Comics, as we know them now, first emerged in 1937 with,
The Dandy. For more information on the various comics, and their history, see my
Brief History of British Comics 1937-2009. But things started much earlier than that. It was 1933 when
DC Thomson realised that their illustrator,
Dudley D. Watkins, could probably be put to better use as a cartoonist. Around this same time,
David Law moved to
DC Thomson.
The time is now 1937,
The Dandy has launched and
Watkins is now hard at work on
Desperate Dan (left), amongst other things.
1949 brought
Paddy Brennan to Thomson. His was a more 'realistic', illustration, style (right) and he was put to work on stories such as; 'Rusty' (The Dandy), 'Whizzers from Oz' (The Topper) and 'The Shipwrecked Circus' (The Beano).
17th March 1951 is a day that will live on forever in infamy.
David Law unleashed
Dennis The Menace (left) to an unsuspecting comic world in
The Beano #452. Even now, in 2009,
Dennis is still the star of
The Beano and regularly used as a mascot. Also in this year,
Brennan revived many of
Watkins' old adventure stories.
Not content with unleashing one menace,
Law created another. In 1953 he created
Beryl The Peril for
The Topper, another of
Thomsons comics. 1953 also saw
Ken Reid begin work with Thomson. He created
Roger the Dodger (below right),
Grandpa, and
Jonah (Jinx). It was at this time
Leo Baxendale began work on
Little Plum, Minnie the Minx a
nd (later published 1954)
The Bash Street Kids (all for
The Beano). Although
The Bash Street Kids 
strip was originally called
When The Bell Rings. Baxendale then went on to create
The Three Bears in 1959.
Law then, in 1960, brough
Corporal Clot, the accident prone soldier to
The Dandy. From the 60's onwards,
Gordon Bell worked exclusively for Thomsons and created
Pup Parade (right, 1967,
The Beano),
First Ada (
The Dandy),
Jimmy Jinx (
Topper) and
Doodlebug (
Nutty).
Jim Petrie took over the drawing of
Minnie the Minx in 1961. Also, in this year,
Malcolm Judge released
Colonel Crackpot's Circus for
The Beano. The previous year, he created
The Badd Ladds for
The Beezer. He would later go on to create more strips such as
Ball Boy, Billy Whizz (below) and
The Numskulls (The Beezer).
In the mid-1960's
Peter Davidson left
DC Thomsons to work for
IPC, later returning to Scotland as a freelance artist. In the late-1970's he began his first stint as illustrator of
The Broons but quit in 1984.
At
The Beano, some time in the 1960's
, Robert Nixon took over
Roger the Dodger (right) from
Ken Reid and
Lord Snooty from
Dudley D. Watkins, and revived
Grandpa, another
Ken Reid creation.
1962 saw the departure of
Baxendale from
Thomsons, this is regarded by many as a grave error on the part of
DC Thomsons. Someone had to take over
Baxendale's popular strips and it was now down to
David Sutherland to take over
The Bash Street Kids (left) which he still draws today (2009). Previously he had worked on Billy The Cat (The Beano).
It was during 1969 that
Ken Reid left
Thomsons for rival
publisher
IPC/Fleetway. During his time at IPC,
Reid created
Frankie Stein (Wham!), Dare-a-Day Davy (Pow!), The Robot Maker (Cor!!) and
Faceache (right, Jet/Buster
). And as if things weren't bad enough for Thomsons, at losing
Davidson, Baxendale and
Reid, they also lost
Dudley D. Watkins who died, in his home, at his drawing board on 20th August 1969. The following year
David Law took ill, and his strips were taken over by
David Sutherland on Dennis the Menace and
John Dallas on
Beryl the Peril (left,
The Topper), who also drew
Tricky Dicky and
Souper Boy.
Law returned briefly to
The Beano in 1971, but died in April that year, aged 63.
In the early 1970s.
Robert Nixon also left
DC Thomson, and started to work at
IPC (/Fleetway), drawing such characters as
Kid Kong, Frankie Stein and
Gums.
It was in the 1980's that
Baxendale fought a seven-year legal battle with
DC Thomson for the rights to his
Beano creations. The case was eventually settled out of court.
1982 brough
Nigel Parkinson to first work for
The Dandy.
Robert Nixon returned to
DC Thomson in 1984 after being asked to by new
Beano editor
Euan Kerr, and began drawing
Roger the Dodger again, as well as creating
Ivy the Terrible in 1985.
In 1986
Tom Paterson (right) joined
Thomsons. Previously he had worked at IPC/Fleetway (1973-90 drawing
Buster, Full 'O' Beans (Jackpot!), Jake's Seven (Jackpot!) and
Guy Gorilla (Whizzer & Chips)) at Thomsons he took over;
Minnie Minx, Dennis the Menace, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz, Numskulls (The Beezer) and for
The Dandy; Beryl the Peril and
Bananaman (previously
Nutty).
02nd February 1987 was a black day.
Ken Reid dies. Although several of his strips had been taken over by others, he continued to draw
Faceache up until his death.
Malcolm Judge continued working at
DC Thomson until his death at the age of 70 in early 1989.
John Dallas took over
Ball Boy and
The Numskulls (until his retirement in 2003), and
John Geering replaced
Judge on
The Badd Ladds.
Billy Whizz continued as re-prints for most of 1989, the odd new strip, by
Barrie Appleby, sometimes appeared until the appointment of long-term successor
David Parkins a year after
Judge's death.
Robert Nixon went on to draw
Beryl the Peril in
The Topper and
Korky the Cat in
The Dandy later in the 80s, and continued drawing them throughout the 1990's.
Since
Bill Ritchie retired in the 1990's his comics (
Baby Crockett (right), Hungry Hoss - Beezer, Sweet Sue - Beano) have been "ghosted" by other artists.
Nick Brennan started drawing for
DC Thomson in 1994. His first character,
Blinky for
The Dandy, was in 1994, it was a revamp of the nephew of
Colonel Blink from
The Beezer who first appeared in the merged
The Beezer and Topper in 1990.
In 1997,
Peter Davidson began his second stint as artist for
The Broon
s and his first
Oor Wullie.
Nigel Parkinson's first work for
The Beano was in 1997, although he had previously worked on
The Dandy, Parkinson started drawing
Bea (
Dennis' baby sister) in October 1998. He also started work on
The Dandy's football-mad character
Owen Goal.
Parkinson also occasionally draws
The Bash Street Kids.
To celebrate 60 years of
The Beano, Parkinson commenced work on
Dennis the Menace (right), and has since alternated his interpretation of the character with other artists
Jimmy Hansen and
Tom Paterson.
John Geering died on 13th August 1999, he was responsible for
Smudge (Beano) and
Bananaman (left, Dandy), a bungling superhero whose alter-ego is a stubble-headed schoolboy. Geering's last new strip was
Dean's Dino, which he drew for
The Beano shortly before his death.
Robert Nixon died on the 22nd October 2002.
Since 2004,
The Bash Street Kids were written and drawn by
Kevin F. Sutherland.
The Dandy commissioned
Parkinson to freshen up the look of the 'terrible toddlers'
Cuddles and
Dimples. In October 2004 he took over from the original artist,
Barrie Appleby, making the characters look even more demonic.
Mike Pearse draws
Bash Street Kids - Singled Out it first appeared in
The Beano issue #3226 (2004) and focuses on one character each week, and builds a one page story around them. The first strip was about Fatty.
Since 2005
Nigel Parkinson has illustrated most of the
Dennis the Menace merchandise.
In early 2006, with a BBC documentary marking 70 years of
Oor Wullie, it was revealed that, for his mockery of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in the comic strip '
Addie and Hermy' and a general anti-Nazi sentiment in
Oor Wullie and
The Broons during the 1940s,
Dudley D. Watkins was placed on a hit list.
Most recently,
Nick Brennan has occasionally ghosted
Nicky Nutjob, and contributes to the Fun Size Dandy/Fun Size Beano comics.
Peter Davidson is still the current illustrator for
The Broons and
Oor Wullie.
Bananaman continues today in
The Dandy (now
Dandy Xtreme), drawn by
Steve Bright.
Ken H. Harrison currently draws
Minnie the Minx for
The Beano.
In
The Bash Street Kids Annual, for 2009,
Mike Pearse drew all the strips.
Good Lord, two in one day?! Yep, I've just released the 01st May 1976 issue of Whoopee! This is the second last issue of Whoopee that I have, after the next Whoopee, it'll be some Whizzer & Chips.
New scans are coming thick and fast now! I hereby release The Beano, comic library, #6! Yay!
huckyc has released #496 of The Dandy, a classic from 1951
A real rarity from itchinbowow - this is Willy the Kid : Book 2, written (and published) by the man, the legend, Leo Baxendale.
Brutarn releases another great annual - Whizzer & Chips, 1987
Another Whoopee! scan from me (Ronnie), this one is from 25th Oct. 1975:
huckyc has come up with the goods again with the 1961 Dandy book!
I proudly present: Beano Comic Library #5 - Mountain Menace.
huckyc does it again with a 1967, Beano!
Brutarn comes up trumps again with the 1974, Topper Book.
geordieboy brings us the latest issue (#159) of Classics from the Comics:
huckyc comes up trumps again with this 1956, Beano book!
huckyc has supplied us lucky folks with a 1958, Dandy!
another non-DC Thomson annual from Brutarn, Knockout 1982
geordieboy56 has released a more recent Beano Fun-Size (aka: comic library) #289:
Latest issue of The Beano, #3489, just released!
Bit of an unusual one this time - the short lived, Shiver & Shake, 1980 to be exact:
Brutarn released The Bash Street Kids book, 1990
I just upped Whoopee, issue dated: 17th May 1975
geordieboy56 has released the 1988 Beano book. Scanned entirely in one day! What a guy! :D
The Beano #3488 is, once again, up on Demonoid. I lost the original scan in a crash, so had to rescan it. Enjoy!
geordieboy56 has released the seventeenth Dandy Comic Library. This is the only one he has, but I have a good dozen-plus Dandy comic libraries...
I (Ronnie) have just released a scan of the 06th July 1974, Whizzer & Chips. Damn you IPC/Fleetway for not using issue numbers! Grr!
Brutarn brings us the 1983, Monster Fun annual!
New scan from yours truly, this time a 1973 Whizzer & Chips.
geordieboy56 releases a Monster Fun annual (1982) - credit to original scanner.
Tiz finally done! My epic (well, epic to me) scan of The Beano Annual 1971.
I just bought a ton of comics (thanks eBay!) and this single, 1988, Dandy was among the 1990/91 Beano & Dandy's, it looked so lonely, so I gave it a scan :)
Brutarn has released the Dennis the Menace annual, 2007
The time is now 1937, The Dandy has launched and Watkins is now hard at work on Desperate Dan (left), amongst other things.
17th March 1951 is a day that will live on forever in infamy. David Law unleashed Dennis The Menace (left) to an unsuspecting comic world in The Beano #452. Even now, in 2009, Dennis is still the star of The Beano and regularly used as a mascot. Also in this year, Brennan revived many of Watkins' old adventure stories.
nd (later published 1954) The Bash Street Kids (all for The Beano). Although The Bash Street Kids 
strip was originally called When The Bell Rings. Baxendale then went on to create The Three Bears in 1959.
In the mid-1960's Peter Davidson left DC Thomsons to work for IPC, later returning to Scotland as a freelance artist. In the late-1970's he began his first stint as illustrator of The Broons but quit in 1984.
At The Beano, some time in the 1960's, Robert Nixon took over Roger the Dodger (right) from Ken Reid and Lord Snooty from Dudley D. Watkins, and revived Grandpa, another Ken Reid creation.
1962 saw the departure of Baxendale from Thomsons, this is regarded by many as a grave error on the part of DC Thomsons. Someone had to take over Baxendale's popular strips and it was now down to David Sutherland to take over The Bash Street Kids (left) which he still draws today (2009). Previously he had worked on Billy The Cat (The Beano).
publisher IPC/Fleetway. During his time at IPC, Reid created Frankie Stein (Wham!), Dare-a-Day Davy (Pow!), The Robot Maker (Cor!!) and Faceache (right, Jet/Buster
). And as if things weren't bad enough for Thomsons, at losing Davidson, Baxendale and Reid, they also lost Dudley D. Watkins who died, in his home, at his drawing board on 20th August 1969. The following year David Law took ill, and his strips were taken over by David Sutherland on Dennis the Menace and John Dallas on Beryl the Peril (left, The Topper), who also drew Tricky Dicky and Souper Boy.
In 1986 Tom Paterson (right) joined Thomsons. Previously he had worked at IPC/Fleetway (1973-90 drawing Buster, Full 'O' Beans (Jackpot!), Jake's Seven (Jackpot!) and Guy Gorilla (Whizzer & Chips)) at Thomsons he took over; Minnie Minx, Dennis the Menace, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz, Numskulls (The Beezer) and for The Dandy; Beryl the Peril and Bananaman (previously Nutty).
Robert Nixon went on to draw Beryl the Peril in The Topper and Korky the Cat in The Dandy later in the 80s, and continued drawing them throughout the 1990's.
s and his first Oor Wullie.
John Geering died on 13th August 1999, he was responsible for Smudge (Beano) and Bananaman (left, Dandy), a bungling superhero whose alter-ego is a stubble-headed schoolboy. Geering's last new strip was Dean's Dino, which he drew for The Beano shortly before his death.
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