Something really (summer) special

Copyright D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.

Over on the Phil-Comics Facebook page there's an item I'd never seen before. Presumably this is the original mock up of the cover to The Dandy Summer Special 1968 with art by Charlie Grigg. As you can see, it depicts a rather more unpleasant looking Korky the Cat than we're accustomed to! I'm surprised it even reached the completed stage. 

Perhaps considered inappropriate for the cover, it was never used and Charlie was asked to redraw it. Here's the published version. A definite improvement I think!

Copyright D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.

It's worth noting that with changing tolerances of acceptability even that published cover wouldn't be used today. A children's character smoking? And a cat at that? Modern society would have a fit. The strip on the back cover did show Korky puffing on his cigar but with a much friendlier expression than in the rejected cover.

Copyright D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.

You can see more images of various old comics at the aforementioned Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/phil-comics-auctions/156116677784593  

You can also visit the Phil-Comics website to follow the latest comics auctions:
http://www.phil-comics.com/

Phil Shrimpton has written an article about his collecting over at the Rareburg site here:
https://www.rareburg.com/article/collecting-dandy-and-beano-comics

My thanks to Peter Gray for giving me the heads up on this rare Dandy artifact. You can visit Peter's blog on British comics here:
http://petergraycartoonsandcomics.blogspot.co.uk/