Colonel Blink
Encyclopedia
Colonel Blink was a fictional character
in a comic strip
in the UK
comic
The Beezer
, first appearing in November 1958. Denis Gifford
in his Encyclopedia of Comic Characters (1987) attributes his creation to "Carmichael." These days he occasionally appears in the reprint Classics from the Comics
series. The strip was drawn by Tom Bannister for the majority of its run, with a few later strips being drawn by Bill Ritchie
and Gordon Bell
in the same style as Bannister.
The main source of the fun of these one-page stories was the combination of Blink's bluff, no-nonsense blimpish
ways and his disastrous short-sightedness. With the usual comic disregard for foolish internal consistencies, every other story involved his driving down the road in a car that had obviously seen the dawn of the Edwardian era. Although Blink was "known to the police" for various misdemeanours involving often lunatic examples of mistaken identity he was never pulled over for dangerous driving.
Aiding and abetting Blink were:
The charm of the stories lies in the utter lack of malice in Colonel Blink: the madcap adventures are an escalating sequence of disasters based on innocent and often very well-meaning intent. A very similar character to Colonel Blink is Mr. Magoo
, who also gets himself and others in trouble due to his short-sightedness. He was reinvented as a short-sighted teenager with pink glasses under the name Blinky
in The Dandy
between 1993 and 2011.
Colonel Blink has been parodied in Viz
as "Colonel Blimp the short-sighted gimp".
The character was much the same as his Beezer origin, except that he was a BDSM
fan.
The character is referred to as a colonel
in the strip's title but the character having been in the army is rarely mentioned in the strip's itself. However in one strip it refers to the characters time in the military and says he became colonel but leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
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 Beezer
Beezer
The Beezer was a British comic that ran from 21 January 1956 to 21 August 1993,...
, first appearing in November 1958. Denis Gifford
Denis Gifford
Denis Gifford was a British writer. He specialized in the history of popular entertainments such as comic books and horror films...
in his Encyclopedia of Comic Characters (1987) attributes his creation to "Carmichael." These days he occasionally appears in the reprint Classics from the Comics
Classics from the Comics
Classics from the Comics was a UK comic, published from March 1996 until October 2010. Published monthly, it was D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd's third all-reprint comic...
series. The strip was drawn by Tom Bannister for the majority of its run, with a few later strips being drawn by Bill Ritchie
Bill Ritchie
Bill Ritchie was a Scottish cartoonist. He is known for work on comics published by D. C. Thomson.-Biography:...
and Gordon Bell
Gordon Bell
C. Gordon Bell is an American computer engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation 1960–1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later became Vice President of Engineering 1972-1983, overseeing the development of the VAX...
in the same style as Bannister.
The main source of the fun of these one-page stories was the combination of Blink's bluff, no-nonsense blimpish
Colonel Blimp
Colonel Blimp is a British cartoon character.The cartoonist David Low first drew Colonel Blimp for Lord Beaverbrook's London Evening Standard in the 1930s: pompous, irascible, jingoistic and stereotypically British...
ways and his disastrous short-sightedness. With the usual comic disregard for foolish internal consistencies, every other story involved his driving down the road in a car that had obviously seen the dawn of the Edwardian era. Although Blink was "known to the police" for various misdemeanours involving often lunatic examples of mistaken identity he was never pulled over for dangerous driving.
Aiding and abetting Blink were:
- The ever-patient "Auntie," who acts as housekeeper, and who, despite her name was obviously considerably younger than the Colonel
- Rover the dog, who needs to be even more patient as he's often mistaken for lions, bears, rugs or insurance salesmen
- Next-door neighbour Cartright, often the innocent victim of some misunderstanding or other (him being accidentally covered in grass clippings leads Blink to shout approvingly: "Got a monkey to cut the hedge, eh Cartright? Dashed clever idea!")
- Sundry nephews and small boys, as motive forces, Greek chorusGreek chorusA Greek chorus is a homogenous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action....
and/or astonished by-standers - The long-suffering local constabulary
The charm of the stories lies in the utter lack of malice in Colonel Blink: the madcap adventures are an escalating sequence of disasters based on innocent and often very well-meaning intent. A very similar character to Colonel Blink is Mr. Magoo
Mr. Magoo
Quincy Magoo is a cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of sticky situations as a result of his nearsightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem...
, who also gets himself and others in trouble due to his short-sightedness. He was reinvented as a short-sighted teenager with pink glasses under the name Blinky
Blinky (comic strip character)
Blinky was a fictional character in a comic strip in the UK comic The Dandy, about a boy with large, thick glasses and the chaos he always causes, as what he sees through his glasses is a galaxy different from the rest of the world...
in 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...
between 1993 and 2011.
Colonel Blink has been parodied in Viz
Viz (comic)
Viz is a popular British comic magazine which has been running since 1979.The comic's style parodies British comics of the post-war period, notably The Beano and The Dandy, but with incongruous language, crude toilet humour, black comedy, surreal humour and either sexual or violent storylines...
as "Colonel Blimp the short-sighted gimp".
The character was much the same as his Beezer origin, except that he was a BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
fan.
The character is referred to as a colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
in the strip's title but the character having been in the army is rarely mentioned in the strip's itself. However in one strip it refers to the characters time in the military and says he became colonel but leaves a lot of questions unanswered.