This week's issue

[Digifiend]

Agreed. Great work from David Sutherland.

[Digifiend]

Advert in this week's issue says that next week's is a special one "all about The Menace", celebrating Dennis's 60th birthday. And at the usual £1.35 price. I'm glad to see that the milestone won't go past ignored.

I don't know if the new editor is already making changes, but I noticed the Whassup contents page has a new look this week, and is no longer introduced by Dennis.

Roger the Dodger seems to be a truncated reprint from an annual. At least it wasn't stretched - they put an advert banner and a Stripz underneath.

[Lew Stringer]

I don't know if the new editor is already making changes, but I noticed the Whassup contents page has a new look this week, and is no longer introduced by Dennis.

Comics are usually produced at least five or six weeks in advance so I think that issue would still be one of Alan's.

[Jonny Whizz]

The Roger the Dodger reprint wasn't from an annual, I'm sure it was from a December 2004 issue. Without checking, I'd hazard a guess it was issue no. 3257, dated 18th December 2004.

I've certainly seen that strip before, it definitely wasn't from an annual and it's the same length as it was originally.

[Digifiend]

OK, who didn't do their research? David Parkins took over Dennis from Dave Sutherland in 1998, not 1995 as tomorrow's issue claims (the preview is already up on beano.com). If it was once, I'd assume it was just a typo, but the mistake appears twice.

[big bad bri]

excellent this week 1/2 the issue is retro and korky the cat is the dandy ad this week

[Jonny Whizz]

I think they got both ends of the David Parkins era wrong - he didn't start drawing Dennis in 1995, he definitely began in 1998 as you said. Also, although his final Dennis strip was in 2006, he stopped being the regular artist in 2003 - you'd be hard pressed to find an issue with a David Parkins issue after the end of that year.

When I started reading the Beano in 2002, I think David Parkins was still drawing the majority of strips with Nigel Parkinson only doing a few. The balance changed later that year becoming roughly 50:50 between the two. Jimmy Hansen's first Dennis strip was in issue 3151 (December 2002), but in truth did not become a regular as artist until 2004.

The first half of 2003 was not that much different from late 2002 but as the year progressed Parkinson effectively became the main artist with Parkins strips becoming increasingly irregular (apart from a few around October) and Hansen still not prominent. I don't think Parkins did any more than 3-5 strips after issue 3200 (November 2003), the last one being in summer 2006. From the start of 2004, the artist rotation between NP and Jimmy began which continued until Tom Paterson joined the roster in 2007.

These days I think Jimmy does most of the weekly strips in the Beano, with NP doing Beano Max and 60 Second Dennis when it appears, although I think Tom sometimes does that as well, and the main strip occasionally (he did do a second Dennis strip at the back of the comic in 2008-09). Barrie Appleby doesn't draw Dennis often but this week's is an exception.

[swirlythingy]

Barrie Appleby doesn't draw Dennis often but this week's is an exception.

Some exception... he's now done it three weeks in a row. I think before that he drew them at an average rate of maybe one every two years!

Is this a new official permanent appointment? If so, good job to whoever finally decided to end a decade of artistic chaos not befitting the character's status.

Yes, I finally got around to making an account here. I'll call it Dennis's 60th birthday present to myself.

[Digifiend]

Jim Hansen drew last week's.

[LauraH]

Anyone posted this already? A little video from the Cartoon Museum in London focusing on Dennis's birthday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12759011

That kid's a pretty good artist, but if he's sold over 200 copies of his comic his future clearly lies in marketing!

[Peter Gray]

Bring back the slipper for Dennis...

that seems to be the biggest complaint in these documentries of todays Dennis..

very strange..

Its good the lady showed an earlier era to comics..besfore The Dandy!!

[Lew Stringer]

Bring back the slipper for Dennis...

that seems to be the biggest complaint in these documentries of todays Dennis..

very strange..

Its good the lady showed an earlier era to comics..besfore The Dandy!!

Yes. I imagine that item was considerably edited down to the allotted time limit but like you said it's good that they managed to cover at least some of the pre-Dandy days.

I was interviewed yesterday for another BBC piece on Dennis. Here it is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12770341

[Digifiend]

Anyone posted this already? A little video from the Cartoon Museum in London focusing on Dennis's birthday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12759011

That kid's a pretty good artist, but if he's sold over 200 copies of his comic his future clearly lies in marketing!

Thanks Laura for posting that. I had to go out so I missed it this morning on BBC Breakfast.

[swirlythingy]

Bring back the slipper for Dennis...

that seems to be the biggest complaint in these documentries of todays Dennis..

very strange..

Utterly perverse, even. The BBC has now run several news items on Dennis in several different places, and each has had this common thread running through it: presenter/writer says something along the lines of "Dennis is more politically correct than he used to be", and follows it up with "he never gets slippered any more", then refuses to say another word on the subject, as if corporal punishment is the be-all and end-all of PC. It isn't. It doesn't even count as PC at all - it's straight-up illegal, and that's hardly a recent development (1987) either.

Totally bizarre.

Meanwhile, they have consistently, completely and deliberately ignored the careful law-abiding (as opposed to the former complete anarchy), the eagerness to please (as opposed to being public enemy number 1), the disappearance of his weapons of 50 years' service, the almost complete role reversal of Dennis and Walter, etc. etc. etc. Even allowing for the fact that the Beano has since undone a large part of it behind their backs, refusing to even contemplate the notion, and instead substituting a sub-Daily Mail cliche, is downright odd.

I can only assume that there are hidden interests at work in pretending they don't know what political correctness is... after all, they caused most of it.



(PS: No predictable replies, please - I'm well aware that Dennis softened up from his former bullying personality during the 80s and 90s, thank you.)

[Raven]

... says something along the lines of "Dennis is more politically correct than he used to be", and follows it up with "he never gets slippered any more", then refuses to say another word on the subject, as if corporal punishment is the be-all and end-all of PC. It isn't. It doesn't even count as PC at all - it's straight-up illegal, and that's hardly a recent development (1987) either.

I don't think domestic corporal punishment is illegal in the UK. Parents can smack in the home, as long as it doesn't leave a mark, so Dennis's dad probably wouldn't be able to use giant clown shoes, tennis rackets, planks of wood with nails sticking out of them, or similar kinds of comic comedy spanking props of yore. If Beanotown's in Scotland he could smack but not with a slipper or any other implement, apparently.