When (in the '80s) did the artist for Korky the Cat change?

[Lew Stringer]

Henry Davies drew a few for a short time after Dave Windett's version ended, a few years ago, and I drew two Korky strips for the Fun-Size Dandy seven or eight years ago.

Am I imagining it or did Gordon Bell draw a completely revamped Korky in the 1990s, with the character much shorter, and wearing a T-shirt with the letter 'K' on it?

Lew

[rossmac]

Can't say abut the artists but I don't think you'e imagining it- that 'K' jumper/shirt sounds very familiar to me too. I do recall a version of Korky in the early nineties that I remember thinking was a it odd/different and perhaps it was that one... I'll have a dig through my dandys from then and see,

Ross

[felneymike]

Korky had "The Kits" in the 90's, could one of them be what Lew is thinking of?

I named my own cat Rip after Rrip, one of the kits. Despite the fact that my brother got the Dandy. There was a distinct lack of feline characters in the beano... beyond the ones Gnasher chased up trees!

[Peter Gray]

http://uk.geocities.com/pjggordonbell

[AndyB]

Henry Davies drew a few for a short time after Dave Windett's version ended, a few years ago

He drew a few backgrounds and other characters, but I don't think it's accurate to say that Henry actually drew Korky...

[David]

Can't say abut the artists but I don't think you'e imagining it- that 'K' jumper/shirt sounds very familiar to me too. I do recall a version of Korky in the early nineties that I remember thinking was a it odd/different and perhaps it was that one... I'll have a dig through my dandys from then and see,

Ross

He also had The Kits in the 1976 Dandy annual (just bought it yesterday from a charity shop for 75p, got other annuals the same day too for 40p from a different charity shop in the same town centre), although the title of the strips in it is just "Korky The Cat".

I was reading one of those "Dandy Beano" classic strips annuals, and there was a story from the fifties that seemed to have The Kits (although it didn't say who they were, they looked like them and there were three of them), wearing bows in Korky's band.

[Conor B]

The Kits were around in the 1940s and 50s, but returned in the 80s. And Henry Davies actually signed the strips he drew.

[AndyB]

He typed that... but I don't believe he ever drew Korky himself once in the Dandy, on the computer or otherwise - he just inserted scans of Korky in poses from Charlie Grigg strips.

Same way as he constructed a Winker Watson strip in one Dandy special - I recognised the scans of the characters from Eric Roberts' drawings in an old Dandy Book.

[rossmac]

He typed that... but I don't believe he ever drew Korky himself once in the Dandy, on the computer or otherwise - he just inserted scans of Korky in poses from Charlie Grigg strips.

Same way as he constructed a Winker Watson strip in one Dandy special - I recognised the scans of the characters from Eric Roberts' drawings in an old Dandy Book.

So, wait, are you saying that at one stage they re-used old Charlie Griggs artwork, with new backgrounds? If so, when was this and was it in the regular Dandy, or just Specials and Annuals? And did they re-use the same storyline or create new ones?

I wonder why they did this- could they not find anyone who could successfully draw Korky so they had to resort to reprinting of a sort?

Also, any idea what comic/special/annual that Winker strip you talk about is in?

Ross

[AndyB]

No, as in Henry did it all himself (presumably barring the scripts). New stories, new backgrounds, new other characters, old clips of Korky used to tell new story in the weekly Dandy.

The Winker Watson tale was in a Dandy Summer Special about four or five years ago.

[comicsgalore]

Here are the artists 1937: James Crighton 1969: Charles Grigg 1986: Robert Nixon 1997: Vic Neill 1997: Jimmy Hansen 1998: David Sutherland 1999: Leslie Reavey 2002: Dave Windett 2004: Henry Davies 2005: Andrew Painter 2008: Chris McGhie 2010: Phil Corbett

[WizzKid97]

Here are the artists 1937: James Crighton 1969: Charles Grigg 1986: Robert Nixon 1997: Vic Neill 1997: Jimmy Hansen 1998: David Sutherland 1999: Leslie Reavey 2002: Dave Windett 2004: Henry Davies 2005: Andrew Painter 2008: Chris McGhie 2010: Phil Corbett

And Steve Bright.

[comicsgalore]

Steve Bright? When?

[Digifiend]

Did you even read the thread, comicsgalore?

David Gudgeon took over the Korky strip with Dandy No 2117 (19/6/82) and drew it with a few interruptions from previous artist Charlie Grigg until No 2347 (15/11/86). It was then taken over by Robert Nixon.