The Ultimate Dennis the Menace Thread 6 6

[ComicBookGuy]

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

[tth2]

Definitely clearer, Joe. I can read all the word balloons now. Now you just need to post the rest of the strip again!

[ComicBookGuy]

Does anyone know anything about this one? I'm just hosting the scan for Mister_Comics. Cool book.

 

 

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.

 

[BillyBatson4360]

Well, I finally got my avatar graphic small enough so the board would accept it. Only problem is the line work looks sort of sketchy. That's not the way the scan looked on my computer screen. Anybody have any suggestions on how I could sharpen the image? (I'll keep trying until I get it right!)

 

I was busy with a freelance writing project last week, so I couldn't post much. Just have a couple of quickies today. The first is the original cover to the Dennis the Menace Fun Book.

 

 

While this issue was reprinted many times as part of the Dennis Giant/Bonus Magazine Series. It's first printing was as a one-shot. 100 pages thick, I believe this is also the only printing to sport a blue background (also the only printing carry "No. 1" on the cover as well.). Subsequent reprintings featured a white background. The art inside contains several Wiseman stories, but it is not 100% Wiseman.

[BillyBatson4360]

As I mentioned before, Al Wiseman and Fred Toole worked themselves into a story in Dennis the Menace # 30. Appropriately called "The Inside Story," this tale had Dennis and his Dad visiting a comic book studio where they met Wiseman and Toole. Very surreal. Here's the last page from the story.

 

 

As depicted with the crazy glasses, I gotta believe Wiseman wasn't nearly as goofy as he drew himself.

[ComicBookGuy]

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

[tth2]

As I mentioned before, Al Wiseman and Fred Toole worked themselves into a story in Dennis the Menace # 30. Appropriately called "The Inside Story," this tale had Dennis and his Dad visiting a comic book studio where they met Wiseman and Toole. Very surreal. Here's the last page from the story.

 

 

As depicted with the crazy glasses, I gotta believe Wiseman wasn't nearly as goofy as he drew himself.

I always love the slamming doors as people send the Mitchells on their way, and comments from Dennis like "He sure cries easy"! Great panel, I'm definitely going to need to find a copy of this issue.

[BillyBatson4360]

tth2:

 

To help your search, here's the cover to the issue # 30 - "The Inside Story" is the last story in the book. BTW, I love this cover!

 

[mica]

 

I am brand new to this... This is my first post ever. I have Dennis and the Bible Kids # 10. Mine has the same side splitting defect that was mentioned by FlyingDonut at the bottom of boards-page 14. I've had mine for many years so this is obviously a different book. I read it once way back then and never noticed the split until I saw this thread and decided to investigate my stash of books. Yep, its still attached and looks good but there is the split. I hope I am able to post the scan correctly.

 

 

The split is not noticeable unless it lays flat in it's bag, then part of the back cover starts to relax and lay flat.

[mica]

Here's page 1 and 2 of Dennis and the Bible Kids # 10. Enjoy. By the way this did not hurt the split spine any further. I held it very carefully during the scanning. I didn't risk scanning any more though. It's safely back in the bag with board.

Notice the water coloring and the wavy panel borders.

Edited April 7, 2005 by mica

[mica]

I know this may be in danger of getting the thread off subject but in my copy of Dennis 122 there is a non-Dennis story by someone named ED HOFZIGER? I don't know much (anything) about these characters but for some reason the art looks strangely familiar.

And of course the book it came out of.

[ComicBookGuy]

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

[FFB]

Here's the story from CBM (Well, actually it was from "Gold & Silver - Overstreet's Comic Book Quarterly" that took the place of CBM for a few months. Issue 6)

 

Steve Sibra!!!! Let me tell you about St. Steve Sibra.... ....

[ComicBookGuy]

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]

Dennis 147 shows how to make your own stain glass windows for Christmas.

[mica]

A slingshot vs. an URU Hammer.

Margaret could be lady Sif.... Joey could be Loki (black hair...it's a stretch).

And Mr. Wilson could be ODIN.

This is the book the above image came from. Dennis 151.

Notice how this guy has invisible legs below the knees. The Dennis comics need to be re-classified as Super-Hero related. Floating knee guy, Thor wannabe's, Dennis' strange mutant ability to cause "MENACE" wherever he goes. His dog is a krypto copy of Superboys dog. Joey is the kid sidekick. Hmmm.....

[BillyBatson4360]

I've actually put together a listing of the back-up features in Dennis the Menace for the first 60 or 70 issues. I will post that this weekend.

 

I'm curious to discover if Joey was introduced into the Dennis comic strip first or was he a creation of Wiseman/Toole that debuted in the comic book and then migrated to the strip. If so, it would be a significant addition to the Dennis lore for Wiseman/Toole as Joey quickly supplanted Tommy as Dennis' #1 playmate.

 

I'm pretty sure that Margaret and Gina were introduced in the daily strip and then made their way into the comic book.

 

Hmmm. More research seems in order...

 

[bTW still looking for someone who can tell me how I can sharpen up my avatar.]

[Scrooge]

Try to change it to this version and let's see if you think it's better.

 

[BillyBatson4360]

Thanks, that cleared up the problem. Now, what did you do to my original image to make it sharper (so the next time I want to change my avatar I don't have to rely on the kindness of fellow posters)?

[BillyBatson4360]

Before I get into listing the various back-up strips that ran in "Dennis the Menace," does anyone know the real reason for these back-ups? I seem to remember reading that comics in the 1950's and early 60's were required to feature at least one story that used different characters than the rest of the stories in the comic in order to qualify for 2nd Class mailing permits. These were the same regulations that required text stories.

 

Most single character comics all featured one story per issue that starred a different character. Uncle Scrooge had Gyro Gearloose, Popeye had O.G. Wottsnozzle, etc. Yet, Superman comics all featured Superman from cover to cover, so who knows? If anyone knows the reason behind these second bananas, I'd appreciate the information.

 

All right, now on to the listing of the back-up strips that ran in Dennis the Menace:

 

No back-up strips # 1-4

 

Pee Bee Kappa (Boy Genius) # 5

 

Chub # 6, 22 - This character was overweight, back when that was an accepted target for a kids humor strip (think Little Lotta). Mercifully, he only made two appearances.

 

Punky # 7-10, 23-30 - A forerunner of Joey's. A much younger kid than Dennis who got into all kinds of adventures that his parents remained blissfully unaware of.

 

Screamy Mimi # 11-21 - A female "Menace" whose main quality was shouting instead of speaking in a quiet voice. Even as a kid, I found her to be a one-joke character whose joke wore thin quickly.

 

Joey # 31-37 - Before Joey joined the main Dennis stories he spent a few issues as a back-up feature. He actually crossed over into the main continuity in issue # 34 and that may explain why his last solo outing was in # 37 (if the back-up characters couldn't apear in the main story or vice versa).

 

A Grandpa Story # 38-51, 53, 58-60, 68-70 - Appears to be the longest running back-up story. A grandfather tells some kids stories that the kids exaggerate or take too literally in their imaginations.

 

The above mentioned strips all were drawn by Wiseman if Wiseman did the art on the Dennis strips as well. The strips below I'm not as familar with because I don't collect the non-Wiseman issues.

 

Shorty’s Tall Tales # 52, 54-57, 62-67

 

Special Cowboy Coloring Section # 61 - Actually this one seems pretty self-explanatory.

 

Flags That Tell the Story of Our Country # 71 - Ditto.

 

Beany # 72-81, 83-85

 

Some Thrilling “Blue Angels” Maneuvers # 82 - The issue's cover story featured Dennis & Henry watching an exhibition by the Blue Angels.

 

If Joe or anybody else wants to complete this list, be my guest.