The Christmas BEANO (2019)

Cover art: Nigel Parkinson with Beano designers Leon Strachan and Gary Aitchinson.

Christmas really wouldn't be complete without a festive issue of the Beano for kids to read would it? This year's Christmas edition was published today and is packed with seasonal fun. 

That's the cover of the actual comics above by Nigel Parkinson. However it comes bagged with gifts so this is what to look out for in the shops...

Open the bag and you'll find the comic plus five gifts which include a melted snowman (!) and a shoe squeak prank.

However, three of the gifts are wrapped up like Christmas presents so it's mystery what they contain... and I'm not telling you. (If you know, please don't post spoilers. Let's keep it a mystery in the spirit of the season. I might even save mine to open on Christmas Day!)

The comic itself, Beano No.4014, has a great festive design throughout, with snow on the logos and in the borders, - and follow that snowball that's rolling across the logos through the comic to see where it ends up. (I'm not telling you that either. ;-)) In another nice touch, the blue "sky" of the borders gets darker as we go through the comic.

Art: Barrie Appleby.

Art: David Sutherland.

Art: Nigel Parkinson.

Art: Laura Howell.

These little Christmassy touches are the sort of things that kids will always remember and they make the festive issues something special. Some years the Christmas Beano hasn't been as spectacular as perhaps it could have been but this one, and its gifts, are really impressive. 

I have a nice memory of 50 years ago, reading the Christmas Beano of 1969 on Christmas Eve, and I hope the kids of today will have fond memories of this year's issue to carry with them too. Comics are important in not only helping children to read but also by being a small addition to their happy times of childhood. (If you're interested you can see that 1969 issue here: 
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-christmas-beano-1969.html )

There are no mini-strips in this issue by the way, which means no Pup Parade. A bit of a disappointment for me to miss doing a Christmas strip but they'll be back soon.

The Christmas Beano is on sale now, and for the next few weeks. Price £4.99. 

Not to be confused with the Beano Christmas Special, a 68 page bookazine that's been on sale for a few months now. I previewed that here:
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2019/08/cover-preview-beano-christmas-special.html

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Out now! Classic collection of Beano and Dandy covers!

You may remember that back in 2013, the company Phil Comics published an officially licensed book of Dandy and Beano Christmas covers? Well, now they've issued a companion book and it's equally as amazing as the first, - and has 100 more pages!

Beano and The Dandy - Classic Comic Covers 1937 to 1988 showcases a great selection of vintage covers scanned from the actual comics. Themes such as Easter, fireworks, the Coronation, Christmas, and more are represented with excellent reproduction. Truly a great book for all ages this Christmas! 

Here's the press release from Phil-Comics with details of how to buy a copy...

Hold the front page!
‘Beano and The Dandy – Classic Comic Covers 1937-1988’

We’re over the moon to say that after many months of hard work our brand new book has just been published!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274077259164

Following the popularity of our first book in 2013, which reprinted the classic Christmas covers of the two comics from 1937-1969, this book celebrates some of the very best front covers of our two favourite British comics from 1937 to 1988, their first fifty years.

We have searched high and low in our own collection, browsed through our auction results archive and spent several months tracking down some elusive issues to showcase in the book. We’re indebted to a variety of very good people who assisted with its production, not least a handful of collectors who diligently scanned many covers of elusive comics from their collections.

The eighty Beano covers and eighty covers of The Dandy chosen are some of the most iconic and attractive front covers, made up of firework, Easter, new year, Christmas, landmark issues, birthday numbers, free gift editions and some that just tickled our fancy. There’s a four page introduction and the added bonus of four previously unseen pages of original front cover artwork, provided by the archivists at DC Thomson & Co., Ltd.

The book is hardback with a matt laminated dustjacket and 176 full colour matt pages, so it is very much a coffee table book and collectors’ item. Collectors who own a copy of our first book will be pleased to hear that this latest edition has 100 more pages and is nearly an inch thick.

It's available to buy either direct from us or at the following eBay link:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274077259164

Please share this post, tell your collector friends and indeed anyone who may have read the comic growing up - it'll make a marvellous Christmas present!

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Out now! WHERE'S GNASHER? New book by Laura Howell

Published today is a brand new book from the Beano entitled Where's Gnasher? A fantastic activity book in the tradition of "Where's Wally", it features 14 double page spreads crammed with characters and the reader has to find Gnasher (and others) amongst the chaos. 

It's illustrated by current Minnie the Minx artist Laura Howell who has put an incredible amount of work into the art. Laura showed me some of her original art when she was working on it and she really has put a lot into this project. 

So, not a comic as such but a good fun book in the tradition of Albert Pease's Casey Court and Leo Baxendale's busy Banana Bunch pages. On sale now from booksellers or online stockists. 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beano-Wheres-Gnasher-Laura-Howell/dp/1787415147

Preview: BEANO No.4003

Here's the cover to this week's Beano, which uses one of Laura Howell's great images from the Minnie the Minx story inside. This extra-length four pager written by Nigel Auchterlounie and drawn by Laura is entitled The Dark Minx Returns, and should not be missed!

Also in this issue, a three-page Roger the Dodger story by Danny Pearson and Barrie Appleby plus regular length strips for all the other favourites such as The Bash Street Kids, Bananaman, and of course Dennis and Gnasher! 

There's also a new Pup Parade mini-strip from me, and this week I'm spotlighting Sniffy! 

All in Beano No.4003, with 36 full colour pages for £2.75. On sale from Wednesday 18th September! 

This week's BEANO (No.4001)

The Beano No.4001 is out today with 36 pages full of all-new fun as always. On a personal level, I'm very pleased that my new series of Pup Parade mini-strips begins in this issue, - and they're on the cover topline as well. 

I haven't been in the Beano for almost a year so I'm very happy to be back! 

The Beano No.4001, £2.75, is in all good newsagents and supermarkets now. 

The first PUP PARADE (1967)

The Bash Street Dogs have been semi-regular characters in the Beano for a long time now but their genesis was gradual. As far as I can discover (and also going by memory) they first appeared, as you might expect, in The Bash Street Kids strip. The earliest example I have is this episode by Gordon Bell from The Beano No.1282, dated 11th February 1967... although they already seem established at this point so it's possible they first appeared a week or two earlier? 

However, their first solo strip was this one-off Dogs' Tale strip for The Beano Summer Special 1967. As Summer Specials are completed months before release, this strip (drawn by Dave Sutherland) would have been drawn late in 1966... around the same time of their appearance in The Bash Street Kids strip I showed above.

If memory serves me right, The Bash Street Dogs turned up a few times during 1967 in the Kids' strip, and were clearly popular with the young readers. Finally, they were awarded their very own strip in The Beano No.1326, dated December 16th 1967. The new series was called Pup Parade and was drawn by Gordon Bell...

As you can see, the Pups looked a bit different to begin with. Less "cute" and a little more aggressive perhaps. It's often the case that new characters take a while to find their "look" as the artists settle into drawing them. The dogs didn't even have names at this point, and Bones was lacking his distinctive cap (as well as being far bulkier than he would be later). 

A week later, in the Christmas issue (No.1327) of The Beano for 1967, we can see some refinements were already happening. The dogs look more affable and Bones has gained his red cap. They'd also gained the dustbin that serves as the place they hang out...

A few weeks further on, and they introduce themselves to us with their names. (Beano No.1330, January 13th 1968.) Their proportions have changed, and they're now drawn the way we remember them; shorter and friendlier looking...

...and that's pretty much how they've remained since. I'm sure Pup Parade proved to be a great success because it ran for quite a while in the Beano and has returned numerous times over the past 52 years. The late Gordon Bell was a superb cartoonist who gave the pups their personalities and established them as firm favourites. 

As the current artist on Pup Parade I consider it an honour to be commissioned to write and draw these great characters for the Beano. I've just started work on my third series and I'm pleased to say that Pup Parade will be back in the Beano from issue No.4001, on sale 4th September 2019. This time it'll only be a mini-strip of 3 or 4 panels, so the focus will mainly be on one or two pups rather than all nine of them every week. All the dogs will appear in the first new episode though as you can see from the clip below! Check it out in September! 

Meanwhile, on my other blog...

As some of you missed the announcement, I'm winding down my Blimey! blog this year so you'll see far less posts here. However, my other blog, which focuses on my own work, LewStringerComics will continue. Over there today, I'm blogging about the time I drew Fred's Bed for The Beano, and showing my pencilled roughs compared to the finished inks. Take a look:
http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2019/02/freds-bed-2007.html

My top five classic comics recommendations of 2018

Without a doubt, this has been a great year for fans of classic British comics. Not only have Rebellion published a dozen or so books reprinting strips from bygone years but other publishers jumped in too with impressive collections! It hasn't been easy whittling it down to five, but here are my personal choices from the past 12 months or so, in reverse order, of the best that I think deserve a place on your bookshelf...

In 5th place...

BLACK MAX. This fantastic horror/war story first appeared in Thunder (and later Lion and Thunder) in 1970. Story by Frank Pepper. Art by Eric Bradbury (on episode 1) and Alfonso Font, who also provided a new cover!
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2018/09/preview-black-max-volume-1.html

In 4th place...

KEN REID'S CREEPY CREATIONS. A marvellous hardback collection of Ken Reid's full page monsters that appeared in Shiver and Shake in 1973/74. Reproduced in glorious full colour.
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2018/10/ken-reids-creepy-creations-ready-to-pre.html

In 3rd place...

BEANO: 80 Years of Fun. Not a book as such, but a boxed set of comic facsimiles and goodies. Marvellous reprints of key issues of The Beano from the past 80 years. 
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2018/07/beano-80-years-of-fun-box-set.html

In 2nd place...

MARNEY THE FOX. The exciting and emotional saga of Marney the orphaned fox cub, fighting for survival in the British countryside. Wonderful artwork by John Stokes (who provided a new cover) and top class scripts by Scott Goodall
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2017/11/review-marney-fox.html

...and the winner in 1st place is...

THE POWER PACK OF KEN REID. Actually a two-book set, although each one can be bought separately. Everyone had given up hope of ever seeing these strips reprinted, but thanks to the hard work and dedication of independent publisher Irmantas Povilaika, all of Ken Reid's amazing 1960s work for Odhams was collected into these incredible books. Superb reproduction throughout, and thankfully the poor colour printing that some pages suffered from back then have been reproduced in crisp greyscale. My favourite books of the year!
https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2018/07/review-ken-reid-his-complete-wham-smash.html

Next on this blog, the last post of 2018 and a classic New Year comic from the year.... wait and see! 

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

Eggo's End!

Next issue of the Beano sees the conclusion to the Big Eggo strips I've been doing for the past six months. It's been an honour to revive the Beano's oldest character and I hope readers have enjoyed it. Above is a teaser ad I've designed for my own use.

It's a proper ending too, and I've treated it like a mini-epic, with highs and lows and a showdown in a remote location. Humour strips don't usually get proper conclusions so I'm really pleased with this one. Please don't post any spoilers or photos of it on the Internet until the issue goes off sale! Thanks.

Don't miss the Beano No.3950, on sale Wednesday 29th August!

Minnie the Minx celebrates 65 years

She's the wildest pensioner around, and Minnie the Minx shows no sign of retiring yet! To celebrate 65 years since Minnie first appeared in the Beano, publishers D.C. Thomson are soon to unleash a 68 page bookazine celebrating the strip. Expect to see reprints by Leo Baxendale, Jim Petrie, Ken Harrison, Paul Palmer, Nigel Parkinson and special features on the strip's history!

Here's the official info...

Celebrate 65 years of Minnie the Minx with our 68 page special! We cover everything from the story of her creation in 1953, to the artists who have illustrated her adventures, and finally to her rise to Beano cover star today! With behind the scenes secrets and specially selected reprints from the archive, this is the definitive story of the world's most famous Minx!

You can pre-order it directly from the company now!
https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/minnie-65-years-of-minxing

Review: Classic Beano Annual facsimiles

As I mentioned several days ago, D.C. Thomson are now offering readers a chance to obtain facsimile reprints of every Beano annual from the very first one (1940) up to 2013. A dream come true for collectors, and as an incentive for the general reader, each book comes inscribed with a message of your choice. 

I'd ordered the 1957 annual, not out of nostalgia (it's from a couple of years before I was born) but out of curiosity. It contains some very early work by Leo Baxendale, along with pages by Ken Reid, Dudley Watkins, and many more. What's not to like?

Classic early Leo Baxendale.

The book arrived today, and I'm very impressed with the quality. All of these facsimile books are scanned from the old annuals, so may contain images of any flaws (such as rips or smudges) picked up from the scan, but the 1957 one doesn't appear to have any. Reproduction is very good indeed, and as close to an accurate reprint as you're likely to get. 

Nitpickers might complain that the books aren't 100% faithful to the originals because they feature a new spine. I think that's fine, and should prevent any dodgy sellers from passing them off as originals. The paper texture is different too; smoother and a bit thinner than the original stock, but still top quality. The binding is glued, rather than stitched, but it still seems sturdy. There are new endpapers too, in addition to the original endpapers, and of course the dedication page is new. Apart from those small irrelevant differences, it's a very nice facsimile indeed. 

One thing I wish they'd done is to have used one of the additional pages to credit all the artists and writers. Every contributor was anonymous back then so it would have been a chance to rectify that. 

I'll definitely be ordering a couple more from different years. I missed out on the 1965 book when I was a kid, so I might rectify that, - and having a reproduction of the first Beano Book from 1940 is tempting too. 

You'll have your own favourites no doubt. The books are produced under license by Signature Book Publishing. I don't know how long they have the licence so if you're interested, here's the place to order your books:
https://shop.beano.com/gift-ideas/classic-beano/personalised-beano-annual-from-your-year.html