The Christmas BEANO (1969)

I remember reading this issue on Christmas Eve 1969 before I went to bed. This is the actual copy I had. One of the few issues of the Beano that I kept from those days.

The cover is by David Sutherland, and was an unusual departure from the standard Biffo comic strip that adorned the cover any other week. 

Inside, Billy Whizz by the strip's original artist, Mal Judge, plus the answers to the cover quiz...

General Jumbo by Sandy Calder...

The Bash Street Kids by the ever-versatile David Sutherland. One of the great things about the Beano is how the characters are aware they're in a comic. Something I use myself in many of my strips.

Dennis the Menace was on the back page in those days, and it'd be a few more years before he'd oust Biffo from the front cover. Good stuff by David Law (or possibly David Sutherland ghosting his style)...

A different year, a different comic tomorrow!

By the way, you might want to visit my other blog too, where I'll be posting a few of my own Christmas strips from the past 35 years...
http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com

Christmas comics: THE BEANO (1970)

Featuring one of its most fondly remembered covers, this Christmas issue of The Beano was published this week in 1970. Cover art by Dave Sutherland.

Here's a small sample of its 16 page content. The Nibblers haven't been around for a long time now but the strip was very popular back then. Art by Ron Spencer...

The Bash Street Kids in a nice festive story by Dave Sutherland...

Here's a character some of you have asked to see again. Billy the Cat, with art by Sandy Calder. This is an example of Billy wearing his special all-white winter costume, as opposed to the black one he usually wore...

Roger the Dodger, with great art by Bob Nixon...

...and on the back page, Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, drawn by Dave Sutherland, doing an excellent job of ghosting the style of Davy Law...

Another festive time-trip to another year tomorrow!

Firework comics: THE BEANO (1966)

I thought I'd already blogged about this issue years ago but apparently not, so here we go with a bonus addition to my retrospective of firework-themed comics. My apologies for the tattyness of this 1966 Beano. It's one I had before I started looking after comics properly so the cover became a bit damaged back in the sixties. Still, it looks like Biffo's banger blew off a chunk of the cover so I'm claiming it's art, mate. Artwork by Dudley Watkins.

I kept this issue as it meant a lot to me. Fifty years ago, when I was seven years old and had this comic, my mum was in hospital for a serious operation so my dad and I went to live with my grandad and my aunt for a couple of weeks. Fortunately my mum made a complete recovery and lived for another 47 years after that, but I still vividly remember reading this issue at my grandad's house and having fireworks in his back yard. I asked my dad to send a rocket over towards the hospital side of town, hoping my mum would see it. (She didn't of course, but she told me she did when I visited her to cheer me up.) Precious memories of people all gone now, sadly.

Anyway, back to this issue, which is why you're here. Several fireworks-themed stories appeared that week in 1966, such as this Billy Whizz story. Art by Billy's original artist, Malcolm Judge...

The Bash Street Kids story that week was a delight, with a bizarre instance of them sharing the same dream! Art by David Sutherland...

On the back page in those days before he graduated to the front cover, Dennis the Menace, drawn by Gordon Bell doing a fill-in for Davy Law...

I hope you've enjoyed this year's selection of fireworks comics. Wishing you a happy and safe November 5th! 

The Beano of 1960

In 1960 The Beano increased its page count from 12 to 16 pages but was still well short of its pre-war size of 28 pages. Nevertheless, the quality of the contents was at a high, with its leading cartoonists at the top of their game. Here's a few pages from issue No.957, dated November 19th 1960 (on sale Wednesday 16th November.)

Biffo the Bear on the cover was of course by Dudley D. Watkins, while on page two, Dennis the Menace was still drawn by the strip's original artist Davy Law...

Fans of Leo Baxendale were blessed with no less than four regular pages by him at this time; The Three Bears, Little Plum, The Bash Street Kids, and Minnie the Minx. Here are a couple of them...

The Beano carried several adventure strips in those days. The most notable in 1960 being The Great Flood of London, drawn by Dave Sutherland across the centre pages in full colour...

Residing on the back page was the marvelous Jonah, by Ken Reid... 

The Beano is still around today of course, now 36 pages, and still published every Wednesday. Never Be Without A Beano!

The Easter BEANO (1967)

This year's Easter issue of The Beano will be out on Wednesday but for today, let's look back at a few pages from the issue of 49 years ago in 1967.

The Beano No.1288 dated 25th March 1967 (on sale March 22nd) had the regular Biffo the Bear strip on the cover by Dudley Watkins but with an Easter egg design to the panels. A simple but eye-catching cover. 

Inside, the theme of the Easter hare is used in the Billy Whizz strip drawn by Mal Judge...

In their usual centre page position, The Bash Street Kids with great artwork by David Sutherland...

That week's Minnie the Minx pages by Jim Petrie were fun as always but the most memorable thing about this issue was right underneath the Minnie strip; our very first glimpse of British superhero Billy the Cat in a teaser ad for his series that would begin in the following issue.

On the back page, great stuff by Davey Law with Dennis the Menace and an ostrich. Easter Eggs at 5 shillings (25 pence) each! I've no idea how much they cost now but it's sure to be a lot more than that. Then again, the average wage was only about £20 a week then!

65 Years of Menacing!

This coming week is the 65th anniversary since Dennis the Menace was unleashed upon the world. He first appeared in The Beano dated 17th March 1951. As comics were dated to the weekend ahead back then, and The Beano was published on Wednesdays, that would mean kids would have been buying that issue on Wednesday 14th March 1951. 

Dennis' first artist was of course Davey Law, whose funny, contemporary style heralded great changes for comics in the 1950s. Seeing Dennis the Menace in his younger brother's copy of The Beano inspired Leo Baxendale to contribute to the comic, so without the Menace we might not have had Leo's creations The Bash Street Kids, Little Plum, The Three Bears, or Minnie the Minx. I think it's fair to say that Law's Dennis the Menace was a gamechanger and possibly the most influential character in the history of British humour comics. 

Here's a few examples of Dennis from over the years. This is the very first strip from 1951...

Next, one from later that year (Beano No.483, Oct 20th, 1951) with Dennis having evolved into his more traditional look...

At the top of this post is the cover to the third Dennis the Menace annual, published in 1959 for 1960. It reprinted numerous Dennis strips from the 1950s. Here's a selection...

When I first discovered the strip in the 1960s it had proved popular enough to be on the back page in full colour. This one from 1965, again by Davey Law...

Sadly, Davey Law passed away in 1971. His creation continued under the hand of David Sutherland doing a fine imitation of Law's style. Dennis' popularity continued and in 1974 he replaced Biffo the Bear as the cover star of The Beano. Here's an example of Sutherland's version from 1975. As you can see, by now Dennis had been joined by his dog, Gnasher, who first appeared in the strip in 1968...

In 1998, a new addition to Dennis' family, - a little sister! (Soon to be named Bea.) Art by David Parkin...

The current Dennis the Menace artist is Nigel Parkinson, doing a great job every week with a version that combines the best elements of the traditional Dennis but is still his own...

Although Dennis has now become a valuable merchandise brand for D.C. Thomson at the heart of it is still the weekly strip, amusing children of all ages, just as it always has. Happy Birthday Dennis! Long may you reign as the World's Wildest Boy! 

All Beano artwork in this article © D.C. Thomson and Co. Ltd.

The Christmas BEANO (1967)

Published on the same day as the Christmas issue of The Topper I showed here the other day this festive 1967 edition of The Beano was packed with seasonal stories. The cover by Dudley Watkins is superbly designed, incorporating a 'Merry Christmas' message in the centre of the page whilst still being part of the strip.

Inside, Billy the Cat showed off his all-white 'snow-cat suit' for the first time. Usually of course Billy was dressed all in black. Art by Dave Sutherland.

Here's Little Plum! Art by Ron Spencer.

The Beano featured two adventure strips every week at this time, with the other being The Q-Bikes. Art by Andy Hutton.

On the back page, Dennis the Menace in his regular slot. Art by Davy Law.   

The Beano makes history again!

I haven't had time to go into town to pick up the latest Beano yet but as Peter Gray revealed on his blog last Saturday, apparently it's a record breaker as the longest running weekly. It's also issue 3800, which is no mean feat either! 

Over on The Beano's Facebook page there are photos of long-time Bash Street Kids artist Dave Sutherland making a visit to The Beano office to unveil a plaque celebrating the significant record-breaking issue. Dave has been drawing The Bash Street Kids since 1962, which is surely a record-breaker in itself? (Longer than Percy Cocking's 43 year run on Weary Willie and Tired Tim for Chips.) 

The Beano has now been running since 1938 and long may it continue! 

Visit The Beano Facebook page to see the above photos enlarged:
https://www.facebook.com/TheBeanoComic

The Beano website:
https://www.beano.com/