Longest running comic character.

[Dunder Ed]

I've been wondering for a while what are the top 5 longest running British comic characters? I know Billy Buster was around a long time, but Desperate Dan has been in more issues. What are your opinions?

[Tin Can Tommy]

Don't you mean Billy Bunter not Buster?

I would guess Rupert Bear would be the longest running character. Followed by The Broons, Oor Wullie, Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat and Lord Snooty. I can't think of any other characters that are still running and were created in the 30s or earlier.

[Digifiend]

Dennis the Menace, Roger the Dodger, Minnie the Minx and The Bash Street Kids all overtook Snooty in the last few years. Snooty, remember, was axed in 1990 (though appeared in a few Comic Libraries and Fun-Sizes since then) and only recently came back. Snooty the Third doesn't count.

[Tin Can Tommy]

It depends how we count longest running. If we mean number of appearances overall or just the time between their first appearance and the latest one.

[suebutcher]

Is Tiger Tim a contender?

[Digifiend]

Definitely.

Their [Amalgamated Press's] undisputed super-star was the phenomenally popular Tiger Tim and his gang of chums The Bruin Boys (Jumbo Elephant, Willie Ostrich, Georgie Giraffe, Bobby Bruin, Jacko Monkey, Joey Parrot, Porkyboy Pig and Fido Pup) who all spent their days learning to be civilised at Mrs Bruin’s Boarding School, originally rendered by Julius Stafford Baker but eventually to grow into a multi-artist enterprise encompassing many of the country’s greatest – if uncelebrated – artists.

Tim had first appeared in Harmsworth’s Daily Mirror in 1904, and graduated in 1909 to the weekly Playbox supplement for children in ‘The World and His Wife’.

The Rainbow weekly colour comic began in February 1914 and Tim was the cover feature until its demise in 1956. In 1919 Tiger Tim’s Weekly (née Tales) also launched and he had been the star of his own annual since 1921 (first one dated 1922 – got it now?).

http://www.comicsreview.co.uk/nowreadth ... nual-1951/

...and became one of the longest surviving regular comic character until his last appearance in Jack and Jill comic in 1985.

http://www.britishcomics.com/Rainbow/index.htm

1904 to 1985, that's 81 years, beating the DCT stars. Rupert debuted in November 1920 making him 92 years old now.

[stevezodiac]

The Broons and Oor Wullie have been running since March 1936 and with new strips throughout that time.

[philcom55]

As far as I know Tiger Tim was the only one of AP's rather quaint old nursery comic strips to to survive into the new 'Fleetway' era. Here's an original panel of Tim and his pals as drawn by Peter Woolcock, who was given the task of re-imagining them for a modern audience.



- Phil R.

[Digifiend]

The Broons and Oor Wullie have been running since March 1936 and with new strips throughout that time.

Which means that they'll overtake Tiger Tim in 2017.

[alanultron5]

Ah! But what is the shortest lived character in a `fun` strip?

[Lew Stringer]

Definitely.

...and became one of the longest surviving regular comic character until his last appearance in Jack and Jill comic in 1985.

http://www.britishcomics.com/Rainbow/index.htm

As far as I know, Tiger Tim's last appearance was when I used him in a cameo in a Tom Thug story in Oink! in 1987:
http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.co.uk ... pheap.html

Published by IPC, so it is 'canon'.

[Dunder Ed]

So what character has the most appearances in a comic?

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Try and beat THIS one guys:


An [admittedly American] strip is the only one in History that has spanned THREE SEPERATE CENTURIES, running from the late 1890s, until now, with all-new material, and still ongoing!!!!!

The holder of this remarkable record goes to newspaper strip THE KATZENJAMMER KIDS , sometimes known as THE CAPTAIN AND THE KIDS, and it still looks remarkably unchanged.......

[stevezodiac]

is it still the same artist?

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

----er........