The 1982 Christmas Beano

It's fast approaching Christmas, so I'll start off a series of Christmas themed posts with this festive Beano from 1982! David Sutherland of Bash Street fame drew Dennis the Menace at this period in the comics history, but the style is heavily influenced by Dennis' original artist Davy Law. Here's the second page.

Inside "Baby-Face" Finlayson gets up to his usual tricks, but unusally he comes out on top for once, acting as a toy and getting a free feed! Illustrated by Ron Spencer.

The use of slippers a a form of punishment in comics was beginning to die down a bit in the '80's, but Roger the Dodger still uses it, or he almost does anyway! Frank McDiarmid drew Roger at this point and although I liked Frank's work I don't like his version of Roger, as I don't think it really suits the strip.

Over the page however was Jim Petrie's version of Minnie the Minx, which is a style I do like! I really like Jim's action drawings, he can capture movement really well! He once stated that he often studied his children in the back garden, and took what they did into his drawings!

Lord Snooty had a good Christmas strip this week, with lots of snow and a good festive story! Also intresting on this page is the advertisement for overseas subscriptions, which is something we only usually see in small print. 

Little Plum and Biffo the Bear usually share the same page, but Biffo missed out on the Christmas issue because he is replaced by an advert for three of that years annuals - The Beezer, Dennis the Menace and The Topper.

The Three Bears started out as background characters in Little Plum but were so popular that they got their very own strip (just like Dave the Squirrel) in 1959. The artist on the 80's version was Bob McGrath, and this strip ends with a great classic ending - the slap up feed!

I'll be taking a look at another Christmas comic soon, so stay tuned!

This week in 1979 - The Beano!

I've wanted to do this for a while now, look at a comic from the current week several decades ago (based of course, upon Lew Stringer's series - www.lewstringer.blogspot.com). So the first one I decided to feature is the following Beano from this very day in 1979, which you could purchase for a mere six pence!

First up, is of course the Dennis the Menace strip, which features Dennis' cousin - Denise (who to me looks a lot like Beryl the Peril)! The whole story is based around Dennis recieving a whacking - but it the end it isn't him who gets it! (Seems a bit drastic though, getting a bloodhound to hunt him down just to give him six of the best, doesn't it!?) Art by Dave Sutherland.

The Fix-it Twins was inside the front cover, and it's a story all about a crazy pair of twins who will (try to) fix anything and everything! Although trying to be helpful, things usually backfire on them! The story only lasted for two years from 1978 to 1980, and was illustrated by Ron Spencer.

Next up is Jim Petrie's Minnie the Minx. Now, I have mentioned this particular story on this blog before, because for once Dad's real name was revealed! A very nice story though, all the minxing is done by Dad instead of Minnie!

The Dennis the Menace Fan Club was massive - in it's time it collected over 1 million members from all over the world! (In fact did you know that before the band 'Scouting for Girls' were signed to Epic Records, they ran their own fan club, 'The Wolfcub Club', through their MySpace site. The name was a wordplay similar to the band's name, being based on the Dennis the Menace fan club!) And of course, this issue is no exception, with lots of letters and jokes to fil up this fantastic page. My favourite has to be the 'Star Letter' of course, where a fan from South Yorkshire sent in a balloon for Dennis to blow up!

Sweet Sue, like The Fix-it Twins, lasted from 1978 to 1980, but this story was illustrated by Bill Ritchie. This episode is all about her peg dog William (who appeared in a lot of the stories), who really doen't want to have to go for walkies. In the end he jumps into the pram, and Sue doesn't mind! Guess why...

And finally, enjoy this short Biffo the Bear strip, drawn by (I think) David Sutherland!

Chrsistmas Beano - 1968

This is one of my favourite chrismas Beano comics, probably because it was one of my first. It sported a very nice cover by Dudley D.Watkins, but there had been better covers in the past, and there were better ones to come.

Inside Minnie the Minx celebrates christmas like anybody else her age would - waking up at 4:30AM and opens all her presents within ten minutes! A very funny story - I like the way the times are added in and it's only a minute between each box! Hilarious! On the second page shows a small advert for that year's Beril the Peril annual - which is strange as she didn't even appear in The Beano? Surely it would have been better if they'd advertised that years Beano annual so that kids could "hint" their parents for one? Art by Jim Petrie.

On the centre spread is a very nice, colouful Bash Street Kids story by David Sutherland - the most festive story in the comic!

Elsewhere in the comic Lord Snooty and his pals try to help Santa find them in the castle, but soon discover that he can't fit down the chimney! Art by Robert Nixon.

And finally, a very nice, funny christmas Dennis the Menace strip by Davy Law. My favourite part of the whole strip is in the last box where 'Sounds of festive whackings' is penetrating through the door!

You can read Dennis' first Christmas over on Kid Robson's blog:

http://www.kidr77.blogspot.com/2011/12/denniss-first-christmas.html

Jim Petrie Interview

Jim Petrie,the artist for Minnie the Minx, The Sparky People and others, was recently interviewed in Classics from the Comics #174, which then ended the following issue (I think...). He is most well known for Minnie the Minx, who he drew for 40 years, producing over 2000 strips for the weekly, annuals and comic libraries. Here's the interview, and a two page Minnie story.

The issue also had a page showing what Jim has been up to in his retirement.