Jubilee japes in this week's comics

British comics have a long history of celebrating contemporary events, whether it's Christmas or coronations, and this week is no exception. Both The Dandy and The Beano, out today, have themes to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, with covers drawn by Jamie Smart and Barrie Appleby respectively.

Inside the comics, only a few strips carry the jubilee theme, but The Dandy has two very nice pages from the archives, with Korky the Cat (by James Crichton) and Desperate Dan (by Dudley Watkins) celebrating the Queen's coronation from the June 6th 1953 issue. 

Forget the jubilee though. The BIG news in The Dandy this week is that The Banana Bunch are back! The old Beezer characters are given a facelift and their all-new adventures kick off in style as a centre-spread strip by Nigel Parkinson. No, I'm not showing a preview here. Rush out and buy a copy of The Dandy today. You'll love it.

Meanwhile, over in Toxic, there's a celebratory I-Spy double page jubilee street party spread I drew. Here's a small size preview...

Also in the same issue, Team Toxic attempt to honour the celebrations as Doc Shock constructs a giant robot of the Queen. Will things run smoothly? Well, the story title is Jubilee Rampage so don't bet on it!

That's Toxic No.204, also out today, priced £2.80 for 40 pages plus a bagful of gifts.