Desperate Dan, the stubble-jawed cowboy, appears on 1st-class stamps marking the 75th anniversary of The Dandy, first published in December 1937. The set of ten stamps also features its DC Thompson stablemate, The Beano, which came out the following year, and its hero, Dennis the Menace. Weekly sales of The Dandy, two million in the 1950s, are down to 7,448.
The stamps include Beryl the Peril from Topper, Judge Dredd from 2000AD, Bunty, Twinkle, Dan Dare from Eagle, Roy of the Rovers from Tiger, Steel Claw from Valiant and Buster, who was a character in his own comic.
Philip Parker, from Royal Mail Stamps, said: “For over a century, Britain’s uniquely eccentric comics have brought cheer to generations of readers. More importantly it has presented us with a cast of characters that, like the memories of those comics themselves, remain with us throughout our lives.
“The Dandy, celebrating its 75th birthday this year, and The Beano, which will do likewise next year, are almost British institutions and it feels appropriate to celebrate these comics and their characters on a set of very special stamps.”