1703.21 NEW DENNIS - EVOLUTION OF A CARTOON

The second thing I learned to draw when I was a kid was from my favourite comic. From an early age my parents had copies of The Beano delivered to our house for me, later I also got The Dandy as well. The Dandy sadly ceased a number of years ago, The Beano however has managed to reinvent itself and is still going strong albeit as something very different to what used to land on my mat every week.

No prizes for guessing that I used to love drawing Dennis the Menace, I must have drawn him a million times. Obviously I haven't drawn him for years until now. I drew the pic for this post completely from memory, some younger readers (who are familiar with him) might think I'm a bit off with the drawing but if you look at Dennis from the late 70s and early 80s and you'll probably see where I'm coming from. I believe that America had their own completely different and separate 'Dennis the Menace', this is obviously not him, coincidentally both first appeared on the same day, 12th March 1951 (although the UK version was dated 17th the issue went on sale on the 12th).

Dennis evolution over
40 years

So why am I writing this now? Well Mr Menace is going to be appealing to a whole new generation. He'll be appearing in a new computer animated TV series on CBBC. Of course he looks and acts a bit different, his hair is a little One Direction and he's a little less 'nasty' in his appearance. In my day he was a true 'menace', a bully and a troublemaker who was a kind of an anti-hero, of course he usually go his comeuppance in the form of some sort of corporal punishment. He's also lost his weapons like the catapult (an offensive weapon these days) and pea-shooter. His bullying days are now over and he's more of a mischief than a menace today. Maybe his ability to change and evolve are the reasons for his continued and renewed popularity.

I'm a bit too old for Dennis now but I do like to look in on him from time to time, he's like an old best friend that never grew up.