The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Discuss or comment on anything relating to Britain's longest running comic. The home of Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan. Has been running since 1937.

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by AndyB »

The top ten!

No. 10 - Bully Beef and Chips
New one page strip by Wayne Thompson. Original artist was Jimmy Hughes, Bob Nixon succeeding him in the 1980s, and Sid Burgon in the 1990s.

No. 9 - Smasher
New one page strip by Lew Stringer. Original artist was Hugh Morren, Brian Walker succeeding him in the 1980s.

No. 8 - Beryl the Peril
New one page strip by Nigel Parkinson. Original artist in the Topper was Davy Law, other artists have included John Dallas, Bob Nixon, Karl Dixon and Steve Bright.

No. 7 - Bananaman
New one page strip by Wayne Thompson. Original artist was John Geering, other artists have included Barrie Appleby, his original writer Steve Bright, and Chris McGhie.

No. 6 - The Jocks and the Geordies
New one page strip by Paul Palmer. Original artist was Jimmy Hughes.

No. 5 - Korky the Cat
New one page strip by Nigel Auchterlounie. Original artist was Jimmy Crichton, other artists have included Charles Grigg, Bob Nixon, Dave Sutherland, Dave Windett and Phil Corbett.

No. 4 - Brassneck
Two page reprint from 27/3/71 by Bill Holroyd. Other artists have included Steve Bright and Nick Brennan.

No. 3 - Winker Watson
Two page reprint by Eric Roberts. Other artists have included Tom Williams, Terry Bave and Stephen White, but there was a regular artist I can't identify between Eric and Terry.

No. 2 - Corporal Clott
Two page reprint by Davy Law. Other artists have included Jimmy Hughes, Steve Bright, and Nigel Auchterlounie.

No.1 - Desperate Dan
New two page story by Ken Harrison in pre-2004 style. Original artist was Dudley Watkins, other artists have included Charles Grigg, John Geering and Jamie Smart. Alas, no Little Bear in sight!

Nigel Auchterlounie
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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by Nigel Auchterlounie »

AndyB wrote:The top ten!

No. 5 - Korky the Cat
One page reprint by Nigel Auchterlounie. Original artist was Jimmy Crichton, other artists have included Charles Grigg, Bob Nixon, Dave Sutherland, Dave Windett and Phil Corbett.
The Korky strip isn't actually a reprint. You may have a memory of it because I posted the rough (B&W on lined paper) of it on this forum a year or two ago. And Michelle put it on the Dandy facebook a year or two ago.
They asked me to draw it up proper for the final issue.

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by Digifiend »

Wasn't Bully Beef and Chips also later drawn by Brian Walker?

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by Peter Gray »

Desperate Dan by Ken moved me the most as they went into the sunset...

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by ISPYSHHHGUY »

Into the Dundonia Sunset maybe, but this comic will live on forever within our hearts.....

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by Digifiend »

Yeah, I liked his quote at the end about his adventures never ending. I also liked how Freddy the Fearless Fly basically called Jamie's version an imposter, referencing just how different it was to the classic style.

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by AndyB »

Not sure about Brian Walker, but Sid Burgon did draw Bully Beef and Chips.

Nigel, I really appreciate the correction, which I have made in the original post. Anyone else who can help with corrections, fire ahead.

Now for the rest:

Front cover
Main image by Jamie Smart, featuring:
Beryl the Peril, Jak and Todd, Brassneck, Owen Goal, Nuke Noodle, Bad Grandad, Winker Watson, possibly Marvo the Wonder Chicken, Corporal Clott, Korky the Cat, Cuddles and Dimples, Dan and Banaman.
Overlaid image of Dan by Nigel Parkinson (Yes, I thought it was Ken too!)

Main strip
Drawn by Nigel Parkinson and coloured by Nika. Characters in order of appearance:
Craig Graham, Desperate Dan, Blinky, Greedy Pigg, Keyhole Kate, Cuddles and Dimples, Corporal Clott, Korky, Brassneck, Bully Beef, Bananaman, Beryl, Michelle O'Donnell, Sir Paul McCartney, the Smasher, and Black Bob before the 50-strong finale (left to right(ish)):
Dragon, the Smasher, Dinah Mo, Mitzy, Chips, Dan, Bully Beef, Screwy Driver, Jonah, Korky, Corporal Clott, Lucy Grimm, Freddy the fearless fly, Black Bob, Ollie Fliptrik, Craig Graham, Ali-ha-ha, Dimples, Beryl, Blinky, Cuddles, Dreadlock Holmes, Big Jock, Harry Hill, Marvo the Wonder Chicken, Jack Silver, Sidney Geordie, the Bell Boy, Jak, Bad Max, Genie, Grockle, Brassneck, Todd, Hungry Horace, Winker Watson, Jibber, Danny Longlegs, Bananaman, Postman Prat, Greedy Pigg, Molly, Keyhole Kate, Dimples' Mum, Trevor Meecher, Eddie from Strange Hill, Owen Goal, Brain Duane, Dimples' Dad, and Pinky.

Back cover
Drawn by Ken Harrison, featuring:
Jimmy and his Grockle, Korky, Chips and Bully Beef, Moe, Joe and Daddy-O, Keyhole Kate, Whiskery Dick, Dan, Hungry Horace, Danny Long-legs, Charlie Chutney, Freddie the fearless fly and Septimus Spider, and Bananaman.

Other features
Ghoul run maze drawn by Steve Beckett
Two page preview of Digital Dandy
Wii U competition
Dandy Annual ad
Beano ad
Competitions page
Digital Dandy ad

Finally, the incomplete facsimile is printed on coloured newsprint and can be pulled out of the centre as it has its own staples. I've listed the missing pages in another thread...

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by Digifiend »

Ah, knew there was a BB&C artist you didn't mention anyway, I was probably thinking of Sid.

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by dishes »

Thanks for posting this, both for the list itself and the time you've taken to add your own comments and identify artists. I have to say I find it a little unnecessary to keep saying "not listed by comics uk". I can only speak for myself but I didn't interpret Peter Gray's "what will be in the top 75" thread as a serious attempt to guess the list, but more as a bit of fun, a chance for us all to name our own favourites. If I were really trying to guess them I wouldn't have gone for Tumba and Rumba! (And, anyway had we really tried to guess them, the agreeably random nature of the list would have thwarted us regardless.)
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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by AndyB »

That's why I didn't compare placings!

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by AndyB »

Corrected artist details for Big Head and Thick Head as per Lew's blog.

I think it was very interesting to compare the official top 75 with the ones members here nominated. Some you think to yourself, of course, how did we miss that, and others, like George vs. Dragon, you wonder how they missed out.

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by Digifiend »

And others make you think "What the...!?!" - I'm sure nobody expected anything not to have been in the weekly before to make the list.

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by WizzKid97 »

Notably 'Hamish the Haggis Basher'. How on earth does a one-off from an annual get in? Besides, Stu wasn't given any reference pictures to base the character off of so Hamish turned from a weedy young boy to a muscleman!

I don't understand how George VS. Dragon, Puss 'n' Boots and Brain Duane (among others) didn't get into the final issue whilst Simples and My Freaky Family did... It's a strange world...

I also think they made a massive blunder by making Nuke Noodle a mini-strip - it's a story about time for goodness sake - anything could have happened regarding The Dandy's history!

Also greatly dislike hearing there are many reprints in there - I can accept Ken Reid's being kept and obviously the Issue 1 reprint - but with Clott, Brassneck and Winker Watson all in the Top 5 and all reprints, it's a bit of a joke. Besides, I'd have liked to see the annual artists draw them. Nigel Auchterlounie, Steve Beckett and Will Dawbarn respectively.

Also sad to hear Jamie Smart doesn't get to draw Desperate Dan for this final issue - as much as I loved Ken's Desperate Dan, I'll always love Jamie's version. They should have had both - after all, they used up the final Dan a few months back (this was a great shame as it would have been a lovely final story).

I haven't got my issue yet but I'm also baffled to have learned that Black Bob, Joe White and the Seven Dwarves and The Umbrella Men (all of which I assume are adventure strips) are only mini-strips!

Still, I've heard good words about the Final Dandy so I remain hopeful.
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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by Digifiend »

All three of those were used for jokes. For example, in Black Bob, another farmer asks Andrew Glenn how Bob manages to gather the sheep so well. I won't reveal the answer, but it definitely isn't what would've happened in the original series. The Umbrella Men is a "where are they now" punchline.

Your complaint about Nuke Noodle also applies to Auntie Clockwise.

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Re: The actual Top 75 - with comments and other notes!

Post by WizzKid97 »

Digifiend wrote:All three of those were used for jokes. For example, in Black Bob, another farmer asks Andrew Glenn how Bob manages to gather the sheep so well. I won't reveal the answer, but it definitely isn't what would've happened in the original series. The Umbrella Men is a "where are they now" punchline.

Your complaint about Nuke Noodle also applies to Auntie Clockwise.
Ah, thanks James! I remember saying a while back Black Bob would work well as a humour strip and everyone told me how wrong I was! :lol:
Ah right, I've never heard of The Umbrella Men!

Auntie Clockwise as well? That sucks! Auntie Clockwise isn't as iconic as Nuke Noodle so that one can be left as a mini but Nuke Noodle really should have been extra-long with him beating up old characters and artists and things - that would have been very funny!
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