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?

75 Years Of The Beano - Part 1

There's just about a month to go until the Beano celebrates its 75th birthday, and so I'll dive straight into the celebrations and take a look a various issues and strips from its many decades. This time we head back to 1957, and take a look at the Biffo the Bear strip from that issue, illustrated by Dudley Watkins.

And from the same issue, feast your eyes upon Leo Baxendale's Minnie the Minx! I love the angle of the last panel here - great artwork!

And finally, from issue #793, a full-colour Dennis the Menace strip by Davy Law!

There will be some more Beano mayhem soon, so stay tuned!

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Other posts in this series:

Part 2:

http://www.wackycomics.com/2013/07/75-years-of-beano-part-2.html

Part 3:

http://www.wackycomics.com/2013/07/75-years-of-beano-part-3.html

The Five Greats - No. 2: Davy Law

The second great in the series is Dennis the Menace creator Davy Law! Born in Edinburgh in 1908, Law was a born artist, and started drawing for D.C. Thomson on 1945.

Then, in 1951 came his most famous creation - Dennis the Menace! Our spiky-haired pal first appeared in Beano issue 452, and still runs today! In the mid - 50's, Law also drew Dennis in the Weekly News.

His other famous creation is Beryl the Peril, who first appeared in the first issue of The Topper, from 1953. Beryl currently appears in The Dandy, illustrated by Steve Bright.

What made David such a good artist was not the detail he put into his strips, but the way that he could make anything he drew funny. Sadly, he passed away in 1971.

Cheap Quality Fun

Toady I decided too quickly pop into my local bookstore, and I spotted these inbetween a bunch of other annuals (with titles including Speed, Dennis (The Pickle) and Scouts). They were very cheap (£2 each), so I decided I might as well get them! When I took them up to the counter the owner said: "I didn't know I had these!" (I think if he had known, he would have kept them for himself!) I wonder just how long they had been down there on that back shelf? The annuals I picked up were:

Dennis the Menace 1968

Dennis the Menace 1970

Dennis the Menace 1972

Beryl the Peril 1971

Okay, so I know that they're not the rarest annuals in the world - but when I opened them I was amazed by the quality! The only faults I could find was that the laminate on the spine of the 1968 and 1970 Dennis annuals was peeling (but only a little),the price had been clipped out of the Bery the Peril annual and one of the puzzles have been done in pencil in the 1968 Dennis book.

These books contain very lovely artowrk by Davy Law and the quality of the pages is amazing - they have hardly browned and none were ripped!

I am very pleased of my £8 purchase, as I have never seen such good quality copies of these annuals before! This proves that there are always going to be copies out there ... Well, sort of.

P.s. When I opened the 1970 Dennis annual, I found that the shopkeeper had put two yellow stickers over the oringinal price - of 7/6D!?!?!