Sparky (comics)

Sparky was a British comic published weekly by DC Thomson, that ran from (issue dates) 23 January 1965 to 9 July 1977 when it merged with The Topper after 652 issues. From 1965–1980 the comic published an annual entitled The Sparky Book. It was a DC Thomson comic, originally aimed at a slightly younger audience to The Beano and The Dandy later it was aimed at the same audience. It changed its name to The Sparky Comic in 1973.

Sparky
Publication information
Publisher	DC Thomson
Schedule	Weekly
Format	Ongoing series
Publication date	23 January 1965 – 9 July 1977
No. of issues	652

List of comic strips

Strips which featured in Sparky at some point during the course of its 12-year run included. All numbers refer to issues of Sparky.

Strip title	Artist	First appearance	Last appearance	Notes
Sparky		1	210	The adventures of a Golliwog style black boy who wore a grass skirt. The character was almost identical to the Sooty Snowball character that had appeared in the earlier Magic Comic. Sparky was the original cover story until replaced with The Moonsters.
The Moonsters	Bill Ritchie	2	199	Green aliens living on the moon. Originally on the back page, but soon became the cover story.
Dreamy Dave and Dozy Dora	Pamela Chapaeu	1	204	A brother and sister who constantly dozed off and shared the same bizarre but vivid fantasy dreams.
Hungry Horace	George Drysdale	1	652	(originally from The Dandy) A boy who thought of nothing but eating.
Keyhole Kate	George Drysdale	1	488	(originally from The Dandy) She was a nosey girl with pigtails and glasses who spied through keyholes. Later moved back to The Dandy.
Joe Bann and his Big Banjo		1	138
Freddie the Fearless Fly		1	91	Originally in The Dandy.
Jeff ye Jolly Jester		1	89
Hockey Hannah		1	76
Minnie Ha-Ha		1	55
Flubberface		1	59
Hairy Dan		1	29	This strip was originally in The Beano.
Dick Turpentine		1	12
Nosey Parker		1	139	The character was originally featured in The Rover in 1925. It also featured in The Sunday Post and The Beezer.
Stoneage Steve		1	5
Pansy Potter	John Geering	2	567	Revival of a strip from The Beano.
Frosty McNab		2	4	Revival of a strip from The Beano.
Cuckoo in the Clock		2	139
Black Jack the Chimney Sweep		2	5
Grandma Jolly and her Brolly		2	17
Peter Piper		3	652	A boy with magic pipes which could make objects and pictures alive, revival of story from The Magic Comic.
Winnie the Witch		25	122	A strip with the same name appeared in The Beano.
The Slowdown Express		25	137
Fireman Fred		63	131
Granny Cupp and her Flying Saucer		80	139
My Grockle and Me	George Drysdale	86	140	Revival of a strip from The Rover and later The Dandy
Harry Carry		123	209
Meddlesome Matty		140	224	Originally in The Dandy. A girl whose meddling always got her into trouble.
Deputy Dawg	James Malcolm	140	165	Based on the Terrytoons cartoon.
Snapshot Sid		140	191
Tom Tardy		140	175
Charlie Chutney		141	209	Originally a 1940s Dandy Character.
Big Billy Bigg		161	243	Belgian import, known as Jerom. Drawn by Eduard De Rop.[1]
The Snooks		166	205	Belgian Import, known as De Familie Snoek. Drawn by Eduard De Rop.[2]
Clever Claire		170	178	Belgian Import, known as Kari Lente. Drawn by Bob Mau.
Cheating Charley		192	210
John Bulldog/Barney Bulldog	Bill Ritchie	200	528	Similar to Biffo the Bear and the third cover strip. Name changed to Barney Bulldog in issue 211 1 February 1969.
L-Cars	Bill Hill	205	652	Two incompetent policemen named Cedric and Frederic (the name comes from the contemporary show Z-Cars, but with a pun on learning 'L-plates')
Spoofer McGraw	Gordon Bell	206	652	"He tells tall tales", who continually gave outrageous explanations for the origins of tractors, mummies etc. to his gullible duffelcoat-wearing friend Bo. 643–652 were reprints.
Esky Mo		211	259	An Eskimo boy living at the North Pole.
Harry Presto		211	224	The Conjuror's son – a boy who uses his magician dad’s hat to pull out assorted objects.
Sparky People		211	652	A semi-fictional office staff who produced Sparky. 647–652 are reprints.
Wyatt Twerp	Ron Spencer	211	298	The inept Wild West sheriff.
Helpful Henry	Hugh Morren	211	230	Revival of a strip from The Wizard, Dandy Monster Comic and The Beano. Male version of Meddlesome Matty.
I-Spy	Les Barton 1969–70. Brian Walker 1970–1972. John Fox 1974–1976.	211	586	He was a secret agent with a long coat which concealed hundreds of weapons and gadgets. Similar to a character from Smash! called The Cloak.
Cap'n Hood and his Merry Men	Ray Hamilton	212	231
Kings of the Castle		230	652	The Kings lived in a castle and the 'Dirty Rascals' were forever trying to get in.
Puss 'n' Boots	John Geering	231	652	"they fight like cat and dog", an eternally warring cat and dog duo.
Sam's Snake		244	426
Ali's Baba	Mal Judge[3]	261	652	Early strips were called Ali and his Baba. An invisible guardian angel Ali, who lived on a cloud and wore a cape, following an unknowing toddler Baba at all times and protected him from harm. Continued in The Topper and reprinted in The Dandy as Jimmy's Green Genie in 2004.
I. Fly		262	426
Rudolph the Red Coat Mountie		276	299	All the other mounties in the force had failed to catch master of disguise dangerous Dan McGurk, and so it fell to assistant cook Rudolph to get his man! Reprinted in 603–626
Trouble Bruin		280	314
Ma Kelly's Telly	Les Barton, Jim Petrie[4]	315	402
Willie Getaway or will he not	Phillip Milar	316	499	A man who thinks he is a wanted criminal as he can't read the small print on the 'wanted' posters that he has in fact inherited a large fortune, spending each strip trying to escape 'capture' by people wanting the reward for finding him.
Tom Kat		323	401
Captain Cutler and his Butler		397	426	A Victorian era explorer Egbert Cutler searching for the source of the river Bongo, and his polite but long-suffering manservant Crumbs. This strip was notable for including the writer and artist as off-panel characters; Crumbs would interact with them and request changes to the strip in order to assist the clueless Cutler.
Snip and Snap		403	499	Two dogs eternally conspiring to bite the visiting postman. Reprinted as "The Red Hot Chilli Dogs" in the Dandy Xtreme as of August 2007.
Dreamy Daniel		403	652	A boy with a rich internal fantasy life who easily confused his imagination with reality
Jumbo and Jet		427	455	Adventures of a mouse and an elephant.
Baron Von Reichs-Pudding		474	652	The flying Hun from vorld var von!
Herman's Horoscopes		490	602
Thingummyblob	Albert Holroyd	500	652	A strip with the same title has recently been in The Dandy.
Superwitch		500	651
Minnie the Tea Lady	Jim Petrie	501	648
Ah! Choo!		545	650
Some Mummies Do 'Ave 'Em		568	652	The final cover story. Title is a play on the sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.
Planet of the Nirdles		578	642
The Circus of P. T. Bimbo		581	652

List of Sparky adventure Strips

As well as featuring comic strips Sparky featured adventure strips, though fewer and fewer of these appeared later in the comic's life.

Strip title	Artist	First appearance	Last appearance	Notes
The Young Castaways		1	16
Wee Tusky		1	42	Two series. First (1–22). Second (35–42). A text story of the same name also featuring an elephant appeared in the first Dandy Monster Comic.[5]
The Kidnapped Kidds		1	15
The Palace of Secrets		1	14	This was a prose story with a few illustrations not a comic strip.
Will O' the Well		15	59	Two series. First (15–25) was a text story. The Second (53–59) was a comic strip.
McGinty the Goat		17	29
Kipper Feet		23	34
Riddle of the Roughlands		25	34
Lonely Wood		26	59	Two series. First (26–34). Second (57–59).
Raiders from the Red Planet		30	34
Glipin the Lost, Lost Boy		35	49
Year of the Vanaks		35	56
The Flood that Mother Remembers		35	47
Floating Along, Singing A Song		36	47
The Downside Donkeys		43	52
Lost Children of the Forest		48	55
Quest of the Wandering Wingates		50	59
Pocahontas		56	60
Seven at One Blow		60	72
Huffy, Muffy and Tuffy		60	74
City under the Sea		60	79
Children of the Secret Pool		61	76
Rory, the Horse of Many Masters		62	74
Boy in the Forest of Fear		73	83
Klanky	Bob Webster	75	499	Five Series. First (75–87) called Big Klanky. From Second (141–160) onwards called Klanky. Third (211–239). Fourth (280–299) called Around the World with Klanky. Fifth (377–499) called Klanky. An alien robot who is befriended on earth by Ernie and Sue Huggins.
Police Horse Hadrian		75	85
Balloon Family Robinson		77	139	Two Series. First (77–85). Second (138–139).
Prentice Pete		84	140	Two Series. First One-off in 84. Second (123–140),
Willy the Woeful Wizard		86	116
Terry had a Little Pig		86	97
Nine Hundred Years Ago		87	94
The Horse with Wings		88	106
Davey Spacer		95	240	Three Series. First (95–107) called Little Davey Spacer. Second (140–157) and called Davey Spacer in Giantland. Third (227–240) called Davey Spacer.
The Island from the Past		98	109
Keepers of the Dancing Drums		107	122
Invisible Dick	Tony Speer[6]	108	652	Three Series. First (108–123). Second (182–499). Third (563–652) which were reprints. Originated in Rover comic in 1922 and was in first Dandy comic 1938. Sparky comic version changed the origin of Dicks invisibility from a Jar with invisible solution to a Torch with black beam that makes all it shines on invisible for a period of time.
The Lost Ponies of Thor		110	119
Greedy Gus		117	127
The Cave Kids		120	131
The Lonely lad of Blue Lagoon		124	183
Titch, the Pup that Grew and Grew		128	137
David Copperfield		140	158	Adaptation of the book of the same name.
Big Ossie		141	155
The Magic Sword		156	168
The Floating Farrells		158	170
Uncle Tom's Cabin		159	178	Adaptation of the book of the same name.
Blonderl the Wandering Minstrel		169	181
South Seas Suzie		171	186
The Old Curiosity Shop		179	198	Adaptation of Charles Dickens story of same name
The Captive Kidds		185	195	Unrelated to the earlier Kidnapped Kidds
Sacramento here we come		186	197
Sailor Brown's Schooldays		196	210
The Boyhood of Deadwood Dick		198	210
The Coral Island		199	210	Adaptation of R. M. Ballantyne book of same name
The Jungle Ark		211	226
Mr Bubbles	Pamela Chapaeu & James Fox	240	652	A 'bubble imp' living in a plastic bottle similar to washing-up liquid. Each strip someone would squeeze it and he would grant three wishes. Two series first (240–546) and second was reprints from (627–652)
The Jungle Walkers		241	254
The Misery King		255	260
Bushboy		261	359	Two Series. First (261–275). Second (346–359).
Four Legged Fred		299	314
The Mini-Martins		322	332
Tess of the Taoki		356	363
The Wild West Kids		364	376
North Sea Oyl		587	592	Reminiscent of the film The Blob.

See also

• List of DC Thomson Publications

References

1. Studio of Willy Vandersteen
2. Studio of Willy Vandersteen
3. "MS 336/2/7 'Ali and his Baba' drawn by Mal Judge". Archive Services Online Catalogue. University of Dundee. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
4. "MS 336/2/9 'Ma Kelly's Telly' drawn by Jim Petrie". Archive Services Online Catalogue. University of Dundee. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
5. Dandy Monster Comic No. 1. Dundee, Scotland: D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. in conjunction with Aurum Press Ltd. 2006. p. 41. ISBN 1-84513-217-3.
6. "Ms 336/2/11 'Invisible Dick' drawn by Tony Speer". Archive Services Online Catalogue. University of Dundee. Retrieved 12 April 2016.

• Smith, Alan The Sparky File^{[dead link‍]}, Comics UK, expanded from article in Crikey!
• Sparky at the Grand Comics Database
• One of the appendixes of The Sparky File showing a list of strips that were in Sparky. Posted on the ComicsUK forum .