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Dennis the Menace gets a Softy Makeover! |
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#1 |
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Dennis the Menace gets a Softy Makeover!
Dennis the Menace has been shooting peas and catapulting pebbles at bobbies and Softies alike for some 58 years. Now it has all changed. Dennis has been comprehensively made over: old Dennis: http://news.pinkpaper.com/uploads/Dennis-menace.jpg new Dennis: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/...38_224x285.jpg Dennis now has two distinct eyes but has lost a finger on each hand. Plus, he now has visible teeth. http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=1438 Quote:
...The star of long-running comic the Beano will no longer bully archrival Walter the Softie in the 52 upcoming (CBBC) episodes, because of perceived homophobia, while the infamous weaponry he’s typically favoured in the past – from peashooters and water pistols – are also to vanish...
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...Speaking with gossip website Digital Spy, a spokeswoman responded to the makeover claims: "Dennis The Menace has been evolving since its creation in 1951, in print and on TV. do we have a link to that somewhere?“Although the stories and animation have been updated to appeal to current CBBC viewers, his character has not changed significantly and Dennis remains as boisterous and mischievous as ever." I just found out that Dennis's pet pig, Rasher, has suddenly become his Granny's pet pig, Harley. Is it in "1984" where the hero notices that they are at war with a different country - Eurasia? - which he had sort of thought was their ally, but all the records now say it's always been like this? I seem to recall the story that one week in, say, 1940, a story paper pilot (Braddock?) finished a sortie in the first world war and the next week's mission was against the Nazis, just like that! The Beano teacher used to have a fence made out of canes which disappeared the same week the characters' Dads lost their slippers, I suppose... This hasn't been the first makeover for Beano characters, though. The Bash Street Kids changed to go to a smart new metal-and-glass school with a robot teacher and ugly Plug had had plastic surgery. By the following week they were back to normal! Dennis the Menace has had a makeover before, too; long trousers and trainers - the trainers couldn't stand up to the use he gave them and he soon went through the knees of the long trousers! I think he had a baseball cap, too, which he lost. So this time big business has talked. From the start, Dennis the Menace has shared his name with an American character who appears to have been invented coincidentally at the same time, and now British Dennis is "Dennis and Gnasher" Dennis... well, if there are no Softies there can be no Menaces, can there? Like Dragons without Tigers... How long till product placement gives us "Pepsi Dennis is brought to you by Persil Automatic..."? Gnasher is traditionally a Wire-Haired Abyssinian Tripehound. (when he went missing in about 1986, there was a "missing" small ad in the Times: Lost: One Wire-Haired Abyssinian Tripehound...) Does that discriminate against Africans and vegetarians? will Gnasher become a World Citizen Tofuhound with that flyaway, problem hair that only Garnier can tame? ...you couldn't make it up...as they say of children's fiction...
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#2 |
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Old news, not entirely accurate, and it belongs in the comics section.
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#3 |
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Quote:
Old news, not entirely accurate, and it belongs in the comics section.
.Well, I hate to disappoint you, but, except for the bits in quotes, it's based on my reading the Beano today! so it's today's news and those bits are spot on! Otherwise, you are entirely right! If I had seen a "comics" section I would of course have posted it there. Where is the comics section forum, then, anybody? Maybe I can ask for the thread to be moved... (I have found a news section called "comics" which concentrates on American comics but haven't found a forum...) (is there one?) Prior news on DS: DS says the BBC bans Dennis the Menace's bullying: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a1709...-bullying.html DS announces DC Thomson to revamp the Beano: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/comics/a...the-beano.html |
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#4 |
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The comics forum is inside the Cult section. The description does say it has sub-forums for Doctor Who and Comics.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/f...play.php?f=209 Those DS articles are completely inaccurate. The first one was referencing an article in The Sun (can you really trust the tabloids?), the second was exaggerated. Only Dennis changed, not the whole comic. The exact changes to The Beano: As of issue 3498: Modified cover design New look contents and club pages New look Dennis and Gnasher Rasher, Gnasher and Gnipper and Bea and Ivy dropped Ivy the Terrible reverts back to being solo. Note that these changes were entirely due to the new Dennis cartoon. As of issue 3501: New story, Chipits New look for Ball Boy By the way, if you read issue 3499, you'd know Dennis had a pop-gun. He still carries weapons!
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#5 |
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Quote:
By the way, if you read issue 3499, you'd know Dennis had a pop-gun. He still carries weapons!
![]() so are those peashooter peas which are flying over my gang chalet? has the Menace v Softy war gone virtual? ![]() (*to tell the truth, if you see Dennis's pig Rasher and he is introduced as Gran's pig Harley, I don't know what is real and what is illusion any more, so I'm thinking of getting The Economist instead!) Thanks for the tip about the comics forum BTW. A search had revealed no thread about Dennis TBH... |
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#6 |
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Thanks to JAS84 for letting me know I had posted in the wrong place and to the mods for moving the thread for me.
EDIT NB seeing that Dennis had changed so radically, I searched our site for "Dennis" but missed the thread that had got wind that the Menace was to be Unmenaced, but which seems not to have been maintained as a reaction to what is happening. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s....php?t=1101561 Mind you, does the title "WTF" fit with the Beano? On the topic, it's not only Dennis's looks that have changed. He has been dragged into the Mid-Atlantic (starting from Dundee, does that involve getting hit in the Trossachs?) Now it sounds less like Dennis is from Scotland and more like he is from Nova Scotia. In Beano 3002 on a "Contents" page called "WHASSUP" (sic) Dennis says "This week's Beano is gonna be awesome cos it's packed with dinosaurs! I think dinosaurs are the coolest..." Ironically, the USA has never been a key market for the Beano (if it is even sold there...) Maybe, like Nova Scotia, Dennis is now meant to be Canadian. You can just hear Mike Myers reading that out... Last edited by patpending : 18-09-2009 at 10:50. Reason: finding another related thread for the first time despite having searched for "Dennis"... |
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#7 |
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Well, he has a Geordie accent in the cartoon, so it seems Beanotown is in Newcastle.
Rasher and Harley are not the same character. I dunno why they replaced Rasher. Gnipper was also switched from being Dennis or Bea's pet to also belonging to Granny, which I think only the TV series and annual have mentioned so far. The fact you've read issue 3502 (not 3002!) tells me you're a subscriber - 3501 is the current issue. The Beano is sold in Canada, Spain and New Zealand, the UK and Ireland obviously, and can be airmailed anywhere in the world. As for the other thread, once I pointed out the Beanotown and Dennis and Gnasher websites proved the tabloids wrong, most people just meekly stopped posting there. ![]() WTF is a term The Beano would never use, as it stands for "What the ****?" (rhymes with buck) |
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#8 |
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Quote:
...The fact you've read issue 3502 (not 3002!) tells me you're a subscriber - 3501 is the current issue...
However, I'm fed up of having to rip my comic up to get the plastic toys off. I subscribed to 2000AD from Prog 1 to 3,000, then stopped. I'm stopping the Beano at 3,500 and a bit, so that's where the confusion came from. Instead of a weekly chortle, I'm just saying "that's all wrong!"
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#9 |
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It's gone up again. £1.35 now instead of £1.25.
![]() I agree about the free gifts, I cut them off, but some sellotape always remains stuck to the cover. One advantage of the bagged issues I suppose. |
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#10 |
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Quote:
It's gone up again. £1.35 now instead of £1.25.
![]() (No. 3504 (checks number ) is £1.35.)So the Beano now has all the marketing integrity of "Yogi and his Toy". O tempora! O mores! O quantum canis ille in fenestra? Sic transeunt porci-"a" mundi... ![]() Quote:
I agree about the free gifts, I cut them off, but some sellotape always remains stuck to the cover. One advantage of the bagged issues I suppose.
As a subscriber, you get up to two plastic bags, always one for the address page. However, if there is a free gift, it is sellotaped directly to the cover.Hello Alan Digby (if you are still boss!) I imagine pre-makeover Beanos in any kind of fair condition will be like gold dust, especially for the proper artist for "Fred's Bed", perhaps the best original strip of the decade... |
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#11 |
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Actually, Fred's Bed isn't an original strip. When the Beano started using it, it was reprints from The Beezer and Topper, around 1991-1993. When they exhausted them, they started doing new strips drawn by Hunt Emerson or Tom Paterson. The 70th birthday one was drawn by David Sutherland, and the ones in the 2009 and 2010 annuals are by Ken Harrison.
I don't think Alan Digby has any control over free gifts, his job as editor is to control the content of The Beano and Beanomax comics. |
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#12 |
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Quote:
Actually, Fred's Bed isn't an original strip. When the Beano started using it, it was reprints from The Beezer and Topper, around 1991-1993
Thanks. Unlke the bloke they called Desert Island *Rick* I hadn't heard of it before.Mind you, a compact Beezer - let alone a "double the fun two comics in one" one incorporating Topper - sounds a bit like an evil robot Beezer! So I'd never seen it. A work of art like Snip and Snap out of the Sparky!Quote:
I don't think Alan Digby has any control over free gifts, his job as editor is to control the content of The Beano and Beanomax comics.
Yes, I suppose the question is "who is responsible for how the free gift is delivered with the comic to the point of little fingers" and it has to be securely attached somehow. (Try buying a Tefal iron with its water filter still in it!) We know the Beano is fighting for shelf space almost exclusively with TV tie-ins - making "Hey Girls! Get Blue Jeans!" (or is that "Hey Kids! Get Look-In!") look like tame plugging - and the kids (up to maybe 8) will want the one with the best free gift, so it has to be prominent. Collecting the comics will not be a key thing driving the marketing!(waiting to get my logon validated at the site you recommend...) |
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#13 |
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Desert Island Rick was of course Desert Island Dick reprints from Topper, and was a one-off. Beezer merged with Topper in 1990 and restarted the numbering from issue 1. It was indeed a Whizzer and Chips style 2 in 1: http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Gallery/No...&EarlierIssue=
Some front cover examples: http://www.macduffdavesbooks.co.uk/b...omics-57-c.asp |
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#14 |
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The cover price is variable and, on days with multiple free gifts, can go up to £1.99 (the 13,000% is based on that figure for headline purposes).
(No. 3504 (checks number ) is £1.35.)So the Beano now has all the marketing integrity of "Yogi and his Toy". O tempora! O mores! O quantum canis ille in fenestra? Sic transeunt porci-"a" mundi... ![]() As a subscriber, you get up to two plastic bags, always one for the address page. However, if there is a free gift, it is sellotaped directly to the cover. Hello Alan Digby (if you are still boss!) I imagine pre-makeover Beanos in any kind of fair condition will be like gold dust, especially for the proper artist for "Fred's Bed", perhaps the best original strip of the decade... |
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#15 |
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I remember when the Beano was 10p. I had old issues as a kid that cost 2p!
Everything is such a rip-off nowadays. No wonder kids are so messed up. |
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#16 |
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I remember when the Beano was 10p. I had old issues as a kid that cost 2p!
Everything is such a rip-off nowadays. No wonder kids are so messed up. Many things are far cheaper in real terms today then 50 years ago. |
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#17 |
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Quote:
It's gone up again. £1.35 now instead of £1.25.
![]() I agree about the free gifts, I cut them off, but some sellotape always remains stuck to the cover. One advantage of the bagged issues I suppose. |
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#18 |
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Dennis looks too cute these days. He needs his old evil grin
As for the Softies, they should be repackaged as being rich snobs who try to make (the socially lower and financially more restricted) Dennis' life miserable, and thus, he has justification to retaliate. But his peashooter and water pistol should remain. Don't make Dennis into "The Simpsons" who now talk about Twitter, Blu-rays and have a widescreen HDTV. Animation should be timeless. Seperate from the real world. Dennis is a menace, not a chav. |
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#19 |
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I've just discovered a load of old Beanos in the loft (1980s-1990s).
Anyone know the best place to sell them? Or is anyone interested in buying them? |
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#20 |
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Maybe somebody at www.comicsuk.co.uk/forum will be interested. If not, try eBay.
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#21 |
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Quote:
I remember when the Beano was 10p. I had old issues as a kid that cost 2p!
Everything is such a rip-off nowadays. No wonder kids are so messed up. Quote:
You cannot compare prices like that and say its "such a rip-off nowadays". Its didn't cost 2p in today's money its not a fair comparison. Wages where a lot lower and prices were a lot lower.
*I* specifically remember that the Beano was 10p when my parents started buying it for me regularly, would have been 1983 or 1984. While the early 80s continued the 1970s' high inflation rates (that made a mockery of the "1p" and "2p" prices of my parents' childhood), it was *much* lower from the early 90s onwards. In fact, that 10p Beano would still only cost approximately 30p in today's prices at the standard rate of inflation. Having checked, a 2011 Beano *actually* cost £1.50(!!) Of couse, I appreciate that back then it was printed on cheaper newsprint with far less colour. (They switched to higher quality printing for the 50th anniversary in the late 80s, shortly before I stopped getting it). Still, big increase. Or maybe not. We have to also remember that inflation is a basket figure, and has been kep "low" partly also because of (e.g.) cheap electronic goods made in countries like China. That doesn't really apply to The Beano, so perhaps that 30p price is misleading (after all, if some things are below the overall inflation rate then by definition other things have to be above it!) |
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The first one was referencing an article in The Sun (can you really trust the tabloids?), the second was exaggerated. Only Dennis changed, not the whole comic.


