By various (DC Thomson & Co.)
ISBN: 0-85116-735-7
The Americans may have a lock on super-heroes, and the Japanese do details and speed-lines like nobody else can, but Britain too has an area of comic strip supremacy. Nobody does wicked little boys like us.
This book celebrates half a century of pranks, mischief and innocent skulduggery in the form of the legendary – and still going strong – “real†Dennis the Menace. True, Hank Ketchum may have a seemingly similar character – one which oddly debuted in America the very same week – but that tow-haired blonde kid is only pretend mean. He has a soft, cute core.
The Yank kid is a lovable moppet, really, but the character devised by David Law is a fun-loving, recalcitrant, practical-joke playing force of nature. He began buried within the pages of the Beano on March 17th 1951 but rapidly progressed to the colour back cover, then the front, then both covers of Britain’s most successful and long lived comic for children of all ages.
Under Law – and probably the only “law†he’d acknowledge – Dennis grew thematically and artistically wilder and more elemental, a true archetype and role model for naughty boys everywhere. Scripter Ian Gray co-created Gnasher, an Abyssinian Wire-Haired Tripe Hound in 1968 as the perfect pet and partner-in-crime for the lad, just as Law’s declining health compelled DC Thomson to line-up an understudy artist.
David Sutherland had been drawing The Bash Street Kids since 1962, and in 1970 when Law finally retired he took over Dennis as well, drawing him until 1998, when he semi-retired and went back to just drawing the Bash Streeters. David Parkins became the third Dave to handle Dennis.
The success of the character is unquestioned. TV, books, computers, toys, clothing, foods, and a fan club with more than a million members attests to that. But the real secret is within these pages. In selected strips from five decades, the antics and exploits that appeal to the wilful kid in us all, are gathered together as a hugely engaging textbook of mayhem.
This is a brilliant tribute to a British icon.
© 2000 DC Thomson & Co. All Rights Reserved.
Yes, I have a copy of this album in my collection of anniversary albums. I’m so tempted to sit on the floor and give it a good read through as I did when a young lad with all my comic books. For an hour or so one could be lost in a world of cartoon mayhem, so very different from today’s television counterparts. Alas, my copy has hardly ever seen the light of day, purchased when it first came out and scrutinised by me for any defects and then covered and put into dark storage for future generations to enjoy. There were no defects in my copy, and is in as fine condition today as when first purchased. And so it will remain so for my grandchildren to look at when they are older, and maybe pass it down to their own children. Who knows? A cash investment it was never meant to be, but in terms of childhood memories and excellent artwork, preservation means everything.
I understand completely, but think what you’re denying yourself in the meantime.
Perhaps I could pass on a tip from my days as a retail consultant: many customers also were “Condition Freaks” and a few of those would deliberately buy second and sometimes third copies of some items – even reserving designated display copies – which were already less than perfect solely to use as comics were meant to be used.
I’m sure a thorough scout of internet retailers would turn up inexpensive second-hand editions of books such as Dennis which you and your Grandchildren could enjoy now, and they’ll learn to love comics even earlier…