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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 (also named Rasher) has succeeded the role, particularly in Dennis And Gnasher: Unleashed! .
Rasher is a pig obsessed with food, either seen eating it (usually by stealing the food from an unsuspecting human) or daydreaming about it. A method of attack to get the food is by either butting humans or racing past them quick enough so they fail to notice their food has disappeared.
Rasher made his first appearance in The Beano in issue 1920 in Dennis the Menace and Gnasher . [1] Dennis and Gnasher walk by a farm and notice the farmer's pig used its trough to prank him. Dennis is intrigued and successfully takes the pig off the relieved farmer's hands, naming it Rasher. [Note 1]
Rasher received his eponymous comic strip in issue 2201, illustrated by Dave Sutherland. [3] It is notable of being the last comic strip published with Harold Cramond as Beano chief-editor. [4] Early stories also featured Rasher's family, such his brother Hamlet, his sister Virginia Ham, Uncle Crackling and Little Piglet, who were all introduced in the first episode. The series ran for over a decade in over 500 issues, and ended in 1995. [5]
From issue 3480, older Rasher strips were reprinted in full colour in The Beano. [6] Lew Stringer helmed the reboot from issue 3660, which was a part of the Funsize Funnies section. [7] This new series has appeared infrequently throughout the 2010s. [8] [9] [10]
Rasher has appeared in Dennis' comic strips sporadically, unlike Dennis' other pet, Gnasher, who stars in every issue (apart from a few issues in 1986). [11] Rasher is absent in the Dennis the Menace cartoon adaptations, notably not appearing in 2009's Dennis and Gnasher , despite the cartoon featuring Dennis' grandmother having a pet pig named Harley. Eventually, Rasher returned in Beano 3601, [12] featuring in Dennis and Gnasher alongside Harley.
Issue 3649 shifted Beano's continuity as Gok Wan gave Dennis' parents a makeover, [13] which was later revealed that Dennis' father turned into the original Dennis who had grown up, married and had his own children. [14] Stringer's Rasher reboot implies this change does not affect Rasher, but in the franchise retooling for Dennis and Gnasher: Unleashed!, the Rasher who appears in the cartoon is black and white like a cow, and revealed as the daughter of the Rasher the original Dennis owned. [15] Unlike her father, she prefers eating turnips.
As of September 2021, Rasher's last appearance in The Beano was in issue 4048. [16]
Rasher appears in other parts of Beano's franchise. In The Beano Annual s, Rasher's stories have appeared from 1986 to 1989's editions, but Rasher actually appeared a few annuals earlier in Rasher-themed puzzle games in 1984's and 1985's. [17] [18] The Rasher series mostly appeared in 1983's, 1985's and 1987's Beano Summer Specials.
The new Rasher appeared in the 2014 annual, where she was drawn by David Sutherland.
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.
The Bash Street Kids is a comic strip in the British comic magazine The Beano. It also appeared briefly in The Wizard as series of prose stories in 1955. The strip, created by Leo Baxendale as When the Bell Rings!, first appeared in issue 604. It became The Bash Street Kids in 1956 and has become a regular feature, appearing in every issue. From 1962, until his death in 2023, David Sutherland drew over 3000 strips in his time as illustrator.
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.
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.
Minnie the Minx, whose real name is Hermione Makepeace is a comic strip character published in the British comic magazine The Beano. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953, making her the third longest running Beano character behind Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger.
Beatrice "Bea" Menace is a fictional character from the British comic magazine The Beano. She was born in issue 2931 and is the baby sister of Dennis the Menace. She appears frequently in her brother's comic strip, but would receive comic strips of her own to star in, including a crossover comic strip with Ivy the Terrible.
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.
The Three Bears was a long-running British comic strip which appeared in the British comics magazine The Beano. It first featured in 1959's issue 881 and ran sporadically until 2011 through reprints and several artists.
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.
Pansy Potter is a British comic strip character from the magazine The Beano. She first appeared in Pansy Potter the Strong Man's Daughter issue 21 in 1938 and was first illustrated by Hugh McNeill.
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.
Walter Brown is a fictional character that appears in the British comic magazine The Beano. He is the rival and antagonist to Dennis the Menace who is vilified because of his lack of interest in stereotypically masculine activities and attitudes. From his first appearance in 1953, Walter became the target of Dennis' pranks and misbehaviour but would brush it off. Sometime in the 1980s, Walter's characterisation changed after reader backlash and made him a snobbish rich boy foil to his enemies.
David Sutherland was a Scottish illustrator and comics artist with DC Thomson, responsible for The Bash Street Kids (1962–2023), Dennis the Menace (1970–1998), Fred's Bed (2008–2012) for The Beano, and the second version of Jak for The Dandy in the early 2000s.
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by DC Thomson, of Dundee, Scotland. The comic stars a boy named Dennis the Menace and his dog, an "Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound" named Gnasher.
Well, the term rasher can also apply to ham and it actually means a thin slice. So, a rasher of bacon is a thin slice of bacon, and a rasher of ham is a thin slice of ham.
My dad [Dennis Snr] also had a pig called Rasher when he was young, so I [Dennis Jnr] thought my parents would be fine about me rescuing Rasher's daughter – also called Rasher – from a fate worse than sausages...
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