When I was young I looked forward every week to the comics in the Sunday Post. One of my favorite comics was The Broons, which was about a family living in a tenement in what I assumed was Glasgow. (The town they live in is called Auchenshoogle, which is based on both Glasgow and Dundee). They reminded me of my family...sort of. My grandmother lived in a tenement building in Glasgow, on Hill Street. Her sister lived a floor below, her niece and husband lived around the corner, and for a year my mother, sister and I lived there too. I could identify with the family closeness of The Broons. I really enjoyed reading about the family and the mischievous twins were among my favorite characters.
The Broons was created by Dudley D. Watkins in 1936. It has appeared in Scotland's Sunday Post every week since then. It is the story of a very large family who all live in one tenement apartment. There are Granpaw Broon (who actually has his own house but seems to spend most of his time with the family), Maw and Paw Broon and their 8 children (Daphne, Hen, Joe, Maggie, Horace, The Twins, and The Bairn). The comic strip is basically about their everyday adventures and the difficulties of supporting such a large family. The Broons is also published in a semi-annual hardcover book; alternating with Oor Willie.
Oor Wullie was also a favorite comic strip of mine. Oor Wullie was named in 2004 as the favorite Scottish icon, beating out both William Wallace and Sean Connery for first place. The comic is about a young boy who is constantly getting himself into scrapes much to the exasperation of his parents and PC Joe Murdoch. Wullie lives in the same fictional town as The Broons, Auchenshoogle. He lives with his parents, his dog Harry, and his mouse Jeemy. Occasionally, characters from The Broons appear in the comic strip.
Oor Wullie first appeared in the pages of Scotland's Sunday Post in 1936 and was also created by Dudley D. Watkins. The strip is also published in a semi-annual hardcover book; alternating with The Broons.
As a kid growing up, I appreciated that I could read comics about Scottish characters since most of the other comics I read featured English or American characters. Even though both were from the 1930s, they did and still do remain popular with today's readers. They both seem to have a timeless quality about them; children still get into trouble, families still have to struggle to get by. It is a testament to the writer, Dudley D. Watkins that almost 40 years after his death his comics still go on. Various artists continued to draw the comic strips after Watkins' death; the artist currently drawing the strips is Peter Davidson and the current writer is Dave Donaldson.
