Comic Idol returns

[Peter Gray]

Dina-mite 3 stories in one Dandy annual and the contents page with the triple decker bus shown recently in the Dandy and Beano book..is all Leo Baxendale did..

[Digifiend]

Even back in the 1960s there was a difference between Dandy and Beano, with some artists never crossing over between the two comics. (For example Eric Roberts and Bill Holroyd never drew for The Beano in the 1960s/70s if I recall, and I don't think Baxendale ever worked on The Dandy.) I could be mistaken as I don't have Ray's indexes to hand at present but I think that was the case.

You're right about Bill Holroyd, his last Beano work was The Invisible Giant in 1957. Eric Roberts' last appearance seems to be some 1958 Rip Van Wink reprints.

[Jonny Whizz]

That's why Wayne Thompson and Jamie Smart work exclusively for the Dandy. I believe there is a concerted effort and has been for a couple of years to have separate Beano and Dandy artists.

In the past, there was a great deal more common usage - Bob Nixon, John Geering, Tom Bannister, and George Martin all come to mind in my lifetime as contributing to at least half of DCT's comic titles at any one time.

Good first point, especially about Jamie Smart, but remember that Wayne Thompson used to draw for the Beano - especially around 2003-2005, when he was Billy Whizz artist, but he also did Billy the Cat and Joe Jitsu.

Relating to the latter point, another strange one was Jimmy Hughes (Bully Beef and Chips, Jocks and Geordies etc.). I don't think he ever drew for anything other than the Dandy, at least not for DCT.

[AndyB]

Of course, I don't recall a single full size weekly strip by George Martin in the Beano. Also, long-time staff artist Jimmy Glen only seemed to contribute to the Beano (plus some freelance work like the Winners for Jackpot).

Wayne did indeed work for both the Beano and the Dandy, but that's now in the past. I think it stopped to allow him to focus on his work for the Dandy after the pre-Xtreme relaunch.

I'm going to fix a typo in my post above and the quotations since...

[Classic Comics]

Of course, I don't recall a single full size weekly strip by George Martin in the Beano. Also, long-time staff artist Jimmy Glen only seemed to contribute to the Beano (plus some freelance work like the Winners for Jackpot).

Jimmy Glen worked for the Dandy on at least a few things in the 90s - James, the World's Worst Schoolboy and Miss Eve L Powers immediately spring to mind.

[AndyB]

And Garry snuck a Jimmy Glen Numskulls from the Beezer into this month's Classics.

[Digifiend]

Which was referred to as The Numbskulls on the contents page...

[AndyB]

Talk about Black Bob ending in 1982 reminded me that NP works for both the Beano and the Dandy, and actually does an awful lot of work for both.

There always has to be one!

[Peter Gray]

Result on Wednesday..

Hope Nigel's one wins..

or I'll get[b][size=200][color=#FF0000]........... ... /size][/b]

[Digifiend]

Subscribers should already know the result then...

[AndyB]

Subscribers do know the answer (and who came second), but I'm staying quiet until Wednesday!

[Digifiend]

lol, since there was three strips, if you know who came second, you also know who came last!

[Digifiend]

*runs away from an angry Peter* Haven't read the comic yet, but two comments at Beanotown.com have revealed that Meebo and Zuky was the winner. So congratulations Laura.

[LauraH]

Cheers Digi, but it's more of a "Congratulations Classic Comics" really, as he came up with the strip

[Jonny Whizz]

Congratulations to Classic Comics and Laura for respectively writing and drawing the (in my opinion) worthy Comic Idol winners, Meebo and Zuky. You've both done a fantastic job there, because the strip is both original and very funny.

Their strip this week is brilliant. It's absolutely mad (I mean that in a good way) but it's hilarious. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read the comic yet, but if you thought the one where the hoover sucked up Zuky's body was extreme, you haven't seen anything...