The Dwarf

The Dwarf is a British comic character who has appeared in eponymous strips published by IPC Magazines. The character, a criminal genius who operated an army of highly realistic robots, first appeared in the anthology title Jet on 8 May 1971. The strip mixed adventure and comedy elements, with the Dwarf frequently breaking the fourth wall to address readers directly. Creation Since Fleetway Publications and Odhams Press had been merged into IPC Magazines by common owners International Publishing Company in 1969, management had launched several new juvenile titles, including Sally, Scorcher, Cor!!, Score 'n' Roar, Thunder and Tammy. While not all of the titles were successful, market research showed that they boosted the company's overall comic sales, and allowed new readers to be funnelled to extant titles if merged, effectively allowing new titles to function as test beds for new features. Jet was therefore devised as a new boys' adventure title in 1971, despite IPC's previous new effort in the genre (Thunder) having only recently been cancelled. "The Dwarf" was among the new storylines devised for the comic, and was drawn by the experienced Tom Kerr. The strip was unusual due to the Dwarf frequently directly addressing the audience, a device usually used in humour strips rather than adventure material. Most weekly episodes ended with a frame of the Dwarf gently taunting the readers - or, as the character often called them, "multitude" with his success and his plans to commit another daring crime the next week. Publishing history Due to the presence of expanded editorial material, "The Dwarf" did not appear in the launch issue of Jet, instead debuting the following week. Jet was ultimately short-lived, only running for 22 issues before merging into Buster; "The Dwarf" was not among the strips that continued.