Tin-Can Tommy | |
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Comic strip character(s) fromThe Beano | |
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Publication information | |
Creator(s) | The Dinelli brothers |
Other contributors | Sam Fair Charles Gordon George Drysdale |
First appearance | Issue 1 (30 July 1938) |
Last appearance | issue 3185 (2003) |
Also appeared in | The Beano Annual |
Current status | Discontinued |
Main Character | |
Name | Tommy |
Family | Babe (sister) Clanky (pet) Ironsides (pet) Professor Lee (creator/father) |
Tin-Can Tommy (The Clockwork Boy) was acomic strip in the UKcomicThe Beano, featuring Tommy, the clockwork 'son' of Professor Lee and his wife. It first appeared on the back page of issue 1, dated 30 July 1938, where we learn that it was built due to the death of their own son a year earlier (a concept which predatesAstro Boy).
A few years later came the addition of a clockwork sister called Babe, a petcat called Clanky, and a horse called Ironsides.[1] The strip was created by theItalian Dinelli brothers, but they disappeared in France at the start ofWorld War II.[2] The strip was taken over by one of DC Thomson's own artists after issue 69 with new strips being drawn bySam Fair,Charles Gordon andGeorge Drysdale.[3] The strip continued until issue No 303 in 1947.
In issue 3185 (dated August 2003) Tin Can Tommy metBea,Dennis the Menace's baby sister for the comic's 65th anniversary.[4]