The Dandy

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The Dandy is 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 is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics (cover dated March 1937) and Il Giornalino (cover dated October 1st, 1924). It was re-named Dandy Xtreme in August 2007.

Image updates

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

After issue 3282 (dated 16 October 2004) The Dandy underwent a radical format overhaul.^[1] 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 £2.75 (some issues can cost up to 2.99 depending on how many gifts there are).^[2][3]

Unlike previous versions, Dandy characters will not necessarily grace the cover every issue; instead, celebrities and other cartoon characters will be featured. The first Dandy Xtreme had Bart Simpson on the cover.

Editors

The original editor was Albert Barnes. According to The Legend of Desperate Dan (published 1997), Dan's famous chin was modelled on Barnes. He stayed in the role until the 1980s. His replacement was Morris Heggie, who left the editorship in 2006 to become the DC Thomson archivist - Beano editor Euan Kerr was promoted at the same time. The current editor is Craig Graham [1].

Dandy characters

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

Other Dandy stars over the years have included:

• Addie and Hermy - a World War II satire of Adolf Hitler.
• Beryl the Peril (1953-2005, 2007) - a pig-tailed, mischievous girl who was originally in the Topper before the comic merged with the Beezer in 1990, creating Beezer and Topper. After this comic ceased, the strip moved to the Dandy in 1993.
• Black Bob - a border collie
• Brain Duane - a bald young inventor whose inventions usually go wrong.
• Bully Beef and Chips (1967-97, 2009-) - respectively, a stocky male bully and a weedy but clever boy who is almost always the hero.
• Class Act/P5 (1998-2003)
• Dinah Mo (1983-96) - a tomboy girl.
• Dirty Dick (1960-78) - a boy who always got dirty.
• First Class - similar to Class Act/P5
• Granny - spin-off strip from Cuddles and Dimples, featuring the pair's grandmother
• Growing Paynes (1991-2004) - about a young kid named Percy Payne who wants to be treated like an adult, and often cries.
• The Jocks and the Geordies (1975-91) - the rivalry of pupils of two schools on the Scottish border.
• Keyhole Kate - a girl who likes to peep through keyholes.
• Korky the Cat (1937-2004, 2005, 2007) - appeared on the cover of the first issue in 1937. During the 80's and 90's, when Korky was accompanied by his nephews Nip, Lip and Rrip (known as the Kits), the strip was entitled Korky and the Kits.
• Molly (1991-2004) - a spoilt girl. Drawn by David Mostyn
• Monkey Business - a group of monkeys who ran a supermarket. Drawn by John Geering
• My Own Genie
• Potsworth & Co. (1992-94) - a comic strip based on the Hanna-Barbera series of the same name which was more popular in the UK than the U.S. (where it was seen as Midnight Patrol: Adventures in the Dream Zone). Originally in the Beezer and Topper, moving to the Dandy in 1993.
• Puss 'n' Boots - a cat and a dog who are always fighting each other. Originally in Sparky.
• Rah-Rah Randall (1975-79)
• Rusty - a generic resourceful/mischievous boy
• Sherman Tortoise
• Smasher (1957-2002, 2007 (reprints)) - originally a mischievous boy who liked to smash things, later a boy who smashed things by accident.
• Smitten (1991) - a young boy and his problems with love.
• Spotted Dick (1985-97) - a spotty boy who spent most of his time on a hospital ward. Originally from Hoot before this comic merged with the Dandy in 1986.
• Tootuff (translated version of Swiss-French comic strip Titeuf by Zep)
• Winker Watson (1961-2007) - a cunning boy who is from Greytower's School.

See also

• The Dandy Annual
• The Beano
• The Magic Comic
• List of DC Thomson publications
• List of magazines published in Scotland
• British comics

References

External links

• Official Dandy site
• Comics UK: Dandy
• Unique Comic Collectables: The Dandy
• Dandy collectables from Border Bookshop