Ball Boy (Beano)

British comic strip character Ball Boy is a strip in UK comic The Beano and also the name of the main character. Strip History Ball Boy and his comic strip debuted in issue 1,735, dated 18 October 1975 featuring a five-a-side football team who usually lost all their matches. The strip was drawn by Malcolm Judge until his death in 1989. John Dallas took over from him afterwards, and drew it until his retirement in April 2003. The strip was then revamped and taken over by Dave Eastbury. Nigel Parkinson and Tom Paterson both occasionally draw the strip as well. In issue 3,481 (2 May 2009) a John Dallas reprint was used. For issue 3,260, dated 8 January 2005, the Ball Boy strip was meant to feature a French footballer called Henry Thierry who wore a red shirt. In the strip he is shown a red card and then runs from the team bath when a snorkel appears close to him saying "Time to va-va-voom" – a reference to the Renault adverts in which Thierry Henry appears. The Beano editor Euan Kerr decided to destroy the entire print run of that comic so as not to risk the striker's wrath, the issue eventually going on sale with a different Ball Boy strip in its place. Ball Boy also features in Th