Are You Blind!

Colonel Blink was, in my opinion at least, the best character ever created for The Beezer. The idea was simple, an incredibly short sighted man who always got things mixed up - my favourite adventure was when he stole a top secret government plan thinking it was a newspaper! He first appeared in November 1958, and was illustrated by Tom Bannister, who also illustrated classics such as Figaro, Tiny (The World's Largest Dog) and Desert Island Dick. Above is a look at young Blink, and below is another strip, both coming from the 1967 Beezer book.

The theme for Colonel Blink was a fantastic one, and so of course it was used again! The next most recognisable blind character for many people would be Nick Brennan's version of Blinky who currently appears in The Dandy. Blinky originated in the Beezer and Topper, illustrated by George Martin but was taken over in The Dandy by Nick when that folded.

I'm not going to forget about Erbert, the blindest kid at Bash Street! He always gets up to crazy stuff in the weekly stories, but back in 2009/2010 he was occasionally the star of Singled Out, a strip in which each week a different Bash Street kid was given their own story, illustrated by Tom Paterson. I was actually looking for the issue in which Erbert walks into the fish and chip shop instead of the optometrist which is next door, but I couldn't find it, so here are three other strips instead.

Finally, I'll finish with Squinty McPhee, a one off strip illustrated by Tom Paterson. I don't own the comic he originally appear in, so I borrowed a scan off Two Headed Thingies.