ComicBookGuy

I agree. Your dad's rendition of Mr. Wilson has always been unique, and whenever I have a doubt about whether he did a story or not, I look for Mr. Wilson. Really the only artist who is tough to differentiate from your dad is Lee Holley, who I would say is the second best Dennis artist of all time. Here is an old Dennis the Menace piece of sheet music from 1952. I've seen this a couple times only, and is kind of an oddball item:

Here is another view of the box:

Here is another of many items I spotted for the first time ever on eBay. This one cost me some bucks. It is a Dennis Baseball Game, constructed with steel and heavy plastic parts. There is no copyright anywhere on the box or game, but it looks mid-to-late 1950s to me. This is a view of the top of the box and the game with its contents.

Here's something interesting that was recently on eBay - a "variant" edition of the Mischief Kit: It is listed as being also from 1955.

Agreed, JRW! It is the completionist in me that is posting these rarities. Sales figures clearly will bear out that these books were not nearly as successful as, say, any of the cartoon reprint books. I'm not sure I would say I dislike these so much as to say that these are clearly not the pinnacle of Dennis's career! This kind of cutsey, mawkish approach, along with the Bible Kids series and the 1980s cartoon, really ushered in a change in Dennis that seemed to remove the "menace" aspect of his character to a very large extent. It's sort of like he was being presented as the All-American Boy or something. I actually largely prefer the newer cartoons, such as we posted earlier, that have appeared over the last several months by Ron Ferdinand and Marcus Hamilton over this late 1970s period. I would say there are several periods, or epochs, in the Dennis mythology. (I know I'm sounding very pretentious, but bear with me.) 1. The early period where Dennis really was a menace and not necessarily geared toward kids. 2. The period where your dad Al came in and matured the art as the stories themselves shifted toward a decidely younger audience. This is my favorite period. 3. The tv years. I think everyone knows what I'm talking about. The even less menacing Dennis. 4. The post-Wiseman Dennis where it just wasn't the same with so many different artists giving it a try. The comics really drifted during this period. 5. The cutesy period I just mentioned. 6. The modern era, where Marcus Hamilton and Ron Ferdinand have taken over and restored consistency and a mix of the All-American Dennis with the menacing one, as we have seen. All epochs have their highlights and defining moments, and we all have our opinions, but I'll admit I enjoy each in its own way, with the fifth period the only one I don't have a lot of interest in except in how it relates to the more interesting periods. Joe

And here is the last of the four. To this day I don't think I've ever seen one of these four books on eBay. Which, of course, begs the question: Where DID I get them? And the answer is.. Amazon.com. That's a great place to find used books.

Here's another one:

Above is the first of the Character Imprints books, courtesy of 313. It says copyright 1978 and first printing January 1979 on the inside cover. It's hard to say what the next one in the series is cause the next three all say they were published in February 1979.

Ray, Below is a quote from earlier concerning the Character Imprints, one of which (Hopes That You Get Well) is listed in your index with a question mark next to it. I will try to scan the three from CI that haven't been scanned yet (I have them all), and I'm sure 313 would like to see them. In addition, I didn't see some titles that I have listed, such as Super-Charged and Ever Ready (1983) and Five Years at the Same Location (1987) on your list. These books exist and I have them in my possession, and I will say that these two titles seem to be the ones that turn up the least. This is great to combine our lists like this to get closer to a final list. What I find interesting about viewing your list is that it shows how many printings each book had and illuminates the fact that the later books are the hardest to find since they had far fewer printings, and in many cases, only one. The Happy Halloween book you have listed is something I am not at all familiar with. Just when I thought I had them all! Anyone have a scan of this??? I will check the Pocket Full of Fun digests to be sure it was not accidentally listed with the cartoon reprints, which is what I suspect may have happened. I would be quite astonished if a Dennis book has existed all these years without my knowledge. An amazing rarity I also don't see mentioned is The Very Best of Dennis the Menace from the 1950s. I will provide more info on that later. Joe

Wow! Welcome to the boards, Ray! Great research on the Dennis paperbacks. It's nice to come back to the forum this weekend after a long break and see the thread alive and kicking with a lot of the usual suspects and a new one as well. I actually did publish a list earlier in the thread about the paperbacks I indexed. In it, I listed the date of the first printing only but have not tracked all the editions or their prices or their ISBN numbers as you have. Very impressive! The reason I didn't do that is that I have not found any differences among the printings -- with a few notable exceptions: The Baby-Sitter's Guide; the differences between the hardback and paperback versions; and the differences between the Pocket Book editions and the later publishers. It's amazing to think that these Dennis books sold over 50 million total copies over the course of years. I will print my index of these books - with notes and in chronological publishing order - again as follows: Dennis the Menace Paperbacks * As far as I can tell, there are a total of 49 Dennis books. This is a list for cartoon books that reprint the daily strip, NOT the storybooks, the Character Imprints gift books, LGBooks, coloring books, prayer books, cook book, movie novel, riddle book, game or activity books, Original & Best of & other reprint collections, etc. * It seems the general rule for the paperbacks is that they each include 124 cartoons as opposed to the hardbacks, which each have 62. An exception to the paperbacks is More Dennis (1954), which has 121, so the first paperback may vary also. I only counted cartoons in the first 12 paperbacks, so the count may be different for later books. * Baby-Sitter’s Guide was revised in the 1960s in paperback form, so it may differ also, and since it is a mix of text and cartoons, it does not include 62 cartoons * I have tried to list books chronologically based on the original copyright date in the front of the book, not the edition I have. The paperback copyrights tend to be later than the hardbacks of the same title. In cases where two books have the same copyright year and no month listed, I looked in the back to see a list of other available titles. If another title appears in one and not the other, the one with the other title would appear to be the later publication. For examples, see 1970 or 1978. Dennis the Menace 1952 More Dennis the Menace 1954 Baby-Sitter’s Guide 1955 - old edition (Pocket Books) - new edition (Fawcett) Rides Again 1955 - old edition - new edition Wanted 1956 - old edition - new edition VS Everybody 1957 - old edition - new edition Household Hurricane 1957 - old edition - new edition In This Corner 1959 Teacher’s Threat 1959 A.M. Ambassador of Mischief 1959 Happy Half-Pint 1962 Who Me? 1962 Make-Believe Angel 1964 Here Comes Trouble 1966 And Poor Ol’ Mr. Wilson March 1967 All-American Kid July 1968 And His Pal Joey December 1968 Short ‘N Snappy March 1969 Perpetual Motion 1969 Your Friendly Neighborhood Kid October 1969 Everybody’s Little Helper June 1970 Non-Stop Nuisance 1970 Voted Most Likely 1971 Surprise Package August 1971 (comes with both a blue and green cover) Where the Action Is December 1971 Dennis Power 1972 The Kid Next Door 1973 Just For Fun May 1973 Busybody January 1974 Little Pip-Squeak August 1974 To the Core August 1975 Play It Again, Dennis 1975 Little Man in a Big Hurry March 1976 Short Swinger 1976 And His Girls 1977 Your Mother’s Calling October 1977 Ol’ Droopy Drawers 1978 I Done It My Way 1978 (previous book listed in back) Driving Mother Up the Wall 1979 Short in the Saddle December 1979 Ain’t Misbehavin’ May 1980 Stayin’ Alive September 1980 Good Intenshuns March 1981 One More Time August 1981 The Way I Look at It January 1982 Dog’s Best Friend 1982 Super-Charged and Ever Ready March 1983 Sunrise Express September 1983 Five Years At the Same Location 1987 (Large-Size Paperback) I have copies of all these books in high grade and can scan them into the GCBDB if there is a slot for them. Earlier I mentioned that the database lets me scan in copies of comics - and I have added quite a few at this point - but not the information about them. I would be happy to help the current indexer if he would like help. Joe

Geez, I'd better get my raw Don Rosa books listed on Ebay then. Quite a few nice ones at that. Not your 9.4s, but some very nice 7.5 - 9.0s. Try them here first. My bet is you'll have a lot of luck here and no eBay fees. Joe

And, crazy bidder that I am, I finished a mere third in the bidding. Years ago I was second highest bidder on the 9.4 and got outbid by Joe Serpico at $700something. I would add that these Don Rosas are really nice books for the grade based on what I've seen (gloss, color, etc). People have figured it out and are bidding accordingly. I'm willing to bet another 9.0 wouldn't do that well, but then again, there seem to be a lot more people collecting bronze horror lately. Joe

Here's another interesting review of the new Dennis collection, which I post for posterity: Reprinting recaptures perfection of cartoonist’s line By Burl Burlingame bburlingame@starbulletin.com Singers reach for their note, guitarists struggle for tone, writers work on their voice, athletes go into the zone. Now, with cartoonists, cartoonists try to find their line. "Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1951-1952" (Fantagraphics Books, 624 pages., $24.95) Where the ink hits the paper is like where the rubber meets the road. Is it smooth? Will it clot? Will it swoop in graceful curves or get all jangly and skritchy-scratchy? It's all OK, mind you. It's just that the line on paper is how the cartoonist communicates, it's their craft and reason for being, and finding the right, balanced scramble of ink-and-paper interface is a lifelong dream for most cartoonists. Hank Ketcham, though -- that boy could draw. To this day, cartoonists are not only in awe of his economy of line, but of his cinematic perspectives and compositions. That attention to pedestrian detail. The suburban characters and neighborhood of Ketcham's classic "Dennis the Menace" is likely the most complete world ever rendered in the fewest amount of lines. And he did it without even creating a comic strip. Ketcham's forte was the single "gag" panel, a daily one-shot, and one that rarely works with continuing characters and story lines. Dennis' character was spun off into comic books, animation and even a live-action TV series and movie, and the characters laid down by Ketcham were so indelible that they survived mostly intact. COURTESY FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS Hank Ketcham worked wonders with the daily "gag" panel of Dennis the Menace. I'LL COME CLEAN here and reveal that when I moved to Hawaii in the '60s, my primary guide was a tattered copy of "Dennis in Hawaii." It remains a surprisingly accurate introduction and beautifully drawn by Ketcham protégé Al Wiseman, published in 1958 to coincide with Hawaii's drive for statehood. I've just discovered that it is also likely the best-selling comic book of all time, as well as the first to send its creative team "on location." All this bubbles to the surface because Fantagraphics, the publishing company dedicated to preserving the best in American cartoon art, has begun a massive project of reprinting every "Dennis" panel ever drawn. Yikes. The first volume begins on the first day of syndication -- Ketcham had no trouble placing the project, and his sample drawings became the lead-off gags -- on March 12, 1951, and then covers the next two years. "Love and Rockets" comic book illustrator Gilbert Hernandez, commenting online, noted that Ketcham's work was an inspiration because "among all the American newspaper cartoonists who could draw people that LOOKED like people, Ketcham was far and away the best. ... (He) captured real folks in a naturalistic environment the way no on else could. A perfect blend of slickness and warmth." The book makes it clear that the style was there from the beginning, and is quickly refined within a few months. Dennis isn't a bad kid, he's just enthusiastic and mischievous, and the gags use a sophisticated, sly wit that often rides on the perfection of the drawn panel to make its point. And they were funny from day one. The package is designed by Jack Covey and includes a forward by "Mutts" master Patrick McDonnell, another cartooning genius who has found his line in life.

Very cool pic! I've met BW a couple times myself, and he is very approachable and friendly. Looks like you guys had a blast.

Jim, glad you found the index useful. You mentioned my 1-100 index, but I hope you realize I did all the way up to #194 as well, just in case you're in search of that info. The reason I did it is cause the info isn't really available elsewhere, and I wanted to do it for myself, so sharing it is not a big deal. I'm still working on the regular series index. I really wish there was a way to put the info in the Grand Comic Book Database, but someone has it reserved, so no one else can enter it. It has allowed me to enter scans of the comics, though, and I've been working on that as well. One day soon all this info will be complete. Hopefully before we all die of old age. My plans are as of now to continue compiling data and scans and launch the Dennis website next summer. It will be devoted just to Dennis stuff so will be much more appealing than sifting through the GCBDB anyway. On another note, the Dennis books published by Character Imprints are as follows: 1978: Dennis Talks About Love Stuff 1979: Dennis the Menace Hopes That You Get Well 1979: Dennis the Menace Finds New Ways to Say Happy Birthday 1979: Dennis the Menace Sheds Some New Light on Friendship These books were sold as gift books through places like Hallmark. They don't turn up too often on eBay at all and are yet another whole unexplored and undocumented facet of the Dennis Universe, which never ceases to amaze me in terms of how much stuff is out there. Joe

Looks like Henry's got some explaining to do!

I can't imagine waking up one morning and seeing this one in the paper. This original Dennis is REALLY a menace...

Here's one I thought was hilarious:

Very interesting. I've always seen the previous 48 paperback collections as "best of" collections, so the chronology, or lack of one, makes sense. I will say that I got the copy yesterday, walked inside, and read it cover to cover. My review: It rocks. Some of the funniest Dennis cartoons I have ever seen, and many I've never seen reprinted for their obvious adult humor. (Scans will be coming soon. ) It is clear to me after reading this that the strip started out as more of a cartoon for adults, and I believe Bill C. pointed this out before when I was showing the cocktail napkins and matchbooks from the early 1950s and wondering why such products would be promoted by a kids' cartoon character. At some early point, I imagine, Ketcham must have realized that the strip would be even more successful if aimed at a purely kid audience. This cleaned up Dennis and made him much less of a menace, clearly, and the reprint books filtered a kid-friendly Dennis to us from the time of the tv show on. It's interesting to note that even those first two Avon books were the only Dennis books not perpetually in print like the others for decades since they were not the kid-friendly, finalized version of Dennis. So, having read this, I will say that this early Dennis has more in common with Bart Simpson (an intentional troublemaker) than the contemporary Dennis (an unintentional troublemaker). Allen, you said you are attending the Baltimore Con this weekend. I will be there for the Saturday evening forum dinner and all day Sunday. If you are around during either of those times, let me know as it would be cool to hook up. Joe

What a great entrance, 313. Welcome to the boards! I love the scans of that Dennis rarity. It certainly is shocking to see Dennis in an authorized book saying something like that. At some point, when I move into posting the late 1960s and 1970s stuff, I can show you some stuff even racier than that. So racy, in fact, that I would be afraid to scan their interiors. First off, I'm thinking about the super rare Dennis Tijuana Bible. That aside, how many of those love books have you seen? Trust me when I say that there are many items I know for a fact exist that have NEVER appeared on eBay, and many that have popped up once only, to my knowledge. (I have been on eBay since late 1999 and started purchasing in January 2000.) Anyway, it's great to see a new Dennis fan, and I can't wait to see more scans and hear more about Dennis and other things from you. Joe

A couple days ago I received an email from Comic Buyer's Guide reporter John Jackson Miller, who is also the author of the Standard Catalog for comics, the book that reports circulation figures for comics. I was glad to see he used the Dennis circulation figures from this thread to help with the book. He referred me to a thread on Dennis he had started. Here is his initial post in the thread, in which he declares Dennis one of the top-selling comics of 1963: As you may know, I've gathered more than 2,500 Statements of Ownership from 20 or so publishers since 1960 for the CBG Standard Catalog -- and from that have been able to piece together something of a competitive picture of some of those early years. Still, there are holes in the data -- and (thanks to Brently) -- a Statement just came in that is something of a surprise. We can now guess that the third best-selling title of the very Silver-Agey year of 1963 was... ...Dennis the Menace! Fawcett sent three different titles second class: Dennis the menace, Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine Series, and Dennis the Menace Pocket Full of Fun. But collectors have paid these comics so little attention that in a decade we've only gotten a handful of Statements for these comics, and, before today, none before 1967. What this form states is that, in 1963, the six issues of Dennis sold an average of 493,534 copies, out of a print run of 946,053. That makes it, not counting Mad, the single highest circulation figure reported in 1963. Archie was at 471,166. Gold Key's best, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, is at 446,000. Charlton's top book, Flintstones, was at 325,350. Marvel's action books (that it reported, anyway) were all in the 185,000-200,000 range. Tarzan was at 332,460. DC is trickier because for three years beginning in 1963, it ran the forms but neglected to include the actual sales figures. In 1963, only Sea Devils had circ figures. But by looking at 1962 reports and then the figures again in 1965, when DC ran "make-up" numbers for some titles (after, one guesses, the USPS complained), only two DC titles look like they would have topped a half-million: Superman and Superboy (Batman's 1960s sales didn't catch fire until the TV show. Adventure and Action were doing mid 400,000s, from the looks of it.) So, unless more information comes in, Dennis looks like your 1963 #3, probably bumping Archie, Action, Adventure and WDC&S, in some order. But... ...with only a handful of Fawcett figures in, we really can't judge how reliable or consistent their reporting was. In this form they throw in a number of free copies to hit a round "total distributed" number, which is sometimes a flag that the publisher is winging it. We have, for example, in the case of Charlton, found enough wild swings to make the whole lot of data suspect; maybe this is the case here. Maybe not. At any rate, dig through your old Dennis comics. If you find any forms, scan 'em and send them my way -- or just type up the "preceding 12 months" data and e-mail it to me or post it here. This is a piece we knew was missing -- we just didn't know how big a piece it was -- at least, not from looking at the 1967 numbers we already had from it. --John Jackson Miller Here is the link for the whole thread: CBG Dennis the Menace thread

While there's nothing special about the panel above, apart from the running gag about Dennis always being in the corner, what sets this auction apart is that it includes Ketcham's signature, along with a letter and the original envelope the art was mailed in. This makes its provenance and authenticity crystal clear. I'd say the buyer got a great deal. Here's the image of the letter and envelope:

Thanks for sharing, Allen. When I receive my copy I will be sure to post my favorites as well. In the meantime, speaking of Dennis dailies, I watched this auction this past summer for the original art to the panel from September 18, 1957. These really do not come up for sale too often, and this piece sold for $998.00. Here's the auction link: Dennis Art Auction Here's the artwork:

Here is the back cover, or all that will fit into my scanner anyway:

Here is the 1960 tv show soundtrack, also an album. I am posting an eBay image instead of my own since this shows the entire cover. This album appears fairly frequently. Finding it in nice shape is the challenge since it's a kids' record.