Comic creator and Beezer fan Simon Mackie has launched a new blog that aims to chart the history of DC Thomson’s best-known large format humour comic.
The Beezer was a large format (tabloid newspaper/A3 sized) weekly published by DC Thomson from 1956-1981. Along with its sister comic, The Topper, it dominated the comic stands from the late 1950’s to early 80’s until it was cut down to A4 size.
“For many years the comic retained a charming consistency,” says Simon, who is a huge fan of the comic. “Fantastic artists like Dudley D. Watkins, Bill Ritchie, Leo Baxendale and Mal Judge contributed: the characters rarely changed and when you opened up the comic every week you knew exactly on what page they were going to be.”
Sadly, when it was shrunk in size, a lot of the original artists left and the characters and formats changed. The Beezer continued until 1993 when, after merging with The Topper, it ran for 153 issues before cancellation. Although never officially merged, some characters did continue in The Dandy and The Beano.
“My blog is solely devoted to the glory years of The Beezer when quality, style, consistency and above all size mattered,” Simon enthuses.
• Simon Mackie’s Beezer Blog: thebeezersgoldenyears.blogspot.com
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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