Beezer

Infobox Magazine
title = The Beezer
editor = unknown


image_size =
image_caption =
editor_title =
staff_writer =
circulation =
frequency = Weekly
category = British comics
company = D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
publisher =
firstdate = 21 January 1956
finaldate = 21 August 1993
finalnumber = unknown
country = United Kingdom
language = English
website =
issn =

"The Beezer" (called "The Beezer and Topper" for the last 3 years of publication) was a British comic that ran from (issues dates) 21 January 1956 to 21 August 1993, when it unofficially "merged" with "The Beano".

Like its sister comic, "The Topper", "The Beezer" was an A3 (tabloid) publication, making it twice as big as other comics. It shrank to A4 paper size, like the others, in 1981.

Comics that merged with "The Beezer" during its 37 year run were "Cracker" in 1976, "Plug" in 1979, and "The Topper" in 1990 and the comic was renamed "Beezer and Topper". Although the comic ended in 1993, three other publications continued for a few years afterwards. They were "The Best of Beezer" (1988-1996), "The Beezer Summer Special" (1973-2002, known as the 'Holiday Special' from 1998 onwards) and The Beezer Book (1957-2003).

trips

Strips in "The Beezer" included:

*"Adrian the Barbarian" - reprinted as of 19 July 2008 issue (3441) of The Beano as Olaff the Madlander.
*"Baby Crockett" - supposedly a baby version of Davy Crockett, but in practice a modern-day 'cute toddler' strip
*"The Badd Lads" - a group of three criminals (Boss, Fingers and Knucklehead) always on the run or bungling an attempted crime. Drawn by Malcolm Judge
*"Barney's Barmy Army"
*"Beefy Dan The Fast-Food Man"
*"Black Bun" - a rabbit stealing cabbages from a farmer
*"The Black Sapper" - 1959 story about a thief who stole the Crown Jewels with his tunnelling machine called the Earthworm.
*"The Banana Bunch" - a group of mischievous schoolchildren similar to The Bash Street Kids
*"Cap'n Hand and his merry mutineers" - a pirate captain and his endlessly rebellious crew
*"Colonel Blink The Short-Sighted Gink"
*"Fred's Bed" - reprinted in The Beano.
*"Geezer"
*"General Jim"
*"Ginger" - cover star in earliest issues, and from mid-1960s to 1990. [http://www.britishcomics.com/Beezer/beezernumber1.htm]
*"The Gobbles" - a group of vultures always on the lookout for food. Similar to The Three Bears
*"Hugh's Zoo"
*"Hungry Hoss" - a horse owned by Joe the cowboy robber who couldn't stop eating.
*"The Iron Eaters" - sponges from space that ate iron, causing all kinds of problems
*"Little Mo" - a generic resourceful/mischievous tomboy
*"My Pal, Ropey"
*"Paw, Maw and Porky"
*"Plug" (from "Plug")
*"Pop, Dick and Harry" - early cover story about twins trying to outsmart their father. In every issue.
*"Saucy Sue"
*"Scrapper"
*"Smiffy"
*"Space Patrol"
*"Spacewacker" - name of the family spaceship. The feature was a development of the earlier 'Bushwacker' strip, in which an Australian father and his two children (who never grew older despite various versions of Bushwacker and many years of publication) - journeyed in a 'land yacht' capable of travelling on land or water under sail or jet engine power. Bushwacker later developed into a flying, sailing, submersible wheeled helicopter. The storyline moved on with the 'Spacewacker' in which the same party roamed around a strange alien world. The vehicle was a large bubble-fronted vehicle that travelled on rollers and bristled with gadgets on demand.
*"The Banana Bunch"
*"The Hillys and the Billys" - two feuding hillbilly families. This strip was surprisingly violent, with the families eager to shoot each other with shotguns - even to the point of co-operating in order to steal guns from the sheriff
*"The Munchers"
*"The Numskulls" - small "people" living in your head, each working in their own department: brain, eyes, nose, ears, and mouth (now in The Beano.)
*"Tommy's Toybox" - Tommy finds a toolbox from space and builds all kinds of interesting things
*"True Brit"
*"Tuff and Tiny"
*"Twitt Hall"
*"The Wallies of Winkle Street"
*"Young Sid The Copper's Kid"

Famous creators

Well known creators who worked for Beezer include:

*Leo Baxendale
*Gordon Bell
*Paddy Brennan
*David Law
*Joe McCaffrey
*Tom Paterson
*Bill Ritchie
*Dudley D. Watkins
*Malcolm Judge

References

* [http://www.26pigs.com/beezer/index.html Beezer on 26pigs.com]