Important comic characters of the 1960's

[Kashgar]

The criterion that I have used here is that a comic character, or more precisely a character that featured in a comic, as this allows for the inclusion of adventure strip characters as well, must have appeared at least 100 times in a comic within the decade.
As they were two of the titans of the decade, and indeed many other decades, I've decided to begin with the Dandy and the Beano with the Dandy going first. The number after the character name indicates the number of issues in which that particular character appeared in the comic within the decade to a maximum of 522.

The Dandy

Only two Dandy characters were ever present in the 1960's

Korky the Cat 522
Desperate Dan 522

Then the big shake up in October of 1960, which saw the addition of 4 extra pages to the comic, saw the arrival of

Dirty Dick 481

And then four issues later within the comics, now full colour, centre-spread

Corporal Clott 477

Next up, and easily the most popular adventure strip character in any comic title of the 1960's in a total of 23 serials, the already evergreen adventures of

Black Bob 426

Then, debuting in 1961, one of the most successful light comic adventure strips of all in a total of six serials

Winker Watson 328

Then we have, debuting in 1964 and surviving the decade

Greedy Pigg 251

Followed by a strip that debuted in 1963 and didn't

Big Head and Thick Head 215

Then a comic adventure strip character who first appeared in 1964 and whose first series lasted for over three years

Brassneck 169

The next two titles are tied so I've listed them in appearance order

Sonny Boy- he's a bright spark 134

whose appearances all occurred in the early 1960's and then a strip that began in 1967 but then went on for decades

Bully Beef and Chips 134

Just below them we have another strip that appeared in the early 1960's

Ali Ha Ha and the Forty Thieves 132

And, finally, thanks to a single long series late in the decade the comic adventures of

Spunky and his Spider 117

[philcom55]

I occurs to me that Buster (the character) might even give Korky a run for his money as I seem to remember that he sometimes appeared twice in the same week - even though Buster (the comic) wasn't quite running for the whole decade.

[Kashgar]

In fact Phil, if we were to include multiple appearances within the same comic then Buster would have a grand total of 598 appearances in strips in the Buster comic in the 1960's.

[philcom55]

...Not bad for a kid from the backstreets!

[colcool007]

And another kid from the back streets did fairly well with his running around the mean streets of Greystoke and that was Alf Tupper who knocked up 234 appearances in the Victor alone. I would need to dig out the annuals and Summer Specials for a fuller account of his appearances and that's not even including any appearances in other comics either as a supporting character or the reprints of the text stories.

How are you calculating the decade? Are you going 1960 to 1969 or 1961 to 1970?

[Kashgar]

1960 to 1969 Col.

[colcool007]

1960 to 1969 Col.

Thanks Ray.

[Kashgar]

By the 1960's the Beano was the most popular and most stable title, contents wise, of all British comics with five of its strips being able to claim ever present status

Biffo the Bear
Dennis the Menace
Little Plum
Minnie the Minx
The Bash Street Kids

with another following very close behind

Lord Snooty and his Pals 516

and two more tied on 481 not too far behind either

Roger the Dodger
The Three Bears

These were then followed by the Beano of the 1960's most popular new arrival

Billy Whizz 294

and a strip that was created and finished in the 1960's which split its issue run across two series

Punch and Jimmy 263

Next up came the Beano's most popular adventure strip of the decade

The Q Bikes 208

followed by the latter half of the run of a truly classic strip

Jonah 180

Then we had another Beano adventure strip legend

General Jumbo 168

and the three year run of

Colonel Crackpot's Circus 156

Next up was the reworking of an adventure strip that had had its first appearance
in the text story format and had had numerous adventure strip appearances in the 1950's

The Iron Fish 111

followed by a latecomer to the Beano of the 1960's

Pup Parade 107

and finally the aquatic adventures of

Danny on a Dolphin 105.

[Kashgar]

I always loved Thomsons tabloid comic titles of the 1960's. I enjoyed the way they were constructed in a different way to the regular sized comics with more colour and more interesting page layouts.
Throughout the 1960's the Topper, the older of Thomsons two tabloid titles, would feature fourteen strips that clocked up 100 appearances or more with four of them able to claim ever present status,

Mickey the Monkey
Beryl the Peril
Nancy
Foxy

Each of the above being also noteworthy for having been in the pages of Topper since its first issue in Feb 1953.

The list then continues as follows

Figaro 519
Julius Cheeser 507
Send for Kelly 470
King Gussie 435
Big Uggy 314
Desert Island Dick 308
The Bustem Boys 235
Big Fat Boko 180
The Whizzers from Ozz 117
Tall Tales from Toad-in-the-Hole 110.

[Kashgar]

The Beezer would surpass even the Beano for the stability of its contents in the 1960's. In fact I don't think that any other title, of any sort, could match it for its continual ability to feature long running strips and characters in the 1960's with a total of 23 strips or serial characters appearing in the comic for more than 100 issues in the decade. With the list being as follows -

Ginger 522
The Banana Bunch 522
Pop, Dick and Harry 522
Baby Crockett 522
Colonel Blink 522
The Badd Lads 519
The Numskulls 407
The Mob Next Door 274
Little Mo 272
Young Sid - the Copper's Kid 272
The Kings of Castaway Island 253
My Pal Ropey 226
The Hillys and the Billys 173
Tommy Taylor's Toybox 159
Smiffy 152
Spacewhacker/BushWhacker (Silver family) 141
Jellymen/Year of Bedlam/DrQ (Potassium Roberts) 111
Mr Flippy 106
Roly Poly 106
Cap'n Hand 102
Wrinkle and Twinkle 102
The Gobbles 101
The Space Kids 101