93-514: Comic Idol is a competition held in The Beano every few years. In it, three to six new strips (or old strips brought back), run as guest strips in The Beano for a few weeks, and the most popular, determined by votes, gets a sustained place in The Beano . See below for a full list of winners and the losing strips. This UK comics –related article
186-588: A fortnightly magazine (alternating with The Dandy comic) until 23 July 1949. Comic strips would encourage readers to help their parents and other adults with the war effort, and to be optimistic about the war's outcome. New comic strips mocked Mussolini and propagandist William Joyce , Lord Snooty and His Pals stories would be about the protagonists outsmarting the Axis leaders, and other stories would be about characters recycling paper. Big Eggo front covers were often about Eggo pranking servicemen during
279-513: A lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic had an eight-page adult pullout named BeanOLD , with cartoons poking fun at British politicians such as Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings , and with appearances by Greta Thunberg , Captain Tom , and footballer Marcus Rashford . The slogan was "2020 has been tough. So tough that even grown-ups need Beano ". In June 2016, DC Thomson launched Beano Studios,
372-554: A 10% rise in comic sales by 2018. Beano Studios quickly expanded its reach with the popular CBBC series Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! in 2017, which aired in over 90 countries and earned an International Emmy nomination. Building on this success, Beano Studios pursued new projects including a live-action Minnie the Minx show, another Dennis the Menace adaptation, and a Bananaman cartoon in collaboration with Fox Entertainment. The Beano
465-671: A Curse on the King" and "Swallowed by a Whale!" In 1963 the first Dandy summer special was published, a joint Dandy-The Beano summer special ; the first exclusively Dandy Summer Special was released the following year. In 1982 the Dandy comic libraries were released, which later became known as the Fun Size Dandy . These were small-format comics usually featuring one or two long stories starring characters from The Dandy and occasionally other DC Thomson comics. In September 1985,
558-580: A character from the comic itself. They are available in A5 size only. In 1998, these were replaced by the Fun Size Beano . Fun Size Comics were discontinued in late 2010. The comic also ran A4-sized Beano Specials in 1987 with full coloured pages, which later were replaced by Beano Superstars which ran for 121 issues from 1992 to 2002. These were similar to the Comic Library series. Some of
651-570: A few series, the most prolific illustrator was Irish artist Paddy Brennan , who notably drew for The Daring Deeds of Sinbad the Sailor , Red Rory of the Eagles and General Jumbo in the 1950s. Comic adventure stories were a hybrid: adventure stories presented as a comic strip. Prose stories were a page of text with an illustration at the top. Some stories were about animals with artwork by former Big Five illustrator Richard "Toby" Baines, but
744-406: A few years earlier ( "Jak" and "Dreadlock Holmes"). In August 2007 (issue 3426), The Dandy had another update, becoming the fortnightly comic-magazine hybrid Dandy Xtreme , priced at £2.50. Unlike previous incarnations, Dandy characters did not necessarily grace the cover every issue; instead, celebrities and other cartoon characters were featured; the first Dandy Xtreme had Bart Simpson on
837-424: A formerly common practice for DC Thomson magazines. Uncredited artists assigned to a strip(s) will design all its stories into a "series" that the chief editor will arrange into an order to publish for each issue. Strips are sometimes ghostwritten by other artists who imitate the original designer's style, which is helpful if artists retire or die unexpectedly, otherwise the strip is discontinued. "When I started I
930-408: A male character, joint protagonist with a male character, or the antagonist. Prose stories starring girls and women were about the protagonist searching out the truth to a secret, usually over a friend's/family disappearance, or they were witches cursing or tormenting the male protagonists. Female comic characters were also in supporting roles with or join-protagonist with a male character, but
1023-474: A map, which leads to robots and a giant tentacle monster breaking out to attack the residents. There was also a flashback panel of the time capsule being sealed which featured a handful of comic strip characters from the first issue, later helping the present day characters discover how to defeat the tentacle monster, named Simon. Issue 4000's crossover was a time travel story where the Beanotown characters of
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#17327906732491116-659: A newspaper advertisement into The Daily Telegraph asking for artists and/or comic ideas. With the help of the advertisement responses and employed artists at DC Thomson, The Dandy was published in 1937, the New Big Five's first member. For The Beano (initially called "The Beano Comic" until issue 412), Low received comic strip suggestions by Reg Carter , an English illustrator in Sussex who had created funnies for several British comics and designed humorous postcards. After an in-person interview, Low and Carter planned
1209-466: A number of different cover stars (comic strips appearing on the front cover), firstly Korky the Cat , who was on the cover from 1937 to 1984. Desperate Dan , long since the comic's most popular character, then took over the cover, a position he retained until 1999 when he was replaced as cover star by Cuddles and Dimples . However, they were not on the cover for very long and Desperate Dan had been restored to
1302-701: A pantomime, a 12-page Harry Hill strip, free gifts, and the return of some characters. More recent new strips are "Punslinger", "Dad's Turn To Cook", "My Freaky Family", "Animals Eat The Funniest Things", "Star T.Rex" and "Brian Damage". Song parodies and fake recipes also appeared in The Dandy . On 19 March 2012 the Royal Mail launched a special stamp collection to celebrate Britain's rich comic book history, which included The Dandy among many others. A follow-up to Waverly Book's The History of The Beano: The Story So Far , called The Art and History of The Dandy ,
1395-440: A radical format overhaul. The comic changed format and content, reflecting a more television-oriented style, now printed on glossy magazine paper instead of gravure . The price was raised from 70p to £1.20 (99p for the first two weeks), a new comic strip called "Office Hours" (a comic strip about the adventures of the writers of The Dandy ) appeared, and two supposedly new ones also started, though they were actually revivals from
1488-775: A spin-off media studio based in London and Dundee, to create media for children and expand The Beano franchise. The launch was marked in The Beano issue 3854, featuring a new cover design, updated logo, and the introduction of the website beano.com. Michael Stirling, former chief editor, returned as head of the Dundee studio, with Jodie Morris, James Neal, Nigel Pickard, and Emma Scott joining in key roles. The website beano.com offers games, news, videos, and content that appeals to children and nostalgic parents alike, drawing over two million annual visitors. This online presence contributed to
1581-688: A subtitle, for example, "Better than the Beano". During the Dandy Xtreme era the comic had no cover star, and covers were often given over to celebrities or current trends, but after the comic returned to its weekly, all-comic format in October 2010, the popular British comedian Harry Hill took over the cover spot, accompanied by Desperate Dan and Bananaman in some issues (although other characters made one-off appearances too). There were frequent fictional crossovers between Dandy characters, as most of
1674-472: A sustainable and practical range for kids who still share that ‘Beano’ spirit of these iconic characters". In music pop culture, the album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton is nicknamed "The Beano Album" because Eric Clapton is holding issue 1242 on its cover. The Dandy The Dandy was a Scottish children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson . The first issue
1767-468: A very long time. The longest-running strips are Desperate Dan and Korky the Cat , who both appeared in the first issue. Following mergers with Nutty and Hoot , the Dandy inherited a number of their strips, most notably Bananaman from Nutty and Cuddles from Hoot, who teamed up with a Dandy character to form a new strip entitled Cuddles and Dimples . Both have been quite long-running, having been in
1860-644: A weekly comic strip for the Toronto Star . I'm forever in debt to the lowbrow lessons gleaned from Dennis and his ilk. Jay Stephens , 2003 The magazine is cited as an inspiration to many readers. Beano artists Emily McGorman-Bruce, Zoom Rockman , Jess Bradley, and Barrie Appleby were avid readers of the magazine and/or its annuals before they became creators of its new strips. Meanwhile, The Beano inspired comic artists Jay Stephens , Carolyn Edwards ( Titan Comics ) and webcomic creator Sarah Millman ( NPC Tea , The Heart of Time ) to either work in
1953-456: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . The Beano The Beano (formerly The Beano Comic ) is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson . Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and well-known comic strips and characters include Dennis the Menace , Minnie
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#17327906732492046-922: Is common throughout DC Thomson's history, as if the stories are set in the same universe . The Lord Snooty series discontinued old characters and replaced them with Beano strip characters of the past; Dennis the Menace featured in DC Thomson's Champ magazine in the mid-1980s and The Weekly News tabloid-magazine for four years in the 1950s. Morgyn the Mighty , Tricky Dicky , Bananaman and Corporal Clott were stories previously from The Rover , The Topper , Nutty and The Dandy , respectively, whereas one of Gnasher 's puppies had her own strip in The Beezer and Topper and Jackie magazine . Along with guest editors, anniversary issues are frequently contained with crossovers. The 2000th issue had
2139-524: Is the world’s longest-running comic magazine, having been run on a weekly basis since 1938, alongside its sister comic The Dandy until 2012. It has had three characters as the mascot throughout the years: Big Eggo (1938–1948), Biffo the Bear (1948–1974), and the current, Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (1974–present). Throughout the 1920s, DC Thomson dominated the British comics industry. Dubbed "
2232-591: The Dandy since the 1980s and each having appeared on the front cover of both The Dandy and the comics from which they originated. After the closure of The Beezer and The Topper , The Dandy inherited some of its strips as well, including Beryl the Peril , Puss 'n' Boots (who had been in Sparky before being moved to The Topper ) and Owen Goal (who appeared in Nutty under a different title). The comic has had
2325-497: The Second World War . In the present, its legacy is its misbehaving characters, escapist tales and anarchic humour with an audience of all ages. Beano is a multimedia franchise with spin-off books and Christmas annuals, a website, theme park rides, games, cartoon adaptations, and a production company. The Beano is the best-selling comic magazine outside Japan, having sold over 2 billion copies since its inception, and
2418-465: The University of Dundee ( Happy Birthday, Beano! ) and The Cartoon Museum ( Beano and Dandy Birthday Bash! ) showed the public private DC Thomson artwork and the history of the magazine. For 2018, readers could buy a box for the 80th anniversary containing posters, reprints of selected older issues, and two books updating the previous documentation of the magazine's history, as well as Minnie
2511-430: The "Hall of Fame" strip which showed framed portraits of characters from the past, and issue 3443's Fred's Bed featured Fred crawling under his bed and time travelling through the magazine's comic strips. For the 80th anniversary, issue 3945 was guest edited by actor-turned children's author David Walliams and had a large crossover story about Bash Street School opening the Beanotown's 1938 time capsule and discovering
2604-464: The '30s but has always maintained its anti-authoritarian stance and steadfast refusal to treat children like idiots," theorised Morris Heggie. My British-born grandparents made sure they passed down an important part of their culture by giving out Beano Annuals every year. I grew up on Beano s and Dandy s in 1970s Canada, and become one of my country's leading kids' cartoonists, writing and drawing for Chickadee magazines and annuals, and creating
2697-460: The 2024 annual. The first issue, under the name The Dandy Comic , was published on 4 December 1937. The most notable difference between this and other comics of the day was the use of speech balloons instead of captions under the frame . It was published weekly until 6 September 1941, when wartime paper shortages forced it to change to fortnightly, alternating with The Beano . It returned to weekly publication on 30 July 1949. From 17 July 1950
2790-457: The 21st century, there were seven changes within a five-year span: logo updates, fonts assigned for certain design roles, and the magazine started using glossy paper. From issue 3442 in 2008 (and as of 2020), the day the comic was released was changed to Wednesday. Outside of the magazine, Beano ' s brand expanded into a multimedia franchise. Theme park tie-ins, a website, spin-off magazines, and animated television programmes starring
2883-560: The 8-week " Missing Gnasher " plot in Dennis the Menace failed, but the story featured in newspapers and on radio broadcasts, causing people of all ages to contact Beano offices to voice their concerns. Roughly 31,000–41,000 copies are sold per week in the present day, but an estimated 2 billion Beano comic magazines have been sold in its lifetime. A 1997 television poll by the National Comics Awards selected it for
Comic Idol - Misplaced Pages Continue
2976-574: The Best British Comic Ever award. Dennis the Menace would represent the comic when Royal Mail launched a special stamp collection in 2012, celebrating Britain's rich comic book history. The Dandy , Eagle , The Topper , Roy of the Rovers , Bunty , Buster , Valiant , Twinkle and 2000 AD were also featured. Like The Dandy , The Beano is a definitive part of British pop culture. "It's refreshing to see how
3069-538: The Blitz , and Pansy Potter received a medal for single-handedly capturing a Nazi U-boat . Issue 192 would debut a 16-part prose story about a boy and his mother being evacuated to the United States and becoming the enemy of a Chicago gangster's widow. Issues published weekly every Tuesday in 1938, and when the magazine changed distribution to every two weeks, the day remained unchanged. From issue 366,
3162-402: The Cat, who appeared in the comic's first issue in 1937, made a return drawn by Phil Corbett . Korky's strip was changed from 1–2 pages to 3 panels, to make way for new comics. Many new celebrity spoofs such as Cheryl's Mole became a feature, but other new strips included Pre-Skool Prime Minister and George vs Dragon, drawn by Jamie Smart and Andy Fanton . The 76-page Christmas special featured
3255-525: The Elastic Man , James Jewell's Wee Peem , Allan Morley 's Big Fat Joe , Eric Roberts' Rip Van Wink , Dudley D. Watkins ' Lord Snooty and His Pals , and Roland Davies ' Contrary Mary . Despite the aim to make a new comic series full of American-inspired comic strips, The Beano also contained short stories, serial fiction and adventure stories similar to the Big Five's magazines; Morgyn
3348-457: The Menace , Minnie the Minx , The Bash Street Kids , and Roger the Dodger . DC Thomson also introduced new comic magazines like The Beezer and The Topper that a few Beano artists also created characters and stories for. After the war saw a drift away from text stories and adventure comics, with the last text story published in 1955; adventure comics lasted longer with 1975 being
3441-659: The Menace and the Chamber of Mischief by Beano artist Nigel Auchterlounie. The Dennis the Menace Fan Club was re-launched as a phone app , rebranded as The Dennis and Gnasher Fan Club, and allowed readers free membership, printable badges, and pranks. On television, the Sky Kids show SO Beano! aired; a TV show with special guests, children presenters, and fun and games, in a similar style to Friday Download and Scrambled! The first Beano annual hardcover book
3534-836: The Mighty was previously in The Rover . Tin-Can Tommy and Brave Captain Kipper were reprints, co-produced by the Italian art agency Torelli Bros. Worth 2 d with a free prize of a "whoopee mask", issue 1 of The Beano was released on 26 July 1938 for the 30th, selling roughly 443,000 copies. Like The Dandy , its name is from a Low-led DC Thomson office party called The DB Club (The Dandy Beano Club). DC Thomson had several office party clubs that hosted different types of staff gatherings to choose from (e.g. The Prancers would hike hills), but Low's DB Club preferred playing golf and dining throughout Dundee. The two magazines also followed
3627-434: The Minx 's origins. Both anniversaries had tie-in museum exhibitions that also told their audiences the magazine's history. Limited-edition figurines from Robert Harrop were available to buy from their official website in late 2008. The 21st century also began Beano 's branching into different mediums: their first website, Beanotown.com, formed in 2000, and Chessington World of Adventures opened Beanoland in
3720-475: The Minx , The Bash Street Kids , Roger the Dodger , Billy Whizz , Lord Snooty and His Pals , Ivy the Terrible , General Jumbo , Jonah , and Biffo the Bear . The Beano was planned as a pioneering children's magazine that contained mostly comic strips, in the style of American newspaper gag-a-days , as opposed to the more text story based Story papers that were immensely popular before
3813-420: The [zany] principles that made it such a hit all those years ago have remained to this day." writes Coventry Evening Telegraph . Beano annuals are the most popular Christmas annual sold, and old issues sell for thousands at auctions. Lord Snooty is often used as a pejorative in British politics. DC Thomson considers the 1950s Beano 's golden age possibly because of many commemorations based on
Comic Idol - Misplaced Pages Continue
3906-470: The ailing Nutty was merged with The Dandy , bringing with it the Bananaman strip. Just over a year later, the short-lived Hoot was also merged with The Dandy , most notably incorporating the character Cuddles into the pre-existing comic strip Dimples to form Cuddles and Dimples , another of The Dandy' s longest running comic strips. After issue 3282 (dated 16 October 2004) The Dandy underwent
3999-554: The big five ", the publisher's most successful comics were Adventure (1921), The Rover and The Wizard (1922), The Skipper (1930) and The Hotspur (1933). These were weekly issued boys' magazines for preteen males, containing anthologies by DC Thomson's creator staff designed in various formats and genres. They became popular throughout the United Kingdom, notably in English industrial cities, helped through
4092-407: The character adapting to a new life in the United Kingdom. Stories used to vary in length and layout, but in 2012, The Beano debuted a chapter called Funsize Funnies where shorter comic strips shared some pages. In some instances, these extremely short strips were brand new ( Stunt Gran , BamBeanos , BSK CCTV , Gnash Gnews , Winston ), but others were tiny reboots of older comic strips that
4185-401: The characters lived in the fictional Dandytown, just as the characters in The Beano were portrayed as living in Beanotown. Many of the comic strips in The Beano are drawn by the same artists, and crossovers between the two comics occur occasionally. Quite often, one comic would make a tongue-in-cheek jibe at the other (e.g. a character meeting an elderly lady and stating that she's "older than
4278-616: The city is now home to the Scottish Centre for Comic Studies. The connection is also marked by bronze statues of Desperate Dan and The Beano character Minnie the Minx installed in the city's High Street in 2001. Designed by Tony Morrow, the Desperate Dan statue, which also features his dog Dawg, is the most photographed of 120 pieces of public art in the city. In July 2001 the cover of The Dandy featured Dan visiting Dundee and encountering his statue. In December 2012
4371-405: The comic. The comic revealed Plug's full name to be Percival Proudfoot Plugsley and also gave him a pet monkey by the name of Chumkee. Plug's strip was mostly drawn by Vic Neill but other artists, including Dave Gudgeon drew some later strips. Other strips included Antchester United , Violent Elizabeth , Eebagoom , Hugh's Zoo and D'ye Ken John Squeal and his Hopeless Hounds . The venture
4464-399: The company in 1913. Almost a decade into the big five's success, the stories shifted to comedic and included more comic strips, which gave Low an idea of creating a new "big five" which focused on the funnies more than drama. The suggestion was approved; editors Bill Blain and (sub-editor) Albert Barnes of The Wizard and The Hotspur , respectively, joined Low's project. The new team placed
4557-572: The company's ability to view sales and promotions in the areas much more easily than the rival publishers in London. Although many were about "super men" the young readers could idolise, the rest of the stories would be comic strips inspired by the gag-a-day strips in American newspapers full of stylised characters, slapstick and puns. Overseeing the magazines was the Managing Editor of Children's Publications, R. D. Low , who first joined
4650-489: The cover by the end of 2000. The comic revealed that Cuddles and Dimples were thrown off the cover for "being too naughty", though in reality the comic's readers wanted Dan to return as the cover strip. In 2004, following a major revamp, Desperate Dan was replaced on the front cover by Jak , a character created for the cover, slightly based on an older strip with the same name, although other characters, including Dan, also made occasional cover appearances. The front cover also had
4743-481: The cover. The Dandy Xtreme had a theme for each issue, usually a film or TV show. From 27 October 2010 (issue 3508) The Dandy returned as a weekly comic and dropped "Xtreme" from its title. The contents received a major overhaul, and all the comic strips from the Xtreme era except for Desperate Dan , Bananaman and The Bogies were dropped. Bananaman was also taken over by a new artist, Wayne Thompson , and Korky
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#17327906732494836-524: The creative industry or create their own stories. Alan Moore theorised the magazine influenced numerous British comic artists into reimagining American comics in the 1980s by pioneering the Dark Age . Guest chief-editors Nick Park , David Walliams , Joe Sugg , and Harry Hill are also fans of The Beano , with Park admitting "My dream job was always to work on The Beano and it's such an honour for me to be Guest Editor[.]" Notable famous members of
4929-455: The day changed to Friday until issue 375 which began the Thursday publication day schedule. December 1945 marked a milestone: issue 272 became the first Beano issue to sell over a million copies. The end of the war also ushered in a new era for the comic, debuting superhero Jack Flash , the debut of Biffo the Bear as new cover star and a new generation of trouble-making kids: Dennis
5022-417: The embassy. The game was given a great deal of advance publicity in the comics, with story lines often revolving around how each of the characters acquired his or her vehicle. Thanks to The Dandy , The Beano and other D C Thomson comics which followed, Dundee gained a reputation as a major centre of the comics industry, and has been called the 'comic capital of Britain'. Partly as a result of this legacy,
5115-428: The failures to do so. Misbehaving children showed most popular with Lord Snooty and His Pals becoming the first longest-running strip when it concluded in 1991, but the most well known that continue to appear in issues are Dennis the Menace , Minnie the Minx , The Bash Street Kids , and Roger the Dodger . Some adult-starring characters also misbehaved but they were usually portrayed as incompetent, notably Jonah . In
5208-469: The first issue of a monthly comic entitled BeanoMAX was published. The sister comic features many of the same characters; however, the stories in BeanoMAX are written in a longer format meant for 10- to 13-year-olds. The first issue was a Comic Relief special featuring assorted celebrity guests. The magazine has been rebranded several times since 2013, and is currently known as EPIC Magazine . Plug
5301-448: The following issue; thousands of letters would arrive at DC Thomson per week and the authors of the messages would receive prizes. The club would be renamed The Beano Club, which ended in 2010, but had over 1.5 million members. A spin-off was introduced called Gnasher's Fang Club, and Gnasher would ask readers to send him stories about their pets' adventures which could be printed into the next issue. "The mailbag of little drawings of pets
5394-543: The front cover for The Beano 's first issue, eventually creating the character Big Eggo (originally named Oswald the Ostrich). It would be in colour whilst the inside of the magazine would be black and white, a tactic used for The Dandy 's first issue (black and white stories inside, colourful Korky the Cat strip on the front). Joining the Big Eggo strip would be many funnies, such as Hugh McNeill's Ping
5487-480: The jokes in The Beano "). In the strips, it was expressed that Dandytown and Beanotown are rivals, The Dandy did a drastic format change when Dandytown had an embassy in Beanotown, which many of the town's citizens unsuccessfully attempted to overrun – the embassy was never referred to in The Beano . This rivalry inspired the spin-off computer game Beanotown Racing , in which various characters from both comics could be raced around points in Beanotown, including
5580-437: The last issues were printed versions of episodes from the 1996–1998 Dennis and Gnasher animated TV series . A Beano Poster Comic series was also printed in the early 1990s. The Beano Specials returned in 2003, and are now published seasonally. The issues were numbered, and the first one was a Dennis and Friends special, the last a Christmas reprint special. These were replaced by BeanoMAX in early 2007. On 15 February 2007,
5673-564: The last year to feature them as General Jumbo 's eighth series drew to a close in issue 1734. George Moonie resigned as editor-in-chief in 1959 to develop comics for girls. Sub-editor of The Beezer Harry Cramond succeeded Moonie until retiring in 1984, described as the most influential editor in The Beano 's history. He oversaw new merchandising, high sales, and the thousandth and two thousandth issues. DC Thomson's Beano offices featured on documentary television and Cramond's successor Euan Kerr guest-starred on television for
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#17327906732495766-508: The late 20th century, merging comic strip characters in the same vicinity became common in the franchise, such as the video game Beanotown Racing , but characters living together in "Beanotown" became a prominent feature of comic strips into the present. Due to the initial target audience of The Beano being schoolboys, masculine interests, hobbies, and values dominated issues constantly. Aside from aforementioned adventure stories and comedic characters, there were cowboys, aliens, kings,
5859-525: The longest-running prose character in the magazine's history was Prince Ivor, who first starred in Follow the Secret Hand . The last prose story to appear was Ace From Space in 1955. Although comic strips have featured in The Beano since issue 1, their contents has changed throughout. Anthropomorphic animals were common stars that would partake in human activities, and the punchlines occurred from
5952-434: The magazine changed its name to The Dandy. One of those involved in the comic in its early days was George Thomson , who served as deputy editor, and briefly - when aged 18 - as editor. Thomson would later serve as a cabinet minister under Harold Wilson and as European Commissioner . In 1938, less than a year after the comic's debut, the first Dandy Annual was released. Originally called The Dandy Monster comic, this
6045-497: The magazine's 50th anniversary. The Beano began to advertise outside of DC Thomson's products in 1988 in order to keep both it and The Dandy " pocket money " cheap, beginning with issue 2407. Issue 2674 in 1993 was the first issue to feature every page in colour. A notable revamp was the 50th birthday issue, which had an abnormally larger page count with more coloured sections and printed on wider sheets. A decade later, issues gained eight extra pages with computer-based art. In
6138-531: The new audience could not recall reading before. Quiet reboots included Simply Smiffy (cancelled 1987), Rasher (cancelled 1995), Little Plum (cancelled 2007), Les Pretend (cancelled 2007), Baby Face Finlayson (cancelled 2005), Biffo the Bear (cancelled 1999), Pansy Potter (cancelled 1993), and Lord Snooty (cancelled 1991). The Beano allows its characters from different strips to interact with each other. Reprinting old stories or redistributing characters into other magazines
6231-583: The old Dennis the Menace/Beano Club include Auberon Waugh , Mike Read , and Mark Hamill , as well as honorary members Paul Gascoigne , and Princes William and Harry . Chris Tarrant cited Dennis as his role model when he was a child, and Paul Rudd revealed Roger the Dodger was his favourite strip. Stella McCartney created tribute fashion to both The Beano and The Dandy , explaining they were "a huge part of my childhood" and wanted to celebrate "the next generation of Beano fans with
6324-433: The one-word titles of other comics by rival companies, such as Amalgamated Press ' Crackers , Sparkler , Puck and some books from its Union Jack series ( The Marvel , The Magnet and The Gem ); and Target Publications' Chuckler , Rattler and Dazzler . Beano editor-in-chief was George Moonie, former sub-editor of The Wizard , who would be editor until the summer of 1959. He later explained DC Thomson
6417-501: The popular comic characters (several for Dennis the Menace) became common, keeping The Beano in popular culture. The turn of the millennium began a sales decline and led to friendly rival The Dandy being discontinued in 2012. Eventually, The Beano recovered after the creation of its magazine subscription service, which also shipped internationally. Plots and dialogue are written into a script by an (often) uncredited DC Thomson writer,
6510-431: The present helped their future selves save the world. As of 2020, there have been seven official chief editors: Temporary chief editors: From the first issue, readers have received free gifts from The Beano : toy masks, sweets, posters, and toys. Originally, free gifts would be attached inside the cover or strategically on the front so that it could distract the buyer from other comics next to The Beano on
6603-465: The same year. Both would later discontinue but Beanotown.com would be revamped as beano.com, a website full of games, Beano secrets and other activities for children. Gulliver's Travels opened the Beano 6 Super Ride in May 2021. The Beano was also the face of the United Kingdom's 2018 Summer Reading Challenge , called Mischief Makers, which included a special Dennis the Menace novel tie-in called Dennis
6696-554: The shelves, hopefully excited for the next issue after reading it and eating/playing with the toys. Gifts were intentionally sporadic, especially during the Christmas period when families' money would be saved for food and presents. Issue 90 would be the last issue with a gift ( licorice "black eye") due to rationing , the next free gift being the Flying Snorter Balloon in issue 953. The most popular free gift
6789-656: The starring characters notably had binary stereotypical traits: drawn as tall and flowy, Swanky, Lanky Liz is obsessed with fashion and makeup and acts vain and snobbish, whereas Pansy Potter , Minnie the Minx and Toots from The Bash Street Kids share the round-faced and snub-nosed art style of the boys in their stories and are unruly tomboys (in Pansy Potter's case, showcases the strength she inherited from her father). Non-White characters starred in their stories either set in Africa, Asia, or South America, or were about
6882-581: The strips that first appeared from that decade: Dennis became the literal and metaphorical mascot of the magazine, his increasing popularity making him the last consistent cover star and his strips spawning three BBC animated adaptations; Minnie and the Bash Street Kids have a statue and a street named after the strip, respectively. The "anarchic" humour is credited as the key to the magazine's longevity, as well as its refusal to be condescending to its readers: " The Beano may have changed since
6975-525: The style of American newspaper "funnies", but it began with other genres. The last genre to leave Beano was adventure stories : short tales eleven-pictures long in text comics format. The stories were either dramatic or dramedies , but heavily featured hobbies and interests young boys had (war and the military, hunting, sailing, jungle men). They also stood out because the illustrations of backgrounds, animals and human characters were photorealistic . Although artists like Dudley D. Watkins drew for
7068-477: The supernatural, fantasy creatures (and talking animals), and men whose lifestyle or jobs require physical strength (despite the story making their careers incidental). The Beano alternated between mocking or idolising these characters through story formats; wealthy characters causing mischief, caring about their families or being shown underprivileged lives made the working-class audience relate and sympathise with them. Female characters were usually supporting
7161-408: The transition to digital alongside a re-imagined version of "Keyhole Kate" – transformed from nosey parker into a schoolgirl sleuth – a new take on former "Beezer" characters "The Numskulls", and a superhero team consisting of revamped versions of former D.C. Thomson action stars – including The Dandy's (and the U.K.'s) first ever superhero, "The Amazing Mr X" – in adventure serial "Retro-Active". This
7254-436: Was 30p, and new members received a membership card full of classified communication tactics and two badges: a red one with Dennis' face on the front and a furry one of a googly-eyed Gnasher face—the latter was the most sought-after badge in the club's history. For two years, there was a tie-in agony aunt page called Dear Dennis (issue 1679–1767) where fan club members sent Dennis their problems that Dennis would reply to in
7347-516: Was Albert Barnes, who according to The Legend of Desperate Dan (1997) was the model for Dan's famous chin. Barnes remained in the role until 1982, when he was succeeded by Dave Torrie. His replacement, Morris Heggie, left the editorship in 2006 to become the DC Thomson archivist. The final editor of the print edition was Craig Graham. The editor of the digital version launched in 2012 was Craig Ferguson. Over its 75-year run hundreds of different comic strips have appeared in The Dandy , many of them for
7440-411: Was a comic based on the eponymous character from The Bash Street Kids that began with issue dated 24 September 1977, and is notable for being the first comic to make use of rotogravure printing. The magazine similar in style to I.P.C's Krazy which had started the previous year. It contained uncharacteristically outlandish material for D C. Thomson, as well as later including celebrity appearances in
7533-641: Was a competitive company that wanted to make the best children's literature in the United Kingdom, but there was also competition within itself as Beano offices was determined to beat The Dandy 's popularity. Drastic changes occurred behind the scenes of The Beano during the Second World War : George Moonie and editing partner Ron Fraser left to join the Royal Marines and Air Force respectively, both not returning until c. 1946. Stuart Gilchrist became sole editor-in-chief after Moonie's other sub-editor Freddie Simpson became ill and resigned. Contact
7626-402: Was also lost with Torelli Bros. so in-house creations of Tin-Can Tommy began from issue 69 by Sam Fair. Paper rationing caused the rest of Low's New Big Five to be cancelled (it stopped at three published, the third member being The Magic Comic (1939), which ended with 80 issues in 1941), and The Beano to fluctuate its page count instead of its usual 28. Eventually, The Beano became
7719-592: Was an annual bumper edition of the comic and has been released annually since then. In 1954 the first Desperate Dan Book was released, mostly consisting of reprints. Another was released in 1978, and it was released yearly between 1990 and 1992. Bananaman and Black Bob also had their own annuals. Although later issues were all comic strips, early issues had many text strips, with some illustrations. In 1940, this meant 12 pages of comic strips and 8 pages of text stories. Text stories at two pages each were "Jimmy's Pocket Grandpa", "British Boys and Girls Go West", "There's
7812-430: Was an instant success upon release, and became the longest-running, weekly-issued comic of all time in 2018. Although interest in comic magazines dwindled, it survived surrounding setbacks. In the 1950s, it (and The Dandy ) were unaffected by DC Thomson's magazine cancellations (selling over 100 million per year) that were caused by both paper rationing and public lack of interest. Alan Digby's attempt to boost sales with
7905-432: Was drawing two pages a week and thinking 'Phew, that's quite a lot'. Now I do 10 or 12 pages a week. You have to do more all the time to stay where you are," explained Nigel Parkinson . From March 2016, authors and illustrators are now credited in issues. There have been over a thousand stories throughout the magazine's history told through various ways. Since November 1975, the magazine has contained only comic strips in
7998-419: Was issue 2201's Gnasher Snapper, a prank toy that would make a bang sound when unfolded, and was re-gifted occasionally in later issues, as well as the 60th anniversary. During the 25th anniversary of Dennis the Menace , The Dennis the Menace Fan Club was formed. The fan club was instantly popular, recalls Euan Kerr in 1984; "The club enrolled over 2000 new members every week, well into the 90s[.]" Membership
8091-483: Was issued on 4 December 2012, the comic's 75th anniversary, after sales slumped to 8,000 a week. On the same day, The Dandy relaunched as an online comic, The Digital Dandy, appearing on the Dandy website and in the Dandy App. The digital relaunch was not successful and the comic ended just six months later. The Dandy title continues as a yearly Summer Special and the unbroken run of Dandy Annuals, up to and including
8184-520: Was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after Il Giornalino (cover dated 1 October 1924) and Detective Comics (cover dated March 1937). From August 2007 until October 2010, it was rebranded as Dandy Xtreme . One of the best selling comics in the UK, along with The Beano , The Dandy reached sales of two million a week in the 1950s. The final printed edition
8277-404: Was published as far back as 1939, a year after the first weekly comic was published. In 2018, it was estimated that an original first issue Beano annual in relatively good condition could fetch between £1,200 to £1,500. Since 1982 the comic, along with The Dandy , has also run "Comic Library" titles. Released monthly, these titles are a feature-length (usually about 64-page) adventure, featuring
8370-404: Was quite controversial among most Dandy fans as comparisons were made that the print edition was better and the digital one could be quite unreliable. DC Thomson decided to axe the comic as it didn't ultimately attract the publicity and customers that the company initially wanted. It ended on 26 June 2013, although annuals and occasional summer specials continue to be published. The original editor
8463-527: Was released in August 2012, the Dandy's 75th anniversary year. A Waverly book about The Dandy was originally to be released in 2007 for the comic's 70th birthday, but was cancelled with no explanation. The last print edition of the Dandy, a 100-page edition featuring a countdown of the comic's "Top 75 Characters", was published on 4 December 2012. However, The Dandy continued online and in the Dandy App, with long-running characters like "Desperate Dan", "Bananaman", "Blinky", "Sneaker" and "Hyde & Shriek" making
8556-430: Was several thousand per week," remembers sub-editor Morris Heggie. "And the popularity lasted and lasted." The 21st century celebrated anniversaries with more memorabilia. For The Beano 's 70th birthday, DC Thomson published The Beano Special Collectors Edition: 70 Years of Fun (2008), and The History of The Beano (2008) was published by Waverly Books, both documenting the magazine's history; two exhibitions at
8649-531: Was unsuccessful, in part because the comic cost 9p, with the Beano at the time only costing 4p and most of its rivals priced similarly. It merged with The Beezer on 24 February 1979. The brand new Dennis and Gnasher was launched separately from The Beano in September 2009. It coincided with their new cartoon on CBBC of the same name . 44-page special issue 4062, with cover date 21 November 2020, during
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