This week in The Dandy

Another of those bigger (44 pages!) issues this week, with a 4 page Harry Hill story that was going to be one of the original batch of six strips way back in October. It didn't make the cut because I couldn't think of a good plot line to hang it all together. (believe it or not I do try to come up with a plot!) Then David Quantick, famous TV writer and Rock critic came up with a corker and voila, a complete tale. If it doesn't make you laugh, then maybe you just don't WANT to laugh.

Tuesday has been cancelled

I got this SMS text yesterday from T-Mobile: "The 10 days free web'n'walk we gave you for topping up 7 days ago has now expired". Now, I admit I'm not a big mobile phone expert, but I thought I understood what English was. How does 10 days of something only last for 7 days? No matter how I figure it, somehow, somewhere, T-Mobile have taken back 3 days free stuff off me. Any ideas? Is there something I'm not getting (apart from those 3 promised days?) Is it simply that T-Mobile, like most big companies, are charlatans?

Dec and Ant?

The Dandy have favoured the North East's Best loved comedy twosome with a 'Little' strip- but it's not the first time I've drawn them! 16 years ago (that's got to be wrong?) the real little Ant and Dec's life story (brief though it was at that point in time) was serialized over five nail-biting weeks in the BBC magazine's Fast Forward. But they were so new to the world of TV that we didn't know what to call them and the office tossed a coin and decided they would be 'Dec and Ant'! Oh well, half right.


New one, coloured by Nika, old one, coloured by me. And I did the lettering. The fabulous 1995 script was by Peter Lorraine, the journalist who coined the names 'Posh', 'Ginger;' 'Scary' 'Sporty' and 'Baby' for the Spice Girls. But don't get me started on that!

Another Monster

This Wednesday, The Dandy has the first of two School Holiday 'Big' issues (yes, those bigger, bendier ones.) Well, fortunately, just before this issue went to press they remembered they wanted a 4 page Harry Hill from me so I was able to pull this happy tale of Bubbles and Balloons out of the bag of ideas that top writer Sean Baldwin has been stuffing scripts into recently! Good for him.
Find out more about Sean Baldwin by clicking HERE

Image: BMW

And for anyone under the age of about 48, yes, that is an actual car that people drove in the streets until around 1962, it really is, unlikely as it seems (and unlikely as it looked).

Still Not Good enough

Back in the pre-new Dandy days, this was an idea I had. I still think it has legs, but what do I know! Here's how I put it:




"Just a thought about 'keeping' the old characters- each week we could catch up on a comic character, out to pasture now, and see how they're doing, OR what they'd be like as actual people 'in the real world'. We could even do Superman or The Simpsons. [Parody is not copyright infringement! eg "If you'd rather waste your money reading this badly written, horribly drawn rubbish than buying a real, genuine hilarious Simpsons comic, go ahead!"]
Desperate Dan in his Rocking Chair (he's 90), Puss and Boots in therapy, Calamity James in an asylum, Beryl in prison-"

I'm convinced it would work.

Colourists Part 4

I know how you hate loose ends, so here is the photo presented to me by another of my colourists, who signs her work 'C'. As she's taken time off from colouring to spend time Not Colouring, I probably shouldn't tell you her name. But it does begin with 'C' and this is sort of a photo of her. She hand-coloured Bea and Bea and Ivy towards the end of it's run, and some Cuddles and Dimples and Bash Street, and more than a few Dennis covers for the Beano before he went all animated. So I suppose I can't tell you any more except no-one who met her ever disliked her, and she rides a bicycle. Is that too much?

Dennis Through the years

In March, about 12 hours before Dennis the Menace celebrated 60 Years of Menacing, I was asked to provide a special strip to be seen only on TV. Here's part of it, and a nice sampling of the evolution of the character from his earliest appearances without the striped jersey, to the 1980s/90s version.

Beano MAX 51

I meant to do this a couple of weeks ago!  BeanoMAX issue 51 has an eight page 'Men in Black/Area 51' story featuring Dennis and Gnasher and The Bash Street Kids. That's about it. But nice bit of colouring by Nika, eh?








Oh, and if you think those little jelly bean aliens look familiar, you're right, I cribbed the idea from Mike Noble. Oh well, what comes around goes around.

Where's Harry?

Well, he's in the Dandy of course, every Wednesday!
But he's also in a 'Where's Harry' page this week (edit: coloured by me on photoshop this once due to circumstances etc), and there are four more coming over the next few weeks too. So, magnifying glasses out, and... Where's Harry?

My Bank Holiday weekend by the Sea

So it turns out that the Big Day Out in Bournemouth had nothing to do with me except I was there! But I got to meet the lovely Richard Briers who got a sneak preview of an upcoming Bash Street Kids due to the printer needing two weeks worth of Beano rather than one, which he was delighted with, and Dave Davies, yes DAVE DAVIES the guitar legend and writer and singer of Death of a Clown and Susannah's Still Alive, two of my favourite hits from the 1960s! Not to mention You Really Got Me, Waterloo Sunset, Lola., who was as nice a guy as it's possible to meet, friendly, generous, thoughtful and kind.  And he's DAVE DAVIES!


So that was my bank Holiday weekend in sunny, sweltering Bournemouth, where I caught up with old pals, made some new ones, [and was glad to do a quick sketch of the lad,  just remember I was having an evening off, so it's not Union Standard quality!] So, after the plaque unveiling (nothing to do with me, just having a nice day out!) where Tony Hancock made his first appearance as a 17 year old comic, we all had a terrific dinner of Roast beef, a rather ticklish and full bodied red wine, and a jolly time.