Happy Birthday The Beano: Slap-up feasts all round

It is the 80th birthday of two things I have known my whole life. One of them was my mother. The other was The Beano.

Yes, 80 years old. A permanent fixture of my childhood which I loved dearly. After falling from favour as I grew into adulthood, I eventually returned to appreciate from a more cultured perspective what can be offered today.

And the same can be said of The Beano.

Growing up in the UK in the 1980s meant experiencing the last golden era of humour comics. The old guard survived (Topper, Beezer, Buster, Whizzer and Chips), new titles came and went (I'll always have nostalgic glows when I think of School Fun or Hoot) and publishers could still experiment with the format (Nipper, Oink!).

But it was the Big Two, the unassailable juggernauts of UK comics that looked down on all the others. The Dandy and The Beano.

They weren't just fun, they carried a weight of history. Your parents read them. Your grandparents maybe did. Your teachers did. Everyone knew the characters.

They were everywhere in pop culture besides. If you wanted to shorthand comics for a joke it was one of these two.

Eric and Ernie sit in bed, Ernie's reading the financial Times, Eric's reading the Beano. Billy in Kes reads a Desperate Dan story. Benny Hill plays a sports reporter but the camera cuts early and he's reading The Beano. Yosser Hughes in Boys from the Black Stuff tells the kindly priest: "I'm desperate, Dan." 

I could go on.

Incidentally, if you were thinking of telling me it was The Dandy in that Morecambe and Wise Sketch, have another look. It's a Beano with a fake (and inaccurate) Dandy masthead. Viddy:

Anyway, in 1987 DC Thomson started hyping the 50th Anniversary of the Big Two. And it seemed exciting. Special celebratory issues were hotly anticipated (well, by me, at least), The "50 Years" logo was slapped on everything and a special bumper book was published.

I loved that book. I pored over every page. That nerdy part of my brain that loves to learn the history of something was tickled for maybe the first time. I loved learning about the weird old characters that no longer exist (particularly wartime propaganda efforts like Addie and Hermie and, ahem, "Musso the Wop") as well as seeing what my favourite characters looked like as originated by their creators. Of course, this being a DC Thomson publication, none of those creators were credited (they're much better at this now).

I also got the Beano and Dandy Panini sticker album. The only sticker album I ever filled. 30 years later and I'm still proud of that.

 I have to admit that over the next few years I strayed. I became a bit of a Fleetway snob. Especially after the release of Big Comic, an all-reprint fortnightly which taught me a lot of comics history and celebrated the creators, whose names I started to learn. 

Then after leaving school I became more interested in American comics and stopped buying UK-created ones. I feel kinda guilty now given that very soon after Whizzer and Chips, The Beezer and The Topper ceased to be. And then Buster went too. 

So, ultimately (and I know I'm oversimplifying here) we were left with just The Dandy and The Beano. 

Both survived several redesigns and relaunches but eventually The Dandy went on its 75th birthday in 2012. 

So that leaves us with just The Beano as the last British comic.

All right the last comic for children.

Toxic is a magazine with comic strips.

All right, The Phoenix is not as widely available as it should be like The Beano. And it calls itself a story comic. 

Right, so The Beano is the last remaining humour comic for children.

So why The Beano? Why is that the last comic standing? What kept it going when all around fell? It's not just surviving, either, it's thriving.

Let's go back to the start. 

The children's publishing industry was booming in the 1930s. The "boys' papers" of the earlier decades were being superseded by the new American-style way of story-telling. Comics.

Before this the papers were composed entirely of prose stories with occasional illustrations, which then evolved into a series of illustrated panels arranged to tell a sequential story, with prose beneath them. Sometimes in rhyme. Think Rupert the Bear. 

Then came the new innovation: The speech bubble.

This might seem like an unnecessary history lesson but the point is that DC Thomson were exploiting this new format more than any of its competitors. The Dandy Comic (as it was originally) was also in a smaller "half tabloid" format than the other children's papers and had more colour, making it stand out. It would be some time before they went full comic but The Dandy and The Beano were big hits straight away, along with sister paper The Magic.

Then came World War II. Many of the comics that flourished in the 30s vanished. There weren't as many people (men) around to make them and paper rationing made them harder to print in the numbers the publishers wanted. Weekly comics then became fortnightly. But our Big Two survived.

In 1946 The Beano's circulation reached one million. 

Then in the early 1950s came the next thing that marked out The Beano as special. The hiring of three bona-fide comics geniuses.

The great Dudley D Watkins had been working for the Big Two from issue one (creating Desperate Dan and Lord Snooty among others) but now we got a new generation with a new, anarchic style.

Artists like Ronald Searle had been pushing boundaries of taste in cartoons and the great animation geniuses like Tex Avery were using comedic violence to great purpose. In 1952 Harvey Kurtzman creates Mad Magazine which has a seismic effect on comics.

All this means there was a zeitgeist for this kind of rebellious storytelling. And The Beano hires:

 Davy Law, who gives them Dennis the Menace (and gives The Topper Beryl the Peril).

Ken Reid who gives them Roger the Dodger and Jonah.

And Leo Baxendale who gives them Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids and Little Plum (among others)

Now, I'm not going sing the praises of these three here (look 'em up if you don't know about them, they're great), suffice to say the combined effort meant that The Beano had a distinct tone now, as the current Summer Reading Challenge has it: Mischief Makers!

It's those characters that define British comics. Apart from Jonah (who disappeared many years ago) all those characters still appear regularly in The Beano today. They still work for today's kids exactly as they did 65 years ago.

An argument over creative rights and pay lead to Baxendale and Reid (and others) jumping ship and creating many awesome strips for comics published by Odhams from the 60s on, which makes them Britain's equivalent of Image Comics in the 90s.

However, because their DC Thomson contracts were "work for hire" this meant The Beano could carry on publishing new stories with these characters with new writers and artists taking over. And the creators wouldn't get a penny. The history of comics is full of stories like this. The current League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Tempest #1 that came out this month tells the full story of what happened to Leo Baxendale in particular (written by Alan Moore who has had similar problems).

Luckily, they'd hired brilliant new artists like John Sutherland (who is still drawing The Bash Street Kids every week) and Jim Petrie to carry on their work.

By the 1980s DC Thomson started to follow a trend set by IPC (the company that took over the Oddhams titles and later became Fleetway), absorbing failing comics into successful ones. That way popular characters could live on after the death of their parent title.

And because The Beano had too many popular characters to unseat, these strays went to The Dandy.

So when Nutty failed, The Dandy got Bananaman. When Hoot ceased to be, The Dandy got Cuddles (who was teamed up with Dimples and eventually ret-conned as twins, but that's a story for another time). They got The Topper's Beryl the Peril too.

I remember thinking as a child that this was DC Thomson admitting defeat. The Beano was the superior comic, because The Dandy needed help. The Beano did eventually get The Beezer's Numskulls and the unassailable Bananaman, however.

The Beano also was the comic that was most successful in other media.

Of all British comics characters there are few that made the leap to film or TV. I count Colonel Blimp and the girls of St Trinians. There have been attempts to market Dan Dare, Jane and Andy Capp. There was a pretty good Perishers cartoon when I was young and a few Viz characters have transitioned.

But The Beano....

The first DC Thomson property to leave the medium was Bananaman, in a great TV series voiced by The Goodies which I grew up with (or, for pedants, up with which I grew).

But there have been three (THREE) different animated series based on Dennis the Menace, a Beano Video from 1993 (featuring various characters) and there is currently a live-action Minnie the Minx in production.

Take THAT Whizzer and Chips!

They were also early in adopting the internet as a way to reach fans (beanotown.com launched in the early noughties to entice new readers, no longer extant) and has a popular Mario Kart-style racing game.

There are a series of Dennis books by popular author Steven Butler, aping the style of the Wimpy Kid/Tom Gates books that the target audience love.

And this Summer the theme of the government-sponsored library-awareness scheme Summer Reading Challenge is built around Beano characters (yeah, I've plugged that twice, I like libraries).

So that is why I love The Beano. And why it survives.

Everybody we know loves to read The Beano.

Coming next: a series of reviews based on significant issues through Beano history. I've read some extraordinary stuff and I want to share it with you!

It's somebody's wedding day!

Yes! It's happening again! Some people I don't care about are going through a public ritual I dislike!

Seriously, though, I hope the day goes well for Harry and Meghan (I don't care but feel pressured to make it seem like I do, no offence if you do care, each to their own, I care about old comics and they're not even sentient so I'm the dumb one).

Currently available is issue 3935 of Last Comic Standing The Beano and they've put out a Royal Wedding (capital r capital w) special!

I say special, but really the only Royal Wedding (capital r capital w) content is an excellent 8-page Beano all-stars story written by Nigel Auchterlounie with art by Nigel Parkinson (both of whom have commented on my Dennis the Menace blog.)

The (delightfully bonkers) premise is that all Royal Weddings (capital r capital w) since 1066 have taken place in Beanotown, in secret. 

Brenda throws a lot of shade at the French in this, it's like a Blackadder special. Anyway, the secret is blown and everyone in town attends. 

Dennis the Menace (the good one) causes problems when he drops cake all over the bride. 

Particularly bad time for that...

Minnie the Minx (a ginger) hatches a plan to get involved. 

And there's a sub-plot with Walter the softy (and I really like how he is the "villain" of Beanotown, like Montana Max, it gives him more agency than just being a victim of homophobic bullying) secretly recording the Wedding (capital w) on his phone and getting Professor Screwtop (good to see he's still around, he was a Lord Snooty supporting character back in my day, a great design and useful plot device, like Batman's Carter Nichols) to make a ray gun (doesn't really matter what it is, it inevitably backfires)(I really do ramble in the brackets, don't I?).  

At which point we get the best joke in the strip. 

*applauds*

And it's a slap-up-feast all round! 

So that's 2018, but what if we take a trip back in time? 

It's 1981 and Buster is celebrating the Royal Wedding (capital r capital w) that will probably always be regarded as the Royal Wedding (capit... ah you get it).

Buster was the great survivor of British comics. At least for IPC/Fleetway. It lasted from 1960 to 2000, absorbing all the cancelled comics along the way including the other great comic-absorbing behemoth Whizzer and Chips in 1990, making it Fleetway's sole surviving humour comic. And it was one of my favourites.

This issue is cover dated 1st August 1981 and came out two days before the fairytale wedding we all know.

The cover star of Buster was called... er... Buster. And his strip went through several different styles and was introduced as the son of Andy Capp, the internationally-known newspaper strip character created by Reg Smythe. 

Oh, Andy Capp, you wife-beating drunk...

This was quietly dropped quite soon after his first appearance (I suspect for legal reasons) but he continued wearing a similar flat cap to Andy's for most of his comics life. 

(Incidentally, the final issue of Buster had him finally taking of his cap to reveal he had the same hair as Dennis the Menace and had to leave it on for copyright reasons.)

At this point the cover strip was Buster's Diary and detailed the day-to-day adventures of another well-meaning comics scamp. Here Buster and his Mum are being shamed by their grumpy neighbour for not appropriately dressing up their garden for the street party in honour of the RW.

Clumsy shenanigans ensue which lead to Buster accidentally stealing the neighbour's decorations and selling them in exchange for Union Jack for their garden.

Slap-up feast all round!

Note that one person with the Princess Di hairdo.

Buster's Diary was drawn by Reg Parlett and we haven't heard the last of him.

Next strip is X-Ray Specs, by Mike Lacey, about a kid called Ray who had some X-ray Specs.

I desperately wanted X-ray specs as a child because of this strip and always felt Ray lacked ambition. This week, for example he visits a beauty contest...

 

Oh, Ray, surely you're not going to...

*phew*

More fun next with one of the more famous strips, the class-war based Ivor Lott and Tony broke.

This week, poverty-stricken Tony has gone to that London to watch the procession.

He finds a nice spot to watch it only to find posh neighbour Ivor has hired the entire hotel on that road to have exclusive viewing privilege and orders the oik off his land.

Tony sneaks in, via the coal chute, however.

An attempt to flush him out leads to Ivor accidentally soaking the crowd outside and inviting them in as an apology.

The poor always win.

This was a Reg Parlett strip but this one was drawn by Jim Crocker.

Next comes Billy Blow. A boy who can blow.

We can skip this one.

Then there's Deadly Headly: Vampire Detective by Martin Baxendale. At this point the strip had gotten somewhat away from the "Detective" premise and Headly was more of a secret agent-type. In this issue we even meet his "Q":

...and gets a sweet ride.

The proper treat in this issue is The Leopard from Lime Street, a feature of Buster since 1976. One of the very few successful British superhero strips, this is, I think, drawn by Eric Bradbury.

13-year-old Billy Farmer (not the voice of Goofy) was scratched by a radioactive leopard (yes, really) and gained proportional strength and agility and learned about power and responsibility. He, naturally, makes a leopard costume and fights crime.

By this point, the "Leorpardman" was popular enough to have his own line of merchandising.

The ongoing plot involves Billy devising a trap for new villain in town: The Roller Monster!

YES!

However, catching the thief will be tricky if he wants to maintain his secret identity and seem like a normal boy. He even has his own Lana Lang, determined to blow his secret!

I used to skip the adventure strips when I was a kid but now I want to read more! (Fortunately Rebellion have got hold of the rights and are reprinting them. See here. I'm not sponsored.)

Humour strip next about a shark with false teeth. 

Gums.

Drawn by Robert Nixon, this is a fun strip in which Gums just wants to be left alone!

(Edit: A helpful reader points out it's not Robert Nixon, it's Bananaman co-creator John Geering, slip of the mind, there)

Superhero parody and puzzle fun next with Master Mind!

J E Oliver liked to incorporate puzzles and games in with his strips and this one includes a maths-based magic trick.

The running gag of Master Mind is that he changes by stepping into a phone booth and saying the magic word ("Pass!").

Here, he helps a stage magician out by doing it during his act.

Incidentally, I find it fascinating how most British superheroes are based on the Captain Marvel-style transformation. Marvel Man, Thunderbolt Jaxon, Bananaman, Superted...

An ad was below this for a show I so want to see:

A Bugs Bunny sports-themed show Starring Wonder Woman and Batman!?

Oh, the past, why do you taunt me?

Also an ad for Heller model kits featuring Robbie Robot to make a Range Rover seem interesting.

Next up, Worzel Gummidge knock-off Strawbelly.

This was, I believe an Ian Knox strip, but here drawn by an unknown fill-in. In it, the animated scarecrow tells a story from his distant past.

Another slap-up feast.

The centre page spread was an image of the RW procession, heading to St Paul's. It's too big for me to reproduce here, but you can have a taste of it.

Various Buster characters were dotted around the scene for added puzzle fun. Here's Faceache and Deadly Headly hiding among the guards.

Another Reg Parlett strip next with Disappearing Trix. She can disappear at will.

Here she uses her power to teach a bully a lesson.

Sidebar here but there's something I want to say about the way Parlett draws "cute" girls like Trix.

When I first watched Community I stared at Alison Brie for ages trying to figure out who she reminded me of.

And it finally hit me, she looks like a Reg Parlett drawing of a cute girl.

More specifically Bewiched Belinda from Whizzer and Chips.

Sorry, had to get that off my chest and there's no way to slip it into normal conversation.

That's so Annie.

Next comes Mummy's Boy, an oddity by Norman Mansbridge about an over-protective mother.

Pretty sure I'm right in believing it was the basis for Spoilt Bastard in Viz.

S.O.S. Squad are a team of helpful youngsters who will take on any job.

They take orders from the mysterious Zed from inside a box. I think this is a riff on Charlie's Angels.

Kid Kong is a giant child-like talking ape and another Robert Nixon character, though here drawn by Rob Lee.

There's reader-submitted joke page which manages to stay on-topic.

And more Martin Baxendale with Clever Dick, the Daft Inventor, here trying to trick his dog (Napoleon) into digging a pool.

Another character that I believe inspired a Viz strip, Gilbert Ratchet.

(Although it may equally be Timothy Tester or some other inventor-type)

(Edit the same helpful reader reminds me Screwy Driver, a Dandy strip that IS closer to the style of Gilbert Ratchet)

Boxatricks is a very odd strip by Brian Walker about a sentient box of mechanical wonders.

Back on theme, there's a family who can't have a street party...

The helpful box is whisked through a window and extends further than it ever has (I mean probably, I don't know).

Barry and Boing is the only other adventure strip concerning an alien robot and the boy who found him. What starts as a simple game of hide-and-seek...

Turns into one of those terrifying 70s public safety films...

What happens next? I'll never know.

The real treat of this issue, however is the awesome Faceache by the brilliant Ken Reid. A character that can change the look of his face (or by this point his entire body) with an audible "SCRUNGE"! Here he's tricking his public school friend out of a pie he's been sent.

Time for some Ken Reid specialty monster drawings!

More please!

Thank you! 

I include the next panel purely because I love the design of the teacher.

Naturally, it all goes wrong for Faceache...

I love Ken Reid's work so much and they have also been recently reprinted by Rebellion.

One more puzzle page and we're almost done.

The back cover stars Chalky. Not not Jim Davidson's friend, the boy who's "quick on the draw", which means he can sketch very realistic images very fast.

And, yes, it's that Parlett again.

(Edit: It's that helpful reader again -see comments- Parlett never drew Chalky, this is probably Dick Millington)

Here Chalky has drawn a man eating plant to frighten a bully.

And that's it. Buster in 1981. I hope you enjoyed that like I did. 

Now to get some sunshine...