Comical comics

Page 7 of 34 The DC Thomson titles were unusual in other ways. For example, they had what can only be described as a 'Depression sensibility', insofar as the mood of the early comics reflected the place of their origin, Dundee, in the midst of the 1930s Great Depression. This was a world where social inequalities were pronounced, and where everybody was hungry: hence strips about relationships between 'toffs' and the working class, typically ending with a reward of a plate of 'grub' (such as a huge pile of mashed potato with bangers sticking out at odd angles). Curiously, this formula has remained little changed over the years. The characters were unique. The early favourite was 'Desperate Dan', drawn for over thirty years by Dudley Watkins. Dan was a somewhat surreal creation: a cowboy who was so tough he shaved with a blowtorch, but who lived in a Western town (Cactusville) where there were English streetlamps and London buses. His female counterpart, 'Keyhole Kate', was a more conventional creation - a skinny, bespectacled troublemaker -designed to appeal to girls. Later, they would be joined by a string of other classic creations. << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Next > End >>