Anyone have FUN-SIZE DANDY No.129?

I like to have an edition of everything I've been published in but one comic has eluded me. Twenty years ago I drew about a dozen stories for Fun-Size Dandy and Fun-Size Beano and I have them all but one. Fun-Size Dandy No.129, published in 2002, includes a seven page Korky the Cat story I drew but I've never seen the published version.

Here's the first two pages which I scanned from my art before posting it off (back in the days before I emailed art to the publishers). Obviously the word balloons would be added by the D.C. Thomson designers, as would the colour back in those days. (The Fun-Size comics were printed in basic colours on newsprint.) I designed the logo, based on the style of logos that Korky had in the 1960s.

If anyone has a spare copy they don't want, please let me know and hopefully we can come to some arrangement. I should stress that this is Fun-Size Dandy No.129 I'm looking for, not Dandy Comic Library 129, which was a different publication. No links to pirated copies please. It's the physical paper comic I'm after.

Here's an article I wrote a few years ago about the other strips I drew for the Fun-Size comics:

https://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2014/09/fun-size-fun.html

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POSTMAN PRAT is back, and so are KID COPS!

Here's the final reveal of my contributions to The Dandy Annual 2017, which will be out in a few weeks. Postman Prat is back, and Kid Cops too, in all-new stories! Those characters were created for the 2010 revamp of The Dandy and proved to be popular with the readers so I was very pleased to be asked to revive them for this annual. Some scripts on Postman Prat are by David Mason, some by me.

There will be several full page Postman Prat stories in the book, and five Kid Cops mini-strips.

The characters join the other strip I've done for the annual that I've previously announced, The Smasher, along with many favourites from other artists and writers of course. (I can't give more info right now as I haven't seen the book yet.)

 The Dandy Annual 2017 will be available from 1st August.  

Cover by Ken Harrison.

KORKY returns! (Update: Or not.)

Here's another sneak preview of one of the strips I have in the upcoming Dandy Annual 2017. Korky the Cat is back, and it was a pleasure to write and draw one of my favourite British comics characters. I designed the logo too. See the full page strip when the annual goes on sale next month!
(UPDATE 1/8/2016: Unfortunately my page wasn't used in the finished book, and they chose to use a different artist instead. My apologies for jumping the gun. Lesson learned though; no more advance previews from me unless I'm sure the strips will be published.)

Persistent mice

Charlie Grigg's version on the left of course.

I've just noticed that the opening panel of one of my Korky the Cat strips in this year's Dandy annual is quite similar to a scene in the Dandy Book from 50 years ago by Charles Grigg. Subconscious influence, - or just inevitable given that cats chase mice?

Speaking of that Dandy Book from 1964, if you want to see more, take a look at my Blimey! blog here:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/christmas-1964-dandy-book.html 

Fun-Size Fun!

I-Spy and Calamity James images by me.

Back around the turn of the century I was commissioned by DC Thomson to draw quite a few stories for their pocket-size comics Fun-Size Dandy and Fun-Size Beano. Scripts were supplied by Thomson staff writers and they were a pleasure to draw. Some of the stories veered away from the more grounded exploits of the characters and ventured into unusual territories, such as the Ball Boy strip I did for Fun-Size Beano No.55 which saw him kidnapped by a UFO and encounter football-themed aliens!

Fun-Size Beano 55 (1999)

The strips varied in length. Some were 25 pages, some as short as 8, but they were all enjoyable to work on. Here's a list of all the ones I did: 

FUN-SIZE BEANO

No.55 (1999) BALL BOY in U.F.O.s (Unidentified Footballing Objects) 25 pages.

No.63 (2000) CALAMITY JAMES in Big Date. 25 pages.

No.78 (2000) LES PRETEND in Newshound Nonsense. 25 pages.

No.118 (2002) LES PRETEND in Mother Bother. 14 pages.

No.126 (2002) THE NUMSKULLS in Non-Sense. 14 pages.

FUN-SIZE DANDY

No.63 (2000) I-SPY in Ha! Ha! said The Clown. 25 pages.

No.84 (2001) FIDDLE O'DIDDLE (No story title.) 11 pages.

No.85 (2001) KORKY THE CAT in The Lion's Tale. 25 pages.

No.87 (2001) FIDDLE O'DIDDLE in Over-Run by Mice! 11 pages.

No.110 (2002) FIDDLE O'DIDDLE in Fiddle the Moviegoer. 9 pages.

There was also one other story, a Korky the Cat, which I think ran to 8 pages, but I never had the issue it was published in. Here's a pic of the title page I scanned from from my original art back then:

Korky © DC Thomson & Co. Ltd.

If anyone knows which issue of Fun-Size Dandy this appeared in I'd be very grateful if you could contact me. It would have been published around the same time as the others I worked on, so somewhere around 2000 to 2002. It may also have been reprinted later, as were most of my other strips, when the comics went all-reprint.

Here's a few pages from some of the copies I have. All were great fun to do, but I was particularly pleased to be asked to draw a 25 page I-Spy story for Fun-Size Dandy No.63. I-Spy was a favourite of mine when I was a young Sparky reader so this was a joy to draw. 

Fun-Size Dandy 63 (2000)

Fun-Size Dandy 63 (2000)

Fun-Size Beano 63 (2000)

Fun-Size Dandy 85 (2001)

Fun-Size Beano 118 (2002)

Fun-Size Beano 84 (2001)

Another thing I liked about the Fun-Size comics is that they were printed on newsprint, and used that basic spot colour method. This is how most comics had been produced when I was a kid so bizarre as it may seem, I enjoyed seeing my work reproduced in such a cheap format. Today's glossy full-colour comics have their advantages but the old newsprint style had a certain charm, even if the print did come off on your fingers!

The Dandy Annual 2015

I received a copy of The Dandy Annual 2015 the other day, which I'd ordered online from the DC Thomson shop. It should also be in the shops by now, unless distributors are holding them back again. 

It's an excellent book this year and I'm very proud to be part of it. My contributions are:

Script/art:
The Smasher (Three full pagers, one two pager).
Korky the Cat (One full page, one two pager).
Keyhole Kate (Three full pagers.)

Art only (script by David Mason):
Smashing Word Search.

Plot only (script and art by Nigel Parkinson): 
Cuddles & Dimples (the three page beach holiday story).

The three Korky the Cat pages were a last minute commission and had to be written and drawn over a weekend, but it was great to have a chance to draw my favourite cartoon cat again. (Last time was about 14 years ago for the Fun-Size editions of The Dandy.) I was asked to draw him in my own style, rather than imitate Charles Grigg's Korky, but Charlie's definitive version was an inspiration. 

For the Keyhole Kate strips I chose to do them as a three-part time travel adventure, with the pages spread throughout the book. 

As Kate's adventures took her to different locations I thought I'd make The Smasher more home-based this year, so all of his stories take place in or around his house. 

Cuddles and Dimples was fun. I supplied Nigel Parkinson with a very basic plot and he turned it into a fantastically funny story. 

I'll be reviewing the book over on my Blimey! blog later this week, and showing a glimpse at the work by other artists. 

Cover art by Ken Harrison.