Classic Comics 20th March 2012

Desperate Dan and the gang from The Dandy celebrate their 75th year in print – now that’s a lot of jokes and japes! So to mark this momentous occasion we have brought together ten of Britain’s best loved characters from the heyday of British comics in this memorable set of Special First Class stamps and collectibles.

Issue Products

	The Dandy and Desperate Dan The Dandy was first published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd in 1937 and it is the world’s third longest running comic. Wild-west hero Desperate Dan first appeared in December 1937. The world’s strongest man, he shaves with a blow torch and eats cow pies complete with the horns.
	The Beano and Dennis the Menace The Beano first appeared on 30 July 1938. The Dennis the Menace strip (now known as Dennis and Gnasher) first appeared in 1951 and is the longest running strip in the comic. Other iconic strips include the Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger and Minnie the Minx.
	Eagle and Dan Dare The first issue of Eagle was released in April 1950. Revolutionary in its presentation and content, it was enormously successful; the first issue sold about 900,000 copies. Featured in colour on the front cover was Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future, created by Frank Hampson. Other popular stories included Riders of the Range and P.C. 49. Eagle also contained news and sport sections, and educational cutaway diagrams of sophisticated machinery.
	The Topper and Beryl the Peril The Topper was published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd and ran from 1953 to 1990, when it merged with The Beezer. Mickey the Monkey was the original cover star. Beryl the Peril was created by David Law as a female Dennis the Menace (also created by Law). The strip ran from the first issue, taking over the cover in 1986.
	Tiger and Roy of the Rovers Tiger was published from 1954 to 1985, and featured predominantly sporting strips. Its most popular strip was Roy of the Rovers, recounting the life of Roy Race and the team he played for, Melchester Rovers. This strip proved so successful it was spun out of Tiger and into its own comic.
	Bunty and the Four Marys Bunty was published by D. C. Thomson & Co. from 1958 to 2001. It consisted of a collection of many small strips, typically the stories themselves being three to five pages long. The Four Marys was the longest story. The comic ran from its creation in 1958 to its end in 2001. It centered around four young teenagers who lived in a girls-only boarding school in Elmbury.
	Buster and Buster Buster ran from 1960 to 2000 and carried a mixture of humour and adventure strips. The title character, whose strip usually appeared on the front cover, was Buster. He was originally billed as Buster: Son of Andy Capp, the lead character of the Daily Mirror newspaper strip, and wore a similar flat cap to reinforce the connection.
	Valiant and the Steel Claw Valiant was a British boys’ adventure comic that ran from 1962 to 1976. It was published by IPC Magazines and was one of their major adventure titles throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Aside from World War II characters like Captain Hurricane, Valiant ran innovative science fiction strips like the Steel Claw, a scientist rendered invisible by his artificial hand.
	Twinkle and Nurse Nancy Twinkle, ‘the picture paper especially for little girls’, was published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd from 1968 to 1999. It was aimed at young girls and came out weekly, Nurse Nancy, who ran a toy hospital with her grandfather, was one of the most popular characters.
	2000 AD and Judge Dredd 2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic, first published in 1977. It is most noted for its Judge Dredd stories, and has been contributed to by a number of artists and writers who became renowned in the field internationally, such as Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison. Judge Dredd is a law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner

Technical Details

The stamps were designed by The Chase, and are printed by Cartor Security Printing in lithography. The 35mm square stamps are perf 14.5 in sheets of 25/50. The stamps in row 1 are in one sheet of 25 (5x5), the stamps in row 2 are in a second sheet of 25.

World of Comics

Issue Date - 20th March 2012

Issue Products

The Dandy and Desperate Dan

The Beano and Dennis the Menace

Eagle and Dan Dare

The Topper and Beryl the Peril

Tiger and Roy of the Rovers

Bunty and the Four Marys

Buster and Buster

Valiant and the Steel Claw

Twinkle and Nurse Nancy

2000 AD and Judge Dredd