Hairy_Dan
Hairy Dan
British comic strip character by DC Thomson
Hairy Dan was a British comic strip character by Basil Blackaller originally published in the magazine The Beano Comic in the comic strip of the same name. It first appeared in issue 1 on 30 July 1938 and ran until issue 297.[1][2]
Hairy Dan | |
---|---|
DC Thomson comic strip character(s) | |
Publication information | |
Stars in | Hairy Dan |
Creator(s) | Basil Blackaller |
Other contributors |
|
First appearance | |
The Beano | Issue 1 (30 July 1938) |
The Beezer | 1972 |
Sparky | 1965 |
Last appearance | |
The Beano | Issue 297 (16 November 1946) |
The Beezer | 1981 |
Hairy Dan is an old man with a floor-length beard. His stories were about how this beard would save the day. Notable examples include issue 1 when Dan used his beard as a sail to win a boat race,[1] and the first Beano Book when he pretended it was a horse's tail for a "horse tail contest".[3]
To celebrate The Beano's 65th anniversary, Dan cameoed in a Ball Boy strip.[4]
The character later appeared for a short time in Sparky in 1965. From 1972 until 1981, Hairy Dan - Football Fan appeared in The Beezer, where it was drawn by Bill Ritchie,[5] and written by Bill McLoughlin.[6] This strip differed from the original in that the character was unbearded and focused on football related humour. The Hairy in the title referring to the character's long scruffy hair.
A similar strip appeared in the first Dandy Monster Comic entitled Old Beaver's Brainwaves and also featured a man with a large white beard and using it to save the day.[7]
The Dandy also featured a character called Whiskery Dick who was similar to Hairy Dan except where Dan had a long beard, Whiskery Dick had a large moustache.
- Moonie, George, ed. (30 July 1938). "Hairy Dan". The Beano Comic. No. 1. Illustrated by Bill Blackaller. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. (published 26 July 1938).
- "Hairy Dan". The Beano Comic. No. 297. Illustrated by Bill Blackaller. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. (published 14 November 1946). 16 November 1946.
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - Moonie, George, ed. (1940). "Hairy Dan". Beano Book. D.C. Thompson & Co. Ltd.
- Kerr, Euan, ed. (2 August 2003). "Ball Boy". The Beano. No. 3185. DC Thomson (published 31 July 2003). ISSN 0262-2467. EAN 9770262246133 (31).
- The Book of the Beezer by Ray Moore. CJ Publications. 1997. p. 36.
- "Adventures in Pictures: From Sparky to Starblazer and Beyond". Down the Tubes. 27 June 2008. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
Bill [McLoughlin]: I did "The Numskulls" on a regular basis and enjoyed that. "Little Mo" and "Hairy Dan" were others I wrote as well.
- Dandy Monster Comic No. 1. Dundee, Scotland: D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. in conjunction with Aurum Press Ltd. 2006. pp. 40, 84. ISBN 1-84513-217-3.