Billy Whizz is a fictional character featured in the British comic The Beano, first appearing in issue 1139, dated 16 May 1964, when it replaced The Country Cuzzins.

[2] Both Appleby and Horrocks drew in a style that was broadly similar to Judge, but slowly began modernising the strip.

Horrocks continued as artist until late 1990, when he was succeeded by Beano newcomer David Parkins,[2] who began a major overhaul of the strip, making the effects of Billy's speed more destructive to his surroundings, giving him a more laid-back attitude, and later introducing a rather alien-looking tracksuit.

Parkins acted as the main artist in this time, but Trevor Metcalfe and Vic Neill also drew occasional strips for the next few years;[2] all three artists used a broadly similar design for Billy, but Metcalfe and Neill's strips featured a much more happy-go-lucky version of Billy.

A reshuffle of the Beano's artists (coinciding with the comic's move to all-colour printing) saw Parkins leave the strip in 1993, and Neill became the main artist, upon which he began further tweaking Billy's appearance, the most notable change being that the two long hairs he had always been drawn with were turned into a thunderbolt.

This run of reprints continued for the next year (including a few early Trevor Metcalfe and Vic Neill strips along the way) until the comic's 70th anniversary issue, when Barrie Appleby returned to provide a new strip (this time drawn in his own style, as opposed to his 1980s work which followed Malcolm Judge's style).

At the end of that month a new permanent artist was appointed, namely Nick Brennan who had previously drawn Crazy for Daisy in The Beano, and Blinky in The Dandy.

In November 2012, Wilbur Dawbarn took over as artist, returning the strip to its original style and removing Billy's tracksuit and bringing back the shorts and red T-shirt.

A more dynamic change came in the early 1990s when he began to wear a black tracksuit marked with a lightning bolt.

By the time the comic transitioned to full colour, both the stripes and extra bolt were removed entirely, again for unknown reasons.

Billy initially wore ordinary shoes but around the same time as the tracksuit was introduced he started to wear trainers, which are usually worn out very quickly by whizzspeed running, and as a result often have holes in the soles.

In the 1970 Beano Annual, it is revealed that the reason why Billy, plus Dad and Alfie, always have this style is because they always get thrown out of the barber's before the last two hairs can be shaved off.

However, he does seem to have a fairly short temper; in the 1999 Beano Book he exploded in a rage after finding out that Alfie had a glass of ice during a race.

[3] Much like other Beano characters save for Dennis the Menace and The Bash Street Kids, he does not appear to have a set group of friends.

2599 1993 David Parkins quits drawing Billy, and Vic Neill takes over permanently, although Trevor Metcalfe still contributes occasional strips for the next year.

3507 10 November 2012 Wilbur Dawbarn replaces Nick Brennan as artist, reverting the character to his original image.