhole Kate strips I chose to do them as a three-part time travel adventure, with the pages spread throughout the book.

As Kate's adventures took her to different locations I thought I'd make The Smasher more home-based this year, so all of his stories take place in or around his house.

Cuddles and Dimples was fun. I supplied Nigel Parkinson with a very basic plot and he turned it into a fantastically funny story.

I'll be reviewing the book over on my Blimey! blog later this week, and showing a glimpse at the work by other artists.

Cover art by Ken Harrison.

Friday, 4 July 2014

Smasher preview (Dandy Annual)

Here's another preview from the new Dandy Annual 2015, in the shops any day now. As you can see, it's a panel from one of the Smasher strips I have in the book. Will the situation lead to something getting smashed? You betcha.

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Smasher Preview

I sent off another couple of completed pages for The Dandy Annual 2016 today. Working on more tomorrow. And the day after that. And next week. I won't show you previews of those for a long time yet because the book won't be out for at least another 14 months!

However, what I will show you is a panel (above) from The Dandy Annual 2015, which should be in the shops sometime in July of this year. As you can see, The Smasher is back again, and I'm pleased to say that I wrote/drew/coloured/lettered five pages of his smashing strips for the book. (Plus I illustrated an extra puzzle page featuring the character.)

I have a few other pages in the book too, and I'll show you glimpses of those at a later date.

The Dandy comic had a great 75 year run, and I'm sure we all miss it, but I'm happy that the annual is continuing. Long may it carry on.

Wednesday, 9 April 2014

Looking ahead

Work on the comic annuals has always been done way in advance due to various scheduling reasons including printing. All the strips for the 2015 dated annuals were completed last summer, even though they won't be out until July to September of this year.

Today, I was commissioned to produce a bunch of pages for the Dandy Annual 2016 and three for the Beano Annual 2016. Yes, 2016 cover dates, - books that won't be in the shops until late summer next year! Stories that many readers won't actually see until Christmas Day 2015, if they have the annuals as Christmas presents.

I won't reveal any more at present as I've yet to write the scripts, then they have to be approved before I set to work drawing them. However, it's shaping up to be a very busy time over the next six weeks so if I don't get the chance to update my two blogs very often you'll know why. I'm sure you're as pleased as I am to hear that although the weekly Dandy was axed in 2012, the annual still survives.

In the meantime, above is a quick glimpse of Smasher, back in the next Dandy Annual!

Friday, 20 December 2013

Stocking Stuffers

If you still have a few presents to buy, don't forget that The Dandy Annual and The Beano Annual are still in the shops (if you're lucky). Both contain all-new full-colour strips of the familiar favourites. For my own small contribution I drew Biffo the Bear for the Beano book, and The Smasher and Keyhole Kate for the Dandy Annual. I really enjoyed drawing those classic characters.

If you're looking for a comic annual for an older reader, and one who doesn't mind a bit of swearing and social comment, then Viz: The Camel's Toe is right up your street. 160 pages collecting strips and features from Viz Nos. 202 to 211.

The Dandy Annual and The Beano Annual are £7.99 each, whilst the Viz book is £10.99, but you'll easily find them discounted in shops or online.

Tuesday, 3 September 2013

Smasher logo

I'm still working away on pages for the annuals. I won't show any full panels just yet as it'll be almost another 12 months before they're in the shops, so plenty of time for a few previews closer to the publication date.

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at a logo I did for one of my Smasher pages for The Dandy Annual 2015. It's always fun to do a title design for a strip. Hope you like it.

Saturday, 15 June 2013

The Smasher returns

The Smasher is back in The Dandy Annual 2014, and here's a sneak preview of one of the three pages featuring the character that I've done for the book. The Smasher originated in The Dandy in 1957 as, I suppose, their answer to The Beano's Dennis the Menace. For many years The Smasher was illustrated by Hugh Morren, and later by Brian Walker. I wrote and drew three Smasher strips for last year's annual (and one for the final issue of The Dandy in December 2012) and was pleased to be asked to provide three more for this year's book.

If the logo looks familiar it's because I scanned it from a 1960s Dandy, cleaned up the scan, reduced it a little, and re-coloured it. D.C. Thomson have created some excellent, and timeless, logo designs over the years so it was ideal.

The Dandy Annual 2014 will be published in just a few short weeks time, in early July. You can pre-order it now from Amazon.

A brief history:

I've worked as a freelance professional humour comics artist and writer for over 40 years. I sold my first cartoon in 1983 and since then have created many characters such as TOM THUG, PETE AND HIS PIMPLE, COMBAT COLIN, BRICKMAN, ROBO-CAPERS, DEREK THE TROLL, TOUGH GUY AND SCRUFFY, SUBURBAN SATANISTS, SGT.SHOUTY and others.

My clients include IPC, Marvel Comics, Egmont, Panini, D.C. Thomson, Rebellion and many others, covering the comics field from originated characters to licensed properties, pre-school to adult on comics such as BUSTER, OINK!, BEANO, DANDY, TRANSFORMERS, SONIC THE COMIC, TOXIC, VIZ, CiTV TELLYTOTS, LEGO ADVENTURES, HERMAN HEDNING, SWEET FA, ACTION FORCE, SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, RAMPAGE, LUCKY BAG COMIC, SWIFTSURE, WARLOCK, WHITE DWARF, ACES WEEKLY, THE DAREDEVILS, THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL, and many more.

My recent comics work includes:

'The Daft Dimension' for DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE 'Keyhole Kate' and 'Postman Prat' for THE DANDY ANNUAL and THE DANDY SUMMER SPECIAL 'Sgt.Shouty' for The77.

'Bad Pets' for ANIMAL PLANET Magazine.

'Short Sharp Shocks' for THIS COMIC IS HAUNTED

Now semi-retired to focus on my own comics and creator-owned characters.

Info:

Images are Copyright © their respective copyright holders and used for reference only. Combat Colin, Brickman, Derek the Troll, Rock Solid, Suburban Satanists, Sgt.Shouty, Short Sharp Shocks, Tough Guy are ©Lew Stringer. All news items and written articles, except for company press releases, are ©Lew Stringer. Any opinions expressed in my posts are my own and not representative of any publisher. Opinions expressed by other people in the comments section are those of each particular writer, not necessarily reflective of my own personal opinions. Comments posted to this blog are moderated. Personal insults and character defamation will not be passed for publication.