Ratz (comic strip)
Encyclopedia
Ratz is a comic strip appearing in UK comic 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...
, which first appeared on August 19, 2006. It was developed by artist Hunt Emerson
Hunt Emerson
Hunt Emerson is a cartoonist living and working in Birmingham, England. He was closely involved with the Birmingham Arts Lab of the mid-to-late 1970s, and with the British underground comics scene of the 1970s and 1980s...
to replace the retired strip Little Plum
Little Plum
Little Plum is a fictional character in the UK comic The Beano.The eponymous hero and his friends Chiefy, Pimple and Hole-in-um-Head are members of the "Smellyfeet" American Indian tribe, who spend much of their time clashing with their rivals the "Puttyfeet" tribe. Other characters include Dr...
, which he had worked on since 2002. The stories follow the lives of a group of rats
RATS
RATS may refer to:* RATS , Regression Analysis of Time Series, a statistical package* Rough Auditing Tool for Security, a computer program...
who live in the sewers beneath Beanotown
Beanotown
Beanotown is a fictional town somewhere in the United Kingdom which is the setting for the majority of the strips in the popular children's comic, The Beano as well as the hometown of most of its characters...
, the main characters being Keef (the nominal leader), Rod (a spiv
Spiv
In the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal, who deals in stolen or black market goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices...
), and Herman, their naive sidekick. Other characters, such as Patti, Rubella and RastaRat make occasional appearances. Hunt Emerson
Hunt Emerson
Hunt Emerson is a cartoonist living and working in Birmingham, England. He was closely involved with the Birmingham Arts Lab of the mid-to-late 1970s, and with the British underground comics scene of the 1970s and 1980s...
was the original artist, with Laura Howell
Laura Howell
Laura Howell is a British-born comic strip artist. She is the first female artist in the history of The Beano comic, and responsible for "Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green", "Les Pretend" and Beano Manga. She also drew Billy the Cat in the Special 70 Years Beano, and two Minnie the Minx strips...
inking in his pencils from October 2006 onwards and on occasion drawing the strip. In the Beano Annual 2008, Ratz is changed to "Its a Ratz Life!" because the usual Ratz characters were not the main focus, but instead a pair of Ratz setting up home together (on a rubbish dump), and this strip was done before the strip first appeared in the comic itself (when the strip was going to be given that title).
Laura Howell has announced that with Hunt Emerson drawing the Fred's Bed
Fred's Bed
Fred's Bed is a comic strip in the British comic The Beano. It originally appeared in the The Topper section of the merged The Beezer and Topper comic in 1991. In the first strip, Fred breaks his old bed and when Fred and his mum go out to buy a new one, she buys the cheapest bed in the shop...
strip (which was previously reprints), she will be drawing Ratz as well as writing it. http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2679
In a couple of issues in September 2011, Ratz was the first strip inside the comic, a slot usually reserved for Dennis and Gnasher, although Dennis appeared on the cover as usual. Before this strip was Rats, a very similar strip about smelly rodents in a sewer, although these bunch were more friends. It was drawn by Terry Bave and Nigel Parkinson
Nigel Parkinson
Nigel Parkinson is a British cartoonist who currently works for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd and mainly draws for The Beano and The Dandy.-Biography:...
, appearing in the 1994-2003 Beezer Books and The Dandy
The Dandy
The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics and Il Giornalino...
issue 3281.