The Ultimate Dennis the Menace Thread 3 3

[adamstrange]

Welcome to the board, Billy. I've only be around a few weeks, but this seems to be a pretty friendly place to hang out. I am definitely looking forward to your posts, pictorial or otherwise.

 

[ComicBookGuy]

BillyBatson, WELCOME!

This has been an amazing week to come on here and find two new forum members who were drawn here based solely on Dennis collecting. It's especially rewarding cause I haven't posted as much just lately cause I've been working 12-16 hour days. I will have to do another google search to see if this appears. There really is NO website about Dennis comics, so once this thread really gets all the collectors and info together, it can serve as the basis for a website.

 

My "origin" story is almost identical to yours. The first comics I read as a kid were the Dennis comics, typically as reprints in the 1970s. Even as a kid, I noticed that Wiseman's art DID stick out. I remember a conversation with my younger brother when we were looking at the comics in a stack. We would fight for ones by the "good artist." Whenever I hear Disney collectors refer to Barks as the "good artist," I always recall that Dennis had his "good artist" as well. Like you, I also "graduated" to superhero comics.

 

It's interesting that you mention the comic database. I haven't visited that for a while so should probably recheck it out.

 

You said that Ketcham didn't do the covers that bear his signature. I've heard that before as well, but I've never been able to verify the source of information. Any help you can offer in this regard would be appreciated.

 

I can't wait to see what your comics look like, especially the Dennis 1.

 

In the meantime, spring is almost here, so it seems appropriate to post Dennis Giant #20, as I continue to post the giant series:

 

[BillyBatson4360]

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.

[tth2]

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.

 

Hear hear! Great post, Billy, I agree that Wiseman-Toole's work ranks up there with anything the industry has ever produced. The scenes showing the havoc wreaked in a department store by Dennis were classic, and so incredibly detailed. I think you're absolutely right that unlike Barks and other masters, there has never been any major advocate championing Wiseman-Toole's cause.

[ComicBookGuy]

BB, you make a great point about Wiseman not receiving the recognition he deserves. I totally agree. I would think that always being in Ketcham's shadow hurt him - legacy-wise - in the long run. Look at Frazetta for instance. He did Li'l Abner for Al Capp for a time and received less recognition than Wiseman did. Li'l Abner strips gave Frazetta no credit at all as the strip said, "Li'l Abner by Al Capp." Frazetta, however, moved on and made a name for himself outside of this. Wiseman did receive credit on the insides of Dennis covers with even photos of him in some issues, but bottom line is that Dennis was Ketcham's creation, and to my knowledge Wiseman didn't achieve as much fame on his own or with other books as much as he did with Dennis.

 

You mention the popularity of these comics. I can remember how much my siblings, friends, neighbors, etc, loved Dennis comics and the reruns of the Jay North show. I have said it before and will say it again: These comics were read to death cause they were GOOD, and that's why they are tough to find in high grade even in later years when the printing numbers are high.

 

I think I will start posting some stuff that Ketcham did draw next after I post a few more giants. Here is Giant #21:

 

[ComicBookGuy]

Here is a virtually perfect file copy I bought from Jay Maybruck of Sparkle City Comics back in the 1980s. That guy was a character and always had phenomenal books. Anyone know what happened to him? I should probably ask Joe V next time I see him. Here is Giant #22:

 

[tth2]

BB, you make a great point about Wiseman not receiving the recognition he deserves. I totally agree. I would think that always being in Ketcham's shadow hurt him - legacy-wise - in the long run. Look at Frazetta for instance. He did Li'l Abner for Al Capp for a time and received less recognition than Wiseman did. Li'l Abner strips gave Frazetta no credit at all as the strip said, "Li'l Abner by Al Capp." Frazetta, however, moved on and made a name for himself outside of this. Wiseman did receive credit on the insides of Dennis covers with even photos of him in some issues, but bottom line is that Dennis was Ketcham's creation, and to my knowledge Wiseman didn't achieve as much fame on his own or with other books as much as he did with Dennis.

 

But Joe, you could make the same case for Duck books, that Carl Barks would always be overshadowed by Walt Disney. I think the difference is that relatively early on a few influential fans trumpeted Barks' name and built a cult, whereas that never happened with Wiseman. Perhaps now is the time to start.

 

Frazetta and Al Capp is different, because no public credit was ever meant to be given to Frazetta (or any of the various unacknowledged ghost artists that have worked on many successful comic strips through the years). They were day laborers who were intended to perpetuate the myth that the strip creator was doing all of his own work.

[tth2]

WOW!

[ComicBookGuy]

Perhaps now is the time to start.

 

I think we already HAVE started!

[tth2]

Do you know if there has been a feature on Dennis or on Wiseman-Toole in Comic Book Marketplace? That seems to be the main place where notable events or artists/writers get broken out for public consideration.

[adamstrange]

Does anybody have low grade copy where they might be able to scan a sample of Wiseman's art? I have been interested in finding a few choice copies, but, as has already been reported, they are quite scarce. I can't recall ever having read Dennis as a kid, though I probably would have run into a few of them just by chance. If I did, it must have been the wrong issue because I don't have any memories of the event.

[escape-migration]

Here's a short 4 page story from Dennis the Menace #35, featuring Joey. It will give you some idea of Wiseman's delicate, draftsmanship-like style. Just click on the image to view at full size....

 

 

 

 

 

I've hotlinked these thumbnails from my host site, as the scans are well over 1000 pixels wide, and force the viewer to scroll across the page. Ugh. These were already scanned by me.....I'll be sure to resize any future contributions to this fine group. First time to post a scan on a forum, so let me know if I've already broken a dozen rules or anything.

 

And add me to the list that Al Wiseman has been VERY short-changed in the credit department. Its nice to fellowship with others here that agree that Mr. Wiseman IS the "Good Dennis Artist"!

 

On the indexing subject, I'm afraid that I only own a small handful of Dennis comics. I've aquired a few Giants from eBay recently, and just got a small lot of early Standard/Pines issues from the regular series in today. The reason I asked in my initial post, I noticed some posts on Usenet (by using Google) back in 1999 or so, from a "Ed Hatton" whos name I recognize. He at one time apparently was trying to put together data on Wiseman. I guess I figured that 7 years later, all the Dennis comics would already be indexed.

 

Looks like its up to us, huh?

[BillyBatson4360]

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.

[BillyBatson4360]

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.

[escape-migration]

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").

 

Thanks for the wealth of info and the checklist!

 

I did a quick search, and while its not really verifiable, here's a link to an auction that listed Dennis Bonus Mag #103 as part of a lot:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=12591&item=6517496757&rd=1

 

It would appear the title on the cover was "Baby Zoo". But its difficult to confirm without a picture.

 

Hope this is at least a lead for you

[adamstrange]

Here's a short 4 page story from Dennis the Menace #35, featuring Joey. It will give you some idea of Wiseman's delicate, draftsmanship-like style. Just click on the image to view at full size....

 

 

 

 

 

I've hotlinked these thumbnails from my host site, as the scans are well over 1000 pixels wide, and force the viewer to scroll across the page. Ugh. These were already scanned by me.....I'll be sure to resize any future contributions to this fine group. First time to post a scan on a forum, so let me know if I've already broken a dozen rules or anything.

 

And add me to the list that Al Wiseman has been VERY short-changed in the credit department. Its nice to fellowship with others here that agree that Mr. Wiseman IS the "Good Dennis Artist"!

 

On the indexing subject, I'm afraid that I only own a small handful of Dennis comics. I've aquired a few Giants from eBay recently, and just got a small lot of early Standard/Pines issues from the regular series in today. The reason I asked in my initial post, I noticed some posts on Usenet (by using Google) back in 1999 or so, from a "Ed Hatton" whos name I recognize. He at one time apparently was trying to put together data on Wiseman. I guess I figured that 7 years later, all the Dennis comics would already be indexed.

 

Looks like its up to us, huh?

 

THANKS!

 

That's really nice artwork and story.

[ComicBookGuy]

This thread is getting more and more amazing! You guys rock! By pooling our knowledge together here we are going to make some great things happen.

 

Questions were raised about Dennis Giant / Bonus Series #40, #100, and #103, and I have definitive answers to all three questions since I own all three copies. Scans will follow. This series actually consists of 196 issues. It has two NoNumbers, No #1, two #6's, two #95's, no #96, and runs to #194.

 

Here is Dennis Giant #40, from Summer 1966, a reprint of #15:

 

 

Here is Dennis Bonus Magazine #100 from January 1972:

 

 

And here is Dennis Bonus Magazine #103 from April 1972:

 

 

I agree that ebay is the best way to complete a set of these. It took me about five years on ebay looking at least once every three days. What's tough is knowing what number an issue is when there are reprints and no numbers on many covers. Now that you've seen the covers, you should be able to find them.

 

To add to the list, we have Dennis On Safety, a very rare giveaway not listed in Overstreet. I will scan a copy later. Also, the two Television Specials, #1 and #2.

 

Joe

[ComicBookGuy]

Do you know if there has been a feature on Dennis or on Wiseman-Toole in Comic Book Marketplace? That seems to be the main place where notable events or artists/writers get broken out for public consideration.

 

Tim, no, there has not been an article in CBM about Dennis. There is a certain snobbery in the comic hobby, I feel, where some titles are not deemed worthy of recognition. Many Archie & Harvey collectors I know feel the same way. It is an egregious oversight, especially considering Dennis has had numerous movies, tv shows, multiple comic series ranging across decades, and continuous worldwide syndication for over fifty years even after the death of his creator. Dennis is more of a household name in this day and age than Uncle Scrooge or even Tarzan. (If not for the recent Disney movie, I'm not sure any of today's kids would even know who Tarzan is.) It's a blight on the hobby that Ketcham could not see his creation on the cover of the Overstreet Guide or CBM before his death. The only homage I've seen paid toward Ketcham in our hobby is by Fred Hembeck and one of Ketcham's biggest fans, Matt Groening.

Joe

[BillyBatson4360]

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?

[BillyBatson4360]

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.