Comics UK

I never seen this coming... this weeks Billy Whizz is not a repeat. In fact it was drawn by Nick Brennan! He was the last person I expected.... The don't seem to mention it on the Beano site. Heres the title if anyone is interested:

Well that's a big surprise! I wasn't expecting him to get a new artist any time soon, especially one who The Beano had stopped using a few years back, when Crazy for Daisy finished.

I noticed it immediately when I bought the Beano. I thought it was a reprint when I first bought it, because Nick Brennan's work hasn't been in it for some itme, but I couldn't think when it could possibly be, because he has his original hairs, which meant it couldn't be between 1994 and 2003, and I have every issue since 2002, so I knew it wasn't from then.

Maybe it's just me, but I actually preferred Vic Neill reprints. The new Billy might grow on me, but there's always the danger of a 'G Hall' scenario.

I agree about the G Hall situation, I've never been a Nick Brennan fan. It's ironic actually, as Nick did Pinky's Crackpot Circus for The Dandy, a remake of Mal Judge's Colonel Crackpot's Circus from the Beano of the 60s, so Billy Whizz is the second Mal Judge strip he's taken over.

BILLY'S hands have 'mickey-mouse-like' four digits! Is this common in modern comics artwork?

Dennis too, since they started using the TV show style. Billy's not first and he won't be the last.

Billy was drawn with four digits when Mal drew him. David Parkins gave him five, which was retained by Trevor Metcalfe and Vic Neill. Graeme Hall reduced it back to four, Wayne Thompson drew him with four, and Trevor's Wacom tablet version varied. Nick Brennan usually draws with four digits, but I think he used to draw with five.

In the current Beano, Johnny Bean also has four digits. Similarly, Fred from Fred's Bed is drawn with four digits when Hunt Emerson does him, but when Tom Paterson has drawn him, he has five, like he did in The Beezer and Topper.

Personally, I prefer five digits. I always draw Billy Whizz with four fingers and a thumb.

I think that 'human' characters look better with five digits.....it doesn't seem to matter so much with animal characters.

Personally I like Nick Brennan. Theres no other artist that has a similar style. I'm still not sure if he's going to be a permanent artist for Billy Whizz or not yet.

If Nick Brennan is the permanent artist, then I'd probably be a little disappointed (with no offence to him of course). I think they could possibly have chosen a better artist, though that's partly my personal preference. I think Tom Paterson would have been good.

My main concern is that his style, while unique, is reminiscient in certain respects of that of Graeme Hall. When he drew Billy Whizz, the strip's popularity plummeted, and serious consideration was taken to actually dropping him. I don't reallythink that he's a 'natural' for Billy. Of Billy's artists, I'd say that Mal and Trevor were both 'natural' artists for the character, whereas Parkins and Neill changed him to suit them. Wayne Thompson's version was essentially a modernised version of Judge's style, but unfortunately the quality of artwork later decreased due to his workload I think.

I think we'll have to see how it goes before we can make a proper judgement. I'm not particularly impressed at the new version of Billy, but I think we should give Nick Brennan's interpretation a chance.

It is generally beleived the 'four' fingers on cartoon characters is done by animators who wish to save time by missing out the extra finger.

Why its translated into comics I have no idea. Anyone have any early examples of four fingers in comics that predate animation?

Steve Henderson wrote:It is generally beleived the 'four' fingers on cartoon characters is done by animators who wish to save time by missing out the extra finger.

Why its translated into comics I have no idea.

I always used to give my characters four digits, - all the Tom Thug and Combat Colin strips were like that. It just looked less cluttered for my style. However I changed to the more "traditional" five a few years back, can't remember when, - perhaps when I started ghosting on Viz.

If I'd known four digits was going to be the fashion I'd have kept to that.

Lew

I think the new style is great. A lot more fluidity about it and each panel gives me that essence of 'rush'. With the bendier style, it's like he's still moving within the frame, whereas earlier versions seem to have a 'snapshot' sense of Billy.

I think it'll easily appeal to 9 year olds.

They've finally got round to mentioning it on the website.

http://www.beanotown.com/index.php?id=151

They've finally got round to mentioning it on the website.

Finally? It's not as if they've left it for more than an issue/week, it's been 2 days. The site looks like it's been packed for each day since Wednesday. And it's more than a 'mention', it's a proper blog entry.

I wonder what planet you're on sometimes.

Cue the backlash....