Ls Magazine Issue 08 Happy Birthday Videos 110 43
Berry Spitsberg
The Beano (formerly The Beano Comic, also known as Beano) is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938,[1] and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019.[2] Popular and well-known comic strips and characters include Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz, Lord Snooty and His Pals, Ivy the Terrible, General Jumbo, Jonah, and Biffo the Bear.
Throughout the 1920s, DC Thomson dominated the British comics industry. Dubbed "the big five", the publisher's most successful comics were Adventure (1921),[3] The Rover and The Wizard (1922),[4][5] The Skipper (1930)[6] and The Hotspur (1933).[7][Note 1] These were weekly issued boys' magazines for preteen males, containing anthologies by DC Thomson's creator staff designed in various formats and genres. They became popular throughout the United Kingdom, notably in English industrial cities,[8] helped through the company's ability to view sales and promotions in the areas much easier than the rival publishers in London.[9] Although many were about "super men" the young readers could idolise,[10] the rest of the stories would be comic strips inspired by the gag-a-day strips in American newspapers full of stylised characters, slapstick and puns.
Overseeing the magazines was the Managing Editor of Children's Publications, R. D. Low, who first joined the company in 1913.[11] Almost a decade into the big five's success, the stories shifted to comedic and included more comic strips,[12] which gave Low an idea of creating a new "big five" which focused on the funnies more than drama. The suggestion was approved; editors Bill Blain and (sub-editor) Albert Barnes of The Wizard and The Hotspur, respectively, joined Low's project.[13] The new team placed a newspaper advertisement into The Daily Telegraph[Note 2] asking for artists and/or comic ideas.[14] With the help of the advertisement responses and employed artists at DC Thomson, The Dandy was published in 1937,[15] the New Big Five's first member.[13] For The Beano (initially called "The Beano Comic" until issue 412),[16] Low received comic strip suggestions by Reg Carter, an English illustrator in Sussex who had created funnies for several British comics and designed humorous postcards.[14] After an in-person interview, Low and Carter planned the front cover for The Beano's first issue, eventually creating the character Big Eggo (originally named Oswald the Ostrich).[17] It would be in colour whilst the inside of the magazine would be black and white,[Note 3] a tactic used for The Dandy's first issue (black and white stories inside, colourful Korky the Cat strip on the front).[18] Joining the Big Eggo strip would be many funnies, such as Hugh McNeill's Ping the Elastic Man, James Jewell's Wee Peem, Allan Morley's Big Fat Joe, Eric Roberts' Rip Van Wink, Dudley D. Watkins' Lord Snooty and His Pals, and Roland Davies' Contrary Mary.[19] Despite the aim to make a new comic series full of American-inspired comic strips, The Beano also contained short stories, serial fiction and adventure stories similar to the Big Five's magazines; Morgyn the Mighty was previously in The Rover.[20] Tin-Can Tommy and Brave Captain Kipper were reprints, co-produced by the Italian art agency Torelli Bros.[19]
Worth 2d with a free prize of a "whoopee mask", issue 1 of The Beano was released on 26 July 1938 for the 30th,[1] selling roughly 443,000 copies.[21] Like The Dandy, its name is from a Low-led DC Thomson office party called The DB Club (The Dandy Beano Club).[13] DC Thomson had several office party clubs that hosted different types of staff gatherings to choose from (e.g. The Prancers would hike hills), but Low's DB Club preferred playing golf and dining throughout Dundee. The two magazines also followed the one-word titles of other comics by rival companies, such as Amalgamated Press' Crackers,[22] Sparkler,[23] Puck[24] and some books from its Union Jack series (The Marvel, The Magnet and The Gem);[25] and Target Publications' Chuckler, Rattler and Dazzler.[13] Beano editor-in-chief was George Moonie, former sub-editor of The Wizard, who would be editor until the summer of 1959.[26] He later explained DC Thomson was a competitive company that wanted to make the best children's literature in the United Kingdom, but there was also competition within itself as Beano offices was determined to beat The Dandy's popularity.[26]
Drastic changes occurred behind the scenes of The Beano during the Second World War: George Moonie and editing partner Ron Fraser left to join the Royal Marines and Air Force, respectively, both not returning until c. 1946.[27] Stuart Gilchrist became sole editor-in-chief after Moonie's other sub-editor Freddie Simpson became ill and resigned. Contact was also lost with Torelli Bros. so in-house creations of Tin-Can Tommy began from issue 69 by Sam Fair.[28] Paper rationing caused the rest of Low's New Big Five to be cancelled[11] (it stopped at three published, the third member being The Magic Comic (1939), which ended with 80 issues in 1941),[29] and The Beano to fluctuate its page count instead of its usual 28.[Note 4] Eventually, The Beano became a fortnightly magazine (alternating with The Dandy comic) until 23 July 1949.[33]
Issues published weekly every Tuesday in 1938,[Note 6][41] and when the magazine changed distribution to every two weeks, the day remained unchanged.[42] From issue 366, the day changed to Friday until issue 375 which began the Thursday publication day schedule.[33]
December 1945 marked a milestone: issue 272 became the first Beano issue to sell over a million copies.[43] The end of the war also ushered in a new era for the comic, debuting superhero Jack Flash,[44] the debut of Biffo the Bear as new cover star and a new generation of trouble-making kids: Dennis the Menace,[45] Minnie the Minx,[46] The Bash Street Kids,[47] and Roger the Dodger.[48] DC Thomson also introduced new comic magazines like The Beezer[49] and The Topper[50] that a few Beano artists also created characters and stories for.[51]
George Moonie resigned as editor-in-chief in 1959 to develop comics for girls.[26] Sub-editor of The Beezer Harry Cramond succeeded Moonie until retiring in 1984, described as the most influential editor in The Beano's history.[53] He oversaw new merchandising, high sales,[54][Note 7] and the thousandth[57] and two thousandth issues.[58] Behind the scenes of the magazine became humanised throughout the years as DC Thomson's Beano offices featured on documentary television and Cramond's successor Euan Kerr guest-starred on television for the magazine's 50th anniversary.[59]
A notable revamp was the 50th birthday issue, which had an abnormally larger page count with more coloured sections and printed on wider sheets. A decade later, issues gained eight extra pages with computer-based art. In the 21st century, there were seven changes within a five-year span: logo updates, fonts assigned for certain design roles,[Note 8] and the magazine started using glossy paper.
Plots and dialogue are written into a script by an (often) uncredited DC Thomson writer, a formerly common practice for DC Thomson magazines.[70] Uncredited artists assigned to a strip(s) will design all its stories into a "series" that the chief editor will arrange into an order to publish for each issue.[71][72] Strips are sometimes ghostwritten by other artists who imitate the original designer's style,[73] which is helpful if artists retire or die unexpectedly, otherwise the strip is discontinued.[74] "When I started I was drawing two pages a week and thinking 'Phew, that's quite a lot'. Now I do 10 or 12 pages a week. You have to do more all the time to stay where you are," explained Nigel Parkinson.[75] From March 2016, authors and illustrators are now credited in issues.[76]
Along with guest editors, anniversary issues are frequently contained with crossovers. The 2000th issue had the "Hall of Fame" strip which showed framed portraits of characters from the past,[58] and issue 3443's Fred's Bed featured Fred crawling under his bed and time travelling through the magazine's comic strips.[143][144] For the 80th anniversary, issue 3945 was guest edited by actor-turned children's author David Walliams and had a large crossover story about Bash Street School opening the Beanotown's 1938 time capsule and discovering a map, which leads to robots and a giant tentacle monster breaking out to attack the residents. There was also a flashback panel of the time capsule being sealed which featured a handful of comic strip characters from the first issue, later helping the present day characters discover how to defeat the tentacle monster, named Simon.[145] Issue 4000's crossover was a time travel story where the Beanotown characters of the present helped their future selves save the world.[2]
The 21st century celebrated anniversaries with more memorabilia. For The Beano's 70th birthday, DC Thomson published The Beano Special Collectors Edition: 70 Years of Fun (2008),[183] and The History of The Beano (2008) was published by Waverly Books, both documenting the magazine's history; two exhibitions at the University of Dundee (Happy Birthday, Beano!) and The Cartoon Museum (Beano and Dandy Birthday Bash!) showed the public private DC Thomson artwork and the history of the magazine.[184][185] For 2018, readers could buy a box for the 80th anniversary containing posters, reprints of selected older issues, and two books updating the previous documentation of the magazine's history,[186] as well as Minnie the Minx's origins.[186][187] Both anniversaries had tie-in museum exhibitions that also told their audiences the magazine's history.[188][189] Limited-edition figurines from Robert Harrop were available to buy from their official website in late 2008.[190] The 21st century also began Beano's branching into different mediums: their first website, Beanotown.com, formed in 2000,[191] and Chessington World of Adventures opened Beanoland in the same year.[192] Both would later discontinue but Beanotown.com would be revamped as beano.com, a website full of games, Beano secrets and other activities for children. Gulliver's Travels opened the Beano 6 Super Ride in May 2021.[193] The Beano was also the face of the United Kingdom's 2018 Summer Reading Challenge, called Mischief Makers,[194] which included a special Dennis the Menace novel tie-in called Dennis the Menace and the Chamber of Mischief by Beano artist Nigel Auchterlounie.[97] The Dennis the Menace Fan Club was re-launched as a phone app, rebranded as The Dennis and Gnasher Fan Club, and allowed readers free membership, printable badges, and pranks.[195] On television, the Sky Kids show SO Beano! aired;[196] a TV show with special guests, children presenters, and fun and games,[197] in a similar style to Friday Download and Scrambled!
e2b47a7662