''The Beezer'' (called ''The Beezer and Topper'' for the last three years of publication) was a British

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

that ran from (issues dates) 21 January 1956 to 21 August 1993, published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. Comic strips in ''The Beezer'' were a mix of irreverence, slapstick, and adventure; notable creators included Leo Baxendale,

Gordon Bell Chester Gordon Bell (August 19, 1934 – May 17, 2024) was an American electrical engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), from 1960–1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later served as ...

, Paddy Brennan, David Law, Tom Paterson, Bill Ritchie, Dudley D. Watkins, Malcolm Judge, and John Geering.

Publication history

Like its sister comic, '' The Topper'', ''The Beezer'' was an A3 ( tabloid) publication, twice as big as most other comics. It shrank to A4 paper size in 1981. Comics that merged into ''The Beezer'' during its 37-year run were '' Cracker'' in 1976, and '' Plug'' in 1979. The Beezer launched an annual, ''The Beezer Book'', in 1957; this continued in publication following the closure of the weekly comic, and ran until the 2003 book (published 2002).

1990 merger with ''The Topper''

In September 1990, DC Thomson decided to rationalise their comics portfolio and merged the ''Beezer'' with '' The Topper''. Whereas most previous comic mergers saw the name of one of the 'absorbed' comics disappear, ''The Topper'' was considered significant enough for its name to be retained despite the merger and as such the comic was renamed ''Beezer and Topper'' following the relaunch ('' Whizzer and Chips'' was conceived as a double comic, and was not the result of a merger.)

Cancellation/merger with ''The Beano''

''Beezer and Topper'' ceased publication as a weekly comic in 1993; when it closed it was essentially (unofficially) "merged" with ''

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 ...

'', as this is where the bulk of surviving content from the comic (most prominently '' The Numskulls'') ended up. Some also went to DC Thomson's other surviving weekly comic, ''

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 ...

''.

Annuals and other ''Beezer'' publications

Although the weekly ''Beezer'' and ''Topper'' had merged, the two comics' annuals (''The Beezer Book'' and '' The Topper Book'') remained separate publications. The closure of ''Beezer and Topper'' led to the closure of the ''Topper'' annual as of the 1994 book (published 1993), but ''The Beezer Book'' continued in publication annually for some years thereafter, eventually ceasing with the 2003 book (published 2002). Other ''Beezer'' publications that continued after the weekly comic's closure were ''The Best of Beezer'' (launched 1988, closed 1996) and ''The Beezer Summer Special'' (launched 1973, known as the 'Holiday Special' from 1998 onwards, closed 2002). Vintage strips from the ''Beezer'' were published alongside stories from other DC Thomson publications in '' Classics from the Comics'', which was published from 1996 to 2010. A ''The Best of the Beezer Annual'' was released in 2014, published by Pedigree Books as part of the ''Retro Classics'' series.''Retro Classics: The Best of The Beezer Annual''
(DC Thomson, 2016). It contained reprints of old Beezer comics. Despite the name saying "annual", a second book was never released.

Strips

''The Beezer'' was home to 120 different comic strips over the years.

References

Citations

Sources

* Moore, Ray. ''The Book of the Beezer'' (CJ Publications, 1997).

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beezer, the DC Thomson Comics titles Defunct British comics Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom British humour comics 1956 comics debuts 1993 comics endings Magazines established in 1956 Magazines disestablished in 1993 Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom