{"id":29161,"date":"2023-12-25T09:20:14","date_gmt":"2023-12-25T09:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29161"},"modified":"2023-12-22T13:54:35","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T13:54:35","slug":"the-dandy-monster-comic-dandy-annual-1939-special-facsimile-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/12\/25\/the-dandy-monster-comic-dandy-annual-1939-special-facsimile-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dandy Monster Comic (Dandy Annual 1939 Special Facsimile Edition)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Many and various<\/strong> (DC Thomson & Co\/Aurum Press)
\nISBN: 978-1- 84513-217-0 (Boxed slipcase HB)<\/p>\n

This one\u2019s actually older than me – at least in its original incarnation – and a true anniversary wonder.<\/em><\/p>\n

Until it folded and was reborn as a digital publication on 4th<\/sup> December 2012, The Dandy<\/strong> was the third longest running comic in the world (behind Italy\u2019s Il Giornalino<\/strong><\/em> – launched in 1924 – and America\u2019s Detective Comics<\/strong> in March 1937).<\/p>\n

Premiering on December 4th<\/sup> 1937, The Dandy<\/strong> broke the mould of British predecessors by using word balloons and captions rather than narrative blocks of text under sequential picture frames. A colossal success, it was followed eight months later (on July 30th<\/sup> 1938) by The Beano<\/strong>, and together they revolutionised the way children\u2019s publications looked and, most importantly, how they were read.<\/p>\n

Over the decades the \u201cterrible twins\u201d spawned a bevy of unforgettable, beloved household names who delighted generations of avidly devoted readers, and end of year celebrations were graced with bumper bonanzas of the weekly stars in extended stories in magnificent hardback annuals. As WWII progressed, rationed paper and ink forced the \u201cchildren\u2019s papers\u201d into an alternating fortnightly schedule: on September 6th<\/sup> 1941 only The Dandy<\/strong> was published. A week later just The Beano<\/strong> appeared. They only returned to normal weekly editions on 30th<\/sup> July 1949\u2026<\/p>\n

However, as of this grand festive feast that\u2019s all in the future. Here, masterfully restored, is a treasure trove of joyous pranks and all-ages adventure to delight and enthral. It should be noted however, that all this buffoonery and jolly japery was crafted at a time socially far-removed from ours, and there are terms and racial depictions that wouldn\u2019t be given houseroom in today\u2019s world. That was then, this is now, and that\u2019s another thing you can be grateful for\u2026<\/p>\n

It opens in classis DCT manner with the entire cast chowing down to a monumental feast – a staple reward of those leaner, impoverished times – before James Crichton\u2019s \u2018Korky the Cat\u2019<\/em> kicks things off with spot of calamitous dockside fishing, after which \u2018Jimmy and his Grockle\u2019<\/em> – a kind of Doberman dragon – foil a dognapping ring. Illustrated by James Clark, the strip was recycled from prose \u201cBoys Paper\u201d The Rover<\/strong> where it was \u201cJimmy Johnson\u2019s Grockle\u201d (1932).<\/p>\n

Most pages come with riddles, jokes or single panel gags and many of the strips are delivered in the signature two colour process that typifies British Annuals and as usual no writers are named and precious few of the artists are credited. As always, I\u2019ve offered a best guess as to whom we should thank, and of course I would be so very happy if anybody could confirm or deny my suppositions\u2026<\/p>\n

Prolific Allan Morley details how \u2018Keyhole Kate\u2019<\/em> falls foul of a burglar and cowboy superman, \u2018Desperate Dan\u2019<\/em> – by key man Dudley D. Watkins – braves harsh winter climes, before Morley\u2019s \u2018Freddy the Fearless Fly\u2019<\/em> thwarts a human bully and thrashes a predatory spider.<\/p>\n

These colossal tomes were all about variety and value for money and next up is a heavily-illustrated prose story detailing the feudal adventure of young shepherd-boy Gingan<\/em>\u2019s dragon-slaying quest with magical weapon \u2018The Sword of Crad\u2019<\/em> before wandering tramp \u2018Barney Boko\u2019<\/em> comes a-cropper after defacing public property in a wordless strip from John R. Mason.<\/p>\n

As depicted by the superb Eric Roberts, \u2018Podge\u2019s Frame-Up\u2019<\/em> sees the junior entrepreneur confusing art galleries with glaziers whilst nattily-dressed \u2018Archie the Ape\u2019<\/em> deals with a hungry lion and \u2018Smarty Grandpa\u2019<\/em> (by Watkins and a double for strip veteran Pa Broon<\/em>) has a racially-charged moment at a minstrel show before anthropomorphic tortoise \u2018Dan the Night-watchman\u2019<\/em> confronts a gang of thieving rats\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018The Boy that Beat the Band\u2019<\/em> is another prose drama (illustrated by Fred Sturrock?) with a young orphan acrobat saving a disabled boy and thereafter rewarded with his heart\u2019s desire – a job – after which Jack Glass\u2019 text-block & pic strip \u2018The Daring Deeds of Buck Wilson\u2019<\/em> sees the singing cowboy battling kidnappers before the animal antics in \u2018Bamboo Town\u2019<\/em> find daring duo Bongo<\/em> and Pongo<\/em> organising a therapeutic gymnasium in a typically busy romp limned by Charlie Gordon.<\/p>\n

Sam Fair\u2019s \u2018Wig and Wam the Skookum Kids\u2019<\/em> were prank-playing \u201cRed Indian\u201d lads who here trick the Big Chief into baiting a bear before \u2018Flippy the Sea Serpent\u2019<\/em> – by Frank Minnitt – settles the hash of a snooty octopus whilst Smarty Grandpa fails to steal a pie\u2026<\/p>\n

Boneless Bill<\/em> was a long-running but sadly anonymous strip starring an affable contortionist. Here he astounds an army recruiting officer before \u2018Marmaduke Mean the Miser\u2019<\/em> pays painfully for stealing a little lad\u2019s Dandy comic. Then \u2018Hungry Horace\u2019<\/em> (Morley) finds his appetite briefly diminished after illicitly tapping the wrong barrel and a cunning old codger prevents a mugging in \u2018Old Beaver\u2019s Brainwaves\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u2018Wee Tusky\u2019<\/em> was a long-running prose feature and here the baby elephant\u2019s propensity for trouble leads to deadly danger but secures him a human friend in the end, after which Roberts\u2019 \u2018Helpful Henry\u2019<\/em> adjusts seating arrangements despite a history of calamitous consequences, just as pompous (idiot) detective \u2018Trackem Down\u2019<\/em> botches another \u201ccase\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

Korky the Cat masters the fundamentals of golf whilst Jimmy and his Grockle find fun – and bananas – at the docks, after which Keyhole Kate\u2019s snooping drenches a helpful bystander and Desperate Dan proves building sites can be dangerous places\u2026 for other people\u2026<\/p>\n

After another get-rich-quick scheme from Podge, sausage-snaffling \u2018Dipper the Dodger\u2019<\/em> falls foul of the law. Probably drawn by James Jewell, Dipper is a dead ringer for Beano and The<\/strong> People\u2019s Journal<\/strong> cartoon stalwart Wee Peem<\/em> (\u201cHe\u2019s a Proper Scream\u201d), so there might have been some cross-pollination back then.<\/p>\n

Freddy the Fearless Fly turns arsonist to escape a spider\u2019s trap before Helpful Henry learns the perils of electricity, and Jimmy Denton<\/em> tries rodeo riding to save the ranch with the invaluable assistance of \u2018White Star\u2019s Star Turn\u2019<\/em>, in a prose thriller that seamlessly segues to Podge setting up his own postal service whilst \u2018Bobby, the Boy Scout\u2019<\/em> goes too far in his scheme to help a hobo\u2026<\/p>\n

Boneless Bill artfully apprehends a thief and Archie the Ape find busking hazardous to health, whilst Hungry Horace loses his lunch to a quick-witted sprinter, but savvy navies \u2018Nick & Nack\u2019<\/em> find a smart way to keep the cops from confiscating their grub.<\/p>\n

Interfering busybodies Bobby, the Boy Scout and Helpful Henry both get it wrong again, after which we head west to see Wig and Wam the Skookum Kids prank their dad yet again even as Desperate Dan falls asleep in the park but still causes chaos\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018Willing Willie and his Pa\u2019<\/em> experience decorating woes before we revisit the days of the Raj in prose thriller \u2018Pam the Peace-Maker\u2019<\/em> wherein a little girl prevents an outbreak of war after which Helpful Henry confuses radio and electric irons and Korky triumphs over a tiger when he goes on safari.<\/p>\n

Jimmy and his Grockle clash violently with shopkeepers and Old Beaver\u2019s Brainwaves sees the gamey geezer getting back at the thug who pinched his job as itinerant Barney Boko pays through the nose for watching football without a ticket.<\/p>\n

Dipper the Dodger meets a theatrical strongman and the Bamboo-Town boys convene a swimming class that would certainly have benefitted \u2018Sandy Starfish, the Shipwrecked Sailor\u2019<\/em> before Fred Sturrock illustrates a prose battle of wits between stubborn old men in \u2018The House that Jack the Joker Built\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

More musical mayhem from Archie the Ape precedes Hungry Horace outwitting municipal bylaws in search of a big scoff, even as Podge dupes another crowd of sensation hungry oafs and Helpful Henry wrecks a house before it\u2019s even built: a trick even Desperate Dan can\u2019t match, even if he wasn\u2019t so thirsty\u2026<\/p>\n

Mini vignettes for Podge, Barney Boko and Boneless Bill presage a riotous schoolboy romp in prose – probably illustrated by George Ramsbottom – that I need you to be grown up about. \u2018Invisible Dick Spoofs the Spoofer\u2019<\/em> is a smart tale from a venerable feature that ran in The Rover<\/strong> for years and when he turns the tables on a cruel stage magician humiliating his school chums you should be proud and not titter or snigger\u2026<\/p>\n

A rapid-fire tranche of cartoon antics, starring Bobby the Boy Scout, Podge, Marmaduke Mean the Miser, Flippy the Sea Serpent, Boneless Bill and Willing Willie and his Pa, lead to another text tale as animal-raised orphan \u2018Buffalo Boy\u2019<\/em> discovers toffee and begins his slow march back to civilisation\u2026<\/p>\n

From here it\u2019s cartoon strip all the way with Korky, Keyhole Kate, Freddy the Fearless Fly, Helpful Henry, Wig and Wam the Skookum Kids, Smarty Grandpa and Dipper the Dodger all doing what they do best before Bamboo-Town brings down the curtain when Bongo and Pongo build an all-animal skating rink\u2026<\/p>\n

A marvel of nostalgia and timeless comics wonder, the true magic of this facsimile edition is the brilliant art and stories by a host of talents that have literally made Britons who they are today, and bravo to DC Thomson for letting them out for a half-day to run amok once again.
\nThe DANDY is a trademark of and \u00a9 D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. 2006. Associated characters, text and artwork \u00a9 D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. 2006. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Many and various (DC Thomson & Co\/Aurum Press) ISBN: 978-1- 84513-217-0 (Boxed slipcase HB) This one\u2019s actually older than me – at least in its original incarnation – and a true anniversary wonder. Until it folded and was reborn as a digital publication on 4th December 2012, The Dandy was the third longest running … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Dandy Monster Comic (Dandy Annual 1939 Special Facsimile Edition)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[173,113,125,127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british-annuals-and-albums","category-comedy","category-humour","category-nostalgia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7Al","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29161"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29164,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29161\/revisions\/29164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}