 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2007) |
| Oor Wullie | |
|---|---|
 Oor Wullie statue in Dundee | |
| Author(s) | R.D. Low |
| Launch date | 8 March 1936 |
| Publisher(s) | DC Thomson |
| Original language | Scots[1] [2] |
Oor Wullie (English: Our Willie) is a Scottish comic strip published in the D.C. Thomson newspaper The Sunday Post. It features a character called Wullie; Wullie is a Scots nickname for boys named William, equivalent to Willie. His trademarks are spiky hair, dungarees and an upturned bucket, which he uses as a seat: most strips since early 1937 begin and end with a single panel of Wullie sitting on his bucket. The earliest strips, with little dialogue, ended with Wullie complaining (e.g., "I nivver get ony fun roond here!"). The artistic style settled down by 1940 and has changed little since. A frequent tagline reads, "Oor Wullie! Your Wullie! A'body's Wullie!" (Our Willie! Your Willie! Everybody's Willie!).
Created by Thomson editor R. D. Low and drawn by cartoonist Dudley D. Watkins, the strip first appeared on 8 March 1936. Watkins continued to draw Oor Wullie until his death in 1969, after which the Post recycled his work into the 1970s. New strips were eventually commissioned from Tom Lavery, followed by Peter Davidson and Robert Nixon. Ken H. Harrison drew the strip from 1989 until 1997, when Davidson resumed duties. Between January 2005 and 2006, storylines were written by broadcaster Tom Morton from his home in Shetland,[3] and subsequently they were written by Dave Donaldson, managing director of Thomson's comics division.[4] The current writer is former Dandy editor Morris Heggie.
Between 2016 and 2017, artist Diego Jourdan Pereira filled in for Peter Davidson on Wullie, The Broons and Wee Harry. Jourdan Pereira also provided illustrations for the 2017 Annual and official merchandising. [5]
- ^ "Meet Oor Wullie". digital.nls.uk. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
- ^ "About Oor Wullie". oorwullie.com. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
- ^ Gilchrist, Jim. "Help ma boab... Oor Wullie's 70 - Scotsman.com Living". Living.scotsman.com. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
- ^ "Gavin Brightwell's history of Dudley Watkins' work". Thatsbraw.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 May 2009. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
- ^ Stringer, Lew (1 November 2016). "BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics: Diego on the Post". BLIMEY! The Blog of British Comics. Retrieved 31 October 2021.