SCOTLAND IN COMICS 12: OOR WULLIE

Here he is, Dudley D.Watkins' boy hero, published out of Dundee for decades. Watkins is rightly feted as a great artist, seemingly able to draw anything. What I've not ever seen or heard acknowledged is the fantastic format he came up with. The one page adventure starting with an opening panel which was almost a prologue to what was to come (Wullie at rest before the story starts), and I especially like the closing panels where Wullie would react to the story as a whole. That last panel left many iconic images in young readers' heads - Wullie laughing on his bucket wth his feet off the floor, or sitting in a huff with a sore bum after he'd been skelped.

This adventure is from 1946. We see Wullie was buying his copy of the Beano and the Dandy. The Dandy is currently heading towards closure after 75 years. The issue in the shops this week carries the slogan "Only 2 issues to go!" Sad.