Classic characters return to The Dandy

Cover by Jamie Smart. Good innit?

This week's issue of The Dandy (out now) sees the return of two classic strips given a modern makeover. Heralded with a topline on the cover, Beryl the Peril makes her triumphant comeback drawn by the brilliant Steve Bright. 

Beryl was originally a star of The Topper of course, but joined The Dandy after The Topper folded years ago. Now she's back again, with a redesign to her outfit (no outdated gymslip anymore) but retaining the familiar Peril face. Steve Bright even applies a style to the strip similar to that of the great Davy Law (Beryl's original artist) which should please even the grumpiest critics. 

Printed off-register in my copy but STILL looks great!

Another old Dandy strip making its return this week is Bully Beef and Chips. The original debuted on the back page of the comic in 1967 drawn by James Hughes, and the new version is by Wayne Thompson who has given the characters a modern revamp. Beefy's fringe and their outfits remain the same but the characters are more exaggerated. It works for me, and hopefully today's readers will take to it too. 

You know he's gonna pay for that. It's comic Karma.

What this proves I think is that The Dandy has such a rich history of characters that most of them could be revamped to some extent or other for a modern audience. However it's good to see the comic still generates brand new characters as well, and strips such as Jamie Smart's Mega-Lo Maniacs (seen on the cover of this week's issue) and Alexander Matthews' Nuke Noodle are excellent. I'm currently drawing a brand new character too, who will hopefully debut in the summer. More on that at a later date.

The Dandy No.3582, £1.99 from newsagents, supermarkets, airports etc.