If comics are for kids, it's fitting that Australia's first comic-book 'star' was a red-haired kid named Ginger. Cheeky and fearless, Ginger Meggs was always playing pranks on his mates and getting into scrapes with his arch enemy, Tiger Kelly.
Grown-ups and children loved Ginger's antics and made him the pint-sized star of Sunday newspaper comics across Australia in the 1920s. The popularity of the Ginger Meggs Sunbeams books inspired a parade of comic-strip kids in short pants. Fatty Finn came close to claiming Ginger's crown as 'king of the comics', but his strip was cancelled following the death of creator Syd Nicholls in 1977. |
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Ginger Meggs, meanwhile, had become a national icon, so his adventures continued under a succession of artists, ensuring his place in weekend newspapers' comic supplements to this day. Australian comic books have never spawned a kid capable of rivalling Ginger Meggs' popularity. Boofhead was a lovable clown, but he was a lot older than most of the kids who laughed at his simple-minded antics. |
Comic-book 'odd couples', by contrast, have held greater appeal for readers over the years.
Choclit's appearance might make audiences cringe today, but the youngster proved a lot smarter than The Bosun, his disaster-prone, grown-up friend.
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No one is sure if Da 'n' Dill are kids in fancy dress or if, as they claim, they're a humanoid duck and a space alien. But kids have enjoyed watching them torment their friend Ian in comics for nearly two decades. |
Illustrations
Left Dillon NAYLOR (cover artist, born 1968), Da ‘n’ Dill No 4, St. Kilda South, Cowtown Comics, 1995
Right Ginger Meggs, plaster figure, Australia, c 1930s
