Comics UK

Well, I can think of:

*Jak's II and III; Jak II looked too much like a Blond Dennis the Menace, probably since David Sutherland was drawing him and he'd just finished Dennis the Menace. Jak III was more original but too immature. Sometimes it's nice to see new characters breaking from tradition, such as Dennis the Menace, who spawned off the new trend for new strips based around bad-behaved children, but Jak III was just "original in the comic world, unoriginal everywhere else".

*Office Hours; I recall saying on another thread that I dislike Wight's style, and I don't really like office hours. It was funny sometimes, but just sometimes.

*Mutt & Moggy; Well, how much different was it to puss 'n' boots? It was basically Child versions of Puss 'n' Boots, except mutt was orange and moggy was grey. It also didn't have the witty vocabulary you got in puss 'n' boots if you see what I mean.

'the DOMES' by JOHN GEERING [around 1985] was a bit of a mis-fire: a sub-JETSONS spin on 'futuristic' frolics: a bunch of eggheads, but little else to reccomend this wasted opportunity [in my eyes].....

I always found Black Bob a bit boring. I don't like Molly either, and actually, I disagree about Jak. I didn't like mk1 much, and mk2 did seem like blond Dennis with a cat instead of a dog, what was the point? But the current version is actually alright, and looks really modern - Wayne Thompson has a clear, simplistic art style which wouldn't look out of place in manga.

The Problem with Jak I is that is was a strip about a dad and his annoying Kid. There were too many strips with that similar Storyline; Molly Did it since 1992, Dinah Mo did it from 1990-1997, and Beryl the Peril did it from 1970-1987 and from 1999-2004. I didn't mind Jak I and although it wasn't very popular I didn't skip it like Jak II- my all time least favourite Jak.

On the Subject of these kind of stories, While Robert Nixon remains my favourite Beryl the Peril artist, I found he made her too different. She didn't seem like a female counterpart to Dennis anymore, she seemed to lack any traces of surlyness, and she didn't seem to be doing anything naughty. I suppose this was to make her Different from Minnie the Minx.

I never really liked Black Bob either. As a recurring joke I called him Black blob

BLACK BOB was brilliantly atmospheric, but I accept it was not for every taste.

I agree that ROBERT NIXON'S work on DANDY was also beautifully-rendered, but his spin on 'BULLY BEEF' for example steered the comic too near to the BEANO, and contributed towards the 'DANDY' losing it's unique identity.

JOHN GEERING'S work on the comic started well in the early 70s, [PC BIG EARS/'MONKEY BIZNESS'] but come the 80s and 'BANANAMAN' his work was of the more rushed, smaller-scale variety, which I felt never helped the DANDY either----it was a popular strip, nevertheless, so what do I know? [just my own personal tastes].

Erm, as a non reader, all of them! (only joking)

Beryl the Peril was never meant to be a direct female counterpart to Dennis the Menace and nor was Minnie the Minx. Indeed part of the whole point of Minnie was that she has the strength and spirit of an Amazonian warrior, and is tougher than most boys! I think in Davey Law's original version, Beryl was meant to be largely well intentioned, but clumsy, chaotic and a little foolish at times.

Mind you, people ALWAYS say how the Beano is cover to cover strips about naughty kids (Ok, that's a bit exaggerated), without realising the Dandy has featured more than its fair share of strips about some kid annoying their dad.

I think the only strip I actually disliked must have been Barney's Bear - an adventure strip that ran around 1964. I had very clear memories of The Dandy from that period (the first year I read comics) but had NO recollection of Barney's Bear, so I must have disliked it so much I never bothered to read it. (I only discovered it when I bought all those comics again, about 20 years ago.)

As for Black Bob - great stuff! I loved that strip, and it taught me to read when I was four.

Lew

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:'BULLY BEEF' for example steered the comic too near to the BEANO

Roger the Dodger vs Cruncher Kerr storylines could easily have been Bully Beef and Chips stories, the era's irrelevant.

The loss of the adventure strips is what cost The Dandy it's distinct identity - the Beano ditched them in 1975, only recently reviving them (specifically General Jumbo in the annuals, and more recently Billy the Cat in the weekly comic), whereas Brassneck and Winker Watson (which are both comic-adventure strips) were still going until only a few years ago (both only finally disappeared completely with the Xtreme relaunch, and continue in the annual) and even Black Bob lasted until the 1980s - they made a big mistake by running a story set in Argentina when the Falklands War broke out, I wonder if this finally killed off the character? Jack Silver and Peter's Pocket Grandpa also continued into the 80s.

Jonny Whizz wrote:Erm, as a non reader, all of them! (only joking)

Beryl the Peril was never meant to be a direct female counterpart to Dennis the Menace and nor was Minnie the Minx. Indeed part of the whole point of Minnie was that she has the strength and spirit of an Amazonian warrior, and is tougher than most boys! I think in Davey Law's original version, Beryl was meant to be largely well intentioned, but clumsy, chaotic and a little foolish at times.

Mind you, people ALWAYS say how the Beano is cover to cover strips about naughty kids (Ok, that's a bit exaggerated), without realising the Dandy has featured more than its fair share of strips about some kid annoying their dad.

Well I knew That Minnie was never a female Dennis, and seems a lot more badly behaved than Beryl (who seemed to be not as badly behaved as Dennis Was ever was) I believe tht the editor wanted Leo to make a female Dennis the Menace, but Leo Wanted to be original and thus you can't Make a Minnie the Minx strip use Dennis the Menace characters and Vice-versa.

You can't use a Beryl the Peril Story using either Dennis the Menace or Minnie the Minx Characters, I believe. All 3 are original. I do think that saying "Beryl the Peril is the Topper's Version of Dennis the menace" is like saying "The Banana Bunch is the Beezer's Versoin of The bash street kids" because of Minor Similarities. The Banana Bunch, Despite being created by Baxendale, isn't ripping off the Bash Street Kids. if you want to see a real Bash Street Kids ripoff, go buy a Wham and read The Tiddlers.

I just think that Beryl the Peril was Similar to Dennis the Menace. I mean, in a Beano comic from around... 1979, You see Dennis' Cousin, and she jooks just like Beryl the Peril!

I just Thought Robert Nixon taking over the strip, while not a bad idea at all, made her look "Too Cute", and she seemed to be a lot more friendly. I guess this is common with most Nixon-Drawn Strips, including Roger the Dodger (To an Extent) Steve Ford (To an extent; not to bad guys of course) and so on.

Denise the Menace actually appeared in the 60s, not the 70s - it was drawn by Davy Law, not Dave Sutherland, and Sutherland took over in 1970 when Law died.

You're right about Denise's appearance, her hair was like Dennis's with pigtails added, similar to Karl Dixon's version of Beryl in fact.

Well, thew Denise I was talking about was from the Dennis the Menace book 1992 (Which is reprints from 1979), and it was about Dennis' Dad getting a new car. they end up getting a car that used to belong to the circus, or something.

Wasn't aware of that appearance, I was referring to two strips which have been used in the 60 Years books.

I thought (and still think) that Black Bob was brilliant (DCT must have thought so to spawn off eleven? annuals).

In the modern comic, it is the Bogies I don't like. But in the day, my least favourite (though not to say I didn't really like it) was Desperate Dawg. Basically, I couldn't see the point.

Personally, I wouldn't count The Bogies as a Dandy comic strip, due to the fact it's licenced. Same goes for BeanoMAX's Wallace & Gromit.

I didn't really like Desperate Dawg either. We had a strip about a Dog Version of Desperate Dan, then in the 1990s when David Parkins was drawing Desperate dan we get ANOTHER Desperate Dawg (But he didn't have his own strip)

I never Really like Sherman Tortoise (Gee, for one of my fave artists, I sure am dissing John Geering's work lol) or Tristan, which I found pretty boring.

To me, Ollie Fliptrik was one of the first strips that "Drove the Dandy to Xtreme limits" because He was made during the time that a lot of characters were being changed to fit with the dandy's relaunch (2 years after Ollie actually first had his own strip), which may well have "Helped" the Dandy to become extreme.

There's also James the world's worst schoolboy, and Wendy's wicked Stepladder.