Brit comics were DANDY.

DAN Dare was one of my childhood heroes, but for that matter, so was Dennis the Menace, Desperate Dan and Korky the Cat.

When I was a youngster, in the mid1950s (I was eight in 1955), we lived for comics and football.

Times were hard, although we didn't realise it then. But to get away from reality we would get our comics out and become absorbed in the adventures of the likes of Dan Dare and other cartoon heroes.

As we looked forward to space travel it was Dan Dare who excited the imagination, along with Journey Into Space on the radio (or wireless if you prefer). Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future, was always battling against the dreaded Mekon and, as heroes do, saving the world every other issue.

Amazingly Dan Dare was set in the past, as far as we are concerned, because, from being launched in the 1950s his time zone was set in the 1990s.

Dan was born with the Eagle comic and appeared in the first ever issue, on April 14, 1950. It was so meticulously done that Arthur C Clarke was engaged as science adviser.

Born in Manchester, in 1967 (he's just a kid), Colonel Daniel McGregor Dare was the chief pilot of the Interplanet Space Fleet.

His arch-enemy was The Mekon, ruler of the Treens, always scheming to conquer the Earth - but we always slept well in our beds, knowing Dan Dare was watching over us.

But another hero is far older, he is Desperate Dan and first appeared in The Dandy on December 4,1937, its first issue.

Desperate Dan - a sort of Wild West character was said to be the world's strongest man, and could lift a cow with one hand. He shaved his beard with a blow-torch.

Hifavourite food was a massive meat pie called a cow pie, with horns sticking out. He started out as a desperado on the wrong side of the law, but soon became a sort of Robin Hood character.

Now Dennis the Menace, he is a different kettle of fish, this is the guy who usurped authority, went against all the laws of childhood (I mean adult laws of childhood).

Dennis, who began his career in The Beano in 1951, was a child with a bit of the devil in him, so much so that he even knocked Biffo the Bear off the front cover in 1974.

Last, but not least, we have Korky the Cat. Although Korky started in The Dandy in 1937, he didn't utter his first words until 1942, previously he had been mute.

But hang on a minute, there was another comic hero, but this one was a 'girl'. I suppose I have to mention Beryl the Peril. Beryl, a real Tomboy, emerged with the Topper in 1953.

Beryl could get into even more scrapes than Dennis and was always at odds with grown-ups.

What was your favourite comic character and do you have any collections of old comics? Write to Ray Marshall, Evening Chronicle, Groat Market, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1ED or email [e-mail]

CAPTION(S):

FAVOURITE: Dennis the Menace and dog Gnasher HERO: Dan Dare always thwarted the Mekon BIG LAUGH: Desperate Dan