In July 1939, D.C.Thomson published a third comic, The MAGIC. It was in the same style as its older

siblings, The Dandy and The Beano, but with less paging, more colour and a slightly simpler approach,

to appeal to a younger reader.

With the arrival of the Second World War, there was a drastic shortage of newsprint; The MAGIC had

to close and The DANDY and The BEANO had to appear on alternative weeks instead of weekly.

Had the Nazis managed to invade these islands, not only would these comics have been closed down

immediately, but their editors probably would have been thrown in prison or shot as the comics were

strongly propagandist and no respecters of the Nazi hierarchy – as can be seen below!

It was 1953 before D.C.Thomson launched another comic. This was The TOPPER, an instant success

with its large pages (the size of one of today’s tabloids) and colour throughout. As with The DANDY

and The BEANO, the new comic was not filled with ‘funnies’; it carried a fair leavening of realistic

picture story material and educational features.

comics, which dominated the market at the time, came many unforgettable characters which have

appealed to generations of kids – Korky The Cat, Desperate Dan, Biffo The Bear, Beryl The Peril,

Lord Snooty, Colonel Blink, The Badd Lads, The Bash Street Kids, Minnie The Minx and, of

course, Dennis The Menace and many more.

The 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s saw further DCT comic launches – Sparky (1965), Buzz (1973), Cracker

(1975), Plug (1977), Nutty (1980), Hoot (1985) - some of which had a modicum of success in this

highly competitive market. But all eventually faded, the weaker being merged with the stronger, till all

that remained were The DANDY and The BEANO.

These famous comics, although they still follow a similar moral code to the original pre-war

publications, are much changed in content. Gone is all the picture story and text story material to be

replaced by cover to cover cartoon strips and jokes – and advertising.

Today (13/2/06) The BEANO and The DANDY are Britain’s leading comics, with legions of fans across the

generations; as much a part of the British way of life as Fish ‘n’ Chips and the Union Jack. The

BEANO is an important brand in both the children’s and the adult collectors’ markets.

The contents of The DANDY and The BEANO, although created and edited by very different

personalities, have always had a certain similarity – visually at least. This is mainly because many of

the strip artists worked for both papers.

Korky The Cat was The DANDY’s front cover character from launch till 1985 – when Desperate

Dan ousted him. Dan appeared in the first DANDY in a half page, but such was his popularity that he

soon graduated to a full page. Korky and Dan were both the creations of the then editor, Albert

Barnes.

Korky was drawn by Charlie Grigg and Dan by the famous Dudley Dexter Watkins, who modelled

the Cactusville Cowboy’s famous jutting chin on that of Albert Barnes !

Other long-running strips which appeared in the first issue of The DANDY included such household

names as Keyhole Kate and Hungry Horace. Although they no longer appear in the comics, their names

have slipped into the language. They were drawn by Allan Morley who also penned Freddie the

Fearless Fly, Wig And Wam and Jimmy And His Grockle.

Not all the contents were humorous. There were also adventure stories in the early issues of The

DANDY; stories such as The Daring Deeds Of Buck Wilson, a cowboy adventure, Lost On The

Mountain Of Fear, a tale of castaways in the Andes Mountain and Invisible Dick, a fantasy adventure

featuring a boy who could become invisible when he sniffed from a certain bottle.

The content of The BEANO was similar to that of its older sibling, The DANDY, in that it featured

the same sort of mix of text, picture stories, cartoon strips and jokes – and a humanised animal on the

front cover.

In The DANDY’s case, as already stated, it was Korky; in The BEANO’s case the ostrich, Big Eggo,

who was drawn by Erg Carter and remained the cover character till 1947 when he gave way to Biffo

The Bear. The bear had a longer cover life than the bird, lasting for 30 years, when he was ousted by

the (in)famous Dennis The Menace.

The only other original BEANO character who lasted into the 1990’s was Lord Snooty, who still

makes the occasional appearance in top-selling annual The Beano Book.

Pivotal to the success of The DANDY and The BEANO was Dudley Dexter Watkins, a great and

prolific comic artist who has a unique place in the comics hall of fame. As well as drawing Desperate

Dan, Biffo The Bear and Lord Snooty from their first appearance until his death in 1969, Dudley D (as

he was known) also produced some superb adventure picture stories.

For The BEANO, he drew Tom Thumb, Lone Wolf, Shipwrecked Circus and – perhaps his best

known – Jimmy And His Magic Patch. The latter two he continued to draw until 1947 and 1949

respectively, when they had to be taken over by other artists due to pressure of work on Dudley D.

For The DANDY he drew Dick Whittington And His Cat and Danny Long Legs. Like all of Dudley D’s

illustrations, they were beautifully drawn. For some time he was the only one of the Thomsons’ artists

allowed to sign his work.

The 1950’s saw a dramatic change in the content of the The DANDY and The BEANO – especially

the latter.

This was the era when Dennis The Menace burst on to the pages of The BEANO (1951); although

‘burst’ is probably too strong a word. Dennis began life as a third-of-a-page mono strip – and he didn’t

even have his famous hooped jumper. It was some weeks till he appeared in the now familiar hooped

livery and a while after that before his popularity resulted in his promotion to full page. In 1954 he

graduated to 4-colour on the back page.

Roger The Dodger was the next of the ‘new kids on the block’ – he ducked and dived his way into

The BEANO in April 1953. What Dennis set out to achieve by outrageously bad behaviour, Roger did

by Dodging with a capital ‘D’. But the result was usually the same for both – a spanking from Dad

and/or a period of ‘imprisonment’ in their rooms!

December 1953 saw the explosion of Minnie The Minx on to the scene. With red-and-black hoops like

her male equivalent, Dennis the Menace, the girl with the ginger hair and the red pom-pom was the

very first exponent of ‘girl-power’ – and she reckoned she could out-menace Dennis any day!

The Bash Street Kids, famously drawn by Leo Baxendale, came along in February 1954, making

their first appearance in a half page strip called When The Bell Rings. Later renamed with the title we

all know, they currently occupy a chaotic 2-page spread.

New characters in The DANDY over the same period included The Smasher, Screwy Driver, Bully

Beef and Chips, the ill-fated Corporal Clott and Just Jimmy.

Thanks to these innovations, The DANDY and The BEANO Ruled Okay! in the 50’s and 60’s,

despite the competition from Fleetway and Odhams. The quality of the ideas and the writing was the

foundation on which the success was built, but the importance of the part played by Thomson’s leading

artists cannot be overstated.

We have already mentioned the huge part played by Dudley D. Watkins, but it was the relative

newcomers who were in the forefront of the renewed success of the titles. Artists like…

…David Law, the first Dennis the Menace artist, who drew the little tearaway till his death in 1971.

DL’s other famous creation was Beryl The Peril in The BEEZER. Like Dennis, Beryl still struts her

stuff, but now in the pages of The Dandy and The Funday Times.

…Roger The Dodger was the work of Ken Reid, who also drew Grandpa, featuring the exploits of a

pensioned dodger, in The BEANO.

For The DANDY, Ken drew Angel Face, Bing Bang Benny and Ali Ha-ha And The Forty Thieves.

Ken’s most famous character was probably Jonah,  whose exploits took over the back page of The BEANO on March 15th, 1958.

Week by week, Jonah managed to sink every boat he set foot on; he even managed to sink whole towns and villages !

Leo Baxendale was the artist behind…

-Minnie The Minx

-Little Plum

-The Bash Street Kids

…and had a considerable influence on the development of British comics. His busy and slightly manic style

had many imitators.

Throughout the 1950’s, many well-drawn picture stories appeared in the two comics. Some were

illustrated versions of characters from text stories - such as Black Bob in The DANDY and Iron Fish

in The BEANO. The best of the picture story artists of this era and into the 60’s was probably Paddy

Brennan. For The DANDY he drew Young Drake, Robin Hood and Crackaway Jack. As well as new

characters in The BEANO, he also took over Jimmy And His Magic Patch and The Shipwrecked

Circus from Dudley D. Watkins.

Another adventure story artist who made his mark on The BEANO and The DANDY was Bill

Holroyd. He drew strips like The Boy With Iron Hands and Wuzzy Wizz in The DANDY and

Bucktooth and Red Rory Of The Eagles in The BEANO.

The legacy of these great adventure artists has been largely lost now, as The BEANO and The

DANDY contain no adventure stories and none of the traditional Boys’ Papers has survived into the

21st Century. By the 1970s the comics became almost entirely populated by humorous cartoon

characters. Readers had made it clear that they preferred the funny strips to the text and adventure

pages.

Many talented artists contributed to the ongoing success of the two comics, none more so than David

Sutherland. Originally an adventure story artist, he had produced work for The Beano during the late

1950's on series such as The Iron Fish, The Great Flood of London and Billy the Cat.

The ability of Sutherland to closely copy the styles of other artists allowed him to take over top

characters The Bash Street Kids (1962), Biffo the Bear (1969) and Dennis The Menace (1971). For

almost thirty years the Beano's 'Big Two', Dennis The Menace and the Bash Street Kids, were drawn in

two very different styles by David Sutherland.

Sutherland’s semi-retirement in 1998 saw Lincoln artist David Parkins given responsibility for

Dennis, though Sutherland continued to produce work for annuals plus a weekly helping of Bash Street

Kids mayhem.

Former teacher Jim Petrie was another long-running contributor, notching an amazing 2000 episodes

of the demonic Minnie the Minx, before he retired in early 2001.

Other mainstay artists of the two comics were Bob Nixon (Roger The Dodger, Ivy The Terrible, Korky

The Cat and Beryl the Peril) whose clean, cute style was hugely popular with readers.

Ken Harrison (Desperate Dan, Lord Snooty, Robbie Rebel), a master craftsman, whose wonderful

semi-realistic style allows him to tackle former Dudley Watkins characters to great effect.

Barrie Appleby (Cuddles and Dimples, Roger the Dodger, Bananaman) – Appleby's style shows great

energy and carries on the great tradition of slapstick humour in the comics.

Tom Paterson (Calamity James, Fiddle O'Diddle, Brain Duane, Minnie the Minx). Originally known

for his Baxendale inspired characters, Paterson's beautifully clean line and off-beat humour attracts a

cult following.

If you can suggest some additional information on the Beano and Dandy History please contact us. Thank you.