The Dandy

2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Cartoons

The Dandy was a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom. It is published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it claims to be the world's longest running comic. It was replaced by Dandy Xtreme in August 2007.

Image updates

The first issue, under the name The Dandy Comic, was published on December 4, 1937. It was published weekly until September 6, 1941, when wartime paper shortages forced it to switch to fortnightly, alternating with The Beano. It returned its weekly schedule on July 30, 1949. With the July 17, 1950, the magazine changed its name to just The Dandy.

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 ( "Jak" and "Dreadlock Holmes").

As of August 2007 (issue 3426), The Dandy has had another update, becoming the fortnightly comic Dandy Xtreme. It now costs £1.99.

It seems that Dandy characters will no longer grace the cover. The first Dandy Xtreme had Bart Simpson on the cover.

Dandy characters

Stars who are currently in the Dandy Xtreme as of April 2008:

Other Dandy stars over the years have included:

• Auntie Clockwise - Misadventures of a girl and her aunt travelling through time in a grandfather clock, a subtle parody of Doctor Who.
• Big Head and Thick Head - the adventures of two friends, one making stupid mistakes, the other too clever for his own good
• Barney the Wonder Winger - a young footballer; Barney was the Dandy's first major ethnic minority character (not Dreadlock Holmes as was suggested at the comic's relaunch)
• Billy Green and his Sister Jean - a somewhat-clumsy boy whose attempts to be environmentally friendly are sabotaged by his younger sister
• Black Bob - a border collie
• Blubba and the Bear (Reprints from Nutty)
• 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.
• Brassneck - Charlie Brand and his metal pal.
• Brewster Rooster
• British Boys and Girls go West to Canada.
• Bully Beef and Chips
• Captain Hookless - drawn by Pete Player
• Claude Hopper - a boy with extremely large feet
• Comic Cuts - page of mini-strips which invited readers to write to the comic if they had a comic pal they wanted to see again. Characters did not have to be Dandy stars; even Beano characters of the time were occasionally featured.
• Corporal Clott - an incompetent Corporal effectively acting as manservant to his superior officer
• Dandy Doodles - Mini versions of popular Dandy characters, with the strip typically focusing on their relationships with the artist
• Daring Deeds of the Sheriff's Little Sister
• Der Daft Dachshunds - mini-strip featuring two hounds named Willem and Fritz
• 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 - mini-strip following a girl who always does wrong.
• Euro School
• Fibba - mini-strip about a boy who is always telling lies
• First Class - similar to Class Act/P5
• Foxy - about a fox who tries to eat the chickens but never suceeds
• Freddy the Fearless Fly - misadventures of a fly.
• Golden Ol' Days - an old man remembers his childhood
• Granny - spin-off strip from Cuddles and Dimples, featuring the pair's grandmother
• Growing Paynes - features two brothers who hate each other
• Hairoil Hal - "your barber pal".
• Hector Spectre
• Hungry Horace - a kid forever hungry.
• Hyde and Shriek - Misadventures of the nerdy descendant of Jekyll and Hyde and his vampiric butler.
• It's Magic! - mini-strip featuring a young magician whose tricks always go wrong
• Izzy Skint (He Always Is) A young boy who is always broke.
• James (the worst schoolboy)
• Jimmy's Pocket Grandpa - text stories in 1940, 1941.
• The Jocks and the Geordies - the rivalry of pupils of two schools on the Scottish border.
• Joe Mince - an unintelligent young boy, similar in personality to Smiffy from The Beano's The Bash Street Kids
• Keyhole Kate - a skinny young girl who can't resist peering through keyholes.
• King Dom, The Dandy Lion - a lion who is the king of the jungle
• Korky the Cat
• Korky and the Kits
• Laughing Planet, The, with David Chattenborough - spoof of television wildlife documentaries, in which the presenter meets some unusual creatures
• Little White Chief of the Cherokees - a British boy is made chief of the Cherokees but must complete a number of tasks against monsters.
• Marshmallow
• Marvo the Wonder Chicken with Henry Thrapplewhacker the Fortyninth - a performing chicken whose magic tricks always go wrong
• Miss Eve L. Powers, I Hate - mini-strip featuring a wicked school teacher and her class
• 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 - story of a spoilt girl and her doting parents
• Monkey Business - a group of monkeys who ran a supermarket. Drawn by John Geering
• Mr Mutt - a gullible teacher often tricked by his class
• Mutt and Moggy- two animals who own pet shops and are rivals
• My own Genie
• Oliver Twister
• Class Act/P5
• P.C. Big Ears - a policeman with very large ears. Drawn by John Geering
• Podge - the misadventures of a boy.
• Potsworth & Co. - A comic strip based on the Hannah Barbera series of the same name which was more popular in the UK than the U.S.
• Postman Patel a Sikh postman who originally came from the Cuddles and Dimples stories
• Puss 'n' Boots (from Sparky)
• Rah-Rah Randall Each frame either cheering or booing
• The Red Hot Chilli Dogs (2007-2008) Reprints from Sparky)
• Richard's Snitch - a boy with a long nose that seemed to have a personality of its own
• Reg Hog: The Spiked Avenger - a tough "gothic" hedgehog
• 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
• Sable - mini-strip starring a posh female cat
• Sammy Supersnail - mini-strip based on a snail who originally featured in the Smasher strip
• Screwy Driver A bungling DIY handyboy
• Sherman Tortoise - a tortoise living in the grounds of a stately home, who has an army of insects that protect him from Scythe, the resident gardener
• 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)
• Smasher (1957-2002, 2007)
• Smitten - a young boy and his problems with love
• Sneaker's Sly Sneaks
• Space Raoul by Jamie Smart
• Spotted Dick - a spotty boy who spent most of his time on a hospital ward (from Hoot)
• 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
• Ted and the Animals
• 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.
• The Tricks of Screwy Driver - the misadventures of an inventive schoolboy. This strip seems to have been the inspiration of Gilbert Ratchet from Viz
• Tristan, The Vicar's Son - the misadventures of the son of a church vicar. The vicar in question appeared occasionally in the Cuddles and Dimples strip
• Watch the Burdie - a cat's attempts to catch a pet budgie; a similar idea to the Sylvester and Tweety Bird animated cartoons
• Wendy's Wicked Stepladder - a girl and her problematic stepladder
• 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
• World's Daftest Discoveries, The, with David Chattenborough - single panel drawing packed with bizarre creatures, spin-off from The Laughing Planet

Four characters were playable in the PC game Beanotown Racing - Desperate Dan, Bananaman, Brain Duane, and Korky the Cat.

Features

Current features in the Dandy include :

• Nerve Centre - Intro. Inner features include:
  • Kangaroo Court
  • Suspicious Snaps
  • Ugly Stick
  • Pimp Da Chimp
• Most Wanted - Hate or Rate the "Hottest New Gear"
• You're Having a Barf - Gross fact page
• Xtreme Wacked - A group of prankster kids in a photo comic
• Dandy Comix - Pull-out comic section
• Layzee Boys Guide - Game tips
• Xtreme Games Central - New game releases
• Widescreen - "If it's on, it's in!"
• Eat My Goal - Football page
  • Snipz
• Xtreme Skillz - Learn new skills in different activities such as skateboarding and football.