Comics UK

Go on Kev, tell us who they are!!! (I recognise BIFFO THE BEAR as BTB....)

Nick B sure likes a drink at different pubs..........tried to meet him in a pub ***** ***** (privacy please - Al) in Cornwall......Falmouth....he went at lunch time I went in the evening so missed him..doh!..he went to 3 pubs in that one day...according to the pub landlord
No wonder all his characters he draws look drunk with bendy legs......

Keyhole Kate
Pansy Potter, The Strongman's Daughter
and
D.I.D ?

I love KK and PP but who on earth is DID?

HighAndMighty wrote: I love KK and PP but who on earth is DID?

Gotta be Desert Island Dick, right Kev? (And do I see a "Lost" parody coming here?)

Lew

Keyhole Kate? Isn't that from the Dandy? (or the Sparky version?)

WE WANT BIFFO!! well....I do...

Conor B wrote:Keyhole Kate? Isn't that from the Dandy? (or the Sparky version?)

WE WANT BIFFO!! well....I do...

Here's a pic of Biffo for you:

[img108]http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/8490/bif16oh.jpg[/img]

wow, I really needed that.

on the subject of 'worst-ever D.C. Thomson artist'........well, i sure ain't gonna start slagging off PADDY BRENNAN, ----[or anyone else for that matter]...........what i am gonna highlight here is the style of a very well-known 'DANDY' artist who took some 'flak' in his time,--------namely JIMMY HUGHES. [Iam not sure if he was aware of his reputation or not]--------------JIMMY drew 'BULLY BEEF and CHIPS', the 'JOCKS and the GEORDIES',-----also post-DAVEY LAW 'CORPORAL CLOTT'. Even within D.C.T.. at least one Editor claimed they 'WOULDNAE GIE HIM HOOSE ROOM';------and, notoriously, 'VIZ' sent up his style-----wholesale------in one memorable lampoon. iIt is true that old JIMMY had a fairly limited range in some subjects [picture a charging bull drawn by him, and then imagine one drawn by 'KORKY' artist CHARLIE GRIGG...........you will see what i mean]------------it has to be said, in all fairness to him, that his work was very popular INDEED. In 'DANDY' polls [after 'DAN' who was so popular, they didn't bother including]------'BULLY BEEF/ 'JOCKS' were almost always next-most popular, at least for a while. For all his shortcomings as an artist, there can be absolutely no doubt that 'BULLY BEEF and CHIPS' was loved by millions, and it still familiar to a large chunk of the U.K.population..................it is very difficult, for this writer at least, to erase that mental image of a trounced BEEFY fleeing in the final frame, stars radiating from his rear -end, and a triumphant CHIPS and his chums rejoicing in the background.

Amazing isn't it? What some regard as shortcomings struck me as a fresh and different style. Bully Beef and Chips added variety in my view. If a comic ever had a house-style to which everybody had to adhere wouldn't it tend toward staleness? Difference can equal innovation. I accept that it may also lead to disappearing up one's own fundament at times, but surely it's better to have that than just dreary mundanity?

I tend to agree with you........a surefire recipe for a nightmare scenario is an inbred, ,'generic' situation where everything looks the same...........full marks to the recent .'DANDY' overhaul [at least they have tried different things] In it's day, the 'DANDY' was the most staid of the THOMSON titles, employing mostly veteran artists...........i remember IAN GRAY once commenting that:' one cauld winter and the'DANDY' is over.'-------[a reference to the geriatric comics team].

Hi Rab! I'm so pleased you managed to get over your log-in gremlins and start to post here. I am impressed by the quality of your posts. Keep up the good work. Your chum,

Peter.

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:...........I remember IAN GRAY once commenting that:' one cauld winter and the'DANDY' is over.'-------[a reference to the geriatric comics team].

Love that quote! Sounds like pure Dundonian y'ken fit I mean like?

Jimmy Hughes is one of those artists who, as far as I'm aware, lived out the whole of his comic career in the pages of the Dandy and its satellite publications. Certainly, off the top of my head, I can't think of any other title he worked for. Patently Dandy editor Albert Barnes thought he was onto a winner when he 'discovered' Hughes in the mid 1960's and for two decades his work was a mainstay of the comic. As well as the strips already mentioned one of his first commisions was a quite lengthy stint as Eric Roberts' replacement on 'Dirty Dick' and strangely while he couldn't emulate the likes of Roberts or Davey Law his work still had a certain charm about it, not least because his very 'dense' style suited the Dandy's
overall look and feel at that time.

I had a stint ghosting Jimmy Hughes style on Bully Beef & Chips, plus a one-off Jocks and Geordies special, written by Jock, and ex-Dandy Ed, Morris Heggie, in order to exact friendly revenge upon the Geordies at Viz.

It was never a style I loved as a kid, although perhaps that had more to do with the relentlessly violent storylines Jimmy had to draw week in, week out under Albert Barnes. I just can't imagine how he would have tackled something more benign or subtle.

It turned out to be one of the toughest styles I've ever ghosted. And as with so many things in life, what I disliked intensely as a child, I grew to appreciate greatly as an adult. It was the same with T Rex...and Sophia Loren...

I found Tom Paterson's art on Buster too strong as a kid.......being brought up on Reg Parletts version......I didn't like seeing him getting hurt every week...liked Big Comic more than Buster at the time...

Now I love both Busters..now I'm older..and buy all the late 80's Buster comics I missed..