DANDRIDGE
"Never fear. I have matters perfectly in hand..."
THE SERIESDandridge is a supernatural adventure series created by me and artist Warren Pleece for 2000 AD. The series stars the dandy, bon vivant, man of affairs and sometime ghosthunter Doctor Spartacus Dandridge, who first appeared – and died – in our single-episode Past Imperfect story Antiquus Phantasma in 2000 AD #1631 (April 2009).
The series takes place in an alternate Britain in the early 1980s. A century before, the Victorian Spiritualists developed a method of turning ghosts into a viable fuel alternative. Bolstered by advances in ‘ecto-technology’, the British Empire has endured to the present day, although it has become a ghost of its former glories. Killed in 1905, the spirit of Doctor Dandridge has recently assumed material form, having acquired a magical jacket. Reunited with his mute manservant Shelley, Dandridge has pledged his services to his mysterious tailor Angela Blake, a fallen angel with motives of her own... THE CHARACTERSDoctor Spartacus Dandridge: the hero
An Edwardian dandy, dilettante and sometime ghosthunter shot dead in 1905 (allegedly over an unpaid tailoring bill). Having gone missing for decades, his ghost finally escaped a private collection in 1981. It was then that he came into possession of a magical white jacket, which not only gives him material form but also allows him to change his outfit’s appearance at will. A celebrated scientist, author, and adventurer, Dandridge is also a premier exponent of the mesmeric art of ‘savoir fu’. Having found himself in a Britain threatened by both otherworldly forces and its own corrupt empire, Dandridge strives to safeguard the British people, the living, the dead and otherwise.
Enjoys: Scandal; intrigue; world-class tailoring; oak-matured scotch; breaking in a new pipe Dislikes: Rudery; brutishness; raised voices; rushing about Quote: “Did I mind being shot dead? On the contrary, I’m grateful to have been murdered before I lost my figure.” Shelley: the manservant
Constructed under mysterious circumstances in a villa on the storm-wracked shores of Lake Geneva, Shelley is Dandridge’s bodyguard, manservant and hangover therapist. Loyal to his short-tempered master for reasons known only to himself, he is an 8ft tall mute with the soul of a pre-Raphaelite and the sword arm of Conan the Barbarian. In 1903, Dandridge abandoned Shelley on an Arctic ice floe, leaving him to make his own way home when his master needed to make room on the ship for a new set of yeti-fur outfits. Upon hearing of his distant master’s death, Shelley wandered the otherworlds, during which time he became a reaver, a slayer and a watercolourist before finally hearing of his master’s return and rescuing him from a private collection in 1981. Shelley would follow his master into the bowels of hell and back, and will always ensure he has a packed lunch.
Likes: Clouds; kittens; pressed wildflowers; comely milkmaids Dislikes: Modernist architecture; loose stitching; big fluttery moths Quote: “…” Angela: the tailor
Creator of the metamorphic jacket that gives the Doctor’s ghost material form. An ex-angel who chose to ‘fall’ and live a mortal life among humanity, Angela wants to help those either oppressed by the Empire or threatened by other
empires beyond the veil. To this end, she has bound Dandridge to her service, but still has trouble getting him to behave. Enjoys: Keeping an eye on things Dislikes: Excuses Quote: “I’m afraid mortality’s given me a taste for catastrophe.” 
Art by Jon Davis-Hunt
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Digital collection of the paranormal comedy first published in 2000 AD. Available from the 2000 AD WEBSTORE.
"If there’s any fault to be found with this book it's that there’s too much imagination in too few pages! "
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