THE artist who drew Beano favourite Minnie the Minx for more than 40 years has passed away aged 82.

Jim Petrie, from Kirriemuir, Angus, drew more than 2000 strips of Minnie the Minx in The Beano.

The art teacher took over from original artist Leo Baxendale in the early 1961, and retired in 2001 with more than 250,000 readers enjoying his work each week.

His final strip, on 13 January 2001, consisted of Minnie meeting the artist and bidding farewell.

Mr Petrie said at the time: "Little Minnie has been very good to me. She has kept me in porridge all these years."

He returned to publishers DC Thomson in 2011 for a one-off called The Tummy Returns featuring Fatty Fudge, another of his popular characters and Minnie's nemesis.

Mike Stirling, The Beano's editor in chief, said: "Jim had retired from his fantastic work on Minnie the Minx before I came to work on The Beano, but we were fortunate to persuade him to return to the drawing board and bring Fatty Fudge back in 2011. That became his final strip.

"Jim was very highly thought of by everyone, and a real comics legend.''

Mr Petrie passed away peacefully on Tuesday,

A funeral service will be held at Dundee Crematorium on Tuesday at 11am, thereafter at the city's Park Hotel.