Comics UK

In the Fatty Fudge article at beano.com there's mention that Jim Petrie might come out of retirement to draw a new Fatty Fudge story. Jim Petrie's version of Minnie the Minx was my favourite thing in the Beano when I was growing up but I hadn't seen any of the Fatty Fudge stories until recently. It would be lovely to see a new story by him.
http://www.beano.com/characters/minnie- ... -of-fudge!

'It's not over until the fat man returns'.

My blog posts on Jim recently has really made me see his work in a new light...it was so full of energy..creativiness..loads of different expressions the characters had and lovely different movements..and the rapid fast take..seeing the multiple action..

Minnie was bouncing off the celling literally..

Great we'll see some new work by Jim...loved to shake his hand

I agree, his Minnie and Fatty Fudge were great. If he does draw Fatty Fudge in the Beano again then that's brilliant news.

For years, I felt like poor Petrie was being taken for granted. One look at exuberant Fatty, licking his lips with three tongues at once, made clear just how creative a talent he was (...er, Petrie, not Fatty).

I'd love to see him return for at least one new Fatty story—hell, a regular series if he could be coaxed! I fondly remember the days of the Fatty fairy tale and movie parodies; especially "Sleeping Fatty," in which the obese prince was quite literally "cursed" by the wicked witch ("Horrid oaf! Hideous fat lump! Rant! Rave!" or something to that effect).

But would the PC bigade be up in arms if FATTY fudge returned as surley they would object to the word fatty as calling someone that is a form of bulling/name calling etc.or am I giving the PC brigade to much credit & they aint that petty

As a Yank, I haven't seen too many Beanos in the last couple of years—but has Fatty Fudge ever actually vanished from the Minnie strip? I wasn't aware he had gone.
Presuming you're being serious, there's also a Fatty still very active in the Bash Street Kids, isn't there?

i forgot about fatty from bash st kids but i am surprised pc brigade hasnt jumped on that by now as dennis the menace was toned down and i know the characters aint allowed to be whacked by slippers now( even though many real life kids need it in real life now judging by the way they behave in the streets) as was seen in the end panel of many comics when i was young and im sure desperate dan wernt allowed cow pies anymore though i may be wrong on that score.

Big Bad, I'm afraid you've been misled by incorrect "conventional wisdom": Dan still enjoys his cow pies.

As for the slipper, it was banned as far back as 1995. Nothing new there.

Earlier than that, it was banned in the '80s. Fatty Fudge has been referred to as Frederick Fudge a couple of times, but yeah, they usually do call him Fatty, and of course the Bash Street Fatty doesn't even have another name to use (if Wizard ever gave him one, I'm not aware of it - Toots is Kate Pye, Sid is Sidney Pye, Danny is Daniel "Deathshead" Morgan, Smiffy is James Smith).

They did get rid of Spotty Perkins from Dennis and Gnasher and replaced him with a character called Dudley (his pal Bertie Blenkinsop only got redesigned and lost his surname, and Walter isn't "the Softy" anymore), so the PC brigade has struck in some places - Fatty Fudge isn't one of them.

When was Bertie redesigned, and when was the word Softy dropped? Did both changes coincide with the BBC series, or earlier?

Yes, both changes occurred when Dennis was revamped for the TV series.

Having said that, I think there was another softy character called Dudley Nightshirt who made occasional appearances, along with Nervous Rex, though Walter, Bertie and Spotty Perkins were always the main Softies, from the 1970s (I think Bertie and Spotty were introduced at the same time as Dennis's menacing mates Curly and Pie-Face) through to the launch of the new series in 2009.

i think both curly and walter were really old characters being in Dennis the Menace since at least back when David Law was drawing it and i am sure in a few David Law era strips Curly was ocassionally one of the softies or just softer than Dennis and a victim of his menacing.

Also they dropped Foo Foo in the Dennis revamp. if walter is sorta bullying Dennis in the revamp hes sorta like Nasty Norman who is an old Bully from Dennis the menace who only know about from reprints in Dennis the Menace annuals.

Tin Can Tommy wrote:Also they dropped Foo Foo in the Dennis revamp.

Yes, but they just brought him back!

And they even bothered to retcon his two year absence, which is unheard of!

Re: Spotty the softy, wasn't his real name given as 'Dudley' once or twice? Obscure, but still canon, like Plug's real name. That doesn't excuse the TV series physically wiping off his spots as well, though, nor completely redesigning both Softy companions. The old designs were distinctive and recognisable, and the new ones are bland and meh - never a good attribute in a cartoon character.

Spanking was abolished well before the mid 90s, probably around the mid 80s (if you're interested, join the hunt for the last slipper here). As for cow pie, that's a spiteful myth dreamt up and perpetuated by the Daily Mail, Daily Express, and all the rest of them when they want an excuse to moan about how the Dandy just isn't as good as it was back in the good old days - cow pies have never been absent, even temporarily, from Desperate Dan. Today's title picture even has a cow pie on it.

Oh, and Bri, since you don't seem to be buying the Dandy, could I just request that you do so, before its catastrophically low sales cause it to be cancelled? That goes for everyone else on here as well. No amount of hand-wringing will save it - it needs your cash, and it needs it now.

No. I think Spotty Perkins's real first name was Algernon, the same as the Bash Street Teacher.

And yes, Walter and Curly both appeared before the Dennis strip even expanded to a full page. Curly was originally neutral, it's only when Pie-Face was introduced that he officially became a Menace. Walter was always a softy, but that got more extreme in the 70s. Prior to that, he was more like early Cuthbert Cringeworthy.