Crikey! Tears of envy! When The Beano was first published 70 years ago this month, some of the most stylish cartoons were not drawn by homegrown talent but were instead the work of two Italian artists.

An exhibition to mark the landmark anniversary of the venerable magazine reveals that in 1938 the Dinelli brothers were responsible for a cartoon, The Adventures of Robert Robot, that they posted to the publisher's headquarters in Dundee from their home in Italy.

The drawings featured the sad story of a couple who had lost their child and were given a little robot boy as a replacement. The Futurist style was admired, but the Dinellis grasp of a snappy title was not, and the Robert Robot strip was swiftly renamed Tin Can Tommy for British consumption.

Tin Can Tommy never got the chance to join favourites such as the Bash Street Kids or Dennis the Menace in the cultural history books. The last trace of the Dinellis is in a letter written to DC Thomson, the publishers, in 1939, which said that they were in France to avoid the unrest and were hoping to return to Italy soon to continue drawing. “Don't worry, our countries will not go to war,” they wrote.

A few days later war broke out and the Dinellis were never in touch again. Tin Can Tommy, along with other early Beano strips such as Contrary Mary (a donkey) and Rip Van Wink (a boy who woke from a 700-year sleep to cope with modern life) passed into history.

The Second World War had a great impact on The Beano, not least because paper shortages decreed that it could be published only fortnightly instead of weekly. The war also changed the content and tenor of many of the cartoon strips, which unashamedly saw their job as one of propaganda about the war effort.

The exhibition at the University of Dundee, which opens on Friday, reveals a wealth of previously unseen artwork for cartoons in which lots of characters, but above all Lord Snooty, hatch up plots to kidnap and humiliate Hitler.

When the men returned from fighting to their desks at DC Thomson, the influence that they brought to bear on storylines was clear, and extended into the 1950s when Dennis the Menace and Minnie the Minx arrived.

Chris Murray, a comic book expert who lectures at the university, said: “You can see the impact of rationing. In The Bash Street Kids or Dennis the Menace there is always a fascination with food. So many of the cartoon strips end up with the kids having piles of nosh to feast on. That was their fantasy.”

The Beano continues to thrive, the academics say, because of the quality of its artists and because children respond so well to its deep-rooted anti-authoritarian qualities.

The Bash Street Kids may no longer get the belt, but they still torment their teachers.

Happy Birthday Beano! from July 18 to September 20 at the Lamb Gallery, University of Dundee

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