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The Dandy

The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom. It is published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's second longest running comic, second only to Detective Comics (cover dated March 1937). It was re-named Dandy Xtreme in August 2007.

Image updates

The first issue, under the name The Dandy Comic, was published on December 4, 1937. It was published weekly until September 6, 1941, when wartime paper shortages forced it to switch to fortnightly, alternating with The Beano. It returned its weekly schedule on July 30, 1949. With the July 17, 1950, the magazine changed its name to just The Dandy.

After issue 3282 (dated 16 October 2004) in an attempt to boost sales, The Dandy underwent a radical format overhaul. The comic was turned towards a more television-oriented style, now printed on glossy magazine paper instead of newsprint. This was recently after when it was sold by D.C Thomson (makers of the Beano). The price was raised from 70p to £1.20 (99p for the first two weeks), a new comic strip called "Office Hours" appeared, and two supposedly new ones also started, though were actually revivals from a few years earlier ("Jak" and "Dreadlock Holmes").

As of August 2007 (issue 3426), The Dandy has had another update, becoming the fortnightly comic Dandy Xtreme. It now costs £1.99.

It seems that Dandy characters will no longer grace the cover. The first Dandy Xtreme had Bart Simpson on the cover.

Editors

The original editor was Albert Barnes. According to The Legend of Desperate Dan (published 1997), Dan's famous chin was modelled on Barnes. He stayed in the role until the 1980s. His replacement was Morris Heggie, who left the editorship in 2006 to become the DC Thomson archivist - Beano editor Euan Kerr was promoted at the same time. The current editor is Craig Graham

Dandy characters

Stars who are currently in the Dandy Xtreme as of July 2008:

Comic Strip	Time in Comic	Artist	Notes
Agent Dog 2-Zero	2004-2005, 2006, 2007-p	Wayne Thompson	None
Bananaman	1980-2006, 2007-p	C. McGhie	Originally in Nutty; Also in BEEB comic
Blinky	1990-2007, 2008-p	Nick Brennan	Reprints; Originally in The Beezer and Topper
Cuddles and Dimples	1986-p	Nigel Parkinson	Cuddles originally in Nutty (1981-1985), transferred to Hoot! (1985-1986), teamed up with Dimples following Dandy merger. Dimples strip in Dandy 1984-1986.
Desperate Dan	1937-p.	Jamie Smart	None.
Jak and Todd	1997-1999, 2001-2003, 2004-p	Wayne Thompson	None
Marvo the Wonder Chicken	1996-1998, 2008-p	Nigel Parkinson	Returned in August 2008, as he will soon have TV episodes airing.
Ollie Fliptrik	2002-p	Karl Dixon	None
Pinky’s Crackpot Circus	2004, 2005-2006, 2008-p	Gary Northfield	None

Other Dandy stars over the years have included:

Auntie Clockwise - Misadventures of a girl and her aunt travelling through time in a grandfather clock, a subtle parody of Doctor Who.
Bamboo Town - adventures in an African village.
Big Head and Thick Head - the adventures of two friends, one making stupid mistakes, the other too clever for his own good
Barney the Wonder Winger - a young footballer; Barney was the Dandy's first major ethnic minority character (not Dreadlock Holmes as was suggested at the comic's relaunch)
Billy Green and his Sister Jean - a somewhat-clumsy boy whose attempts to be environmentally friendly are sabotaged by his younger sister
Black Bob - a border collie
Blubba and the Bear (Reprints from Nutty)
Boy with the Iron Hands - two separate series under that name.
Brain Duane - A bald, big-headed spectacled boy genius whose inventions seem to go pear-shaped when used.
Brassneck - Charlie Brand and his metal pal.
Brewster Rooster
British Boys and Girls go West to Canada.
Bully Beef and Chips
Captain Hookless - drawn by Pete Player
Claude Hopper - a boy with extremely large feet
Comic Cuts - page of mini-strips which invited readers to write to the comic if they had a comic pal they wanted to see again. Characters did not have to be Dandy stars; even Beano characters of the time were occasionally featured.
Corporal Clott - an incompetent Corporal effectively acting as manservant to his superior officer
Dandy Doodles - Mini versions of popular Dandy characters, with the strip typically focusing on their relationships with the artist
Daring Deeds of the Sheriff's Little Sister
Der Daft Dachshunds - mini-strip featuring two hounds named Willem and Fritz
Desperate Dawg - a sheriff who was also a dog
Dinah Mo - a tomboy
Dirty Dick - drawn identically to Winker Watson, a boy who could not help getting unclean during his misadventures.
Dopey Dinah - mini-strip following a girl who always does wrong.
Euro School
Fibba - mini-strip about a boy who is always telling lies
First Class - similar to Class Act/P5
Foxy - about a fox who tries to eat the chickens but never succeeds
Freddy the Fearless Fly - misadventures of a fly.
Golden Ol' Days - an old man remembers his childhood
Granny - spin-off strip from Cuddles and Dimples, featuring the pair's grandmother
Growing Paynes - features two brothers who hate each other
Hairoil Hal - "your barber pal".
Hector Spectre
Hungry Horace - a kid forever hungry.
Hyde and Shriek - Misadventures of the nerdy descendant of Jekyll and Hyde and his vampiric butler.
It's Magic! - mini-strip featuring a young magician whose tricks always go wrong
Izzy Skint (He Always Is) A young boy who is always broke.
James (the worst schoolboy)
Jimmy's Pocket Grandpa - text stories in 1940, 1941.
The Jocks and the Geordies - the rivalry of pupils of two schools on the Scottish border.
Joe Mince - an unintelligent young boy, similar in personality to Smiffy from The Beano's The Bash Street Kids
Keyhole Kate - a skinny young girl who can't resist peering through keyholes.
King Dom, The Dandy Lion - a lion who is the king of the jungle
Korky the Cat
Korky and the Kits
Laughing Planet, The, with David Chattenborough - spoof of television wildlife documentaries, in which the presenter meets some unusual creatures
Little White Chief of the Cherokees - a British boy is made chief of the Cherokees but must complete a number of tasks against monsters.
Marshmallow
Miss Eve L. Powers, I Hate - mini-strip featuring a wicked school teacher and her class
My Pal, Baggy Pants - about a boy and his best friend, a twelve-foot tall Arabian 'wizard' complete with magic carpet
Meddlesome Matty - her meddling gets her into trouble.
Molly - story of a spoilt girl and her doting parents
Monkey Business - a group of monkeys who ran a supermarket. Drawn by John Geering
Mr Mutt - a gullible teacher often tricked by his class
Mutt and Moggy- two animals who own pet shops and are rivals
My Own Genie
Oliver Twister
Class Act/P5
P.C. Big Ears - a policeman with very large ears. Drawn by John Geering
Podge - the misadventures of a boy.
Potsworth & Co. - A comic strip based on the Hanna-Barbera series of the same name which was more popular in the UK than the U.S.
Postman Patel a Sikh postman who originally came from the Cuddles and Dimples stories
Puss 'n' Boots (from Sparky)
Rah-Rah Randall Each frame either cheering or booing
The Red Hot Chilli Dogs (2007-2008) Reprints from Sparky)
Richard's Snitch - a boy with a long nose that seemed to have a personality of its own
Reg Hog: The Spiked Avenger - a tough "gothic" hedgehog
Robin Hood's Schooldays - similar to The Bash Street Kids but set in medieval times
Robinson and his dog Crusoe - a boy apparently living in an African jungle
Roly Poly Joe - a short strip taking incongruous settings characteristic of some strips to the extreme. Joe appeared to be an Eskimo, an Indian and army boy combined
Rusty - a generic resourceful/mischievous boy
Sable - mini-strip starring a posh female cat
Sammy Supersnail - mini-strip based on a snail who originally featured in the Smasher strip
Screwy Driver A bungling DIY handyboy
Sherman Tortoise - a tortoise living in the grounds of a stately home, who has an army of insects that protect him from Scythe, the resident gardener
Sir Coward de Custard - a craven knight
Smarty Grandpa - a crafty old man appeared in the early days of the Dandy (He is a lookalike to Granpaw Broon of The Broons)
Smasher (1957-2002, 2007)
Smitten - a young boy and his problems with love
Sneaker's Sly Sneaks
Space Raoul by Jamie Smart
Spotted Dick - a spotty boy who spent most of his time on a hospital ward (from Hoot)
Swallowed by a Whale - two airmen stranded on a living island.
Sunny Boy - a highly intelligent boy who misbehaves as he is bored by school
Ted and the Animals
Tin Lizzie (Dandy cartoon)
Tom Tum Hungry obese schoolboy looking for his next meal.
Tony and Alberto (translated version of French comic strip Tony et Alberto
Tootuff (translated version of Swiss-French comic strip Titeuf by Zep)
Tricks of Tommy - a boy ventriloquist who gets into trouble.
The Tricks of Screwy Driver - the misadventures of an inventive schoolboy. This strip seems to have been the inspiration of Gilbert Ratchet from Viz
Tristan, The Vicar's Son - the misadventures of the son of a church vicar. The vicar in question appeared occasionally in the Cuddles and Dimples strip
Watch the Burdie - a cat's attempts to catch a pet budgie; a similar idea to the Sylvester and Tweety Bird animated cartoons
Wendy's Wicked Stepladder - a girl and her problematic stepladder
Wildfire the War Horse - a horse in WWI helps the allies.
Wild Man of the Woods - a native who mistreats animals in the jungle.
Winker Watson
World's Daftest Discoveries, The, with David Chattenborough - single panel drawing packed with bizarre creatures, spin-off from The Laughing Planet