Comics UK

Does anyone have any issues from early 2000? I just want to know because I'd like to be able to pinpoint when Vic Neill's final Billy Whizz story appeared, and when Graeme Hall took over.

I think it would have been some time between March and May 2000, because I have issue 3007 from March where Neill's Billy appeared, and issue 3017 in May by which time Graeme seems to have become artist.

As always, thanks for any help.

No luck, I'm afraid - the only issue I have between those dates is #3008 (2000-03-11), in which Billy appears to be drawn by Vic Neill, save for the inexplicable use of what look like hand-drawn speech bubbles (by Neill himself?).

The possible use of hand-drawn speech bubbles sounds odd - I don't think that's been commonplace since the 1960s, with a few obvious exceptions like Mike Pearse's strips. Would it be possible for you to show a panel from the strip?

Thank you for posting that. The lettering does look different from usual, and in the Billy Whizz strip in the previous issue the lettering was as normal.

Jonny Whizz wrote:The possible use of hand-drawn speech bubbles sounds odd - I don't think that's been commonplace since the 1960s, with a few obvious exceptions like Mike Pearse's strips.

Not in the Beano anyway. It's been very much commonplace in the Dandy since the last revamp - Jamie Smart always uses them. But, until 1993, the cover stars of the Beano and Dandy had hand drawn speech bubbles too - Dan from 1987, and Dennis from 1974. Biffo always had hand drawn speech bubbles as well during his cover tenure.

I think I may be closer to finding the answer as to when Graeme took over:

http://www.kellyscomics.com/dc-thomsons-artists-a-z.php

Scroll down the page until you get to Graeme Hall's entry, which explains how on the morning of 28th January 2000 he received a cardboard tube, padded envelope and a letter informing him that Vic Neill had died and that he was the new Billy Whizz artist (having sent several samples to the Beano offices the previous year). So my guess is that Graeme started in late March or early April.

There's also a bit where Graeme explains how he grew up with the early 1980s version of Billy, so he found it odd drawing him in the tracksuit with Neill's changes to the hair and head shape. Graeme comes across as a very pleasant man who is very grateful to have had the chance to draw for the Beano.

Jonny Whizz wrote:I think I may be closer to finding the answer as to when Graeme took over:

http://www.kellyscomics.com/dc-thomsons-artists-a-z.php

Scroll down the page until you get to Graeme Hall's entry, which explains how on the morning of 28th January 2000 he received a cardboard tube, padded envelope and a letter informing him that Vic Neill had died and that he was the new Billy Whizz artist (having sent several samples to the Beano offices the previous year). So my guess is that Graeme started in late March or early April.

There's also a bit where Graeme explains how he grew up with the early 1980s version of Billy, so he found it odd drawing him in the tracksuit with Neill's changes to the hair and head shape. Graeme comes across as a very pleasant man who is very grateful to have had the chance to draw for the Beano.

To be honest I really liked Graeme Hall's artwork, the only problem was the massive 'ZOOM' that always appeared with Billy's running. However this was his style and I'm not going to lower him just for this. I think he was a brilliant artist! He had a distinctive, very cartoony style and I feel the Beano just didn't give him enough to do. It's a shame because he's a very talented guy. You can just imagine his excitement finding out he was the next Billy Whizz artist! How amazing must that of been?!

In fact, I've loved all of the Billy Whizz artists, all their styles have been so different! Nick Brennan's current style is one of the favourites, the stories may not always be brilliant but the artwork is a always at a high. I always thought that Nick would make a great artist for Billy Whizz!

Vic's Billy Whizz will always be remembered, it's the most well known and many artists still copy Billy Whizz as Neill's style. However despite the fame of Neill's version it didn't always get positive comments:

"Billy Whizz, which started in 1964 (issue 1139, May 16th) as a replacement for "The Country Cuzzins", was created by Malcolm Judge. He had previously drawn "Colonel Crackpot's Circus", but Whizz was a far more interesting and enduring creation.

Judge stopped drawing the strip in the late eighties and has been replaced by various artists; primarily Vic Neill, but also Trevor Metcalfe and David Parkins (possibly!). The strip is currently drawn in a rather slapdash style by G. Hall.

Where Judge's original scores over all its imitators, though, is in the sheer variety of ways that Billy's "whizzing" was depicted, some of which are shown here. Later artists tended to concentrate on a specific visual device; blurred, spinning legs in Metcalfe's case, elaborate trails of dust from Parkins and - sadly - little more than "motion lines" from Neill (who I'm rather afraid to say took a lot of the fun out of the strip - shame 'cos I like his style as a rule).*"

Quote from paulmorris.co.uk

Trevor Metcalfe's Billy Whizz before using the tablet was brilliant, I loved it, I always loved Metcalfe's artwork. Then the tablet Billy came and ruined his version of Billy Whizz. This must be the only Billy Whizz style I didn't like.

I loved David Parkins' Billy Whizz, it was lively, crazy and fun. Just what Billy Whizz should be! Besides, I've always been a massive fan of David Parkins' artwork.

Wayne Thompson's was a nod back to the past with a style much like Mal's original Billy. I quite liked Wayne's Billy, it was very modern and the style was fun.

And who could forget the Billy Whizz that started it all off. Mal Judge's, the best Billy Whizz artist of all. I loved the different uses of speed, it made the comic strip unique and fun. Something which I always loved about Mal's artwork.

Overall I think Billy Whizz has been a lucky comic strip, with many talented artists drawing it and that's what makes Billy one of the greatest Beano comic strips to this very day.

"Currently drawn by G Hall"? It's Nick Brennan now, of course. I wish people would keep their info up to date.

Here's my run down of Billy Whizz's artists:

I think Mal Judge's style is very likeable, and I don't think it would look out of place in the Beano or Dandy today. Most Beano readers from 1980s feel his version from that time was the definitive one. As you said, he remains the artist who used the widest variety of visual devices to show Billy's whizzing. Peter did a great blog on the variety of techniques he used:

http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogs ... -many.html

David Parkins' artwork is fantastic, and his Billy Whizz strips in the 1993 and 1994 Beano books are a particular treat, as they feature some brilliantly wacky undersea and outer space environments. I agree that his madcap but detailed style suited Billy very well. Trevor's first version is probably the one I've seen the least of, but I really like his strips as well because I've always rather liked his style.

Vic Neill's time on Billy can certainly be described as interesting because of the number of changes he made. His earlier version, before the hair was changed, is probably the most familiar, as most merchandise shows Billy as he was then. You're right to point out that his version has inspired other artists - not least me, but also the versions Nigel Parkinson and Tom Paterson did for the Beano annuals owe a lot to his style. I personally love Vic's version of Billy, as I find it well drawn, quirky and funny. I've always liked the thunderbolt hair, as it gives Billy a different visual identity from his Dad and Alfie, though I suspect some readers at the time won't have liked his changes to the character. I'm not sure what the reason for it was - did the idea come from D.C.T. staff, or was Vic altering Billy's appearance to fit into his own style?

I think Graeme Hall's artwork style was good fun actually, and I agree that it was both distinctive and cartoony. Unfortunately his work always gets compared to Vic's, when they had very different styles. Other than that, the biggest problem was his depiction of whizzspeed, as he didn't really use anything beyond basic motion lines. This seems less of an issue in his earliest strips, where he sometimes used spinning legs, but then again his artwork got better and more distinctly his later on. If you look at the strip he did that got reprinted in the comic a couple of years ago, his style was very mixed.

Wayne's version I liked a lot in 2003 and early 2004 Beanos. I remember getting the Beano where his Billy Whizz debuted and observing that he looked just like he did in Classics from the Comics bar the tracksuit - he did a great job of modernising Mal Judge's style. Once Wayne took over Jak in the Dandy, I felt his work on Billy became slightly more rushed, as a result I'm not so keen on the strips in his last six months or so on Billy.

I did quite enjoy Trevor's tablet drawn version, but I think there was a little too much use of copy and paste - in some strips, I felt I'd seen some of the drawings of Billy before. I still liked his artwork though.

Nick Brennan's Billy took some getting used to, and I really wasn't convinced at first. Admittedly, I was never a fan of Crazy for Daisy and I'm not too familiar with his Dandy artwork other than on Blinky. However, I eventually warmed to his style on Billy, and since he started I think the stories have been much more creative than they were in the Thompson or Metcalfe years. I also thinking making his Dad fat and lazy is a very funny idea - it's hard to believe he's related to Billy!

I agree about Brennan. When he started doing Billy, he gave Billy plain white feet, which just looked odd, and is a major reason why I didn't like his version at first. He later fixed that so that they're clearly trainers (although the title still needs to be updated), and the rest of the changes he made, I've gotten used to. Certainly can't fault the writing. To think, when Billy was created, they thought it would only last a year, and here we are still reading new stories about him nearly 50 years later!