The Dandy 1961

[Peter Gray]

just got my first copy of this year from ebay...1029 Aug 12th 1961

Loved purple cloud with the bus disappearing leaving only the seats.....then the building falling on them because the metal work had disappeared as well.......all the peoples faces were made unconscious and purple. very dark tale...

Korky the cat
Jammy Mr Sammy a teacher who always outwitted his pupils..
Desperate Dan
The Purple Cloud
Black Bob
Dirty Dick (did this appear at the same time as Winker Watson?)
Corporal Clott in colour
Winker Watson
Rodger the Lodger
Rusty
The Smasher
Iron Hands was another great adventure strip on the Channel Islands trying to get rid of the Nazis......hes driving a tank and blowing up Nazi tanks..he also lifts a pillor box out with his bare hands to roll to get rid of some mines...
and last of all Ali Ha-ha in colour back page.............very good comic....

[Lew Stringer]

Dirty Dick (did this appear at the same time as Winker Watson?)
Corporal Clott in colour
Winker Watson

I think you answered your own question there Peter.

Yes, Dirty Dick was a regular weekly page and Winker Watson appeared from time to time in various serials. Both were drawn by Eric Roberts. (His characters tended to look very similar but he remains a favourite artist of mine.)

By the way; The Purple Cloud was later reprinted in 1969, so if you wanted to follow the strip the 1969 issues of The Dandy might be cheaper for you than 1961 issues.

Lew

[Peter Gray]

would you like to see iron hand Lew...I can put up a copy up here...

thanks for the tip of the reprinted strip.......

erm I meant to say did Winker Watson which appeared in April 1, 1961
did Dirty Dick also come out on this date...

Having strong hands seems a popular choice for a comic character..

[Lew Stringer]

erm I meant to say did Winker Watson which appeared in April 1, 1961
did Dirty Dick also come out on this date...

I don't think so. I have the first issue with Dirty Dick in it and I don't recall Winker starting in the same issue. (If I could find Ray's excellent Dandy indexes I'd let you know for sure. Plus I haven't time to check my Dandy issues at present as it'd take half hour to move other stuff to get 'em.)

BTW the first Dirty Dick strip was in the centre pages in full colour as I recall. First 16 page Dandy I *think*, when it had a revamp from 12 pages.

Lew

[Peter Gray]

Wow it would be cool to see Dirty Dick in colour and spread over 2 pages..
Maybe this was to be the main character until Winker Watson became the popular character...

Ray's excellent Dandy indexes they sell so quickly before I can buy them...well it did for me one time..

I would buy also The Beano...Magic...Beezer...Topper...Sparky..Dudley D Watkins indexes...its great reading what the stories were to be in the adventure stories..

[Kashgar]

Hi Peter, Lew's right about Dirty Dick appearing as the Dandy's first full colour centre-spread character in Oct 1960. (Thanks for the kind words re the indexes to you both). He didn't survive there long though, only a few weeks, before Corporal Clott arrived. I'll post exact details when I've checked.

[Kashgar]

Dirty Dick was printed in full colour in the Dandy centre-spread for only four issues Nos 986-989 before Corporal Clott arrived in No 990. His final appearance in the centre colour pages was a nice fireworks strip though.
Re Winker Watson he was unusual in that he actually appeared in the Dandy Book for 1961, published in Sept 1960, eight months before his first appearance in the weekly comic.
As to 'The Boy with Iron Hands' this was an idea and a title that Dandy editor Albert Barnes used on three seperate occasions in three different contexts. In 1939 a boy with these attributes was the star of a strip set in medieval times drawn by Fred Sturrock, then there was the 1959-1961 WWII Bill Holroyd effort and finally in 1971 a strip with a modern setting, drawn by Paddy Brennan, with the slighly truncated title 'Iron Hands'.
Come to think of it Paddy Brennan also drew the adventures of a secret agent called simply 'Iron Hand' in Cracker/Beezer between 1975 and 1979. In this final instance though the eponymous hero did actually have an 'iron hand' a la Valiant's Steel Claw.