Trivia / The Dandy

• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: Several articles relating to the comic mention that Desperate Dan left the comic in 1997 before returning in 2000 due to popular demand. While it's true that Dan briefly left the comic towards the end of 1997, this was a publicity stunt in the weeks leading up to The Dandy's 60th anniversary. Between 1999 and 2000, Dan was briefly taken off the cover (With Cuddles and Dimples taking over) but still had his own strip in the comic. ^note Although the covers would still regularly state that there was a Desperate Dan story inside, which makes you wonder why they even bothered to change cover stars. From 2004 onwards, the comic usually rotated cover stars or, in the case of the Dandy Xtreme, didn't have cover stars at all.
• Died During Production: From 1992, Pete Moonie became the artist for Dinah Mo. This saw the strip take a more domestic approach focusing more on Mo and her dad as opposed to its original incarnation as a Minnie the Minx expy. Unfortunately Pete passed away in 1996, and whilst several artists were tried out on Dinah Mo afterwards, it was felt that none of them suited the strip in the same way and so the character was retired. Originally, it was believed that that reason for Mo's departure was that she clashed with Beryl the Peril.
• Recycled Script: Several of the story arcs in Winker Watson from the 1970s were redone in the early noughties, redrawn and with names changed but recognisably still the same scripts. This was a particularly unfortunate example, as in at least one case DC Thomson's reprint title Classics From the Comics was running the originals in the exact same weeks as the revised versions appeared in the Dandy!
• Similarly Named Works: Several Dandy strips share names with other comic strips. An example would be Strange Hill School, about a normal boy attending a school for monsters, and Strange Hill (From Whizzer & Chips) which was also about a school for monsters but included a human teacher. Another example would be The Incredible Sulk, which shared its name with a strip from the Jackpot comic from around 30 years before.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: During the 2000's, a rumour began floating around that Desperate Dan had stopped eating cow pies. Despite the fact that this was not true, it didn't stop the right-wing tabloids from stating it as fact whenever they felt like slagging off the comic.
• What Could Have Been: The final print edition of The Dandy was to have had a two page Desperate Dan strip by Jamie Smart which involved Dan manning up and leaving Cactusville. This strip was brought forward by several months and the final print edition had a completely different strip by Ken Harrison instead.
  • Nuke Noodle was originally conceived as an Adult comic strip called "Dick Noodle".
  • Both George Vs. Dragon and Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land were originally intended to premiere in The Dandy during its Xtreme incarnation.
  • Reportedly, when the 2010 revamp was being planned, Desperate Dan was considered being dropped, but focus groups objected.

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