Comics UK

It was forty years ago this very morning that Dudley Watkins' wife Doris awoke to find her husband dead in his studio.
Dudley was to my mind the best of all comic artists. A unique talent from a time when comics flourished in abundance and those of D C Thomson, with more than a little help from DDW, flourished most of all.

The guy was a legend. His work is still published regularly thanks to the Beano/Dandy books, Classics from the Comics, and the Broons/Oor Wullie annuals. No other artist from that era can claim that level of exposure. Dudley was also the first Beano and I assume DCT) artist to be allowed to sign his work, which shows that they knew how important he was to them even at the time.

The History of the Beano claims he was working on a Biffo strip when he died, but I've also heard it was Desperate Dan. Any idea which was true, if either?

Dudley Watkins was a superb artist who drew a great variety of strips. In my opinion, his greatest strength was the realism of his strips and characters. The only other early DCT artist to sign his work was Allan Morley. I don't think we will ever be sure about who finished that strip, as we don't know which exact strip it was (likely to be Biffo, but could be Dan). If it was Biffo, I assume Dave Sutherland finished it. If it was Dan, I don't have a clue who it could have been, especially as Dan was mostly reprints for the next thirteen years.

I actually once saw an abridged comic-strip style version of Treasure Island which had been drawn by DDW, which he must have found time to draw in between his usual work (The Broons and Oor Wullie were his priorities I think - he had to draw them before he did anything else). It was amazing how his art was so good given the amount he actually drew.

Dudley did pencil a Biffo, as mentioned in History, which Dave Sutherland did indeed finish off. It could be he just had several strips which had only been pencilled and not inked. If this happened with a Dan strip, it would probably have been scrapped, as it became reprints for over a decade.

Jonny Whizz wrote:I actually once saw an abridged comic-strip style version of Treasure Island which had been drawn by DDW, which he must have found time to draw in between his usual work.

Actually I think DC Thomson considered Watkins' numerous picture-strip adaptations of classic works to be an important part of his output during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Along with his marvelous version of Treasure Island other series included Kidnapped, Robinson Crusoe, Oliver Twist, etc. which were first printed in The People's Journal and then subsequently reprinted in various comics (notably Topper where many appeared in colour) as well as being issued more than once in book form. DCT may have granted him favoured status among their artists but they certainly got excellent value for money from his work over the years!

- Phil Rushton

here's a small selection of elaborate gems from towards the end of the master's tenure:

The Biffo strips (near the end of Dudley's life) which showcased his family tree and ancestors could not have suited him more perfectly, as he was very good at drawing figures in historical costumes. Other examples in the Beano that I can think of where everything just came together in a similar manner were Jonah with Ken Reid, and Tom Paterson's Calamity James in the late 1980s/early 90s.

found this on thatsbraw.co.uk

On the morning of August 20th,1969 his wife found him dead at his desk. Aged only 62, he died of a heart attack with a half-finished Desperate Dan strip on his desk.

That'll be where I read it then. Knew I'd heard it was Dan somewhere. But like I said, History of the Beano says it was Biffo. Maybe History's writers just wanted to say it was a Beano strip, or maybe That's Braw got it wrong. We don't know which, so my original question remains unanswered, and probably will remain so.

I seem to remember that the final Desperate Dan strip Watkins drew had an apple tree in it. I'm pretty sure that it was the final one they used in the comic (the stockpiled strips ran on for about two months) before they started to reprint the older strips. It wasn't until 1983 that there were new Dan strips by Ken Harrison.

At the time of his death Dudley was drawing the Broons, Oor Wullie, Desperate Dan, Biffo, Mickey the Monkey, Ginger and Tom Thumb with the final four being taken over fairly quickly by other artists namely Dave Sutherland, Vic Neill, Bob McGrath and Keith Robson.

The Broons and Oor Wullie were reprints up till about 1974. The strips weren't stockpiled in the same way as they were for his Beano/Dandy/Beezer/Topper strips (due to the strips being done closer to publication), so they only had a couple of episodes to use before they went to reprints.

there's a really odd BIFFO page that was published inbetween the final recognizable WATKINS cover [which may have been finished off by Davey Sutherland] and the first-ever all-Sutherland cover: possibly this was done by another artist over a DDW BIFFO pencilling......at any rate, it's a real oddity, and appears to have been turned out by an artist clearly daunted by his task........

The Dudley Watkins/Dave Sutherland combo strip was in The History of the Beano. Biffo keeps laughing, Buster can't understand why, turns it it's because he's on a new ticklish carpet barefoot. Issue 1423 dated 25th October 1969. I'm guessing you're talking about issue 1424?

I know the pages you mean, Digi: I intend scanning in examples tomorrow.......[too many beers tonite]......