Over on Lew Stringer’s always wonderful Blimey! It’s Another Blog About Comics, he notes that the world’s longest running comic The Dandy is 70 years old any day now.
Issue Number 1 was cover dated 4th December 1937, which means DC Thomson’s ground-breaking title would have been in the shops a few days before that.
“A proper history and tribute to the comic would take more time and reference than I have,” says Lew, “so as a nod of respect to the first comic I ever had (and which helped me learn to read) I just want to focus on a period in the mid 1960s. In particular the adventure strips that appeared in The Dandy at that time.”
Lew offers a great overview of some of the best-remembered strips that featured in the comic, reminding us how many British comics featured both humour and adventure tales in their pages at one time (but, sadly, no longer). Check out the article for yourself, but meanwhile, happy birthday to the Dandy! May there be many more, whatver form the title takes in the future.
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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.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers
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