The Beano is celebrating 70 years of Roger the Dodger, one of the longest-running characters in the comic’s history.

To celebrate the anniversary, a collectors issue of The Beano has been released featuring a special Roger the Dodger strip, as well as him appearing throughout the comic strips alongside characters such as Minnie the Minx, Dangerous Dan and Billy Whizz.

Roger the Dodger first appeared in the British comic on April 18, 1953.

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Created by Ken Reid, Roger introduced the British public to the art of dodging on his seventh birthday, when his grandpa gifted him his precious collection of Dodgebooks: a record of all the scams, wheezes, pranks and misdirection's he had pulled over decades of dedicated dodging.

New dodges are being created weekly by writer Danny Pearson and illustrated by Beano artist Barry Appleby.

The Herald: The Beano was first published in 1938The Beano was first published in 1938

This week, Britain’s favourite dodger celebrates his birthday in Beanotown, by doing what he knows best...more dodging.

This time Roger comes up with a crafty plan to skive off all hard work by disguising himself as an elderly man, and successfully dodging all his tasks.

Mike Stirling, Beano Studios’ Director of Mischief, said: “Some of us like to make mischief, while others prefer to absorb it and Roger the Dodger does a bit of both. He breaks rules that shouldn’t even be rules by challenging the status quo and using his creativity to dodge the boring bits of life. That’s a lesson none of us should dodge.”