The Ultimate Dennis the Menace Thread 3 3

[BillyBatson4360]

My auctions never turn out this well!

 

In fact, I sold a Dennis # 1 last year - in better shape than this eBay copy - for $100. But I sold it to someone on this thread - so I don't mind.

 

What really griped me about these eBay listings is they once again perpetuate the myth that Hank Ketcham drew the comic. Nary a mention of our boys - Toole & Wiseman.

 

BTW for anyone viewing these pages, you really need to be checking Bill Alger's blog on a daily basis. It is the "motherlode" of information as well as samples of Wiseman's wok.

[balger-migration]

ComicBookGuy & BillyBatson,

If it wasn't for this Dennis thread, I probably wouldn't have gottten off my [embarrassing lack of self control] and started the blog. Great work!

[balger-migration]

Hmmm... looks like I can't say "[embarrassing lack of self control]".

[escape-migration]

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

 

#4 in Very Good - $290

Dennis #4 Link

 

 

You said it, Joe!

 

That #4 in ANY shape is hard to find. I finally snagged a "reading copy" a week or so ago off eBay. For anyone interested, I've scanned pages from it, and have uploaded it to ZShare, a file hosting site.

 

Dennis the Menace #4 <----- Just click the link, click "download" and enjoy!

 

And let me add my thanks for all the fine work you do, Mr. Alger! An incredible tribute to the genius of Al Wiseman!

[Jon-migration]

Thanks Escape. And I've just uploaded #7 to ABPC. That's the last of the Toole-Wiseman consecutive run on the regular series we needed, #1-46. My notes also say there is Wiseman art in #53 and that hasn't been posted yet (though I have it to scan).

 

Does anyone have #8 and #15. I could really use better front cover scans before I burn all of these to a CD. You acn scan a cover without opening the book so you wont' damage it at all ---- please

[ComicBookGuy]

Great work on that, Jon! It's a great accomplishment. If you want good covers, go to the first pages of this thread where I posted high grade scans of the first 25 issues, mostly Bethlehem copies. If these don't work, let me know and I will email you good scans.

 

With all the talk about Al Wiseman, our friend and fellow poster Bill Wray auctioned off another Wiseman page recently that sold for $500. It's the same story that I own a page of and that JRW now has a page of. Too bad we broke up the story, but we can always pick up a Dennis the Menace #16 to read it in its entirety. Here's the link to the auction:

 

Al Wiseman Art Auction

 

Here's the page:

 

[balger-migration]

I've got some pages from that story also...

[ComicBookGuy]

I know it's been mentioned before that Al Wiseman was rarely credited, and that one time he was credited was in Dennis Giant #6 - In Hawaii. Another time he was credited was in this Little Golden Book:

 

[ComicBookGuy]

Here is the inside cover and first page of a book I have right here. Notice AW is actually credited.

 

[ComicBookGuy]

And here is the second page. I can scan more if anyone is interested. It's interesting to look closely at the art since it helps to see exactly what AW's Dennis looks like, as opposed to HK's and Lee Holley's.

 

[ComicBookGuy]

There were six of these early kids books. The first was in 1956, and while it says HK was the artist on this first one, one look at the cover tells us it's AW:

 

Edited June 14, 2006 by ComicBookGuy

[ComicBookGuy]

The next one has credits for Fred Toole as writer and Hank Ketcham for art:

 

[Jon-migration]

Great work on that, Jon! It's a great accomplishment. If you want good covers, go to the first pages of this thread where I posted high grade scans of the first 25 issues, mostly Bethlehem copies. If these don't work, let me know and I will email you good scans.

 

I downloaded those some time ago thanks. If possible, I'd love to get a larger scan of the covers to #8 and 15. 1000 to 1200 pixels wide if possible.

 

Jon

 

PS we're workign on the early Giants now

[otisd-migration]

Hello,

 

I stumbled on your forum by accident and enjoyed reading the posts. Many years ago I used to work at a small advertising agency in Monterey and one of our project was a local golf tournament program. Hank Ketcham was one of the many cartoonist who supplied art for the project. A point of intrest was that, amongst other things, one of the reasons he stopped being so involved with Dennis was that he wanted to concentrate on his painting and to be taken seriously as a fine artist, not just a cartoonist. Ironic then that the art he supplied us with was two cartoons! I still have the original art he supplied us with and thought you might be interested to view them.

[otisd-migration]

Here is the second cartoon

[balger-migration]

Otisd ,

Cool images! Thanks for sharing!

[Allen Ross-migration]

A few pages ago, I mentioned that issue #14 of Hogan's Alley was going to feature an interview with Marcus Hamilton, the current author of the daily strip.

 

The issue came out this week, and I got my copy. The interview is insightful. I'll comment more on it in the future. But they have also posted as "web extras" many of the illustrations from the article at this location. The last part, "The Evolution of a Dennis Panel", is the most interesting (the interview makes it clear that, although Ketcham was a stickler for detail, a lot of the back-and-forth was done in a fun manner, not antagonisic).

 

By the way, has anyone noticed that Ron Ferdnand has been doing some of the dailies lately; one or two a week?

[ComicBookGuy]

I got a subscription to this magazine just to get the Dennis issue. The first issue arrived a couple weeks ago, the one on the Yellow Kid. Then I get another envelope on Thursday, and I go to open it, and it's another copy of the Yellow Kid! I emailed them and hopefully I'll get my issue soon.

Thanks for posting that link. Marcus Hamilton's work before Dennis is very impressive. How many comic artists can claim a cover to The Saturday Evening Post? I've always thought he was an excellent artist and look forward to the interviews. As for him not doing the panels lately, I just hope that he's all right. I can't imagine what would happen to the strip if the two artists stopped doing them.

[BillyBatson4360]

Well, Dennis fans, the new Overstreet Price Guide has hit the streets – and alas, the price on Dennis’ books remains flat – despite the increased attention for Al Wiseman from this thread, Bill Alger’s blog and other corners. Ah well, it means if you haven’t completed your Dennis runs yet, you can still get ‘em at last year’s prices!

 

BTW, I went on a little mini-rant about Overstreet last March (comment # 759664):

 

Don't get me started on Overstreet. There are errors and omissions (particularly among non-superhero books) that have been in there for over a decade. I believe the people who put out that book have forgotten they were supposed to reflect the marketplace. Now, they think they're trying to lead the marketplace.

 

My post quickly drew this response from Overstreet “Special Advisor” Arnold T. Blumberg:

You could contribute to the Guide and the hobby by actually *telling* us about these errors and omissions and providing information that we can use to improve the book.

 

Okay, I took Arnold at his word and I wrote a very long letter, detailing some 21 errors and omissions. I also took the time to scan copies of comics from my personal collection to back up all the information I gave them in the letter.

 

The new Guide has been published now (a year after my letter) and how many of my errors do you think these great guys corrected? Not a one.

 

For example, the Guide has a listing for Al Capp’s Shmoo Comics that says issue #4 features the very first appearance of the “Super Shmoo” character. The character is actually featured on the cover of issue #2 and stars in that issue’s lead story. The Super Shmoo is also in issue #3 starring in another story. I provided scans of the cover to #2 and both Super Shmoo splash pages.

 

The result: no change in the almighty Overstreet.

 

So, I stand by my original comment.

[Earl Davis]

It's a shame Arnold left. If he had been there this sort of thing might have had a chance of getting sorted.