ComicBookGuy

Hey, FD, it was cool meeting you today at the show - again! I got a great Batman #176 from Marc Nathan and sold a stack of price guides to Mark Zaid. But, yes, if you have Dennis books to sell, this is the place to sell them. Sounds like Tim has first dibs. Speaking of selling, I am going to sell a set of 36 different first print Dennis paperbacks and another group that is the complete set of all 48 different Dennis paperbacks. If anyone's interested pm me to save me the grief of scanning them and listing them on ebay. Joe

I think you're both essentially right in your two analyses. Bill's term "starter" book is very apt when discussing Dennis and Disney comics. I like it cause it's true: These are the first comics kids read when they are young and don't know how to care for comics. Not only that, they reread them and even trade them with other kids. The anecdote about fans discovering Barks is interesting, and I've heard about it although with not as interesting detail as Bill related. But there are some big differences: Tim is right that there were a lot of Dell file copies found over the years. The Dennis file copies were of one book apiece and not nearly all issues were in the "files." (That was what Jay Maybruck told me when he sold me the Dennis file copies that I own.) Ketcham points out in his bio that the first issue of Dennis sold out, and when he was told that the issue was sold out, he was told that comic books never sold out, that there were always lots left over and returned. Thus, our modern "warehouse finds," which often are returns that had not been destroyed. I also suspect that the print run on the Dennis books was not that high for the first four issues, the ones we rarely see, especially. Issues 1-4 are in a league of their own. Issues 5-7 a bit more available. Issues #8 and up are much more prevalent, and warehouse copies of some numbers, like 29 and 33 have turned up. Dennis was barely two years old in the papers when #1 came out and was not known in many regions of the country yet, but Disney had been going strong for a long while before the Barks stuff hit the scene. So, Disney had kid readers AND early collectors, multiple file copies of many issues, and high print runs with the typical many unread returns. Whereas, Dennis had kid readers and NO early collectors, hardly any file copies, and low print runs with no returns on the early issues. I would also add that the Dell comics had MUCH better paper quality than the Standard Comics, which have probably the worst paper quality of any comic company I am familiar with. All this leads us to the reason why there is not one verified early Dennis comic above a 7.0 slabbed to this date while there are many beautiful copies of the Barks' comics to be had. Joe

Who saw THIS auction? A guy puts a near complete run of Dennis the Menace on eBay as a one day auction. Why one day? You'd think he would have wanted some exposure. This may be the biggest run of Dennis books I've ever seen together at once for sale. I thought about bidding on it to resell, but I just don't have the time. I'm sure I could have made some money on this too, especially if I filled in the missing issues and sold it as a complete set. 137 issue run of Dennis on eBay Interesting to note that the missing issues are primarily at the very beginning and very end of the run, confirming what I have believed: that those are the most difficult to find. He did have a #3 though, which is impressive in any shape. Joe

An awesome feat, Escape! Thanks for scanning the Dennis #1 for everyone. It's not like anyone can just go and get one very easily to read, so I'm sure everyone is very appreciative. This looks like the one that sold on ebay back in March for about $300 if I recall. Whether it is or not, it looks like a sweet copy - congratulations! It is the grail of the Dennis books. By the way, speaking of eBay, I came across something AMAZING on eBay, a giveaway I have never seen ONCE on eBay or anywhere. It is not listed in the guide, and I assume no one here knows about it -- or you guys were just too nice to tell me I missed it when I did my supposedly "thorough" cataloging of the Dennis giveaways. I will provide the link to the auction, which I won for a paltry sum. Thank God people are not that fanatical about Dennis cause I put a bid on this that you wouldn't believe to be sure I secured it. I will post it here on the boards when I receive it in the mail. Here is the link: An EXTREMELY RARE DENNIS GIVEAWAY??? Has anyone seen or heard of this? This is the first I have ever seen or heard of it. I will run it by Doug Supila to see what he thinks. As far as I'm concerned, this thing makes Dennis & the Bible Kids #10 look like Hulk 181. Joe

Beautiful comic! The cover color is very uniform, like Adam's books, with no tanning on the edges. Interesting that I don't see a cover price on the cover. Am I missing something?

I think you are right about the diversification argument. Diversification is very important especially since rates are on the rise and real estate will most likely plateau as a result. Real estate is great since it typically goes up and at the worst stays the same, but it can go down a little. I've got my money in real estate, stocks, t-bills, cash, and comics. No matter what happens, I'm covered. Also she should realize she's lucky your hobby isn't drinking, cause then you flush your fun at the end of the day. With comics, they're with you when you wake up and ALMOST always worth more in the morning as long as they're pre-1975. Joe

Bill, thanks for sharing! You're doing a great job of tapping into various aspects of Dennis I wouldn't have thought of. In Ketcham's bio he mentions the creation of the various characters but does not elaborate much on Joey in terms of where he came from or when he first appeared, so I would say your information is probably as close as we can get to the truth at this point. If and when the Fantagraphics series due out in Sept. prints EVERY daily panel from 3/14/51 on, then we can see for sure when the first appearances of each character occurred for sure. An interesting story is that Ketcham asked his son Dennis what the dog (the cartoon dog, that is) should be named, and his son said, "Ruff!" The list of Dennis spin-off characters is interesting. You are quite the Dennis scholar! As a kid I was always annoyed by those other clearly inferior strips filling out the comic I had bought with the idea that the comic was all Dennis from cover to cover. None of them were even remotely entertaining for me. I will note their appearances as I index, but that's about the extent of my interest in these characters personally. As to why they appeared, you may be correct about the mailing rule. For example, now items that contain ads cannot be sent media mail. I would also think that since Dennis was such a popular comic that the publishers wanted to launch other characters from it to perhaps create another comic universe like that of Disney or Warner Brothers. It wouldn't have been a bad idea in that it would have been all kid-based instead of cartoon-based stories, much like Harvey and Archie created, but the problem seemed to be that the executions of the stories weren't that great, with the possible exception of the Joey strips. Joe

Seeing this cover reminds me that there was a travel issue to England too. But I can't remember if it was a Wiseman/Toole production or a later work. I guess it wasn't a giant, since it wasn't mentioned in any of the earlier posts. Joe or Billy? Tim, you are correct, there was a Dennis the Menace in London that came out in January 1971 and was reprinted many times "by popular demand," according to the publishers. It was written by Fred Toole but drawn by Frank Hall who took Wiseman's place for all the big projects like this and the Dennis in Paris issue. The first printing of the London issue is in the Bonus Magazine Series #88, which, I believe, Bill posted on his list of the giants that went to #110. I am in the process of indexing this entire run, which is why I haven't been posting much lately. By the way, I am very envious of Mica's Dennis books! Since they are well read he can open them to any page and scan them for all to enjoy, while mine sit in mylars unopened! And I am not being sarcastic -- I'm 100% serious and thinking of purchasing a low grade run of some issues just so I can scan the stories. Joe

Beautiful books, Tim! Those Flashes are amazing. And... Congratulations on getting this thread pinned; it is well-deserved and LONG overdue! If I wasn't so busy with work right now and with the Dennis thread I would be posting some more of my 10 centers, but I look forward to seeing the new posts each day from everyone and look forward to posting some more stuff on here in the near future. Joe

Buttock, thanks a million for taking the time to locate this article, scan it, and post it for all of us Dennis fans! It takes a while to do this, and I for one really appreciate it. The article is excellent and seems to be in the same spirit of many of the posts here in its appreciation of the Wiseman-Toole team and in nailing down the key events of the series. I was interesting to see it was written by Steve Sibra, the famous hermes2pipes of eBay. Great guy and great seller, and now I will have to email him about this thread to invite him here! Joe

Mica, WELCOME TO THE BOARDS! I find it amazing that now FOUR collectors have come to the cgc forums via our Dennis thread. Thanks for the posts especially of the interior art. Very gutsy of you to place those delicate comics with the easy-to-split spines on your scanner. I love the art in those later BK comics and am inclined to think it is Ketcham by his linework and the watercolor, which he was doing a lot of at the time. I am no art expert, though. It's cool to see that other collectors out there have that tough last issue, and I'm certainly curious how many of that issue are out there. The feature in 122 you speak of is typical of the Dennis comics. Many spin-offs of characters occurred over the years that didn't fly (Punky, Screaming Mimi) and some that did, like Joey, who was eventually worked into Dennis's universe. Again, welcome, and I look forward to more informative posts. And I love your avatar! Joe

Cool post, Bill! I'm glad you and Escape are posting interior art, cause I'm still not sure how to do it without damaging the comic. Just for the sake of comparison, and for saving everyone the trouble of finding this picture from a previous post, here is a picture of Toole on the left, Ketcham in the middle, and Wiseman on the right. I too am swamped with my job right now and most likely won't do much substantial posting before the weekend, but I look forward to getting back to posting a bunch of stuff. Joe

Thanks Mister_Comics and Jeffreykli for posting the third of the Dennis giveaways, Dennis the Menace Takes a Poke at Poison. This comic was published in 1961 by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Well, everybody, the question was raised: Is there a difference between the 1961 version of this comic and the 1981 version? Finally I have a definitive answer to this question, and it turns out that the 1981 version of this comics is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from the 1961 version. The 1981 version (above) is cover to cover a Ketcham assistant, whereas the 1961 version (below) is cover to cover Al Wiseman. They are literally two completely different comics, so if you are a Dennis completist, sorry to add one item to your list of "must haves." Joe PS - I am still working on indexing the giants, so I am not posting as much. New list coming soon, hopefully with 26 through 100.

Mark, cool post! Over the years I've seen these cut-up panels appearing, and I've seen you bidding, but it's all been a mystery up till now. Very interesting! This is why I never see whole pages of the early stuff go up for sale. I know you and I have had many discussions about the relative scarcity of early Dennis art. By the way, over the next few days, I was going to send some emails out to other Dennis collectors about this thread, hoping they find it. If you can think of any people who may be interested, invite them! Joe

I thought the homages were readable, but I guess there are different computers, screens, etc, so I rescanned them. Hope everyone can read them this time. I re-edited the Groening one, but the Hembeck piece I broke into four quarters: top left is first scan; top right is second; bottom left is third; and the bottom right of the page is the fourth scan. Enjoy! Joe You know what? This doesn't appear much bigger than the other one, so I will have to rethink how to do this.

And here is part two:

And here is perhaps my favorite tribute to Dennis. It is by Fred Hembeck and was published in the Comic Buyer's Guide. I will need to post this in two parts. Here is part one:

Escape and Bill, thanks for the info! I will email them when I get some time. Now...back to the postings! Here is a homage - or at least an acknowledgement of Dennis's place in the history of comics - from Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons. I have read many interviews with him, and he is a big Dennis fan. Sandwiched between Tom Sawyer and Bart Simpson, Dennis is the classic "bad boy" who's... not so bad after all. When the Simpson family is transported into literary stories, that is SO inspired by the Dennis comics, like the Mother Goose issues or the Way-Out stories. My favorite Simpsons of that nature have got to be the Simpsons' Hamlet, Monkey's Paw, and the Simpsons' Tom Sawyer. One of the funniest episodes of the Simpsons, of course, was when Geogre Bush moved in across the street from the Simpsons and Bart would come over to visit, saying, "Helloooooo, Mr. Bush!" And he would respond by saying, "Oh, it's that damn kid again. Barbara, where's my nerve medicine?" Classic stuff! This is from the inside cover of Bart Simpson #1:

Good call, Escape! You are the man! By the way, I've been meaning to ask you - or Bill - about the Grand Comic Book Database project. It seems someone has "reserved" all the Dennis titles to index. Does that mean only that person gets to do it? Hardly any issues are indexed, lots is missing, and there are mistakes, but there doesn't really seem to be any way to help out. I know I can email the people in charge, but I was wondering what insight you and Bill had into this since you are more familiar with the site. And I hope my comments don't come off the "wrong way" or that it appears I am unappreciative of the work that has occurred thus far. I am VERY appreciative. My angle is that I would just like to help out. Any suggestions? Joe

But, if it's any consolation...You still are on my gold star list, Tim!

So I guess the "sick"-ness is now speading??? But, in all due seriousness, when we collectors hang out and socialize, we talk about and share info about the latest comics, the movies, Marvel and DC superhero stuff, Disney stuff. I've been there and done that, and then some. But this is the first time - here in this thread - that Dennis comic collectors have had the opportunity to share info and chat. I find it very cool, cause these comics are amazing and long overdue for recognition as some of the absolute classics of comic book history. Joe

"I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the uan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt." Very cool, FFB! After I was looking at the post above on the stl site, I did my monthly check of Amazon and, well...Dennis collectors will be VERY happy to see this: New Dennis Book on Amazon Too bad we have to wait till September 5th! On the other hand, it will save us trying to index all the daily and Sunday comics from the 1950s since this looks like it may be the beginning of a set. We can only hope! ( I hpoe I seplled eevryhtnig crroetcly...)

Ever the school teacher, Joe! Do I get a gold star? Spelling has always been one of those things that has come easily to me. Of course, I was taken to task recently by another board member for misspelling "dilemma" (I spelled it "dilemna", which apparently is incorrect even though commonly used, including by the media ). How ironic that on these boards someone would get corrected for spelling! There are many posts I can't even read. And yes, I will be glad to send you a gold star... Joe

Mark, your arrival on this thread is an historic day. I echo everyone else when I say WELCOME TO THE BOARDS! As everyone can see, Mark is one of the top Dennis collectors out there. His Dennis cabinet is AMAZING and seems to have a lot more in it since I saw it last! The only person that could give him some competition is that Dennis50Menace dude from ebay. That guy to this day is the only person ever to outbid me on a Dennis auction. Next to these guys, I am nothing. Yes, I have complete sets of all the comics in decent grade, but what separates them from me is that they collect the comics AND EVERYTHING DENNIS. It is very cool that this thread has brought Escape, Bill, and now you, Mark, to participate in these forums. I am planning to invite Marcus Hamilton, the current Sunday artist, and Ron Ferdinand, the current daily artist, to check out this thread. I am also planning to email some other Dennis collectors I have run across on eBay. A little google spamming can attract people here as well. For example: Dennis the Menace Comic Comics Books Book Hank Ketcham Ketcham's Collecting Collections, Al Wiseman art, artist, etc. (Now, let's see who drops by in the next couple days. ) Mark, I think it would be cool to post that article you had published about the Dennis toys. I was thinking of asking your permission to post it in here. It would be great for everyone to see and is not off-topic at all. The stuff about art and the tv show and toys are all on topic as long as they're about Dennis as far as I'm concerned. Plus, it would help us to identify most of the stuff in that amazing cabinet of yours. Mark, again, it's great to hear from you, we all loved seeing your collection, and we are all looking forward to your future posts. Joe

And I thought I was providing too much info! Actually, this is AWESOME, Escape! I love it. Maybe what we could do is this: I will go ahead and complete the 194 Giant / Bonus series, then we can tackle the regular series with the format you have above. I will use the template to fill in with the issues you don't have. (I assume you have a lot of issues indexed already?) I will be honest that the thought of going back to count the pages of the stories in those 100 page giants is not a pleasant one! Using your template for the regular series sounds great though. Can you tell me or email me the issues you have indexed so I can work on the issues you don't have? It will be a couple weeks before I'm done with the giants, so there's no rush. Joe BTW, I love the Dennis avatar!