Desperate Dan

Desperate Dan
Comic strip character(s) from The Dandy
Publication information
Stars in	Desperate Dan
Creator(s)	Dudley D. Watkins
Other contributors	Peter Davidson Ken H. Harrison Tom Williams David Parkins Trevor Metcalfe Anthony Caluori John Geering Steve Bright Jamie Smart
Current/last artist	David Parkins
First appearance	Issue 1 (4 December 1937)
Last appearance	Final issue in 2013
Also appeared in	The Dandy Annual
Current status	Was ongoing in the comic until the comic's online demise
Schedule	Weekly
Spin-offs	Desperate Dawg Danny and Katey (c.1970 – c.1989) Aunt Aggie
Main Character
Name	Dan
Alias(es)	Desperate Dan
Family	Aunt Aggie Danny (nephew) Katey (niece)
Characters
Regular characters	Aunt Aggie, Dawg, Little Bear, Danny, Katey, Sheriff, The Mayor, Zeke, Hoss, Dangerous Dan
Crossover characters	A famous cameo from The Beano's Dennis the Menace
v t e

Desperate Dan is a wild west character in the now-defunct Scottish comic magazine The Dandy. He made his appearance in the first issue which was dated 4 December 1937 and became the magazine's mascot. He is apparently the world's strongest man, able to lift a cow with one hand. The pillow of his (reinforced) bed is filled with building rubble and his beard is so tough he shaves with a blowtorch.

The character was created by Dudley D. Watkins, originally as an outlaw or ‘desperado’ (hence his name), but evolved into a more sympathetic type, using his strength to help the underdog. After Watkins’ death in 1969, the cartoons were drawn by many other artists, principally Ken H. Harrison, though the Watkins canon was often recycled. When the Dandy became digital-only in 2012, the Desperate Dan strips were drawn by David Parkins.

There is a statue of Dan in Dundee, Scotland, where his publishers, D. C. Thomson & Co. are based.