Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Formerly known as Classics from the Comics, this forum covers all of DCT's retired titles, like Beezer, Topper, Victor, Nutty and Sparky!

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stevezodiac
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Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by stevezodiac »

I was in my storage unit yesterday looking through the last of the bags and boxes and brought home a few comics to sell on ebay. I looked through a Hotspur and found it had one of those four page pink inserts advertising Beezer number 1. Needless to say I will not now be putting that issue of Hotspur on the aforementioned famous auction website. The middle pages are a spread so you'll have to put up with them being in two halves.

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Digifiend
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Re: Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by Digifiend »

Didn't know Bushwhacker was in issue 1, and it looks like The Banana Bunch, like the Bash Street Kids, once had an unknown number in the gang, before later settling down with a core few. Interesting also that although shown, neither Ginger nor Pop Dick and Harry were named. Yet they would be the only cover stars in its history (until the merger in 1990). Nice find. :D

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Re: Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by Kashgar »

Although all of the more 'serious' stuff on this insert uses examples drawn by the artists of the strips as they appeared in the Beezer all of the comic characters and other incidental art is the work of Thomson staff artist George Drysdale who ironically, if memory serves, never had a strip of his own that featured in the comic.

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Re: Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by Kashgar »

Digifiend wrote:Didn't know Bushwhacker was in issue 1, and it looks like The Banana Bunch, like the Bash Street Kids, once had an unknown number in the gang, before later settling down with a core few. Interesting also that although shown, neither Ginger nor Pop Dick and Harry were named. Yet they would be the only cover stars in its history (until the merger in 1990). Nice find. :D
Once they dropped the idea of the Banana Bunch appearing in a single huge panel (a la Casey Court) it made more sense to reduce the numbers involved for the standard comic strip format.
Again from memory and without reference to my own 'Book of the Beezer' (which covers the comics history from its first issue until the final issue of Beezer and Topper) I have a feeling that in the early 1960's Baby Crockett appeared on the front cover a number of times. I'll check this out to make sure.

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Re: Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by Kashgar »

Baby Crockett was indeed the cover star for four months in 1962. Also as well as Ginger and Pop Dick and Harry as cover stars in its last years Ginger was dropped as the cover feature in favour of True Brit and then Adrian the Barbarian.

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Digifiend
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Re: Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by Digifiend »

Thanks for that - I always thought Ginger was on the cover until the merger, then new character Geezer and Topper's existing cover star Beryl the Peril had the cover. Not sure exactly how long each though. Strange that Beryl got the cover though, since the comic was split Whizzer & Chips style (the two titles used different speech captions), and the front cover should be Beezer (like W&C's was part of Whizzer).

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Jonny Whizz
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Re: Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by Jonny Whizz »

I'm sure Ginger had two spells on the front cover - he was the first cover star in the 1950s, yes, and he was again from the late 1960s to some point in the '80s (I think). I didn't know about Baby Crockett having the cover page. Interestingly, on the Wikipedia page, it says that Ginger, unusually, 'grew older' as the strip progressed, growing from being a smaller child in the early days and later becoming a teenager. It appears to be correct - the Ginger shown in the advert looks a lot 'younger' than in the other things I've seen him in.

I'm too young to remember The Beezer - the combined Beezer and Topper ceased before I was born. However, I have seen a number of strips in Classics. The problem with that of course is it doesn't have the classic A3 paper. I think both comics lost something when they went A4, as it really added to their charm somehow.
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Digifiend
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Re: Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by Digifiend »

Correct. Ginger was the original cover star, gave way to Pop Dick and Harry, then as Kashgar said, Baby Crockett took over briefly, before Ginger returned to the cover in the mid-60s, where he stayed for about 20 years.

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Re: Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by Kashgar »

Beezer cover stars
Ginger 1956
Pop Dick and Harry 1956-1962
Baby Crockett 1962
Pop Dick and Harry 1962-1964
Ginger 1964-1987 (after the comic ceased to be a tabloid title in 1981 Ginger's strip occupied both the front a back pages).
I personally don't think there was any appreciable change in Ginger's age throughout the run of his strip. He always seemed on the cusp of adolescence to me.

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Digifiend
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Re: Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by Digifiend »

Whenever a Ginger non-cover strip (I assume back page) is used in Classics, I notice the title shows photos of Ginger looking more like that preview ad than he does in the actual story. In the story though, he looked the same as he ever did until Nick Brennan took over artwork in the last few Beezer Books. He must've simply changed appearance slightly in the first few months of the strip.

You said Baby only lasted on the cover for four months. How long was Ginger's 1956 stint as cover star, and any idea why it was switched? And I assume Baby was swapped out for the same reason as Dandy's Cuddles and Dimples four decades later.

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Re: Beezer no. 1 four page advert.

Post by Kashgar »

Ginger was on the cover for the first 33 issues. Why he was 'demoted' is a moot point. Maybe having three comics out of four with Dudley Watkins covers was considered playing it too safe or maybe it was editor Ian Chisholm's 'give-get' from managing editor R D Low for agreeing to tone down the Banana Bunch and remove it from the back page. There was certainly more anarchy and zaniness in Tom Bannister's Pop, Dick and Harry than there was in DDW's philosophising, 'lad about town' Ginger.

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