Billy Whizz's new artist

[Jonny Whizz]

Congrats to Digi on reaching another milestone. Compared to him when it comes to posting, I'm Jonny Slow.

I can provide a bit more info on Les Pretend - John Sherwood died in 2003 (don't know when exactly). From when I started reading the Beano in 2002, Les was in it most weeks until around July/August '03, when he started to appear less, and Sherwood strips continued to appear until December, by which time he was appearing less regularly (the final regular Sherwood strip appeared in issue 3205, 20th December 2003, apart from one that appeared six months later, that had obviously been stockpiled).

He then disappeared for a few weeks, then returned around February/March '04 in a couple of episodes drawn by Steve Bright, before Trevor Metcalfe took over. Trevor drew two runs of strips I think, in summer 2004 and spring 2005, with an odd one in October '04, before he disappeared again after issue 3283 (20th June 2005). I don't know why Trevor stopped drawing him then - it wasn't because DCT dropped him, that was later. I have a feeling it might have been because he took over Billy Whizz at the same time.

Les's strip wasn't seen again until issue 3365, dated 27th January 2007 as a John Sherwood reprint. This was when the Beano started to regularly use reprints, and this run lasted up to issue 3375 (the same one where Fred's Bed and Riot Squad started), dated 7th April 2007. Another reprint appeared in September before Laura's one-off strip in Beano issue 3402, 13th October '07. After that, he was next seen in issue 3444 (9th August 2008), as a reprint, since when Les strips have frequently appeared in the comic. I know in the Beano Top 100 he was listed 18th, but he's overtaken Calamity James, and by now Pansy Potter as well, placing him about 16th (though he may have passed Baby-Face Finlayson as well, depends on how many times he's appeared). He'd made 649 appearances as of July 2008.

A bit a long read I know, but I find this stuff interesting.

[Phoenix]

Congrats to Digi on reaching another milestone. Compared to him when it comes to posting, I'm Jonny Slow.

I think even Billy Whizz would be struggling to keep up. The rest of us are mere tortoises in comparison. I wonder if he ever sleeps!!

[Jonny Whizz]

Re-reading some of the comments on the Beano website regarding Billy's new look, I was interested to see how opinion was divided. Some people love the new style, but others absolutely hate it, and would much rather have the old style back. (Although by 'old style Billy' isn't totally clear what they mean, because the reprints were a bit mixed up, although when they started doing them they tended to David Parkins reprints, and the majority after the 70th birthday issue were Vic Neill strips.)

I'm split at the moment. On one hand, Nick Brennan is great at portraying speed and the essence of rush. Also on the positives, I did like this week's story. On the other hand, I don't actually think he's that good at drawing Billy, and I preferred other artists' interpretations in this respect.

[ComicCrazy]

Good story this week. favourite Billy by him so far.

[RC and GT]

Wayne's too much of a gent but I think it's about time this was cleared up.
The 'missing pupils' episode was due to an error that occurred after the coloured art left Wayne's computer. I have seen the original art and believe me the pupils were intact.

I've spoken to Wayne about this and it does irk us both that this continues to get ref'd this far down the line. Even after (if memory serves correct) Lew tried to explain that no artist is likely to construct a page in this manner - ink pupils, ink noses, ink hands....and so on.

Can we draw a line under this? Or do we draw these last?

[Jonny Whizz]

I'm glad that this has been cleared up now.

Firstly, I owe an apology for Wayne for thinking that he could forget to fill in Billy's pupils. I remember there was a thread a long time ago on the old forum, it would be nice if possible if this could be brought up in the 'Old posts' bit of this site, but I'm not expecting that to happen.

Secondly, looking back, Wayne's version of Billy was very good. He only became my favourite when Wayne started drawing him - before then, I liked Roger the Dodger best. I doubt if Billy would ever have become my favourite if Graeme Hall had stayed drawing him. Wayne's Billy was much better than Graeme's, and I also thought that his Billy was better than Nick Brennan's current version.

Best regards, Jonny.

[Jonny Whizz]

Out of interest, what did you guys think of all the previous versions of Billy?

This week's Billy was a bit disappointing, because the story was very predictable - that idea's been used at least twice before, and most recently in 2006. I'd have liked something more original, though I do not want to overly criticise the Beano writers.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, I remember the last time a story about attempts to photograph him was done. That plot is used too often.

[Jonny Whizz]

Having seen six stories so far by Nick Brennan, I'm still not really convinced. He isn't rubbish (he is good at showing speed), and I'm probably a bit cynical, but I definitely preferred the old styles of Billy.

I miss the old days when his eyes weren't at the top of his head, his arms and legs were more normal (thicker and less bendy) and his trainers were in colour. I just think the new Billy looks a bit too odd, and his general proportions seem a little old to my eye.

[Lew Stringer]

It could be said that if you're old enough to remember several Billy Whizz art styles you're older than the target age for The Beano.

Lew

[Jonny Whizz]

Ahem! Yes, I am older than the target age range.

Billy's had a lot more artists over a short period of time than some of the other characters though. When I first started reading the Beano his artist was Graeme Hall, then Wayne Thompson took over a year later (I hasten to add at this time I was still in the target age range). Indeed, I was still only 10-11 when Trevor Metcalfe started doing his second version. By the time they started reprinting them however, I was a bit beyond the target age range. Still, the point is that since Mal Judge died, only Vic Neill has actually drawn Billy for any longer than three years - it's hard to think of any other strips with such a fast turnover rate for artists (though it is possibly appropriate!).

[Digifiend]

Does anyone else think that Billy's mum now looks like she could be related to Daisy (from Crazy for Daisy)?

[Jonny Whizz]

Yes, I noticed that. What's strange is that although Billy has changed a lot over the years (first the tracksuit, then the lightning bolt hair being the two main changes, though the latter was later reversed), prior to now, the rest of his family remained largely the same. While Vic's Billy looked almost completely different to Mal's, Billy's parents and Alfie didn't change much at all.

It's not the first time a Beano character has had their parents being dramatically changed. Roger's mum was originally older (I think) and had black hair, and for a time Tom Paterson made Minnie's parents look like Sweeney Toddler's parents.

[Steve Henderson]

Tom Paterson doing Minnies parents are probrably the only thing I havn't liked of his. Not because the artwork was poor quality but because it wasn't Minnies Dad!

[Jonny Whizz]

I agree, I didn't like the changes either. Fortunately, they were later changed back, although Tom never gave Minnie's Dad his moustache back, which still made him looka bit odd. When Ken took over, her parents looked as they'd always been, and her Dad had his moustache.