topper

The Topper
The cover of The Topper #1
Publication information
Publisher	D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
Schedule	Weekly
Format	Broadsheet
Publication date	7 February 1953 - 15 September 1990
Number of issues	1963
Creative team
Artist(s)	Gordon Bell David Law

The Topper was a UK comic published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd that ran from 7 February 1953 to 15 September 1990, when it merged with The Beezer and both comics were renamed as Beezer and Topper which ran until 1993. A strip named "Mickey the Monkey" originally graced the front cover. In the early 1970s, it was replaced by "Send for Kelly". That strip was replaced with "Danny's Tranny" in 1975, and then "Tricky Dicky" in 1979. "Beryl the Peril" took over on 24 May 1986, and remained there until the merger with The Beezer. There were also annuals every year.

Unlike most other comics at the time, which were half tabloid size, the Topper was double this at full tabloid. It changed to A4 in 1980, one year before The Beezer. The comics that merged with The Topper during its 37 year run were Buzz in 1975 and Sparky in 1977.

Strips

Strips in The Topper included:

• Al Change - Master of Disguise
• Ali's Baba (from Sparky)
• Andy Ladd - a short strip about a young resourceful inventor
• Beryl the Peril - a mischievous girl similar to Minnie the Minx. Last pre Beezer merger cover star.
• Big Uggy - a caveman and an anthropomorphic dinosaur friend Dopey
• Danny's Tranny - a boy and his magical transistor radio - was cover star in mid 1970s.
• Desert Island Dick - a short strip about a castaway, his pet octopus and his incompetent attempts to summon rescue. A parody of Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4.
• Dopey Joe - a short strip about an incompetent Indian
• Figaro - an overweight Mexican bandit and his gang.
• Foxy - A fox forever trying to steal chickens and forever getting blasted by The Farmer. Later joins the Dandy
• Fred the Flop (from Buzz)
• Ghastly Manor - A group of ghosts and monsters who live in a run down manor, despite which they still get visitors.
• Hungry Horace (from Sparky) - the kid with the bottomless appetite who is always after food.
• The Iron Eaters An extra terrestrial invasion of Earth by a pink spongey substance, which could corrode iron and other metals
• Jimmy Jinx - and what he thinks (from Buzz) (appears as a character in Fun Size Dandy
• Julius Cheeser - a short strip about a cat's failures to catch a mouse.
• Keyhole Kate - Revival from The Dandy, this version was originally in Sparky..
• King Gussie Everybody laughs to see the antics of His Majesty - a short strip about a king ; like strips such as Desperate Dan, this surreally combined historical and modern day elements and features tough as the nails he chews, Dan and his family.
• Mickey the Monkey - a similar concept to Biffo the Bear, but with a monkey. Mickey was sometimes portrayed as stupid, forgetful and unlucky. The Clash drummer Topper Headon was reputedly nicknamed after the character. The original cover star.
• Peter Piper - with magical pan pipes that could animate objects
• Pup Parade -from The Beano
• Send for Kelly - A secret agent, helped by Cedric.
• Sir Laughalot - a fantasy knight and his misadventures
• Smart Art
• Souper Boy - a weedy boy who became extremely strong when drinking a special soup, similarly to Popeye
• Splodge the last of the goblins - around four inches high and invisible to humans, who stole food (Later in Beano.)
• Tiny - The World's Biggest Dog
• Tom and Terry (from Sparky)
• Tricky Dicky - cover star, later in Beano.
• The Whizzers from Ozz

Famous creators

Well known creators who worked for The Topper include:

• Leo Baxendale
• Gordon Bell
• Paddy Brennan
• David Law
• Joe McCaffrey
• Tom Paterson
• Dudley D. Watkins
• John Dallas
• Malcolm Judge
• Robert Nixon

See also

• list of DC Thomson publications