''Tricky Dicky'' is a British comic strip which debuted in the magazine '' Topper'' in December 1976''Topper Tales'' A Complete Index by Ray Moore. A CJ Publication and was drawn by

John Dallas John Dewar Dallas (11 June 1878 – 31 July 1942) was a Scottish international rugby union player. Dallas played international rugby for Scotland but is more notable as a rugby referee, and his officiating of the ''" Match of the Century"'', ...

. From 1979 to 1986 he was the cover star of the comic, succeeding Danny's Tranny and preceding

Beryl the Peril Beryl the Peril (or simply Beryl) is a fictional character created by David Law, the creator of Dennis the Menace, for issue 1 of '' The Topper'' comic a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined ...

. The strip survived the merger with the Beezer in 1990 and continued in The combined Beezer and Topper comic til it ended in 1993.''The Book of the Beezer'' by Ray Moore The character later reappeared in

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 ...

Concept

The comic strip was a

gag-a-day A gag-a-day comic strip is the style of writing comic cartoons such that every installment of a strip delivers a complete joke or some other kind of artistic statement. It is opposed to story or continuity strips, which rely on the development of ...

strip starring a young boy named Dicky, who plays practical jokes on people, but they usually managed to get the last laugh. From 1999 to 2000 he re-appeared as a 'Guest Star' in ''

'', again drawn by Dallas, running against

The Three Bears "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" (originally titled "The Story of the Three Bears") is a 19th-century English fairy tale of which three versions exist. The original version of the tale tells of an obscene old woman who enters the forest home ...

Inspector Horse and Jocky Over the years ''The Beano'' has had many different strips, ranging from comic strips to adventure strips to prose stories. Prose stories were the first to go, being phased out in 1955. Adventure strips were phased out in 1975, with the last on ...

and Gordon Bennett to be voted into the comic by readers, though The Three Bears was the winner. The basic premise of the strip was expanded to include that Dicky's father now owned a joke shop, explaining where he got all these jokes from. In Issue #4 of

BeanoMAX ''EPIC Magazine'' (Previously known as ''Dennis the Menace and Gnasher's EPIC Magazine'' (2014–2016), ''100% Official Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine'' (2013–2014) and ''BeanoMAX'' (2007–2013)) was a monthly British comic magazine ...

, Tricky Dicky makes a surprise guest one-off appearance with a new look trying to trick Ball Boy, but it doesn't work. Tricky Dicky also starred alongside ''

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 ...

'' in the ''Beano Summer Special 2003''. Tricky Dicky reappeared in a new strip in ''The Beano'' in 2013, this time 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 ...

. This new strip was a reboot with Tricky Dicky's appearance being changed and the character being given the new first name of Gordon. In the new strip, he is a more heroic figure, as he only plays pranks on people who deserve it.

Comparison to other comics with the same name

A character of the same name appeared in the children's TV series

ZZZap! ''Zzzap'' (rendered ''ZZZap!'') is a British children's television comedy programme. The concept of the show is a giant 18 ft comic that has been brought to life. The show was broadcast on ITV from 8 January 1993 until 21 September 2001 ...

. Another trickster child character of the same name, but otherwise a different character appeared in the "Cor!!" Comic published by Fleetway. And, finally a character called "Tricky Dicky Doyle" appeared in

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 ...

in 1997.

Appearances in Annuals

Tricky Dicky was put in the 2020 Annual as his own comic strip, but he did have an appearance on the Beano Annual 2016 cover. He also appeared in the 2017 Annual as a non-speaking character.

References

British comic strips 1976 comics debuts British comics characters Child characters in comics Gag-a-day comics Comics characters introduced in 1976 Fictional tricksters DC Thomson Comics strips Beano strips {{UK-comics-stub