The Beano

One Joe Jitsu was the title character in a comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

 in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 comic

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 The Beano

The Beano

The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...

, and was voted into the comic by Beano readers in early 2004, along with Colin the Vet

Colin the Vet

Colin the Vet was a fictional character who had his own comic strip in the UK comic The Beano between 2004 and 2006. As the name implies, the strip was about a veterinarian called Colin, who encounters all sorts of crazy animals. The strip was drawn solely by Duncan Scott...

. Joe narrowly defeated Colin, but both became regulars in the comic, as Joe's victory was by just 1%.

The strip, drawn by Wayne Thompson, who was also the artist for the Beano's Billy Whizz

Billy Whizz

Billy Whizz is a fictional character featured in the British comic The Beano, first appearing in issue 1139, dated 16 May 1964, when it replaced The Country Cuzzins. Billy, the title character, is a boy who can run extraordinarily fast. His speed often causes chaos yet at the same time his ability...

 and Jak

Jak

Jak may refer to:*JAK, Jazakomu Allahu Khayran *JAK members bank, a Swedish interest-free bank*Janus kinase, an intracellular signaling molecule; component of the JAK-STAT signal system...

 in the Dandy, was about a boy who had a black belt

Black belt (martial arts)

In martial arts, the black belt is a way to describe a graduate of a field where a practitioner's level is often marked by the color of the belt. The black belt is commonly the highest belt color used and denotes a degree of competence. It is often associated with a teaching grade though...

 in Karate

Karate

is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...

. Some early strips also featured a man by the name of Johnny Woo, whose plans to get Joe into his dojo

Dojo

A is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to...

 were never successful. Joe Jitsu also has a sister, called Jude. It may be seen as a successor to the earlier karate-themed strip, Karate Sid

Karate Sid

Karate Sid was a strip that appeared in The Beano weekly and annuals from 1987 to 1988. Karate Sid was a boy who lived in Beanotown and was an expert in martial arts. His sworn enemies were the Dans...

.

In 2006, Joe's strip made a reappearance in The Beano

The Beano

The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...

. However, this was only a short run as the strips were stockpiled, and after Alan Digby became Beano editor his strip quietly disappeared. Joe Jitsu also made a small appearance In The Bash Street Kids Anuual 2009

Dick Tracy

Joe Jitsu was also the name of one of Dick Tracy

Dick Tracy

Dick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...

's crimefighters. He became popular in the 1961 syndicated animated cartoon

Animated cartoon

An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...

 series of the popular comic strip, but has since been criticised as a stereotype

Stereotype

A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

. His method of subduing criminals was to grab them by the wrist, exclaim either "So solly!" or "Excuse, prease!" and judo-flip them down on the ground violently.

Both Joe Jitsu and Go Go Gomez have been edited out of some reruns of the Dick Tracy cartoon series.