The real world origins of The Beano’s teen superhero, Billy the Cat back in the 1960s may be a bit of a mystery, but at least the fictional character has an origin story, thanks to author David Carman, created with permission from copyright holders, DC Thomson.

First appearing in The Beano in 1967, “Billy the Cat”, drawn by David Sutherland was one of several adventure stories that used to run in the weekly comic, today, as, simply, BEANO, now fully focused on humour strips. The story centred on William Grange, the orphaned son of police officers who died in a car accident, inspired by his parents’ legacy to fight crime in the small town of Burnham. 

The strip, later retitled “Billy the Cat and Katie”, when William’s cousin joined him in his battles, ran in The Beano from No. 1289 (cover dated 1st April 1967) to 1677 (7th September 1974). Billy also appeared in Buddy, and has been parodied more than once, including by VIZ.

The character remains much loved, one of his most recent official appearances beautifully realised by the late, much-missed Nigel Dobbyn, in a stunning adventure published in the 2010 Beano Annual, scripted, drawn and letters by Nigel.

Mike Chinn also write a Billy and Katie story for The Beano, also wonderfully illustrated by Nigel.

Nigel also worked up a proposal for a new take on the character that was in the works for the ill-fated STRIP Magazine I edited in 2013, under licence from DC Thomson. Sadly it din’t happen, although my “King Cobra” story did start to run in STRIP, which DC Thomson have copies of, unfortunately unfinished.

Fans of the character, including ace artist Staz Johnson, have regularly pondered potential revivals.

Little is known, it appears, of the creation of character by The Beano team, back in the 1960s, although the success of Batman on TV must surely have been a factor in his real world origin.

Intrigued by the character, author David Carman, has written two “Billy the Cat” adventures published online for free, with the permission of DC Thomson. “The Origin of Billy the Cat & Katie” is a fully authorised story about the crime fighting duo. The open ended “Whatever happened to Billy the Cat and Katie?”, reveals, partially what happened to the heroes, decades after most of their adventures, when a persistent reporter tries to track them down.

“There’s something about British comic books that just hooks you from the start,” says David. “Crazy schoolkids (‘Bash Street’), amazing athletes (‘Alf Tupper’), great war stories (Commando was a fave), bonkers animals (Korky, Gnasher, Biffo) and great inventions like Brassneck and General Jumbo’s army. But the best for me was Billy the Cat and Katie. So much so that I wrote their backstory, with the kind permission of DC Thomson.”

• You can read both stories on David Carman’s website, and other stories too

Billy and Katie the Cat ©️ DC Thomson Media

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “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: downthetubes News

Tags: Adventure Comics, Billy the Cat, David Carman, The Beano