Editor of The Beano retires from DC Thomson
Alan Digby, editor-in-chief of The Beano and BeanoMax has stepped down from his role, having chosen to take early retirement from publisher DC Thomson.
Digby has been editor of The Beano for the last five year, and has worked at DC Thomson for 40 years, with Michael Stirling, deputy head of children’s entertainment, taking over responsibility for the comics.
A statement from DC Thomson, said: "Unbelievably creative, Alan joined the company in May 1970 and was initially employed at The Beano, where he became chief sub-editor. Alan was responsible for masterminding the famous 'Gnasher Goes Missing' story arc as well as the creation of Ivy the Terrible, who was based upon one of his own daughters. Ivy remains one of the Beano’s most popular characters to this day.”
The statement continued: "In the late Eighties, Alan moved to become editor of The Beezer before heading up our Comic Projects department from 1993, launching the successful The Broons and Oor Wullie compilations and Funsize titles."
Digby was only the fourth editor of The Beano since it launched in 1938, taking over the role of editor in 2006, and then sister title BeanoMax in July 2007.
"Alan also played a key role in developing the Dennis and Gnasher cartoon which appears on Children’s BBC,” the statement concluded.