The Broons set up shop

DC Thomson have just opened The Broons and Oor Wullie Shop; an online resource for fans of Scotland's long-running comic strips to purchase related merchandise. From Maw Broon's Shopping Bag to an Oor Wullie Paperweight it seems there's something for everyone, including of course compilations of the strips themselves.

Such a commercial venture would have been unthinkable from DC Thomson years ago, but times change and selling the "brand" is the order of the day now. The Broons and Oor Wullie began their weekly pages in The Sunday Post back in 1936, illustrated by Dudley D. Watkins, possibly the most accomplished and respected artist DC Thomson ever had. When Mr Watkins suddenly passed away in 1969 the strips ran as reprints for several years for it was felt no other artist could replace him. Eventually newer artists were assigned, encouraged to "ghost" the style of Dudley Watkins as closely as possible. Peter Davidson is the current artist, with Morris Heggie as scriptwriter, making sure the two strips still appear in the newspaper every Sunday.

Softback compilations of the most recent Oor Wullie and The Broons strips still appear on alternate years, and hardback collections of classic strips are published annually.

You can visit the online shop at http://www.thebroons.com/

There's now also an official Facebook page for the characters here:
https://www.facebook.com/TheBroonsFamily