Jak Hurley and Todd Nolan | |
---|---|
First appearance | 1997 |
Created by | Wayne Thompson |
Portrayed by | Wayne Thompson |
In-universe information | |
Alias | Jak & Todd |
Jak Hurley and Todd Nolan are two fictional comic strip characters from the UK comic The Dandy who rose to popularity as the comic's main strip after its re-launch in 2004. Originally known as simply Jak, both characters received equal billing after the popularity of Todd from readership.
Jak's first incarnation was drawn by Jimmy Hansen starting from issue 2924, dated 6 December 1997. The strip played mostly on his relationship with his father (though not to the same extent as Molly and Beryl the Peril from that time). The second incarnation in the early 2000s (decade) was drawn by David Sutherland, who drew Jak's dad with black hair and a beard, and introduced a cat called Spike. Both strips portrayed Jak as younger than his modern-day counterpart and Todd was absent.
Finally, Jak was reincarnated with the Dandy from issue 3282, dated 16 October 2004, coinciding with the relaunch of the comic that same week. This time it was drawn by Wayne Thompson, and the cast had changed again, introducing Jak's friend Todd and sister Mandy—and Jak got the surname Hurley. Unusually, this time Jak was promoted as a brand new character, even though he had only disappeared from the comic earlier that year. Brought in through an attempt to boost the comic to modern-day youth, he replaced Desperate Dan on the cover. He continued to be the cover star for two years until 2007 marked the second radical Dandy launch in a decade.
With the launch of Dandy Xtreme in August 2007, the strip was renamed Jak and Todd, giving Jak best friend equal billing. However, the comic's front cover no longer featured its original characters, favouring advertisements for new movies instead.
As the Dandy went through yet another re-launch (this time dropping the X-Treme tagline) Jak and Todd were dropped. However, they have made brief cameos such as members of The Dandy football team and as posters on the editors walls. [1] They have also appeared both the 2011 and 2012 annuals.
Jak sports styled spiked blonde hair, a purple hooded T-shirt and baggy jeans. He is often illustrated with button eyes but this is occasionally changed depending on his emotions (e.g. if he is shocked they may bulge out) Todd is a black boy with a red T-shirt, baggy jeans and a comb neatly placed into his afro, however this has been removed in recent incarnations. Both the boys' appearances attempt to represent youth of the noughties, which was not often in many of DC Thomson's publications as they often favoured past characters whose appearance did not necessarily age but did not exactly represent a particular time zone either.
Both Jak and Todd are troublemaking individuals with a hatred for girls, education and authority. Whilst many other Dandy and Beano characters cause mischief for fun or by accident, Jak and Todd appear to do so in an act of rebellion. Both boys also have the tendency to say phrases such as 'Dude' and 'Busted' and have a love for pizza. Whilst friends, neither are afraid of making fun of the other should they see any sort of fear, acts of retribution or guilt. They are also known to have inside bets with one another about how stupid or gullible older characters can be. [2] They both, also, execute almost outlandish plans in order to get what they want. This includes faking news reports, breaking into school and dressing up as teachers. Despite this, both seem to be extremely intelligent in the ways of tricking as they are always able to get back on bullies or Jak's sister when they try to make their lives miserable.
In The Dandy Annual 2009, there was a strip, which featured Ollie Fliptrik going round The Dandy Movie Set. When he visited Jak's caravan, he told the readers that "He's not exactly like he seems in his stories...", as it was backstage, making Jak seem as though he was an actor. Before Ollie had said this, a conversation had been held between the two:
Ollie: Hey, Jak. What's up?
Jak: I finally got the 1974 Moldovian Three Gringo Stamp – unlicked! How awesome is that?
This may also have something to do with the ongoing rivalry between the pair, trying to be cooler than one another.
Mandy is Jak's older sister and the nemesis of both the boys. She is arrogant and obsessive over what's in or out much to the opposite of Jak. She is regularly the subject of the two's tricks and often attempts to get back at them. However, this usually only ends in her being tricked once again. In a feature-length story for The Dandy All-Stars mini-magazine, she was hypnotized by Jak and then forced to do embarrassing things in front of her friends such as act like a baby and style her hair into a perm. The story ended with Jak's parents catching him and threatening that if he didn't snap his sister out of her trance they would ground him. Ironically, however, Jak then hypnotized them both to bring him presents, gifts and take back their punishment. The next week, all characters had returned to normal so it is assumed that he had snapped them out of it. Mandy also hates dogs, especially Todd's large dog Toby. In one strip, she even called the Dog Pound and had him imprisoned but this didn't last long as he broke out with ease sue to his bulk and the promise of a sausage stick. Despite her misgivings with her brother, she has occasionally shown sisterly love towards him. Todd does have a small fancy on Mandy, but Jak never pays enough attention to hear about this. For examples in an issue of The Dandy Xtreme in 2010, Jak says "There's Mandy at her hockey club. Should we soak her?". Todd replies (seemingly in a low tone) "No, I think we should just admire her from here.". Jak says "Good idea! Let's soak her from here!".
Bruce and Jayne Hurley [3] are Jak's parents whom he has a fairly decent relationship with despite his troublemaking. During his younger years, Jak's father had been a part of a band and apparently disliked Jayne to such a degree that he had drawn a crude picture of her entitling her to have zits. [4] Bruce can be considered rather dense as well as he often falls for his sons lies and excuses but Jayne often does not and is the more firm-hand parent.
Mr Brisket is the headmaster at Dandytown school. He is strict, violent and exceptionally gullible as Jak had once actually convinced him to buy his own desk and nameplate back with him citing the coincidence that there were 'two Robert Briskets in the area'.
Miss Rankin is their teacher. She is equally as strict and harsh but Jak and Todd often exact revenge on her via pranks.
Desperate Dan is a wild west character in the now-defunct Scottish comic magazine The Dandy. He made his appearance in the first issue which was dated 4 December 1937 and became the magazine's mascot. He is apparently the world's strongest man, able to lift a cow with one hand. The pillow of his (reinforced) bed is filled with building rubble and his beard is so tough he shaves with a blowtorch.
Nutty was a British comic magazine that ran for 292 issues from 16 February 1980 to 14 September 1985, when it merged with The Dandy. Published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, Nutty was an attempt to create a more lively and chaotic comic compared to many on sale at the time.
Minnie the Minx, whose real name is Hermione Makepeace is a comic strip character published in the British comic magazine The Beano. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953, making her the third longest running Beano character behind Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger.
Bananaman is a fictional character appearing in British comic books. Bananaman is a parody of traditional superheroes, being portrayed as a schoolboy who is transformed into a muscled, caped adult man when he eats a banana. The character originally appeared in Nutty as the back page strip in Issue 1, dated 16 February 1980 drawn by John Geering.
The Dandy was a Scottish children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The first issue was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after Il Giornalino and Detective Comics. From August 2007 until October 2010, it was rebranded as Dandy Xtreme.
Beryl the Peril is a fictional character created by David Law, the creator of Dennis the Menace, for issue 1 of The Topper comic published by DC Thomson & Co. Limited. Like Dennis, she had black and red apparel, and devilishly tormented her parents and other members of her community. Despite not having quite as many appearances as other DC Thomson characters such as Dennis the Menace or Desperate Dan, Beryl is still considered one of the classic characters which define the popularity of British comics.
Billy Whizz is a fictional character featured in the British comic The Beano, first appearing in issue 1139, dated 16 May 1964, when it replaced The Country Cuzzins. Billy, the title character, is a boy who can run extraordinarily fast. His speed often causes chaos yet at the same time his ability can prove useful. He also has a younger brother called Alfie Whizz of similar appearance. Alfie is usually shown as a normal boy but occasionally he is shown to be just as fast as his brother.
Bully Beef and Chips was a British comic strip, created by Jimmy Hughes. It first appeared in 1967 in the British comics magazine The Dandy.
Korky the Cat is a character in a comic strip in the British comics magazine The Dandy. It first appeared in issue 1, dated 4 December 1937, except for one issue, No. 294 when Keyhole Kate was on the cover. For several decades he was the mascot of The Dandy. In 1984, after 47 virtually continuous years, Korky was replaced on the front cover by Desperate Dan.
Owen Goal was a British comic strip published in the comics magazine The Dandy. It centers around a schoolboy who plays for a school football team. The comic strip is one page long and features Owen's interaction with his overweight, lazy and incompetent coach. The strip is very similar to DC Thomson stablemate The Beano's Ball Boy strip.
Colonel Blink was a British comic strip, drawn by Tom Bannister in November 1958 for the majority of its run, with a few later strips being drawn by Bill Ritchie and Gordon Bell in the same style as Bannister. The strip was published in the comics magazine The Beezer. Denis Gifford in his Encyclopedia of Comic Characters (1987) attributes his creation to "Carmichael." His latest appearances were in the reprint Classics from the Comics series and the associated Beano and Dandy reprint annuals.
Tom Paterson is a Scottish comic artist who drew characters for Fleetway in 1973–1990, and D.C Thomson from 1986 to 2012. As of 2013, he currently draws strips for Viz. He lives in Leith, with three children, and is a Hearts supporter.
David Sutherland was a Scottish illustrator and comics artist with DC Thomson, responsible for The Bash Street Kids (1962–2023), Dennis the Menace (1970–1998), Fred's Bed (2008–2012) for The Beano, and the second version of Jak for The Dandy in the early 2000s.
My Own Genie is a comic strip in the British comic The Dandy, first seen in issue # 3314 on 4 June 2005. It is drawn by artist Jamie Smart, the creator of Bear. It is about a schoolgirl named Lula who gets her own Genie, called Brian, after she accidentally releases him from a tin of marzipan. The first thing Lula wishes for is a huge cake; she then asks for her pet dog Clive to have the power of speech. The Genie - who looks like a small, floating, furry mammal in a purple robe and fez - is so grateful to Lula for setting him free that he grants her unlimited wishes. However, being a selfish girl, her wishes get ever more bizarre. Clive the dog's wishes are far more sensible than Lula's and mainly consists of dog biscuit-type wishes.
The Smasher was a British comic strip, published in the British comic The Dandy. The title character was a boy with a tendency to destroy things and who was reminiscent of Dennis The Menace from The Beano, though when he destroyed things it usually tended to be by accident rather than design. Initially Smasher had a bright red hairstyle that was similar to that of Dennis, though it soon changed to being black. He wore a similar sort of jumper to Roger the Dodger, albeit it is a diamond pattern rather than chequered pattern.
Nigel Parkinson is a British cartoonist who works for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd and mainly draws for The Beano and The Dandy.
Marvo the Wonder Chicken is a character in the UK comic The Dandy. The strip first appeared in 1990, and continued in odd issues until 1999. He returned in 2008 to tie in with the planned DC Thomson TV series. The strip is "silent", with only words such as "Crash" and "Bang", and ending with Marvo saying "Ta-da". Marvo's sidekick and biggest fan, Henry Thrapplewhacker XLIX, also appears.
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by DC Thomson, of Dundee, Scotland. The comic stars a boy named Dennis the Menace and his dog, an "Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound" named Gnasher.
Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land was a British celebrity comics comic strip, published in The Dandy between 2010 and 2011, featuring a cartoon-version of comedian Harry Hill, his sidekick, Knitted Character, and often spoofed television celebrities.
Corporal Clott was a strip in the British comic The Dandy. It started in the issued dated 12 November 1960 and was drawn by Dennis the Menace artist David Law. The strip was drawn by David Law until issue 1496 dated 25 July 1970. The strip continued after David Law left it with these strips being drawn by Bully Beef and Chips artist Jimmy Hughes. Jimmy Hughes version of the strip ended in the 1970s however the strip was revived in 1987 by Steve Bright and later dropped again. The character was also featured in a few Dandy Comic Libraries devoted entirely to him. The strip reappeared in the 2012 Dandy Annual, drawn by Nigel Auchterlounie and later appeared in the comic in late 2012 again drawn by Nigel Auchterlounie.