Black Bob (comics)
Black Bob originally appeared as a text story in The Dandy on 25 November 1944; in that story, Black Bob follows his owner's nephew who is playing truant and tries to bring him back to school.
[1] The characters were created by John Hunter (1903-1984), originally from Hawick, who worked as a journalist in Dundee, and then came to stay in Selkirk, living in a house in Elm Row, and owning a china and gift shop in Market Place.
He wrote the original stories, which were then illustrated by DC Thomson's staff artist, Jack Prout.
Amongst other things, John was an Elder in the Church of Scotland, and a member of Selkirk Camera Club.
As drawn by Jack Prout, further Black Bob stories appeared as a picture strip in The Weekly News in 1946, continuing until 1967, and regularly in The Dandy from his 1944 debut until issue 2122, dated 24 July 1982.
The educational and highly descriptive stories were written for the mid-twentieth-century child, but are sophisticated enough to engage an adult reader.
They convey a clear separation of ‘right’ from ‘wrong’, instilling in the young reader, the values of honesty and benevolence.
Most stories take place in the valley and hills around Selkirk with others set further afield in Britain and some abroad, accentuating the concept of ‘Home’, and it is safely back home where most stories end - often by a cozy fireside.
Recurring elements: circuses, children's parties, cliffs and crags, blindness, shady rogues, loss and reunion.
Jack Prout was born on 14 December 1899 and joined the Scottish publishing firm of D. C. Thomson as a staff artist on 21 June 1937.
Shortly before his retirement, Prout acquired a black and white Border Collie.
Information provided by the publisher of The Dandy and the Black Bob books, namely D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd as relayed by Jason Swemmer, then of Pretoria, South Africa; now of Gold Coast, Australia.
Further biographical information provided by the Juvenile Publications department of D C Thomson in a letter to Bob Richardson, Northolt, London, England.
The information about John Hunter, as the creator and original writer of the Black Bob stories, is provided by 'The Friends of John Hunter & Black Bob', a group of people centred on Selkirk, Scottish Borders.
It was common knowledge in Selkirk at the time that John Hunter was the creator and original writer of the stories; the 'Friends' have interviewed people still living who knew him, and/or the family of those who have since died, to record their memories.
