Handmade screen print on cotton paper.
Signed and numbered out of 200 in pencil by the printer, John Patrick Reynolds.
Standard size: 26cm x 19cm
Medium size: 48cm x 38cm
Large size: 76cm x 56cm
Billy Whizz was one of my favourites when I was a kid. There is something very appealing about characters with special abilities – especially if they act as a handicap as often as not.
But Billy’s speed gave the artists and writers at The Beano a very good excuse to use their imagination with the story lines. So you could have Billy playing football by himself – and acting as striker and goalie, as he could outpace the speeding ball once he had kicked it.
This panel is taken from the very first Billy Whizz strip, back in May 1964. I love the style of the title piece – it reminds me of those old advertisements you used to get on the side of buildings.
The Beano is of course also home to those other icons of British children's comic humour Dennis the Menace and Gnasher.
Incidentally, the word beano is apparently short for "bean-feast" and means a feast, a celebration and a good time.
This screenprint has been officially approved by DC Thomson.
These are all original screenprints. An original print is a work of art printed by hand, from a plate, block, stone, or stencil (which is the case here - screenprints are made using screen stencils) that has been created by the artist for the purpose of producing the image.
© D.C. Thomson & Co., Ltd.