Mickey the Monkey was a comic strip which featured the eponymous fictional monkey, Mickey. The character was the cover star of British comic The Topper from its launch in 1953 until the 1970s. [1] The strip appeared throughout the comic's run, until its merger with The Beezer . The final story was in The Beezer Annual 2003. It was originally drawn by Dudley D. Watkins, but after his death in 1969 Vic Neill took over as artist.
The Clash drummer Topper Headon, real name Nicholas Bowen Headon, earned his nickname from the band's bassist Paul Simonon due to his resemblance to Mickey the Monkey. [2]
The Beezer was a British comic that ran from 21 January 1956 to 21 August 1993, published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. Comic strips in The Beezer were a mix of irreverence, slapstick, and adventure; notable creators included Leo Baxendale, Gordon Bell, Paddy Brennan, David Law, Tom Paterson, Bill Ritchie, Dudley D. Watkins, Malcolm Judge, and John Geering.
The Topper was a UK comic published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd that ran from 7 February 1953 to 15 September 1990, when it merged with The Beezer.
Tricky Dicky is a British comic strip which debuted in the magazine Topper in December 1976 and was drawn by John Dallas. From 1979 to 1986 he was the cover star of the comic, succeeding Danny's Tranny and preceding Beryl the Peril. The strip survived the merger with the Beezer in 1990 and continued in The combined Beezer and Topper comic til it ended in 1993. The character later reappeared in The Beano.
The Numskulls is a comic strip in The Beano, and previously in The Beezer and The Dandy – UK comics owned by D.C Thomson. The strip is about a team of tiny human-like technicians who live inside the heads of various people, running and maintaining their bodies and minds. It first appeared in The Beezer from 1962 until 1979, drawn by Malcolm Judge. The Numskulls are still going and featured weekly in the popular British comic The Beano.
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.
The Topper Book was a comic book published from 1954 to 1994, to tie in with the children's comic The Topper. The first twelve editions were undated, and later books were published with the date of the following year on the cover, since they were traditionally published in the autumn and in time for Christmas.
Plug was a British comic magazine that ran for 75 issues from 24 September 1977 until 24 February 1979, when it merged with The Beezer. It was edited by Ian Gray.
Dudley Dexter Watkins was an English cartoonist and illustrator. He is best known for his characters Oor Wullie and The Broons; comic strips featuring them have appeared in the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Post since 1936, along with annual compilations. Watkins also illustrated comics such as The Beano, The Dandy, The Beezer and Topper, and provided illustrations for Christian stories. Watkins was posthumously inducted into the British Comic Awards Hall of Fame in 2015.
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.
Blinky is a British comic strip, created by Nick Brennan, and published in the comic book The Beezer and Topper from 1990 until 1994 and in The Dandy until 2007.
Ginger is a British comic strip series, introduced in the first issue of The Beezer in 1956. The character was the magazine's cover star until 1961, after which Pop, Dick and Harry took over the cover for a few years afterwards, but Ginger returned to the front cover in 1964.
Adrian the Barbarian was a comic strip in the comic The Beezer, and later the merged Beezer and Topper, first introduced in 1989. It featured a boy who dressed as a barbarian with a magical sword. He lived in a very strange world where almost anything could happen, whether it be good or bad. Many inanimate objects gained life in the strip, for example a pile of coal for the fire turned into a man called Old King Coal. He appeared in The Beezer annual until the last one dated 2003.
Baby Crockett was one of the longest running comic strips that ran from The Beezer issue 34 to Beezer 1809. He continued in the merged Beezer and Topper until its demise in 1993, and would appear in all the Beezer annuals and summer specials until they ended in 2002. He also appeared in several of the Dandy Comic Libraries over the years.
Nero and Zero was a comic strip originally in the boys' story paper The Wizard, published by DC Thomson. This strip started on 1 November 1930 and was originally drawn by Allan Morley. The strip featured the subtitle the "Rollicking Romans" and featured two bumbling Roman guards called Nero and Zero who guarded Caesar. The strip lasted in the Wizard for ten years. The strip also appeared in The Beezer's first issue.
Vic Neill was a British cartoonist who drew for D.C. Thomson and I.P.C.'s comics. His first notable comic work was on Sparky strip Peter Piper. In 1969, he replaced Dudley Dexter Watkins on Topper cover star Mickey the Monkey after Watkins' sudden death. Neill was a big admirer of Watkins' artwork. He made his debut in the Beano with The McTickles in 1971. In 1974, this was replaced by another Scottish-themed strip, Wee Ben Nevis.
Send for Kelly was a long running comic strip that first appeared in The Topper, originally drawn by George Martin.