Years ago, comics would celebrate Bonfire Night by giving many of their strips a fireworks theme. Visually, they livened up the pages, although some stories had a naive recklessness about the use of fireworks. Such strips are a thing of the past now of course, replaced by Halloween (an equally visual theme).
Here are a few pages from The Beano dated November 7th, 1964 (which went on sale Nov.4th 1964), starting with a Biffo the Bear cover by Dudley Watkins. (Remember to click on the image to see them full size. I know it might be obvious to most of you, but new visitors sometimes complain that images are too small to read.)
Not every strip in this issue carried a fireworks theme, but here's Little Plum, drawn by Ron Spencer. Why would Native Americans be celebrating Bonfire Night? Anything can happen in comics...
The Bash Street Kids compete with other schools to win best Guy Fawkes. Whatever happened to Blob Street and Plonk Street? Art by David Sutherland...
On the back page, Dennis the Menace, in those pre-Gnasher days, drawn by David Law...
Wishing you (and your pets, if you have any) a safe and happy November 5th.
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!
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.
It's now December so during this month I'll be taking a look back at some vintage Christmas comics. Not every day of course, and I'll be posting about non-festive comics too at times (as I still have several new titles to review), but expect to see a few snow-capped comics over the next few weeks.
Let's start with the Christmas issue of The Beano from 1966. A fantastic cover by Dudley Watkins featuring Biffo the Bear. (And yes, my name is written at the top because this is the very issue I had reserved at the newsagents 49 years ago.)
The first strip inside is Punch and Jimmy, the story of two warring brothers, with artwork by Dave Jenner, who was the co-creator of Sammy Shrink for Wham!
Even the adventure strips had a festive theme, with The Iron Fish story containing a snowman, sledges, and a Christmas party. I'm not sure that Danny and Penny's methods of scaring the life out of children in order to guide them to the party are that justified but the artwork by Sandy Calder is nice.
Lord Snooty and His Pals forget that it's Christmas Eve in this strip drawn by Dudley Watkins. Would any child forget that? No matter. It's a great little tale anyway.
On the back page of this 16 page issue, Dennis the Menace ends up whacked and in shock, even though it's Christmas Day. To be fair though, I never analysed it that deeply when I was a kid. It's all good comic fun. Art by Davey Law.
Another Christmas comic later this week!
There's a discussion on Facebook at the moment about this annual cover so I thought I'd expand upon it here. This memorable cover to The Beano Book 1970 was painted by Dave Sutherland, who was the regular cover artist on the Beano annuals at that time (and for many years afterwards). He still draws The Bash Street Kids in The Beano every week of course, and this year will be his 53rd year on the strip!
The interesting thing about this annual cover is that the week the book was published, that week's Beano comic (No.1416, dated September 6th 1969) tied in with it, showing what happened next! A rare British comics crossover. Although the book cover was by Dave Sutherland, the strip on the weekly was by Biffo's regular artist Dudley Watkins. Sadly, by the time this saw print, Mr.Watkins had passed away suddenly the previous month.
That same issue also carried an ad for the latest Dennis the Menace annual on the back page, with a vague link to that week's Dennis strip drawn by Davey Law.
Like a variety tin of biscuits, here's a bumper selection of Christmas stories from over the years, starting above with Dudley Watkins' cover to The Christmas Beano for 1967.
Next, also from 1967, Kicks has a bit of bother writing a letter to Santa. (Pow! No.50, 30th December 1967.) Art by Graham Allen.
Heading further back in time, here's Tilly of the Tea Shop dealing with an amorous waiter from Comic Cuts No.2.380 (December 28th 1935).
A nice festive centrespread for Basil Brush, with art by Chas Sinclair, from TV Comic No.993 (26th December 1970)...
Time for adventure with The Black Sapper from The Beezer No.258 (December 24th 1960). Art by Jack Glass...
Over to a popular comic for girls and Bella doing a good Christmas deed from Tammy in 1980. Art by John Armstrong...
Leo Baxendale's Clever Dick teaches his cousin Basil a lesson in this page from Buster and Jet, 25th December 1971...
Back to 1953 with Abbott and Costello from Film Fun No.1,771. Artwork by Walter Bell.
Fuss Pot kicks up a fuss as usual from Knockout 25th December 1971. Art by Norman Mainsbridge...
From Lion dated 29th December 1973, Adam Eterno brings festive respite to No Man's Land. Art by Solano Lopez...
The Sparky People meet Puss and Boots in this back page strip from Sparky No.258 (December 27th 1969). Art by John Geering...
It's Tom Thug's second Christmas in this strip from Oink! in 1987 drawn by me.
Also from that same issue of Oink! it's Regurgitating Robbie by Charlie Brooker (yes, him who's now a telly star). Underneath is a Snowman mini-strip by Davy Francis...
Which brings us back to that issue of The Beano seen at the top of this post. Here's the back page from that 1967 Christmas issue with Dennis the Menace in his pre-Gnasher days, drawn by Davey Law...
I hope that gives you plenty of yuletide reading over the holidays. All that remains is for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas! More blogging soon.
