The Dandy was the first comic I read regularly and this was the first Christmas issue of a comic I had. Dated December 26th 1964 (but published on December 21st) The Dandy No.1205 kicks off with the usual Korky the Cat cover strip drawn by the excellent Charlie Grigg.
Every page of this 16 page issue is a gem but here's a few highlights. On page 2, the brilliant artistry of Dudley D. Watkins on Desperate Dan. Eighteen panels on one page, at a time when Mr.Watkins was also drawing several other regular pages for other comics. How did he do it? Truly one of the greats.
On pages 3 and 4 was a marvelously wintry Brassneck story drawn by Bill Holroyd from an era when policemen patrolled on pushbikes. Brassneck was a relative newcomer to The Dandy at the time and this was only the fourth episode of his first series.
For me, the funniest strip in this issue was the Corporal Clott story across the centre pages. With Davy Law's ability to produce perfect comedy timing in his artwork combined with the hilarious dialogue everything about this episode is brilliant.
As this issue saw the conclusion of The Red Wrecker serial there was an advert for its replacement that would be arriving in the New Year issue: Moe and Joe and Daddy-O (drawn by Eric Roberts). There was also a small ad for that year's Dandy Book. (I still remember the Christmas morning of 1964 when I had this book. Little did I know then that one day I'd become a contributor to the comic and annual.)
Coming up: The final Christmas comic under the spotlight. Will we go forward from 1964, or back? Find out soon!
That is amazing to think....that one day you'd be in The Dandy!!
ReplyDeletedreams do come true..
Peter Gray
And to begin in The Dandy at the start of its revamp, when it was back to being a proper comic, pleased me even more Peter.
ReplyDeleteI probably have 700 or 800 Dandy comics from 1960-1995 and for me, the period of the mid 60's to the mid 70's was the high point of the Dandy.
ReplyDeleteI love every single recurring strip in the comics in that period.