The Beano Top 100.

[Kashgar]

82) Fatty Fudge (76) In 1989 the podgy protagonist from the Minnie the Minx strip was given his own series of individually titled strips each punningly themed around food. Artwork Jim Petrie.

No entries for 81 or 80 as three titles tied for 79.

[Kashgar]

79) Musso the Wop (77) From 1940-1943 the Beano 'did its bit' in the propaganda war by including this strip lampooning the Italian facist dictator Benito Mussolini. Artwork by Sam Fair and Arthur Jackson.

[Kashgar]

79) The Horse that Jack Built (77) In medieval England Jack, the son of Cedric the Toymaker, makes himself a full-sized clockwork horse he names Tick-Tock Tony. Jack and his mechanical steed would appear in six series in total, all in the adventure strip format, between 1949 and 1957 with artwork variously by Bill Holroyd, Ken Hunter, Jack Glass and Michael Darling.

[Kashgar]

79) The Fix-It Twins (77) In this strip, which debuted in 1978, girl twins Mo and Jo try their best each week to do a 'Jimmy Saville', usually with disastrous results. Artwork Ron Spencer.

[Steve Bright]

83) Two-Gun Tony - the King Street Cowboy (74) Perpetually clad in his cowboy outfit Tony, in this 1977-1978 strip, finds the 'Wild West' around every suburban corner. (Not to be confused with the 1968 Beano adventure strip 'The King Street Cowboys, of which it is not a sequel) Artwork BIll Ritchie.

Small aside - four days after becoming office junior in The Beano, aged 18, in 1977, I was told by the editor to have a go at script-writing, and to choose any of the characters I fancied. To my utter astonishment, my first half dozen scripts were accepted, virtually unchanged (I had been warned by one of my fellow subs that it could be months before your first script was accepted...mind you, he worked in The Dandy... under Albert Barnes ). My first outright failure was a Two-Gun Tony script, in which I had Tony suggesting he might 'brand' his pet dog, whilst brandishing Mum's electric iron. Can't think why it didn't make it.

[Steve Bright]

It'd be nice to have some script-writing credits going on also, but since that unsung skill was often rotated at regular intervals among the office staff, it would be a bit of a nightmare to compile, even if the information was willingly given. So I'll just content myself with saying, if I recall correctly, that the entire Karate Sid run was written by currrent Beano chief sub, George Cobb (I'm open to correction on this from the inner sanctum, naturally)

I stand corrected! The inner sanctum has spoken, and credit for the origination of, and initial scripts for, Karate Sid should have gone to current Beano editor, Alan Digby, with George taking over the writing later. Like I said, these things rarely get the mention they deserve, and are important. So I apologise sincerely to all concerned for my error. Karate Sid was the only Beano strip I was in on from the start, and that does mean a lot to me.

[felneymike]

A surprising amount of "Musso the Wop (he's a big-a-da flop!)" seems to turn up in those fancy hardback reprint books. Though with the title tactfully removed, some of them are quite funny. Though "Addie & Hermy" was by far the best wartime story, but that may have been in the dandy (?). Lord Snooty's sparring with Hitler is funny too, like one i remember where he is forced to make army helmets for the Nazis, but makes them magnetised them gets hammer-throwers to chuck big steel mallets over the channel

[Kashgar]

No entries for 78 or 77 as three titles tied for 76.

76 with a Bullet) Ratz (78) First appearing in 2006 the life in the sewer story of Rod the rat and his verminous family and friends. Artwork Hunt Emerson and Laura Howell.

[Kashgar]

76) Sweet Sue (78) In this 1978-1980 strip the title character, a bespectacled little girl in bunches, is not the easy target for bullying and prank-playing that she appears. Artwork Bill Ritchie.

[Kashgar]

76) Deep Down Daddy Neptune (78) The king of the oceans he may have been but it didn't stop the water-babies from giving him a hard time in this early (1939-1940) comic strip. Artwork Basil Blackaller.

[Kashgar]

75) Wee Davie (83) First appearing in 1952 and featuring in 7, variously titled, comic adventure strip series up to 1957, Davie, despite his diminutive stature, was the royal appointed Giant Tamer of his homeland Pomerania. Artwork throughout by Ken Hunter.

[Kashgar]

No entry for 74 as two titles tied for 73.

73) Simply Smiffy (85) If Plug deserved his own comic in the 1970's then in the 1980's (1985-1987) Bash St's prize dunce Smiffy certainly deserved his own strip. Artwork Jerry Swaffield.

[Kashgar]

73) Doubting Thomas (85) 'I doubt it but I'll try' was Thomas' habitual response when he was asked if he could carry out a whole host of outlandish tasks and he had every right to be doubtful as he failed to carry out a single one in the 1940-1942 run of his solo strip. Eight years later, in 1950, he would return to the pages of the Beano for an extended stay as one of Lord Snooty's new bunch of pals. Artwork James Crighton and Jock Brown.

[Peter Gray]

Simply Smiffy another Steve Bright comic work...or so I thought...

[Steve Bright]

Sorry, Peter - wrong this time. Swaffs it was.