   #copyright

The Beano

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Cartoons

   The Beano logo

   The Beano is a long running British children's comic, published by D.
   C. Thomson & Co. Ltd of Dundee, Scotland in the United Kingdom.

   The comic first appeared in 1938 and it has continued weekly ever
   since. It continues as of 2007, having published over 3000 issues.

   Its iconic characters have become known to generations of British
   children, including Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, and The Bash
   Street Kids. Earlier generations will remember Lord Snooty, but he
   stopped appearing in 1990. Fond memories have led to collectors paying
   high prices, over £12000 for the first issue.

Strips

   A number of strips in the comic have run for a very long time. The
   longest-running strip in the comic as of 2006 is Dennis and Gnasher.
   Dennis first appeared in 1951, where he was billed "The World's Wildest
   Boy". The previous holder of this title was Lord Snooty, drawn by
   Dudley D Watkins, which appeared in the very first issue, but
   disappeared from the comic in 1990. Other famous strips include The
   Bash Street Kids created by Leo Baxendale, and Minnie the Minx, and
   Roger the Dodger created by Ken Reid.

   There are frequent fictionale crossovers between The Beano and Dennis
   and Gnasher, with most of the characters living in the fictional
   Beanotown. Many of the comic strips in The Dandy are drawn by the same
   artists, and crossovers between the two comics and The Beano also occur
   occasionally.

Publication information

   The Beano comic takes its name from the English word beano which can be
   loosely interpreted as a fun time.

   The first edition of The Beano was dated 30 July 1938, and the 3000th
   issue was published in January 2000. It continues as of 2007. There are
   only 12 known copies of the first issue in existence, and only 5 known
   copies of the second issue (not including facsimiles).

   A copy of this first issue sold for £12,100 on 16 March 2004 , which
   was at the time thought to be the highest price ever paid for a British
   comic at an auction. The current highest price is £20,350 which was
   paid for the first issue of The Dandy on 7 September 2004. The Beano is
   also the second longest running comic, the first being: The Dandy,
   which is also published by D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.

Editors

   Euan Kerr was editor from 1984 until he handed over to Alan Digby in
   early 2006. Alan had been Beano Chief Sub Editor when Euan first became
   editor, and later edited The Beezer. As of April 2007, the comic costs
   99p.

Sister comics

   Since 1982 the comic, along with The Dandy, has also run "Comic
   Library" titles. Released monthly, these titles are a feature length
   (usually about 64 page) adventure, featuring a character from the comic
   itself. They are available in A5 size only. The comic also ran A4-sized
   "Beano Specials" in the early 1990s, which later were renamed "Beano
   Superstars". These were similar to the Comic Library series.

   A Beano Poster Comic series was printed in the early 1990s.

   On 15 February 2007, the first issue of a monthly sister comic entitled
   BeanoMAX was published. The sister comic many of the characters off
   this comic, however the stories in the sister comics are written in a
   longer format aimed for 8-13 year olds. The first issue was a Comic
   Relief special featuring assorted celebrity guests.

Trivia

     * Private Eye refers to The Spectator as "The Hasbeano", with the
       Spectator's former editor Boris Johnson becoming "Boris the
       Menace".
     * The Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton album from the John Mayall &
       the Bluesbreakers band, is called "The Beano Album" by Eric Clapton
       fans, because on the album cover photo he is reading a Beano comic.
       That comic, No 1242 is extremely sought after by both collectors of
       the Beano Comic and Eric Clapton memorabilia, with issues sometimes
       exceeding UK£100 on eBay.
     * Reece Shearsmith, known for being in The League of Gentlemen, once
       wrote in to The Beano, saying that he had lost his current copy. It
       ended up as the star prize.
     * Big Eggo was replaced by Biffo the Bear as the cover star in 1948
       as research showed that children identified more with characters
       that, like them, had 2 arms and 2 legs.
     * British adult humour comic Viz has landed in trouble a number of
       times for parodies of Beano (and Dandy) characters including
       Desperately Unfunny Dan, and DC Thompson (he's a miserable sod)
     * A song by British band The Libertines, " What A Waster", features
       the line "She writes down all her dreams//reads like the book of
       revelations//or the Beano or the unabridged Ulysees"

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beano"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
