Hoot (comics)

From Hey Kids Comics

Hoot
Publication information
Publisher D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
Publication date 26 October 1985 to 25 October 1986
Number of issues 53

Hoot was a British comic 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.

List of Hoot comic strips[edit | edit source]

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 titular 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[edit | edit source]

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[edit | edit source]

  1. Graham Kibble-White's Ultimate Book of British Comics

See also[edit | edit source]