(1953-present)

Roger is yet another Beanotown schoolkid who revels in putting one over on his parents and 'friends'. But where the likes of Dennis and Minnie rely on menacing behaviour and the odd spot of fisticuffs, Roger is a bit of a coward, and instead relies on his wits and wiles. Anything he can do to make his life easier, he will (no matter who suffers). He has a "dodge" for every occasion, and has even collated his many tricks into a library of heavy volumes - his famous "Dodge Books".

Needless to say, the more elaborate Roger's schemes, the more likely they are to rebound on him. His comeuppance is always salutary, but does he ever learn that it might be easier to just accept his reponsibilities in the first place? Er... no. 'Cos then he'd just be "Roger", and where would be the fun in that...

TOP: Roger as drawn by Robert Nixon. Probably. No, it is - you can tell, can't you?

Roger was created by the "Northern cartoonist" Ken Reid. The first series of strips ran from April 18th 1953 (issue 561) until 1960 (although there was a brief break in the middle of 1953), with artist Gordon Bell taking over in 1959. When the strip returned in 1961 it was drawn by Bob McGrath. When he switiched to The Three Bears in 1962, Ken Reid returned and continued to draw the strip until he left D.C.Thomson in 1964. Robert Nixon then took over for the next ten years, bringing his trademark cuteness and clarity to the strip.

When Nixon left the Beano in 1973, Roger the Dodger was taken over firstly by a copycat artist with rather mediocre draftsmanship (Tom Lavery, who also drew Oor Wullie at around this time). Then in 1976 the strip was given to Frank MacDiarmid, who reintroduced an element of madness from Reid's original. This style did not find favour with new editor Euan Kerr; in 1986, having lured Nixon back to the Beano, he reinstated him on Roger the Dodger, which expanded to two pages.

RIGHT: Roger as created by Ken Reid, 1953. It was all there, right from the start!