Hoot (comics)
Hoot was a British comic magazine that ran from (issues dates) 26 October 1985 to 25 October 1986, when it merged with The Dandy. Its cover price was 20p, represented by a stylized graphic depiction of a 20p coin. Throughout its run, it billed itself as "Britain's bubbling new comic!", a reference to the title masthead being made up of steam-billowing pipes (hence the title). The comic was the last new humour anthology comic from DC Thomson which mostly featured original characters.
| Hoot | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd |
| Publication date | 26 October 1985 to 25 October 1986 |
| No. of issues | 53 |
List of Hoot comic strips
Strips throughout its 53 issue run included. Listed in order of appearance. All numbers refer to issues of Hoot.
| Strip Title | Artist | First Appearance | Last Appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cuddles | Barrie Appleby | 1 | 53 | The cover star.
Originally appeared in Nutty Joined another Dandy strip ("Dimples") and became "Cuddles and Dimples". |
| The Hoot Squad | Ken H. Harrison | 1 | 53 | Reprinted as The Riot Squad in The Beano in 2007 |
| Wanta Job Bob | Steve Bright | 1 | 53 | |
| Polar Blair | Robert Nixon | 1 | 52 | Continued in The Dandy |
| Sam's Secret Diary | Jerry Swaffield | 1 | 48 | |
| L Plated Ella | Robert Nixon | 1 | 53 | |
| Dogsbody | John Geering | 1 | 53 | |
| Piggles | Barrie Appleby | 1 | 53 | Revised reprints of Piggles appeared in The Dandy for about half a year in 2004. |
| Snackula | David Mostyn | 1 | 53 | |
| Super Fran | Steve Bright | 1 | 51 | |
| Spotted Dick | Barrie Appleby/Jerry Swaffield/John Aldrich | 1 | 52 | Continued in The Dandy |
| Charli | Jim Petrie | 5 | 53 | |
| Harry and William | George Martin | 50 | 53 | Much of the jokes in this strip involved the two title characters being mistaken for Prince Harry and Prince William. |
| The Old Ones | Jerry Swaffield | 50 | 50 | Strip's title is a play on The Young Ones |
| Winston | Steve Bright | 51 | 52 | An identical-looking character under the name Jim appeared in a Wanta Job Bob strip in issue 8. |
| Space Cop | George Martin | 53 | 53 |
List of Characters featured in Hoot mini-strips
The comic also featured short, four-frame strips featuring pre-existing DC Thomson characters, but few of these strips seemed to have been drawn by their "proper" artists, hence a rather odd-looking Lord Snooty.[1] Below is a list of these four frame strips. These strips were drawn by George Martin and after Hoot's merger with The Dandy they reappeared in The Dandy (still drawn by George Martin) under the title Comic Cuts and this time featured more Dandy characters than in Hoot.
| Strip Title | Original Comic | First Appearance | Last Appearance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Uggy | The Topper | 1 | 53 | |
| Tarzan Stripes | 1 | 50 | Also appeared as a half page comic strip. | |
| Flip 'n Flop | 31 | 52 | ||
| Dennis the Menace | The Beano | 9 | 53 | |
| Big Eggo | The Beano | 40 | 53 | |
| Desperate Dan | The Dandy | 1 | 53 | |
| The Bash Street Kids | The Beano | 2 | 22 | |
| Jay R | Nutty | 2 | 51 | |
| Colonel Blink | The Beezer | 1 | 53 | |
| The Three Bears | The Beano | 2 | 30 | |
| Foxy | The Topper | 2 | 53 | |
| Bananaman | Nutty | 3 | 38 | |
| Desert Island Dick | The Topper | 3 | 51 | |
| The Badd Lads | The Beezer | 1 | 47 | |
| Lord Snooty | The Beano | 1 | 49 | |
| Roger the Dodger | The Beano | 22 | 50 | |
| Julius Cheeser | The Topper | 42 | 52 | |
| Biffo the Bear | The Beano | 40 | 40 | |
| King Gussie | The Topper | 42 | 53 |
References
- Graham Kibble-White's Ultimate Book of British Comics
See also
- List of DC Thomson Publications