BillyBatson4360

The different look is very easy to understand when you realize Ketchum changed publishers. The grey spines are published by Pocket Books. I believe the last Dennis paperback to have its first printing with Pocket Books was "Household Hurricane." After that the publisher became Fawcett. Fawcett also the had the rights to further printings of the earlier Pocket Book editions. So, they redesigned the covers (generally use the same spot illo's). I will count the cartoons in my printing of "Rides Again" when I get home this evening.

BTW I skipped my copies of # 2 & 3 because they are not in as good a condition as Joe's copies. Ironically, when I first decided as a young adult to begin collecting Dennis again (I no longer owned any of the isues I had as a kid), I was in a friend's comic book shop. I told him it might be nice to have an issue or two of Dennis the Menace for old time's sake. He told me he only had one issue in stock (these were the early days of comic book shops when anything non-superheor - even Disney - was in short supply). He sold it to me for $1. It turned out to be issue # 2. Not a bad beginning!

There was only only problem with the collection. Most of the issues had "off-center" covers. In fact, I found that very curious because each issues covers were off-center almost exactly the same way. I've never run across this problem in the many other issues of Dennis I've seen and collected, yet this batch has 5 or 6 issues with the identical problem. I have no idea how the collection was put together, but the thought that somebody went to their newsstand each month and each month got a comic with an off-center cover seems very strange. Anway, to show you what I mean, here's a scan of the back:

Awesome collection, Joe! Thanks for sharing. I especially loved the Babysitter's Guide - one of the most unsual uses of popular newspaper strip I've ever read. I thought I'd give you a look at my copy of Dennis # 4. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was lucky enough to purchase a batch of early Dennis issues (in the first 20) from a single collector who contacted me when I placed a want ad in the Comic Buyer's Guide. Most of the books were in outstanding condition. This is the earliest issue in that collection:

Here's another scan - from "Dennis in Washington, D.C." The photo-realism Wiseman put into the background (the buildings and the cars) is incredible:

I think the style change was the result of Ketchum's personal style evolving and a desire to keep the look of the strip changing so it wasn't perceived as looking "dated." A while back on this thread someone requested some examples of Wiseman's style. We were treated to a nice "Joey" story, so I thought I'd post an example of the kind of full-page panels that Wiseman pioneered. This one's from "Dennis in Hawaii" (Dennis Giant # 6):

Also a quick word about my collection. I don't really believe in slabbing. The thought that the interior of a comic book - the real "meat" of the object, is sealed away, never to be looked at again, seems infinitely sad to me. I always buy my comics to actually read and look at them. So these early Dennis' are kept in the thicker Mylar sleeves. They were scanned after I (gasp-shudder) removed them from the sleeves. To quote another comic strip hero of mine, Li'l abner: I always was a little sporty with money." CBG, thanks for the information on the Dennis strip collections. I never realized the paperbacks had more strips. By the way, my edition of "Dennis Rides Again" (14th printing - 1959) claims it has 127 cartoons - do I need to count them?

All right. Back for a few more scans. There was some interest in seeing some of the early issues of Dennis in my collection. Obviously, I'll start with # 1. I don't think the condition is as good as CBG's, but I also, don't think it's bad either. BTW, after going years and years not even finding one copy of Dennis # 1 - I now own two. Bought them both on eBay several months apart. Found a copy in worse shape and then upgraded when I found a better condition copy with that relatively few people were bidding on. (So if any of y'all need a # 1, send me a personal message):

Now, could someone explain to me why one scan is posted in a much larger space than the other??? I went through an identical procedure. And both original scans were the same size.

And here is the second collection, "More Dennis the Menace." It's my understanding that the paperback versions of these books may also have been abridged - not containing as many cartoons as the hardcover editions. Does anybody have any other hardcover versions? I really don't know when they stopped doing hardcovers and went the paperback-only route. You aren't going to believe this, but I picked up both copies in an eBay auction a few years back for about $4 (if memory serves) - almost as cheap as when they were first published! I don't think the seller had a great title for his listing as I stumbled on these by accident and no one had bid on them!

Okay, I think I'm finally reading to start posting scans. I've got my fingers crossed (which is making typing very difficult. I thought I'd start with two non-comic items. These are the first two collections of Dennis' newspaper cartoons. What makes them unsual is that they are the hardback editions, not the more commonly seen paperbacks. The first couple of Dennis collections were first published by Henry Holt & Company in hardback a year before paperback versions were available. They retailed for $1.00 (compared to 25 cents for the papaerback edition). I'm assuming these sold far fewr copies than the papaerback, which would make them rarer. This is the first hardback published in 1952, simply titled: "Dennis the Menace:" Despite the obvious discoloration of the once-white cover, the book is in amazing shape. The binding is tight and the interior pages are almost pure white. It is a joy to read these early strips when Dennis was a real menace, not the watered-down, greeting card "imp" he is today.

I'd be happy to. It's a real treat to be able to share this research with other people. When I was doing it, my wife would frequently ask me "Why?" There are indeed two #95's and no #96 in the Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine Series (very strange numbering with these giants. I hope their accountants didn't count this way.): One is "Summer Games" The other is "That's Our Boy!" #97 is "Comicapers"

All right. Answered my own question. It turns out the files were much bigger than I thought. I guess I'll to explore finding a web host for the photos.

Thanks, "CBG," I have now completed my index of Dennis Giants (thru #110). I also own the "Television Specials" but didn't include them on my list because the art is not by Wiseman. I'll be very interested to see your "Dennis on Safety." Now, I've tried three times to attach a file according to the instructions you gave me. The file is a simple jpeg (30kbs). Each time I was told that I could not post because it was coming from an invalid host (whatever that means). Any suggestions?

AL WISEMAN – FRED TOOLE ISSUES OF DENNIS THE MENACE DENNIS THE MEANCE (Regular Series) # 1 – 46 #53, 68, 69 The next two are regular-sized comics NOT part of the Giant/Bonus Series DENNIS THE MEANCE & HIS DOG RUFF # 1 DENNIS THE MENACE & HIS PAL JOEY # 1 The next two are giveaways. I know the Poison book went through multiple printings. I also believe it was redrawn in later years so the art style would more closely match the contemporary look of the comic, but the earliest incarnations are Wiseman art: DENNIS THE MENACE & DIRT DENNIS THE MENACE TAKES A POKE AT POISON DENNIS GIANT/BONUS MAGAZINES VACATION SPECIAL (No number) CHRISTMAS SPECIAL (No number) DENNIS THE MENACE GIANTS # 2 – 8 (NOTE there are 2 different #6’s: “IN HAWAII” & “CHRISTMAS SPECIAL” #12 – 15 # 17 #20 – 22 #27, 28, 31, 35, 36, 41 (NOTE: Issues #13 & 21 are “Best of Dennis” issue which contain reprints from the regular series. The rest are all original work.) I believe that Wiseman contributed some stories to Dennis Giant #48, but I’m sure he did not draw the entire issue. There are many other issues in the Giant/Bonus series that are complete reprints of the above issues. For example, DENNIS IN HAWAII was reprinted as Giant # 18, 30 & 68 – AND HIS PAL JOEY (#17) was reprinted as # 32, & 45 – etc. By the way, as near as I can tell, THERE IS NO #100 in the Bonus Magazine series. Just as curious as having two #6’s. BEST OF DENNIS THE MEANCE #1 – 5 (This series has stand-alone numbering, not to be confused with “BEST OF” issues in the Giant/Bonus series. All issues contain reprints from the regular Dennis magazine.) DENNIS THE MENACE FUN BOOK # 1 (This title was reprinted several times in the Giant/Bonus series, including # 62 & 91 – although the reprints are abridged and do not contain all the stories found in this original printing. Not all the stories in the Fun Book are Wiseman’s.) DENNIS THE MEANCE TRIPLE FEATURE # 1 (Again, this is a title that was later incorporated into the Giant/Bonus series – but the first issue was a stand-alone title.) You can also find plenty of Wiseman reprints scattered throughout the digest-sized Dennis magazines. If I've made any mistakes or anyone has anything to add to this list I'd love to hear from you.

eBay remains your best source for building a complete Dennis collection. Completing my run of the Wiseman issues was a goal I had for years. Yet, I was frustrated by the lack of issues that turned up at conventions, comic shops, and ads in CBG. When I first got on eBay (1995), I was able to not only complete my Dennis collection, but collect enough information to finally index the contents of most of the Dennis Giants. In fact, the only two issue I still need information for are Dennis Giant #40 and Dennis Bonus Magazine (the title that continued the Giants' numbering system) #103. What I need is the name on the cover (like "Spring Special" or "Dennis the Menace in Mexico"). For those who are interested, I'll assemble a quick checklist of the Wiseman books and post it here. My scanning project has been delayed due to the fact that my wife threw her back out and is using the "comic book room" to recuperate. It's also the room that has my scanner.

Well, being a bit older than you, comicbookguy, Al Wiseman wasn’t just the “good artist” on Dennis the Menace – he was the ONLY artist for a good many years. I can still remember when I picked up Dennis the Menace # 47 and was shocked by what I saw. In one issue the art had gone from clean and detailed to looking sloppy and rushed. It totally lacked the warmth and charm that Wiseman’s illustrations had (to say nothing of the beautifully rendered backgrounds). I never knew why they made the change. Maybe they felt Wiseman’s art no longer looked like the version of Dennis that was running in the newspapers. I just knew I hated the way it looked. I bought a couple of issues more, but then simply dropped the book. As the “Dennis Goes to Camp” Giant that came out around the same time also had this same sketchy art, I also stopped buying the giants, never realizing that Wiseman would continue to crank out Dennis giants for quite a while after that. [sIDEBAR: My feelings about the Dennis comic strip parallel the comic book. My favorite period of the strip is the period between the mid-50’s and early 60’s when Ketchum (and his ghosts’) style most closely resembled Wiseman. The looser and sketchier the strip became, the less I liked it, although I continue reading it to this day.] In my opinion, Wiseman’s work (in collaboration with truly gifted scripter Fred Toole) deserves the kind of attention and acclaim that have been accorded to Carl Barks and John Stanley. The Dennis strips were beautifully illustrated and they were extremely funny. Toole knew how to set-up and pay-off endless gags on the simplest of domestic situations. On the art side, Wiseman took time to create individual characters. Even his crowd scenes are filled with individuals rather than stock types (ever notice how many Kirby males all have essentially the same face?). And his sense of composition and storytelling were outstanding. I believe Wiseman pioneered the use of full-page panels years before the idea crossed over into super-hero comics. What Wiseman has lacked is a champion in the comic book press to bring his work to a wider audience. Fred Hembeck did a great tribute to Al on his website during Christmas 2003 (the page is still posted), but I never really seen a definitive piece about the Wiseman-Toole comics in any magazine or book about the comics hobby. While Overstreet notes Wiseman & Toole’s contributions in the listing for Dennis comics, the Price Guide has yet to feature Dennis on the cover or run an article about what was one of the longest running and most popular comics of its day. Maybe this thread can be the beginning of correctly this unjust historical oversight.

Wow! I'm glad I found this thread. I was casually doing some surfing on the web, trying to find information about Al Wiseman (one of my favorites and the greatest "unsung" artist in comic book history) and I wound up here! Took me awhile to wade through the thread and register, but I'm glad I did. Dennis comic books by Wiseman were what hooked me on comic collecting way, way back. While I graduated to super-hero books as I got older, I always had a fondness for the old Dennis books. I'd love to post some of the cover scans I've got. I purchased a large group of issues from a single collector I found through an ad in the Comic Buyers Guide nearly 20 years ago. Most of the issues are VF-NM (I've never gotten proficient in the numerical grading system). They are all in the first 20 issues of the regular Dennis magazine. My question is this: how do you add a scan to your post? Do I need to have the scans stored on another website? If someone could talk me through it, I'd love to contribute. In answer to a question I saw while going through the thread - quite a few of the drawings signed "Hank Ketchum" are not by Ketchum. Most of the comic covers on those early issues are indeed the work of Al Wiseman. Ketchum also used assistants on the newspaper strip as well Also, the Grand Comic Book Database has undertaken the daunting task of indexing every American-produced comic book. They have quite a few issues of Dennis already indexed, but the list is far from complete. Finally, the first "gaphic novel" is supposed to be some wordless books put together I believe in the 1920's or 30's by an artist named Lynn Ward who used woodcuts to tell complete stories. The next entry was completed by cartoonist Milt Gross who completed a graphic novel called "She Done Him Wrong." I have a copy of it somewhere - can't locate it right now. Well, I've babbled on long eough for my first post. I'll share more in future posts. To sum it up, while I love Dennis in general, it's those issues by Wiseman that really stand out head and shoulders above the rest.