He was the teacher with the voracious appetite, forever finding ways to snatch food from his pupils, and now he's back for one week only. Greedy Pigg, who debuted in The Dandy in 1965 makes a guest appearance in Kid Cops in the current Dandy (No.3514) which is in the shops now.
I always admired the slapstick of George Martin's Greedy Pigg strips in the 1960s and how Mr.Pigg would often come a cropper in his pursuit of food. In reviving the character for this one-off appearance I've tried to make him look as close to the original as possible without making it look like I'm ghosting George Martin's style too much to avoid a clash of styles.
Kid Cops often turn the tables on bullies and authority figures so when I wanted a greedy teacher in the strip it seemed natural to re-use a classic character. He's still dressed as he was in the 1960s but minus his mortar board as I thought that might confuse modern readers. (In retrospect perhaps I should have kept it.) I'm under no illusions that it's anywhere near the brilliance of George Martin's version but I hope you like it.
The rest of this week's Dandy continues with the new look that was introduced several weeks ago, featuring Nigel Parkinson on Harry Hill's Adventures in TV Land, Jamie Smart on Pre-Skool Prime Minister, and a full page Korky the Cat by Phil Corbett plus much more. Next week will be the bumper Christmas issue, and "bumper" is the operative word. It's to have 76 pages of all-new material, making it the biggest Dandy ever.
Speaking of Christmas, the festive issue of The Beano is out now, with 48 pages plus a pile of free gifts including a Beano Beanie to keep your head warm in this weather. Lots of special treats inside the comic, including a 12 page Bash Street Kids strip by Nigel Parkinson, a Fred's Bed game by Tom Paterson, a look back at Christmas Beano strips on the 1950s and 1960s, and a fantastic Beano poster by Dave Sutherland.
Due to the harsh weather conditions some areas have not received their copies of Dandy and Beano yet but hopefully they'll arrive soon.
You should draw Greedy Pigg for the new Dandy, it would be great to see him back!
ReplyDeleteA mortar board would confuse the readers? Tell that to the Teacher and Headmaster at Bash Street (and I can't see them losing their caps until DS stops drawing BSK)!
ReplyDeleteA mortar board'd be Ok if the reader read the beano(Teacher from BSK). But as they're deadly rivals, most kids just read one or the other! He looks fine without it anyway!
ReplyDeletegood to see a fan bring back an old character for a cameo, more then some of these ones i see where its someone that's clearly not a fan... ^_^
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the sales reports for the new dandy are in? (and does it appear that the 'vote for which strip to be dropped' idea was a rumour or scrapped?)
Loved the return of Greedy Pigg. A retro treat for all us parents.
ReplyDelete@ James: My son actually asked "Why doesn't he have one of those funny hats if he is a teacher like in the Bash Street Kids?"
My kids are very excited at the prospect of a 96 page Dandy this week. They are hoping for an enormous number of 'Piggies' to have to find within its pages.
Ah well, I guess I should have drawn Greedy Pigg with the mortar board.
ReplyDeleteDon't get too excited about a 96 page Christmas Dandy. It's to be 76 pages, which is impressive enough I hope. :-)
It's quite amusing. You'd never make a Spider-Man artist but you're pretty good as a funnybook guy. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI am so excited for the 76 page Dandy! Hopefully two pager Postman Prat and Kid Cops?
ReplyDeleteCannot wait for Wednesday!
You really should bring back Greedy Pigg, I didn't notice he didn't have his motarboard on ;)
Abraham, I *have* drawn Spider-Man actually, several times, for the Mini-Marvels strips in the UK Spectacular Spider-Man comic:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/3a4suhv
Harry, the Christmas Kid Cops is one page as usual but Postman Prat is a two pager.
@Manic Man
ReplyDeleteThe vote is on the Dandy website right now... but it's badly flawed, because you can vote as many times as you like.
The Dandy vote is also badly flawed because as my son pointed out when visiting the site "You can only vote for the really good strips."
ReplyDeleteThe site only lets you vote for Harry Hill, Kid Cops, Shaolin Punks, Robot on the Run, Postman Prat, George Vs The Dragon and Desperate Dan. What about all the other regular strips?!?
He's worried that one of those seven will disappear while some of the "rubbish strips" will stay.
ooh.. that sounds nasty... why are they even bothering then? If the only way you can do something is half arsed, why do it?
ReplyDelete