K is for Kid Marvelman, aka Johnny Bates, who first appeared in his role as a sidekick to Marvelman in Marvelman no. 102, July 1955. He was created by Mick Anglo, but was made famous more recently by Alan Moore who re-wrote him as one of the most chilling villains in comics as part of his Marvelman revival that appeared in Warrior (from 1982).

Each day I will be choosing a character from those suggested by the members of the Garen's A-Z of comic strip characters Facebook group - if you want to suggest any, please feel free to join in.

Kid Marvelman was suggested by Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Davey Candlish, Jay Eales and Allan Harvey.

J is for Judge Death... he came from another dimension where the crime was life and the only sentence was death. He made his first appearance in 2000AD prog 149 in January 1980 in a Judge Dredd story written by John Wagner (as 'John Howard') and drawn by Brian Bolland.

Each day I will be choosing a character from those suggested by the members of the Garen's A-Z of comic strip characters Facebook group - if you want to suggest any, please feel free to join in.

The jury who chose Death consisted of Murray Ewing, Linda Wada, Kelvin Green, Uriel A. Duran, Mitz, Andrew Cheverton and Jay Eales.

I is for Iron Man who saw his first appearance in Marvel Comics' Tales of Suspense in March 1963 in a story by Stan Lee and drawn by Don Heck (though visually created by Jack Kirby who did the cover). Underneath the armour is millionaire inventor, Tony Stark, who gets wounded and captured in Vietnam. While a prisoner, he creates a robotic armour suit which helps keep him alive, and aids his escape.

Each day I will be choosing a character from those suggested by the members of the Garen's A-Z of comic strip characters Facebook group - if you want to suggest any, please feel free to join in.

Iron Man was suggested by Stephen Prestwood, Kelvin Green, Uriel A. Duran and Rol Hirst (who both specified the early armour).

H is for Hobbes, tiger companion of Calvin. Created by Bill Watterson, they made their first appearance, syndicated in newspapers by Universal Press, in November 1985. Hobbes is named after the 17th century philosopher, Thomas Hobbes.

Each day I will be choosing a character from those suggested by the members of the Garen's A-Z of comic strip characters Facebook group - if you want to suggest any, please feel free to join in.

Hobbes won something of a landslide victory with 13 votes, soundly beating his nearest rival, Hellboy, who garnered 5 votes (which has been enough in the past to make the grade). Hobbes' advocates were: Elyssa Campbell-Barr, Jay Eales, Frazer Diamond, Uriel A. Duran, Chris Cox, Allan Harvey, Neil Cameron, Paul Harrison-Davies, Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Jonathon Dalton, Sarah McIntyre, Richard Wainman and Linda Wada. Phew!

G is for Gaston Lagaffe, created by André Franquin and making his first appearance in Spirou no. 985 in February 1957. As well as being the somewhat hapless office boy at Spirou magazine, Gaston is a proud inventor, most notably of the Gaffophone, a musical instrument... er, of sorts.

Each day I will be choosing a character from those suggested by the members of the Garen's A-Z of comic strip characters Facebook group - if you want to suggest any, please feel free to join in.

Gaston was suggested by Elyssa Campbell-Barr, Gústav Adolf Bergmann Sigurbjörnsson, Richard Wainman and George Xydas. Thank you!

The original drawings of these A-Z characters will be going into the Caption auction in Oxford on 9 August, with all proceeds going to the Caption comics festival fund.

F is for Faceache (aka Ricky Rubberneck) who has the ability to 'scrunge' his face (and, in fact, his entire body) into almost any contortion imaginable. He was created by Ken Reid and first saw print in Jet issue 1 in May 1971, later moving to Buster when the titles merged.

Each day I will be choosing a character from those suggested by the members of the Garen's A-Z of comic strip characters Facebook group - if you want to suggest any, please feel free to join in.

There was a bit of a battle between the proponents of Faceache and Fone Bone, but while Fone took an early lead, Faceache prevailed with an unprecedented 9 votes from George Xydas, Davy Candlish, Tim Overton, Andrew Cheverton, Laura Howell, Paul Harrison-Davies, Jay Eales, Patrick Brown and Kelvin Green.

E is for Elektra, Greek-born assassin and sometime lover to the Daredevil. She was created by Frank Miller and made her first appearance in Daredevil issue 168 in January 1981. She is named after the Electra of Greek myth, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.

Each day I will be choosing a character from those suggested by the members of the Garen's A-Z of comic strip characters Facebook group - if you want to suggest any, please feel free to join in.

Thank you very much to Frazer Diamond, Uriel A. Duran and Elyssa Campbell-Barr for suggesting Elektra - she just beat managed to beat Electro, also with three votes.

D is for Colonel Daniel McGregor Dare, chief pilot of the Interplanet Space Fleet, who was created by Frank Hampson and made his first appearance in issue 1 of the legendary Eagle comic, in April 1950.

Each day I will be choosing a character from those suggested by the members of the Garen's A-Z of comic strip characters Facebook group - if you want to suggest any, please feel free to join in.

Dan Dare received three votes, as did Death's Head and Doctor Strange... so one had to be chosen at random. Many thanks to Lisa Naylor, Seth Wheeler and Davy Candlish who all suggested Dan Dare.

C is for Captain Haddock - Tintin's long-time adventuring companion, who first appeared in Le Soir in 1940 in the adventure 'Le Crabe Aux Pinces D'Or' (The Crab with the Golden Claws) and was created by Hergé.

Each day I will be choosing a character from those suggested by the members of the Garen's A-Z of comic strip characters Facebook group - if you want to suggest any, please feel free to join in.

Captain Haddock tussled with Captain Britain to be chosen, and just won out thanks to a last-minute vote from Sarah McIntyre. He was also suggested by Davy Candlish and Frazer Diamond.

Edit: As an amusing follow-up to this entry, have a look at this post about a Greek newspaper using this picture...

B is for BILLY THE CAT - orphan William Grange donned crime-fighting equipment invented by his late policeman father and went out into the night to do good and battle bad, sometimes with his cousin, Katie. He first appeared in The Beano in 1967, created by David Sutherland.

Each day I will be choosing a character from those suggested by the members of the Garen's A-Z of comic strip characters Facebook group - if you want to suggest any, please feel free to join in.

Thanks to Frazer Diamond, Paul Harrison-Davies, Linda Wada and Patrick Brown for suggesting B for Billy.