The Beano Book 1957

It cannot be said that The Beano Book (or 'annual', as it has been known since 2003) has not had some great covers, my favourite is the 1941 cover, with Big Eggo peering over his eggs as various Beano characters clamber out (I even used an edited version of this cover on the first issue of 'Atomic Comic' back in 2012). Dudley Watkins executed the cover perfectly and I just love the intense blue that surrounded the logo. Also up there at number two is the 1957 wraparound cover, this time illustrated by James Crighton.

What a cover! And it certainly makes up for the fact that there is no spread over the inside covers, replaced this time with some jokes that seem to me are just panels taken from regular Beano strips. So skipping these, and the 'this book belongs to' page, and we are greeted with 'The Beano Book Song' as an introduction.

Also nice is the artwork on the contents, it adds some life to what would otherwise be a fairly boring page.

Now onto the comic strips, and with contributions from Davy Law, Ken Reid, and Leo Baxendale this sure is a high quality book, so it's difficult to choose where to start. I'll start at the start though, and the first comic strip in the book is Dennis the Menace by Davy Law. Dennis was hugely popular by this point, Dennis' second Dennis the Menace annual was released simultaneously with this Beano book.

Next up is this Minnie the Minx episode. Not only excellent artwork by Leo Baxendale, but a good story as well.

One more strip for this post, and that will be When The Bell Rings, again by Baxendale. Of course, this would later become The Bash Street Kids.

To wrap up the post I'll leave you with this question: what is your favourite Beano Book (or annual) cover?

Beano Beginnings - The Bash Street Kids!

The Bash Street Kids, originally called When the Bell Rings, was launched, just like many other very successful characters, in the mid-1950's. Created by Leo Baxendale, the series was an instant hit with children because they could easily realate to it - as every kid had to go to school!

Our crazy chums were launched in #604, dated 13th Feburary 1954, and got two weeks of previous advertising, as seen above.

Here is the second strip from Beano #605, dated 20th Februray 1954.

Not all the characters were in straight away. Plug (called so because he was "plug-ugly"), didn't appear named until #606. At this point however, he was called Pug.

He first appeared called Plug in issue #608:

In issue #607, the poor defenceless Janitor appears for the first time, attempting to outrun the kids who have escaped from school. Surely that man deserves a medal!!

Moving on from the Janitor, Wilfred appears for the first time in issue #615 and, although he is not named, he appears as a kid with a jumper pulled right up to his chin!

I hope you enjoyed a look at these early Bash Street Kids, as well as these early Beanos. I may return to some Beano Beginnings (or Dandy beginnings etc.) in the future...!

The Five Greats - No. 3: Leo Baxendale

The creator of some of the most famous characters in British comics is Leo Baxendale, and that earns him a rightful place in the five greats!

Born in the early 1930's, Baxendale created his first characters for The Beano in 1953. He came up with Little Plum, Minnie the Minx and The Bash Street Kids, which was originally called When The Bell Rings.

Then in 1964 he created Wham! comic, and drew a majority of the strips inside (everything he drew for the title was signed). It would last for 187 issues before merging with Pow! in 1968.

Leo then left comics for good in 1975 after drawing the Badtime Bedtime Story Books for Monster Fun - and went on to create his Willy the Kid series, which lasted for three years!

Leo is one of my favourite artists, and his artwork is always a joy to behold.