Three of the longest-running of the characters who appeared in the first issue of The Dandy were Keyhole Kate, Hungry Horace and Freddie the Fearless Fly - all originally drawn by the distinctive Allan Morley ("A.M."). Morley (1895-1960) was one of D.C. Thomson’s most prolific and talented artists; he first worked for them in 1925, and his strips were still being reprinted in The Dandy until the late seventies. From January 1947 he (along with D.C. Thomson’s other legend, Dudley D Watkins) was allowed the rare privilege of signing his work.

Morley drew many other strips for D.C. Thomson, including Nero And Zero and Uncle Dan; Jimmy and his Grockle and Wig and Wam were less successful efforts from the first Dandy. For the Beano Morley drew, among others, The Magic Lollipops, Big Fat Joe. His last strip was Sammy's Super Rubber in 1950 which, the following year, gave way to Dennis the Menace. It was a sign that Morley's style was on the way out. The last Magic Lollipops was in issue 475 (August 25th 1951), and was Morley's last strip for The Beano.

Morley died in Kent on September 5th, 1960. However reprints of his strip Waggy the Shaggy Doggy continued to appear in the Dandy until the late seventies. By now his style seemed highly anachronistic, but at the same time a charming link with the past. When it failed to follow the Dandy into the 1980's it was truly the end of an era.