Kirby!

When I say that I learned a lot about comics from Steve Ditko, Frank Bellamy, Mike Noble and Jack Kirby, some people are surprised, as I don't generally draw like any of those guys. But that's missing the point- they're cartoonists and you can learn from them, and not just in terms of their work! Here's Jack Kirby back in the 1980s!

Adventure in the 21st Century

Gerry Anderson, who brought us Thunderbirds, Stingray, Fireball XL5, has died aged 83. He'd been suffering from Alzeihmers for some time. He was a tireless producer, still working on projects such as the CGI Captain Scarlet, in his 80s. Without him, of course, there would not have been TV21 and Frank Bellamy's glorious Thunderbirds pages, nor Ron Embleton's  Stingray, nor Mike Noble's Fireball XL5, Captain Scarlet or Zero X. For all the great moments he gave us in the 1960s, thanks Gerry!

Coming Soon!

Just Dandy a new documentary about... well, The Dandy! Find out all about it at this link!

WHO THAT UP THERE??

Temporary change to my head, here, folks. What I mean is, I'm having the old hair short for a bit. And then long again later. or maybe I'll try something altogether new! Who knows!

Dandy! Dandy!

To The Dandy-

"The Dandy was an inspiration to me as a growing boy.

It is very sad and sign of our vanishing culture alas it seems-gone but never forgotten"

with Loveand affection and a hearty thankyou

- Dave Davies

I said I'd share some famous Dandy readers' thoughts on the demise of the printed edition, so here we are: the originator of rock guitar, Dave Davies of The Kinks, who not only name-checked Desperate Dan in song in 'Village green Preservation society' but even wrote a whole song called 'Dandy'! Thanks, Dave!

Beano Comedy Special

The internet broke the news yesterday afternoon, so it must be OK to do so too. The British Comedy Awards and the Beano have joined forces to present the 1000 or so guests with a specially drawn (by me) version of the Beano annual cover originally by Steve Bright. If you can spot all the comedians, I'll not only be amazed but impressed. Some likenesses are hard to get, especially on a very tight deadline, but anyway, look out for this special one-off on the Comedy Awards on TV this week.

Got one?

Here's the cover of the final print Dandy, nicked off  Lew Stringer's blog.
Want to get your own copy? Good luck.
D C Thomson say they've printed 50,000 copies and certainly my local WH Smith sold it's larger than usual consignment of 20 copies before 9.15 this morning. My pre-ordered copy, which the D C Thomson shop assured me would arrive this morning, has of course not been delivered. Nor has my subscription copy which the D C Thomson subscription deaprtment claim expired in April, despite me having issues delivered up to a couple of weeks ago. A certain well-known Liverpudlian has asked me for a copy as his local shops didn't sell it and I had to phone The Dandy office to get him one (oh OK, it was Paul McCartney), but still there's none for me. So enjoy your copy, and particulalry enjoy it if you've never bought the Dandy before but thought you'd grab a bit of history. You'll have to let me know what it was like one of these days. I'm guessing it's pretty good but maybe I'll never know. If, like me you haven't been able to get one, don't bother with Tesco, they stopped stocking it months ago. Cheers, Tesco.

This afternoon I went on the Billy Butler Show and gave him his due for his part in this! Have a listen from 30 minutes in!

My Blog, My Drawings.

I drew this picture.

I drew this picture.

I drew this picture.

 .

While everybody in the entire world (there's been coverage globally! Really!) has been posting pictures that I drew in the last few days, it seems that my position is still unclear. I have been advised by one person that I can't post pictures I have drawn that are the copyright of DC Thomson on my blog, and I have been advised by other persons that I CAN post such pictures. In the absence of a definitive aggrement, I've decided to go ahead and give myself permission to publish my work on my blog advertising their product. If anyone has a problem with it, let me know, otherwise I'll assume "that original thing" was all a big mistake in judgement (my opinion back in April) and I'll go ahead as normal. (Sorry if it's all a bit esoteric, but it's been bugging me for months, this situation.) I'm not attempting to profit personally by posting these pictures: I'm promoting an item which I don't personally sell, publish or profit from other than in the usual aggreed way. In fact, the tremendous media coverage this weekend that has almost entirely centered on Paul McCartney (and made it an international story) is down to me, as it was my idea to get him involved, I approached him, and he aggreed to do it for me.
Anyway, end of  irritated bit, here goes.
See these pictures? I drew them. They're in The Dandy today. Go and buy one, it's published by D C Thomson.

Now, about Sir Paul

Yes it was my idea to have Paul McCartney in the final print Dandy. I'd intended to have him in it a long time ago as I always remembered he once half-jokingly said his ambition was to be in The Dandy (see here), and thanks to my pal the Beatles expert Mark Lewisohn, he was persuaded that if he wanted to be in The Dandy, it was now or never! Paul immediately wrote me a nice note that I was able to pass on to The Dandy - and tomorrow you can go and buy a copy for yourself!

Sir Paul of Speke really was a big comics fan- he wrote a song about 'Magneto and the Titanium man' in the 70s, and here he is meeting comic book genius Jack Kirby in 1976.


Also, he really did enjoy The Dandy as a kid- check out that cheeky so and so on the back row here in 1952!

And even in the heyday of  The Beatles in 1965, he couldn't resist a sneaky look at some comics!

Good lad!

LATEST NEWS. Paul McCartney, being a big star all around the world, has generated a fair few international news reports about the end of one Dandy and the beginning of another. I've had a lot of views of this post from over two dozen different countries (not Greece or Kazakhstan though, bit odd!)