''Colonel Crackpot's Circus'' was a British comic strip, published from 1960 until 1963 in ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and ...

''. It was the first Beano comic strip drawn by

Malcolm Judge ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and ...

, who later went on to draw ''

Billy Whizz Billy Whizz is a fictional character featured in the British comic ''The Beano'', first appearing in issue 1139, dated 16 May 1964, when it replaced The Country Cuzzins. Billy, the title character, is a boy who can run extraordinarily fast. His ...

'' and ''

Ball Boy Ball boys and ball girls, also known as ball kids, are individuals, usually human youths, but sometimes dogs, who retrieve and supply balls for players or officials in sports such as association football, American football, bandy, cricket, tenn ...

'' for the same comic, as well as ''

The Numskulls ''The Numskulls'' is a comic strip in ''The Beano'', and previously in ''The Beezer'' and ''The Dandy'' – UK comics owned by D.C Thomson. The strip is about a team of tiny human-like technicians who live inside the heads of various people, ...

'' for ''

The Beezer ''The Beezer'' (called ''The Beezer and Topper'' for the last three years of publication) was a British comic that ran from (issues dates) 21 January 1956 to 21 August 1993, published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. Comic strips in ''The Beezer'' ...

.'' The strip was about a circus and the

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as ...

adventures of the circus folk and often involved Colonel Crackpot (the circus ringleader) trying not to pay his workforce what they were worth. In its Beano incarnation the main characters were Colonel Crackpot (the ringleader), Charlie Globes (the strong man, his name being a play on

Charles Atlas Charles Atlas (born Angelo Siciliano; October 30, 1892December 24, 1972) was an American bodybuilder best remembered as the developer of a bodybuilding method and its associated exercise program which spawned a landmark advertising campaign ...

), and Cynthia the fat lady.https://archive.today/20130118000037/http://www.beano.com/retro-beano/colonel-crackpot's-circus?decade=1960 The comic strip was later revived in ''

The Dandy ''The Dandy'' was a Scottish children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The first issue was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after '' Il Giornalino'' (cover dated 1 Oc ...

'', under the title ''Pinky's Crackpot Circus'', in a strip drawn by

Nick Brennan Nick Brennan is a British cartoonist who works mainly for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. He started drawing for the company in 1993, drawing a revival of Peter Piper from ''The Dandy'', revived from The Magic Comic, but with a departure from Watkins ...

and later by Gary Northfield. This revival first appeared in October 2003. Characters during this time included Pinky the ringleader, Spanky and Blotto the clowns, Brenda the bearded lady, Rick the human cannonball, Thomas the tightrope walker, Lenny the lion tamer, and Mehmet the elephant.

References

{{UK-comics-stub British comics 1960 comics debuts Colonel Crackpot 1963 comics endings Humor comics Gag-a-day comics Colonel Crackpot Colonel Crackpot Colonel Crackpot Colonel Crackpot Colonel Crackpot Dandy strips Beano strips