Biffo the Bear is a character who has appeared in The Beano comic. He made his debut in issue 327 (24th January 1948), immediately taking over as the front page of the comic from the original cover star Big Eggo.
One of the most notable series of stories came in 1969, when Lord Snooty discovered Biffo's family tree at the Beanotown museum, which Biffo used to tell stories about his ancestors, with flashbacks showing how his ancestors interacted with historical events.
Biffo was drawn by Dudley D. Watkins until his sudden death on 20th August 1969. He was replaced by David Sutherland, who began his tenure as artist by completing an unfinished Biffo story Watkins had been working on prior to his death. Biffo continued to appear on the comic's front cover until issue 1677 (7th September 1974), with the more popular Dennis the Menace replacing him on the cover the following week, with Biffo relegated to the inside pages of the comic. Later in the 1970s, with Biffo's popularity with the comic's readers in decline, Sutherland stopped drawing the strip to be replaced by Jimmy Glen, with the strip continuing to appear until issue 2310 (25th October 1986), by which time it had been reduced to half a page.
The character would return in issue 2445 (27th May 1989), with the title shortened to 'Biffo'. These strips featured no speech and were primarily drawn by Sid Burgon, although Trevor Metcalfe also contributed several stories. When one reader asked Dennis the Menace why Biffo no longer spoke, Dennis said that he had asked why and the answer was "!". The final story in this series appeared in issue 2954 (27th February 1999).
Biffo returned in the 70th birthday issue of The Beano, issue 3443 (dated 2nd August 2008) in a story drawn by Sutherland. He also appeared in the 2010 Beano annual, with artwork again provided by Sutherland (who made an appearance in the story as Biffo's neighbour).
