Billy's Boots: The Legacy Of Dead-Shot Keen (Volume 1)

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In October 1971, John Gillatt took over the art for a 16-year run which truly defined the strip in readers’ eyes and minds, but that’s a treat for another volume… Billy's Boots, under the Dutch title De Wondersloffen van Sjakie (The Magic Boots of Sjakie, - Sjakie being Billy) was published in Holland from 1973 to 1975 in the comic Sjors. As you can see below, some changes were necessary for a story where, in Tiger, Billy traveled to Holland on the ferry to play in a cup match. In the Dutch version, Sjakie was already living in Holland of course so UK artist John Gillatt was specially commissioned to draw a new sequence, replacing the ferry trip with Sjakie hitchhiking to the venue in Amsterdam.

The artwork for the final episode was by Jaap Verwey, who also drew for the Dutch version of Bunty. Dutch: Sjakie Meulemans, Swedish: Benny Guldfot, Finnish: Benny Dane, Benny Kultajalka, Icelandic: Kalli í knattspyrnu (Kalli the footballer) Billy was often able to anticipate future events in his own life by reading Keen's book The Life of Dead Shot Keen. Billy's life often mirrored Keen's, such as the time when he came on as a substitute in a school match with his team losing 0-7, and scored 8 goals himself to win the match, or when he accidentally got into trouble by being selected for both sides in a schools' cup final. He had previously read about Keen's similar experiences while turning out for his teams. He was thus able to foresee events and work out solutions to problems. Billy's Boots was a popular British comic strip by writer Fred Baker and artist John Gillatt, later continued by Mike Western. The original Billy's Boots was an earlier humorous series, written and drawn by Frank Purcell, which appeared in Tiger from December 23rd 1961 until July 13th 1963, with a similar premise to this later series. The later more serious Billy appeared in the first issue of Scorcher in 1970, [1] and later moved to Tiger when the two comics merged in 1974. In 1985, Tiger in turn merged with Eagle and the strip moved again. Just a year later, Billy's adventures relocated once more, this time to Roy of the Rovers. New adventures were included in the weekly comic until May 1990 (later followed by reprints), before he switched to Best of Roy of the Rovers Monthly. The strip also appeared in annuals, including annuals for comics which had themselves ceased publication. The strip is still fondly remembered by fans of the "golden age" of British boys' comics. [2] In Finland and Sweden, Billy's Boots was published in Buster magazine. In the UK, stories based on Billy's earliest adventures appeared in Total Football magazine until it closed in 2001, and Billy's story was also reprinted for a few months in the defunct Striker comic. Billy’s Boots was a popular British comic strip by writer Fred Baker and artist John Gillatt, later continued by Mike Western. The original Billy’s Boots was an earlier humorous series, written and drawn by Frank Purcell, which appeared in Tiger between 1961 and 1963, with a similar premise to this later series. The later more serious Billy appeared in the first issue of Scorcher in 1970, and later moved to Tiger when the two comics merged in 1974. In 1985 Tiger in turn merged with Eagle and the strip moved again, however just a year later Billy’s adventures relocated once more, this time to Roy of the Rovers. New adventures were included in the weekly comic until May 1990 (later followed by reprints), before he switched to Best of Roy of the Rovers Monthly. The strip also appeared in annuals, including annuals for comics which had themselves ceased publication, and is still fondly remembered by fans of the “golden age” of British boys’ comics. In Finland and Sweden, Billy’s Boots was published in Buster magazine. In the UK, stories based on Billy’s earliest adventures appeared in Total Football magazine until it closed in 2001, and Billy’s story was also reprinted for a few months in the defunct Striker comic.Billy’s Boots never reached the popularity of Roy of the Rovers in terms of wider recognition but it remains one of the most fondly remembered stories of its era; its multiple relocations as comics came and went attesting to that. This first volume from the Treasury of British Comics is pure escapist, feelgood fun. Something that we could all benefit from right now! Scorcher became Scorcher and Score after 77 issues (merging with Score ‘n’ Roar in early July 1971) and finally called “time” with the October 5 th 1974 issue – a further 171 outings. Its favourite features were ultimately absorbed into Tiger in 1980, but Annuals and Summer Specials continued to appear until 1984. Unfortunately, being so old, after he wears them a few times the boots soon fell apart, and were unable to be repaired. Billy, fearing that he would lose his new-found ability and knowing that “Dead Shot” Keen had played for the local club, Amhurst Albion, decided to go to their ground to see if any of Keen’s other boots remained there. Having secretly entered the stadium, he found the boot room, and discovered another pair of Keen’s old boots which, much repaired, he used for the remainder of the story.

Despite his adventures lasting for more than 20 years, Billy remained about 12 or 13 years old throughout the storyline. The series concerned Billy Dane, a schoolboy and aspiring footballer, who was an extremely poor player until he discovered a pair of old style, ankle high, football boots while cleaning his grandmother’s loft. The boots, which his grandfather had bought as a souvenir, had belonged, decades before, to a famous professional striker called Charles “Dead Shot” Keen. In a manner which was never explained in the story, the boots possess special abilities which turn Billy into a fantastic football player when he wore them. In addition to giving Billy the physical skill to score great goals, the boots also granted him the intuition to be in the right place at the time on the pitch, leading him to feel that they have a “mind of their own”. Each week, the strip was introduced with the words, "Billy Dane found an ancient pair of football boots that used to belong to old-time soccer star, "Dead-Shot" Keen. In some strange way, the boots enabled Billy to play in the same style as Dead Shot..." However, when the strips were reprinted over in Holland, something different occurred. There, Billy eventually grew up and his repetitive storylines actually led into a different direction, and into a conclusion.Join us at the start of a stunning saga which entertained football fans for over twenty years! Buy the hardcover now >> Buy the digital edition now >> He’s also an international star, having been translated into Finnish, Swedish, Icelandic, Dutch, Bengali, Turkish and more… However, despite the boots’ obvious importance to him, he would repeatedly lose them or have them stolen. Billy loved football but was unfortunately one of the worst players in his school. However, when clearing out his grandmother’s attic he came across a battered old pair of footie boots that once belonged to ‘Dead-Shot’ Keen, a legendary player of yesteryear who had also been part of the England international team. When Billy put them on he discovered he could suddenly play in the style of Dead-Shot, with the boots having a seemingly supernatural power to improve his skills and guide his actions on the football pitch… The series concerned Billy Dane, a schoolboy and aspiring footballer, who was an extremely poor player until he discovered a pair of old style, ankle high, football boots while cleaning his grandmother's loft. The boots, which his grandfather had bought as a souvenir, had belonged, decades before, to a famous professional striker called Charles "Dead Shot" Keen. In a manner which was never explained in the story, the boots possess special abilities which turn Billy into a fantastic football player when he wore them. In addition to giving Billy the physical skill to score great goals, the boots also granted him the intuition to be in the right place at the time on the pitch, leading him to feel that they have a "mind of their own".