The Beano is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and well-known comic strips and characters include Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz, Lord Snooty and His Pals, Ivy the Terrible, General Jumbo, Jonah, and Biffo the Bear.
Roger the Dodger is a comic strip character from the comic magazine The Beano. He first appeared in his eponymous comic strip in 1953, and is one of the longest-running characters, known for his tactics of avoiding responsibility and his parents' rules, usually with the help of instructional "dodge" books.
Pup Parade is a British comic strip that features in the comic magazine The Beano. It is a spin-off to The Bash Street Kids, following the lives of their dogs, and appeared in several issues for over two decades. The comic strip has been rebooted frequently, from the comic magazine it debuted in, to other comic magazines created and owned by DC Thomson.
Gnasher is a fictional comic strip character that appears in the British comic magazine The Beano. He is the pet dog of Dennis the Menace, who meets him in 1968's issue 1362, and is also the star of three spin-off comic strips. Gnasher is considered just as iconic as his owner as both have been the stars of many children's television programming and are the unofficial mascots of The Beano. Gnasher reached nationwide news in the 1980s after he disappeared from the magazine for seven weeks, returning with his six newborn puppies, but usually interacts with his son Gnipper.
Rasher is a British comic strip published in the comics magazine The Beano, featuring Dennis the Menace's pet pig Rasher. It was initially drawn by David Sutherland and published five years after the character's first appearance. Due to The Beano's 2012 continuity, Rasher's daughter has succeeded the role, particularly in Dennis And Gnasher: Unleashed!.
Simply Smiffy is a comic strip published in the British comic magazine The Beano. It is one of the many spin-off comic strips off The Bash Street Kids, first appearing in issue 2254.
Lord Snooty is a fictional character who stars in the British comic strip Lord Snooty and his Pals from the British comic anthology The Beano. The strip debuted in issue 1, illustrated by DC Thomson artist Dudley D. Watkins, who designed and wrote Snooty's stories until 1968, but the stories would continue featuring in Beano issues until 1991, with occasional revivals and character cameos.
Biffo the Bear is a fictional character from the British comic magazine The Beano who stars in the comic strip of the same name, created in 1948 by Dudley D. Watkins. He was the mascot of The Beano for several decades.
Big Eggo was a British comic strip series about an eponymous ostrich, published in the British comic magazine The Beano. He first appeared in issue 1, dated 30 July 1938, and was the first ever cover star. His first words in the strip were "Somebody's taken my egg again!". It was drawn throughout by Reg Carter.
Grandpa was a British comic strip which originally appeared in the magazine The Beano from 1955 to 1957, drawn by Ken Reid. It was later revived from 1971 until 1984, but this time by Robert Nixon and afterwards Jimmy Glen.
General Jumbo is a British adventure story character from the comic magazine The Beano. He starred in the eponymous adventure story series, as well as the 1971 spin-off series Admiral Jumbo, and was illustrated by a variety of Beano's usual illustrators, including Paddy Brennan. Jumbo is a well-known Beano character with numerous references in popular culture, and was the last character to have an adventure stories series.
Ping the Elastic Man was a British comic strip that appeared in The Beano. It was about a boy who could stretch his limbs as if they were made of elastic and was created by Hugh McNeill.
Jonah is a comic strip character published in the magazine The Beano. He made his first appearance in his eponymous comic strip in 1958, illustrated by Ken Reid. Although his comic strip sporadically appeared throughout the magazine, it has been published in other DC Thomson comic magazines.
Billy the Cat is a fictional character first published in the British comic magazine The Beano in 1967. He is a vigilante dressed in a "cat suit" who stars in his eponymous adventure story, and occasionally teams with Katie Cat. A popular character, Billy the Cat is a prolific figure in DC Thomson's comic magazines, his character appearing in a variety of series and issues of non-Beano magazines.
Hairy Dan was a British comic strip character by Basil Blackaller originally published in the magazine The Beano Comic in the comic strip of the same name. It first appeared in issue 1 on 30 July 1938 and ran until issue 297.
Wee Peem was a British comic strip character in The Beano, first written and designed by James Jewell. He starred in two comic strips between 1938 and 1957, and would get up to various forms of mischief in a similar way to later Beano strips such as Dennis the Menace and Minnie the Minx.
Jimmy and His Magic Patch was a British adventure story published in the British comics magazine The Beano in 1944. It was drawn by Dudley D. Watkins and later continued by Paddy Brennan until 1959. It starred schoolboy Jimmy Watson who time-travelled accidentally with a cloth patch on his school clothing.
The Fun Size Beano and Fun Size Dandy were small-format, full-colour children's comics, originally published four times monthly by DC Thomson and Co. Ltd between 1997 and 2010. They replaced the Beano and Dandy Comic Libraries, originally printed in red, white and black and published from 1982 to 1997. The Beano Comic Libraries lasted for 368 issues and their Dandy counterparts lasted for 344 issues. There were also comic library specials, The Beano Comic Library Specials being puzzle books and lasting for 87 issues (1988–1994) and the Dandy Comic Library Specials being cartoon books, featuring a number of single page comic strips and these lasted for 88 issues (1987–1994).
Jack Flash is a British adventure story character published in the British comic magazine The Beano, first appearing in issue 355 with artwork by Dudley Watkins. He featured for almost a decade in five serials, following his time as a foreigner to Earth and living in a Cornish village.
