keep on menacing
July 30, 2018 3:40 AM Subscribe
80 years ago today the first issue of a comic, The Beano, was publishing in the UK (well Scotland). It's still going.
The Beano at 80: How a British institution is keeping the kids chuckling
The Beano relaunches prank-filled fan club for 80th birthday
Rebels at heart: The Beano at 80
The Beano celebrates it's 80th birthday today and we have some fun facts about the famous Dundee comic
The Beano comic marks its 80th birthday
‘Special’ celebration marks 80th anniversary of the Beano
How The Beano survived war and the web to reach its 80th birthday
Elaine C. Smith hails The Dandy and The Beano ‘revolutionary.’
Beano collector has EVERY edition since it started as its 80th anniversary dawns
Beano threatens Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg with legal action for 'masquerading' as a cartoon toff
(Note, the front cover of the first issue - which features in a number of the above - hasn't aged that well with regards to racism)
The Beano at 80: How a British institution is keeping the kids chuckling
The Beano relaunches prank-filled fan club for 80th birthday
Rebels at heart: The Beano at 80
The Beano celebrates it's 80th birthday today and we have some fun facts about the famous Dundee comic
The Beano comic marks its 80th birthday
‘Special’ celebration marks 80th anniversary of the Beano
How The Beano survived war and the web to reach its 80th birthday
Elaine C. Smith hails The Dandy and The Beano ‘revolutionary.’
Beano collector has EVERY edition since it started as its 80th anniversary dawns
Beano threatens Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg with legal action for 'masquerading' as a cartoon toff
(Note, the front cover of the first issue - which features in a number of the above - hasn't aged that well with regards to racism)
The Dandy has gone? Oh no.
My brother, in particular, was very into the Beano and the Dandy. I don't know if we found them ourselves or if my mom bought them in a fit of nostalgia, but it ended up with my grandad having a standing order at the newsagents. There'd be a stack of comics waiting for us when he came, or they'd come in his suitcase and sometimes by mail. This continued really past the age where one ages out of the Beano and Dandy, but emigration does funny things.
It's just as well that Haribo aren't vegetarian, now that they've become a thing in the US. Eating some very stale Haribo off the front of the Dandy put me off them for life.
posted by hoyland at 4:10 AM on July 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
My brother, in particular, was very into the Beano and the Dandy. I don't know if we found them ourselves or if my mom bought them in a fit of nostalgia, but it ended up with my grandad having a standing order at the newsagents. There'd be a stack of comics waiting for us when he came, or they'd come in his suitcase and sometimes by mail. This continued really past the age where one ages out of the Beano and Dandy, but emigration does funny things.
It's just as well that Haribo aren't vegetarian, now that they've become a thing in the US. Eating some very stale Haribo off the front of the Dandy put me off them for life.
posted by hoyland at 4:10 AM on July 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
(And, yes, I realise D.D.W. didn't do Dennis the Menace, it was two separate thoughts. Baxendale and Reid also gods, come to think of it.)
posted by Grangousier at 4:12 AM on July 30, 2018
posted by Grangousier at 4:12 AM on July 30, 2018
Wonderful memories! Several times a year, in the late 60s to mid 70s, my great Aunt Gracie would mail a thick roll of Beanos, Dandys, Toppers (and Beezers?) to us in Canada. Also the annuals at Xmas.
I have a lot of respect for the artists who churned these out week after week. I loved that the stories always ended with either the bully getting badly beaten with a cane/cricket bat/rug cleaner, given huge goose egg lumps on his head, black eyes, and maybe a wasp's nest jammed on his head. The Xmas stories were the same except the heroes enjoyed a big fancy "tuck in" while the bully suffered.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:25 AM on July 30, 2018
I have a lot of respect for the artists who churned these out week after week. I loved that the stories always ended with either the bully getting badly beaten with a cane/cricket bat/rug cleaner, given huge goose egg lumps on his head, black eyes, and maybe a wasp's nest jammed on his head. The Xmas stories were the same except the heroes enjoyed a big fancy "tuck in" while the bully suffered.
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:25 AM on July 30, 2018
Featured in the teaser for the next series of another British institution, Doctor Who
posted by Mogur at 4:37 AM on July 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Mogur at 4:37 AM on July 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
I think I might be misreading something
Look to the left of the masthead.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:38 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Look to the left of the masthead.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:38 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Dudley D Watkins is God.
I dream of one day holding in my hands a massive biography of D.D.W. Like the ones IDW have published on Alex Toth. D.C Thomson never returned art to the artists and I believe they have a massive archive which would make it possible to also maybe have some of those Artist Edition type books scanned from the art and printed same size.
There must be so many pages of his art as his output was phenomenal - Desperate Dan, Lord Snooty, The Broons, Oor Wullie, and (the utterly terrifying) Biffo The Bear were weekly pages for decades.
It's unlikely but I can dream...
posted by gnuhavenpier at 4:59 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I dream of one day holding in my hands a massive biography of D.D.W. Like the ones IDW have published on Alex Toth. D.C Thomson never returned art to the artists and I believe they have a massive archive which would make it possible to also maybe have some of those Artist Edition type books scanned from the art and printed same size.
There must be so many pages of his art as his output was phenomenal - Desperate Dan, Lord Snooty, The Broons, Oor Wullie, and (the utterly terrifying) Biffo The Bear were weekly pages for decades.
It's unlikely but I can dream...
posted by gnuhavenpier at 4:59 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think I might be misreading something
Look to the left of the masthead.
I was confused until I did a google image search. The offending bit's been edited out on some of the stories, for instance in The Telegraph.
What's the relationship between The Beano and Viz? I was introduced the the Viz by some ex-pats in Chicago, but wasn't familiar with The Beano. I get the impression Viz is kind of the same thing but for grown-ups.
posted by lagomorphius at 5:01 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Came here to thank Beano for Viz.
posted by pompomtom at 5:07 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by pompomtom at 5:07 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
AFAIK the only relationship is that Viz satirises Beano (among other things like eg BATTLE!).
posted by pompomtom at 5:12 AM on July 30, 2018
posted by pompomtom at 5:12 AM on July 30, 2018
→ D.C Thomson … have a massive archive
They're notoriously cheap, though, so there's also a chance that they threw everything away and didn't tell anyone. Baxendale only got his work back through years of legal action.
Raised as churchy as I was, I more know DDW from his tracts.
posted by scruss at 5:25 AM on July 30, 2018
They're notoriously cheap, though, so there's also a chance that they threw everything away and didn't tell anyone. Baxendale only got his work back through years of legal action.
Raised as churchy as I was, I more know DDW from his tracts.
posted by scruss at 5:25 AM on July 30, 2018
Is that the William The Warrior stuff? I had a wee tract he did called Tim and Tina. My folks were churchy too but Broons/Wullie annuals were a xmas family tradition.
I'm sure I read that the archive is pretty much intact. They moved it out of Dundee a few years ago. One thing I have noticed though is that since it moved, a lot more pages turn up on auction sites.
posted by gnuhavenpier at 5:38 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm sure I read that the archive is pretty much intact. They moved it out of Dundee a few years ago. One thing I have noticed though is that since it moved, a lot more pages turn up on auction sites.
posted by gnuhavenpier at 5:38 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Btw - Beano in the US is a pill one takes to suppress farts.
posted by lagomorphius at 6:09 AM on July 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by lagomorphius at 6:09 AM on July 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
The founders of Viz have always said they were heavily influenced by The Beano... The Beano had a character 'Winker Watson' and Viz ran a strip... well I think you can guess where it's going. When DC Thompson (the publishers of the Beano) threatened legal action, Viz replaced it with 'D. C. Thompson, the Humourless Scottish Git' featuring a be-kilted Scotsman complaining about copy-write offenses. DC Thompson retaliated by bringing back their strip 'The Jock vs The Geordies'* featuring battling cartoonists and parodies of Viz characters. They managed to settle it all amicably out of court.
*A Geordie is the nickname someone from the NE of England (well strictly speaking from Newcastle but the definition gets stretched outside of the city). Viz was started in Newcastle.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:13 AM on July 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
*A Geordie is the nickname someone from the NE of England (well strictly speaking from Newcastle but the definition gets stretched outside of the city). Viz was started in Newcastle.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:13 AM on July 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
My favorite comics-time thing is that Dennis is his own dad.
posted by Artw at 6:32 AM on July 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:32 AM on July 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
My British relatives would send me and my siblings Beano annuals semi regularly (and would slip ordinary issues in with other presents), and I loved them. They sent the Dandy as well, but it always held less appeal. The Beano is the real thing, long live the Beano.
posted by BungaDunga at 6:36 AM on July 30, 2018
posted by BungaDunga at 6:36 AM on July 30, 2018
My Gran used to send me the Beano and the Dandy every week until i got self conscious about the childishness and asked for 2000AD instead. Not sure she ever realised that the latter was a bit more mature than the former. All were wonderful additions to my childhood.
Splundig vur thrig earthlets!
posted by trif at 6:53 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Splundig vur thrig earthlets!
posted by trif at 6:53 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Borag Thungg!
posted by Artw at 6:56 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 6:56 AM on July 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah, P. Termite clocked me; I was gonna post that pic of Clapton reading Beano.
We were snooty hipsters née hippies back then, looked up that comic and saw how dumb it was, and figured Clapton was making a joke in that photo.
That Bluesbreakers album, btw is just insanely good. And it is 50 years old! A listen mandatory, whilst reading Beano optional....
posted by CrowGoat at 7:00 AM on July 30, 2018
We were snooty hipsters née hippies back then, looked up that comic and saw how dumb it was, and figured Clapton was making a joke in that photo.
That Bluesbreakers album, btw is just insanely good. And it is 50 years old! A listen mandatory, whilst reading Beano optional....
posted by CrowGoat at 7:00 AM on July 30, 2018
I wish someone would do a retrospective of "Oink!", the only British comic that actually approached being funny. I just found out the other day that it had a school-aged Charlie Brooker doing guest strips, which might help set the tone if you've never heard of it.
posted by Eleven at 7:07 AM on July 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Eleven at 7:07 AM on July 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
My favorite comics-time thing is that Dennis is his own dad.
Same goes for Andy Capp. Reg Smythe, the cartoonist who created Andy, based the character both on his father Richard (a drunken, workshy gambler) and himself (giving Andy exactly the same wartime army experience Reg had endured fighting in North Africa). Flo was based very firmly on Reg's mother (and Richard's wife) Florrie.
It follows that Andy (via Reg) was not only his own father, but also married his mum. Previously.
posted by Paul Slade at 7:26 AM on July 30, 2018
Same goes for Andy Capp. Reg Smythe, the cartoonist who created Andy, based the character both on his father Richard (a drunken, workshy gambler) and himself (giving Andy exactly the same wartime army experience Reg had endured fighting in North Africa). Flo was based very firmly on Reg's mother (and Richard's wife) Florrie.
It follows that Andy (via Reg) was not only his own father, but also married his mum. Previously.
posted by Paul Slade at 7:26 AM on July 30, 2018
Oddly enough, they were available in most general merchants in Malaysia in the 70s, and my father loved reading them so that is how I learnt how to read. I think I still have an annual in my parent's storage that I would have received as a birthday present as a pre teen.
posted by infini at 7:45 AM on July 30, 2018
posted by infini at 7:45 AM on July 30, 2018
Dennis wasn’t always his own dad, I suspect the trainers mark the time-glitch that made that happen.
UK comics of choice for my kids are the collected Evil Emperor Penguin and Bunny versus Monkey from The Phoenix,which is very much a modern take on the classic UK kids comic.
(Yes I’ve tried with 2000AD, nothing has really stuck yet)
posted by Artw at 7:56 AM on July 30, 2018
UK comics of choice for my kids are the collected Evil Emperor Penguin and Bunny versus Monkey from The Phoenix,which is very much a modern take on the classic UK kids comic.
(Yes I’ve tried with 2000AD, nothing has really stuck yet)
posted by Artw at 7:56 AM on July 30, 2018
Obama was in The Beano as have a load of other celebs
Not sure about Trump but they tell you how to draw a Trumpkin on their website.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:28 AM on July 30, 2018
Not sure about Trump but they tell you how to draw a Trumpkin on their website.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:28 AM on July 30, 2018
I loved the Beano. I bought a copy every week from ages 7 to 9, and saved up my vouchers to join the Dennis the Menace fan club (and Gnasher's Fang Club!). I still have my badges somewhere. Then I acquired three step-sisters and discovered Bunty and VC Andrews. End of.
But I still love Minnie the Minx.
posted by freya_lamb at 9:08 AM on July 30, 2018
But I still love Minnie the Minx.
posted by freya_lamb at 9:08 AM on July 30, 2018
@iamhappytoast
Happy 80th birthday to The Beano. Remember when Mike Mignola and Frank Miller worked on it?
posted by Artw at 10:40 AM on July 30, 2018
Happy 80th birthday to The Beano. Remember when Mike Mignola and Frank Miller worked on it?
posted by Artw at 10:40 AM on July 30, 2018
I wish someone would do a retrospective of "Oink!"
Oink! every issue and more.
posted by unliteral at 8:13 PM on July 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oink! every issue and more.
posted by unliteral at 8:13 PM on July 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson pays 'tribute' with Brexo
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:43 AM on July 31, 2018
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:43 AM on July 31, 2018
Seconding Artw on The Phoenix. If you loved the Beano, your kids will love the Phoenix. My favorite part is "Corpse Talk," an interview show where the host talks to "ground-breaking" women and men (Joan of Arc, Josephine Baker, Jane Austen, the philosopher Hypatia) about their lives, but the interview subjects are actually drawn as corpses.
posted by sy at 2:18 AM on August 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by sy at 2:18 AM on August 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
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I suppose The Beano is like the ravens at the tower at this point - if it were to disappear the country might well go with it. As one of life's Weedy Walters, to be honest I'm quite ambivalent about it, but I do think Dudley D. Watkins is a god among illustrators.
posted by Grangousier at 4:09 AM on July 30, 2018 [4 favorites]