DC is for Thompson!

No . . . not Detective Comics but David Coupar Thomson, who took over his father's Charles Alexander & Company, renaming it DC Thompson in 1905, long before the other DC's rise to prominence in the 1930's, although the titles we're looking at here date from the late 1930's.

Of its many titles the most famous to those of us of a certain age and who maybe don't live on the Dundee doorstep are The Dandy and The Beano, and it is to those works of great literary merit we turn today, with help from Brian Berke, Jim (from Sandown), Royal Fail and the good burghers of Dundee!

Although - in Desperate Dan's case it's probably the good burgers of Dundee we should be investigating . . . ?

Minnie the Minx is a female clone of Dennis the Menace, although I don't know which came first, and yes, he predates the other annoying, eponymous clone by decades, she is modelled here for McDonalds Happy Meals in the UK. They both appeared in the Beano

Next to her is a metal Desperate Dan, whose home title was the Dandy . . . Dan-dy . . . geddit! Hay; don't blame this author, it was all puns in British comics! Made by Unicorn Miniatures, we saw their Dan Dare (but dare he eat a cow-pie?) figures, also from Mr. B, at the start of last month.

Minnie's a modern rendition and about 4" tall, while the Unicorn figurine is a tad above the standard 54mm at around 60-mil against the 'berserker', and if you think Dan's looking untroubled by the likelihood of a bayonet-wound, believe me; he's seen far greater dangers off in a trice, indeed I think larger blades have blunted just trying to shave him!

The other Dan in the right-hand image is a plastic figurine of unknown origin, he looks to be very similar to some of the Phidal stuff, whether they've ever tackled UK-specific licences I don't know, and equally he could be a specially commissioned cover-freebie/premium?

The label (dating the figurine (or license) to 2005) suggests the comic's ownership; could he be from the now defunct (or re-purposed) rides at Chessington, or the gift-shop thereof?

We also see a Desperate Dan club badge! There used to be badges for all sorts of kids things, I have Airfix and Corgi badges somewhere, and the Sword Blog (link) regularly passes on news of their badges?

A larger glazed-ceramic Desperate Dan with his 'cow pie' . . . take one whole cow, cover it in pastry, cook it! Simple really and the horns hold the crust up like singing blackbirds! Foreign readers have by this point given-up on the madness - I'm sure; but need to know a Desperate Dan storyline wasn't complete until he'd sat down with a cow-pie with potting-fork and trowel.

The storylines actually often started with his attempts to eat a cow-pie being interrupted, usually by a 'grown-up' giving some kids a hard time!

To the right we see a group shot of Brain's DC characters, with Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (his immaculately well-behaved little dog . . . NOT!) having a bath - as a bubble-bath dispenser, and another McDonalds Happy Meal toy of him causing mischief with a toy spider; a toy of a toy!

While I was awaiting the above to be sent, Jim gave me this in the big box, again I suspect a cover freebie, as it hasn't got any of the 'club' stuff of a send-away, so probably taped to the front of an issue?

Meanwhile a travel piece in the Metro or 'i' suggesting Dundee as a perfect weekend-break showed this, how cool is that; keep your bronze lord-this or nappy-emperor-that, Dundee has Desperate Dan striding across the main square with Dawg!

While Royal Fail put both comics on postage stamps back in 2012!