Send for Kelly was a long running comic strip that first appeared in '' The Topper'', originally drawn by George Martin.

Synopsis

The strip was mainly a parody of

spy fiction Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

, with Nick Kelly often solving cases through sheer luck and with lots of comedy involved.

Characters

*Nick Kelly was the main character, a secret agent. He usually wore a red trench coat and a fedora, and drove a bubble car. *Cedric was his assistant, conservatively dressed and in a bowler hat. *The Minister of Secret Information a balding man who Nick Kelly reported to. *Professor Wright-Nitt an eccentric scientist and inventor of gadgets for Kelly to help solve cases. *Harry Kelly's young nephew who replaced Cedric

Publication History

The Topper

Send for Kelly first appeared in 1961 in issue 413.''Topper Tales'' by Ray Moore From 1973 to 1975 the comic appeared on the front cover. The strip continued in the Topper until the comic's end and continued when the comic merged with

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'' ...

in 1990.

The Beezer and Topper

The strip continued in the Beezer and Topper, still drawn by George Martin, under the name Kelly the defective detective, until issue 85 in 1992.

Subsequent appearances

After the closure of the Beezer and Topper the strip continued to appear occasionally as reprints in

Classics from the Comics ''Classics from the Comics'' was a British comics magazine, published from March 1996 until October 2010. Published monthly, it was D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd's third all-reprint comic. It replaced '' The Best of Topper'' and '' The Best of Beezer ...

. The character appeared in animated form in an episode of the 1996 Dennis the Menace and Gnasher cartoon as a show within a show. Nick Kelly and his assistant Cedric also made an appearance in the Dandy Annual 2014, this time drawn by Nigel Auchterlounie.

References

British comics characters DC Thomson Comics strips Gag-a-day comics Fictional British secret agents {{comic-strip-stub