The Ultimate Dennis the Menace Thread 3 3

[ComicBookGuy]

Well, Bill, I hear you loud and clear that you want to see some 1950s Dennis cartoons, so here you go with a Sunday that I'll bet you've never seen. Few Sundays from the early days have been reprinted at all. When I find a batch on eBay I always try to win them. This one is from 10-7-56, courtesy of my legal-size scanner...

 

 

It looks to me in this strip that Wiseman or Holley drew the people and that someone else drew the animals and backgrounds. Possibly Ketcham?

 

[ComicBookGuy]

Here's another one, a really early one from January 18, 1953. The art looks exactly like the art from the first few issues of the comic and was probably drawn around the same time, with the comic coming out later that year. (Sorry the page came out a little crooked.) I assume it's early Al Wiseman:

 

[ComicBookGuy]

Here is the earliest one I've gotten my hands on. It's from 2-3-52, when the strip was not even a year old. I will have to do this in two parts because it's large. I'll do the top two rows in this post, then the bottom row in my next...

 

 

That's a hilarious image of him hammering those toys. A Dennis that is a true menace!

[ComicBookGuy]

And here's the last third of the strip. The art looks like it's all Ketcham and is just like the art in the first anthology (1951 to 1952). Interesting to note on the second panel in on the second row (in the above post) we see the famous "silhouette" panel that Ketcham and Wiseman both used so successfully, and we can see Ketcham was doing it before Wiseman ever arrived. This is what's so fascinating about studying the strip sequentially. In the new anthology, Wiseman will arrive on the scene, and it will be interesting to see how, when, and where the shift will occur in the art.

 

[Jon-migration]

CBG

Thanks for the Sunday Dennis strips.

 

And, evryone, I've posted Dennis the Menace #3 over at ABPC. Just two more issues are needed (#4 and #7) to cover the entire original Wiseman run -- through #46. Note I will be posting #53 later. It along with #68 and 69 also had Wiseman art. Thne of course there are still several Giants to do.

 

Jon

[squeegee-migration]

hi i have a crayon drawing by dennis ketcham that he made when he was in first grade. its quite good ...of a baby bird id like to share it with someone who would like to have it. i dont know how to sell it tho ...any advice?

[Jon-migration]

I'd suggest e-Bay listing it under newspaper strips and explain what it is.

[BillyBatson4360]

Well kids, it has been placed on the release schedule - Volume 3 of the Complete Dennis the Menace:

 

Amazon.com listing

 

Put this on your Christmas list now and avoid the November rush!

[jkc313]

Hey! To whomever I sold some Bethlehem Dennis giants, I found some more. I put one up on Ebay.

keith contarino

[ComicBookGuy]

Well kids, it has been placed on the release schedule - Volume 3 of the Complete Dennis the Menace:

 

Amazon.com listing

 

Put this on your Christmas list now and avoid the November rush!

 

This is amazing -- I was just on Amazon on Tuesday and checked, so it must have just been listed.

Bill, just curious if you got a copy of the second one yet? I got it and read it in one sitting. Absolutely awesome. I find it amazing how high the quality is on these day after day and also am surprised at how most of them were never reprinted at all after their initial appearance. Great art and very clever gags thoughout. I will post some favorites soon.

[ComicBookGuy]

Hey! To whomever I sold some Bethlehem Dennis giants, I found some more. I put one up on Ebay.

keith contarino

 

Keith, do us both a favor and pm me the ones you have and we'll cut a deal for the whole batch. You know I'm the only one that bids on them anyway!!!

Joe

[BillyBatson4360]

Actually, my comics shop neglected to order it for me when it came out originally and they had to back order it. The shop I patronize is out of town. My wife will be picking it up for this weekend on a road trip. I'm looking forward to reading it (although I try to make them last a little longer - I read 'em one month at a sitting).

 

I'm hoping Jim W (aka Wiseguy) still checks in here from time to time, because I'd like to get his feedback on whether or not AW had input into the daily strip in the early days. Ketcham's drawing style seems to get verrrrry close to AW's during the late fifties. I've always wondered if AW ghosted some of the dailies in addition to handling the Sundays.

[balger-migration]

Hey, I got way behind on reading posts on this thread but hope to (one day) get caught up.

 

I’ve set up an Al Wiseman blog at http://alwiseman.com/ with lots of images posted (hopefully ones that haven't all been put up on this forum already). If you go there, please click on "archives" to see all the posts.

 

Please leave comments and/or corrections (I'm sure there will be lots of those) if you have the chance.

 

Thanks,

Bill

 

PS- Fred Hembeck talks about the blog here:

http://www.hembeck.com/FredSez.htm

[ttw-migration]

Hi folks, JRW here, posting under my wife's name (don't ask).

 

Bill Alger has gone way beyond anything I expected with alwiseman.com

 

It is very exciting to see artwork done by my father that I have never seen before.

I sent the site link to one of my sisters, maybe she will post comments some day.

 

Hey BillyB, I was looking at those Sundays strips, and it is pretty hard to tell sometimes

who was drawing what.

I think the way to go would be to compare text fonts in the stories.

certain letters are different between Hank and AW early on.

When the comic books started, you could see a big difference in lettering.

 

Ok, maybe some day I can get MY computer to respond to this site.

Sheesh.

 

 

JRW

[ComicBookGuy]

Bill A, the site looks GREAT! Congratulations on a great launch and for providing all of us Al Wiseman fans finally with some info and pictures of things we've never seen.

JRW, I'm glad to see your dad getting some long overdue recognition that he deserves. Fred Hembeck is right when he calls your dad one of the greatest comic artists ever.

[BillyBatson4360]

Just came back from reading Bill's blog! Fantastic! I'm looking forward to many, many future installments. It seems AW is finally getting that long overdue recognition.

 

I've always thought that Al should be included in the same group that mentions Carl Barks, John Stanley, and George Carlson as the ultimate masters of the "funny" comic book story.

 

Jim: I was also hoping you might shed some light on whether or not you thnk your dad worked on the DAILIES for Dennis. I've always thought the many of the Dennis panels from the mid-50's to early 60's looked an awful lot your dad's clean, straight-line style. Perhaps, he helped on the backgrounds, leaving the main figures for Ketcham.

[Allen Ross-migration]

It looks like Fantagraphics is now offering a boxed set of the first two volumes of Complete Dennis just in time for Christmas giving. See this Amazon link .

[balger-migration]

Wow! That's gotta be a thick boxed set. Almost wish I hadn't already bought the two volumes separately...

[balger-migration]

Thanks for the kind words about the Wiseman blog!

 

I talked on the phone with Frank Hill (who worked on Dennis right after Wiseman quit perminantly) the other day. He's probably the nicest, most humble cartoonist I've ever spoken to. Hopefully he'll be contributing something to the blog.

 

God, I was just looking over some of the pages on this forum to see what I've missed. Great stuff! I had been staying away 'cause the the guilt was gnawing at me that I hadn't put up my site yet. Now I feel better.

 

ComicBookGuy, you've got an incredible Dennis collection! Wow!

 

Still have to read through everything...

[ComicBookGuy]

Bill, I've been checking in on the Al Wiseman blog every couple days and love the stuff you're posting. Please keep it up!

 

There's some interesting Dennis activity going on on eBay.

 

First, an auction for every Dennis book - first time on eBay all 48 books have been for sale all at once as a set:

 

48 Different Dennis books - eBay Auction

 

Next, some AMAZING prices paid for low-grade copies of early Dennis issues. These rarely or never appear for sale, but they just did, and check out these prices:

 

#1 in Fair Plus Condition - $300

Dennis #1 Link

 

#2 in Very Good Minus - $300

Dennis #2 Link

 

#4 in Very Good - $290

Dennis #4 Link

 

#6 in Very Good - $247.50

Dennis #6 Link

 

#10 in Very Good - $102.50

Dennis #10 Link