Bully Beef and Chips was a British comic strip, created by Jimmy Hughes. It first appeared in 1967 in the British comics magazine ''

The Dandy ''The Dandy'' was a British 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 Oct ...

''.

Concept

The strip told the story of two warring boys – a tall, ugly thug called Bully Beef and a softer, more cunning boy called Chips. The name "Bully Beef and Chips" comes from a quickly-prepared meal –

corned beef Corned beef, or salt beef in some of the Commonwealth of Nations, is Salt-cured meat, salt-cured brisket of beef. The term comes from the treatment of the meat with large-grained rock salt, also called "corns" of salt. Sometimes, sugar and sp ...

and

chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The serie ...

– with "Bully beef" being a phrase used for "corned beef". Stories of these two were identically themed – Bully Beef (Beefy) would constantly play violent tricks on Chips, who would then get his climactic revenge in some way right at the end. Originally, Bully Beef's eyes were always covered by his hair, but towards the end of the 1980s they became partly visible, and then entirely visible when original artist Jimmy Hughes retired in 1993 and was replaced by

Gordon Bell Chester Gordon Bell (born August 19, 1934) is an American electrical engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) 1960–1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later became Vice President of Engi ...

and later

Sid Burgon Sidney William Burgon (3 October 1936), better known as Sid Burgon, is a British comics artist. After working as a mechanic and drawing as a hobby he was encouraged by coworkers into furthering his artistic interests. He gave up his job in 1963 an ...

. Burgon changed the characters' personalities a little, and made Chips just as much of a bully as Beefy at times, occasionally resulting in Beefy coming out on top.

Revivals

It was revived in 2009 in '' Dandy Xtreme'', drawn by Wayne Thompson, but this did not last long. After a redesign, it reappeared, again drawn by Thompson, in May 2012. Beefy had made an appearance in both ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'', also known as ''Beano'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it became the world's longest-runn ...

'' and ''The Beano Annual'' earlier in 2009 – specifically in a reprint Fred's Bed strip from around 1992, where Fred visited both Beanotown and Dandytown, and Beefy was among several characters he met. The annual appearance was in the Reservoir Dodge story, as one of a gang of villains watching

Baby Face Finlayson Baby Face Finlayson is a fictional character in a comic strip in the UK comic ''The Beano'', first appearing in issue 1553, dated 22 April 1972. Baby Face Finlayson "The Cutest Bandit in the West" is an outlaw from the American Old West, an ...

attempt to drown

Roger the Dodger Roger "the Dodger" Dawson is a comic strip character from the comic magazine ''The Beano''. He first appeared in his eponymous comic strip in 1953, and is one of the longest-running characters, known for his tactics of avoiding responsibility a ...

Walter the Softy Walter Brown (pejoratively nicknamed "Walter the Softy") is a fictional character that appears in the British comic magazine ''The Beano''. He is the rival and antagonist to Dennis the Menace who is vilified because of his lack of interest in ...

Minnie the Minx Minnie the Minx, whose real name is Hermione Makepeace is a comic strip character published in the British comic magazine ''The Beano''. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953, ma ...

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

Calamity James Calamity James is a comic strip in the UK comic ''The Beano''. It is about a boy, named Calamity James (a pun on Calamity Jane), who has disastrous luck. He first appeared on 1 November 1986, in issue no. 2311. A copy of his first strip is view ...

. The strip also appeared in both the 2011 and 2012 ''Dandy'' annuals, the 2011 one drawn by an unknown artist whose style resembled Jimmy Hughes's, and in 2012 drawn by

Laura Howell Laura Howell is a British-born comic strip artist. She is the first female artist in the history of ''The Beano'' comic, and is responsible for '' Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green'', '' Les Pretend'', '' Tricky Dicky'' and the manga adaptation o ...

Parodies

Bully Beef has been parodied in '' Viz'' as

Biffa Bacon The following is a list of recurring or notable one-off strips from the British adult spoof comic magazine '' Viz''. This list is by no means complete as with each issue new characters/strips/stories are introduced. A–E *Abel Unstable – ...

, Cedric Soft being the equivalent of Chips. However, the Viz strip mostly concerns Biffa's interactions with his equally violent (and considerably stronger) parents.

Sources

British comic strips British comics characters Gag-a-day comics Child characters in comics Male characters in comics 1967 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1967 Comic strip duos DC Thomson Comics strips Dandy strips Bullying in fiction Fictional rivalries {{UK-comics-stub