Desperate Dan

Statue of Desperate Dan in Dundee, Scotland city centre

Desperate Dan is a wild west character in the British comic The Dandy. He first appeared in the comic in issue 1, dated 4 December 1937. He is apparently the world's strongest man, able to lift a cow with one hand. Even his beard is so tough he has to shave with a blowtorch. The strip was drawn by Dudley D. Watkins until his death in 1969. Although The Dandy Annuals featured new strips from other artists from then on, the comic continued reprinting Watkins strips until 1983 (though the then Korky the Cat artist Charles Grigg drew new strips for annuals and summer specials), when Ken H. Harrison took over. The following year Dan was promoted to the front cover of The Dandy, replacing Korky who had been there since issue 1. Starting from issue 2985, dated 6 February 1999, Cuddles and Dimples replaced Dan on the front cover. This didn't last long, however, as after a readers' poll in 2000, Dan returned to the cover. Although Ken Harrison draws most of the strips, other artists have occasionally done it as well, including Trevor Metcalfe in the early 1990s and John Geering between 1995 and 1997, though not exclusively.

Desperate Dan's favourite food was cow pie - a type of enormous meat pie with horns sticking out, although the term "cow pie" in the American West actually refers to the product of the rear end of the cow, often inconveniently left behind on the trail. Dan ate cow pies until 2005 when it had its last appearance in the Dandy Annual 2005. This happend because of the editor of the time thought about political corectness (eg. mad cow diesease and vegetarians). He hasn't eaten a cow pie since.

When the comic strip first started he was a desperado and on the wrong side of the law, hence the name Desperate Dan. Since then, however, he has switched sides and become a friendlier character. The first member of his family to appear in the strip was Aunt Aggie (issue 107, dated 16 December 1939) followed by his nephew, Danny (304, dated 27 October 1945) and niece, Katey (1957).

The most famous storyline occurred in 1997, when Dan struck oil and became a millionaire. A few issues later, to the shock of Cactusville (the place in which Dan lives) he left The Dandy. After a few weeks of trying to find people to replace him, The Dandy had no choice but to close down. The following week, however, in the special 60th birthday edition (2924, dated 6 December 1997) Dan heard of the news and returned to the comic.

With the revamp of The Dandy (3282, 16 October 2004) Dan, though still drawn by Ken Harrison, was redesigned slightly. His eyes and chin have become much bigger and exaggerated. He is also back inside the comic, as there is no longer a comic strip on the front cover, just a picture. Dan's personality was changed to that of a bumbling fool, a change to which many fans objected.

But, as of the "re-revamp" in August 2007, the strips are classic reprints on the back cover of Dandy Comix in The Dandy Xtreme. These are still in their original monochrome, not colour.

A number of spin-off strips have appeared in The Dandy over the years, including Desperate Dawg in the 1970s and 80s and Danny and Katey in the late 1980s. A statue of him (and his dog Dawg) can be found in his "birthplace", Dundee, Scotland. He has also been spoofed in the adult comic strip Viz as Desperately Unfunny Dan.

See also

• Desperate Dan Annual

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