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| Dennis the Menace | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author(s) | Hank Ketcham Marcus Hamilton Ron Ferdinand |
| Launch date | March 12, 1951 |
| End date | present |
| Syndicate(s) | Daily Ink |
| Publisher(s) | Fantagraphics Books |
Dennis the Menace is a daily syndicated newspaper comic strip originally created, written and illustrated by Hank Ketcham. It debuted on March 12, 1951 in 16 newspapers[1] and was originally distributed by Post-Hall Syndicate.[2] It is now written and drawn by Ketcham's former assistants, Marcus Hamilton and Ron Ferdinand, and distributed to at least 1,000 newspapers in 48 countries and 19 languages by King Features Syndicate.[3] The comic strip usually runs for a single panel on weekdays and a full strip on Sundays.
The comic strip became so successful that it was adapted to many other kinds of popular media, including several television shows, both live-action and animated; and several feature films, including theatrical and direct-to-video releases.
The inspiration for the comic strip came from Dennis Ketcham, the real life son of Hank Ketcham,[4] who was only four years old when he refused to take a nap and somehow messed up his whole room. Hank tried many possible names for the character, and translated them into rough pencil sketches. But when his studio door flew open and his then-wife Alice, in utter exasperation exclaimed, "Your son is a menace!",[5] the "Dennis the Menace" name stuck. The character of Henry Mitchell bore a striking resemblance to Ketcham. The Mitchell family of Dennis, Hank/Henry and Alice were all named after the Ketchams.
Ketcham's linework has been highly praised over the years. A review on comicbookbin.com states: "...a growing legion of cartoonists, scholars, aficionados, etc. have come to appreciate the artistry of Dennis’ creator, Hank Ketcham. Ketcham’s beautiful artwork defines cartooning elegance. The design, the composition, and the line: it’s all too, too beautiful."[6] AV Club reviewer Noel Murray wrote: "Ketcham also experimented with his line a little early on, tightening and thickening without losing the looseness and spontaneity that remains the strip's best aspect even now."[7]
Ketcham received the Reuben Award for the strip in 1953.[8] He also was made honorary mayor of Wichita. He was quoted saying "I set the whole thing in Wichita, Kansas, and as a result I got made an honorary mayor of Wichita."[9]
Coincidentally, another cartoon strip titled Dennis the Menace was published in the British comic The Beano on March 15 (cover dated March 17 - the "off sale" date) 1951.[citation needed]. Like the American character, the UK one remains popular to this day and has made the transition to television cartoons. Ketcham's comic strip was dubbed Just DennisorThe Pickle there to avoid confusion with the native UK version of Dennis the Menace.[citation needed] The television version screened in the UK simply as Dennis.
Hank Ketcham retired from the comic strip in 1994,[5] turning the production of the strip over to his assistants Ron Ferdinand and Marcus Hamilton. They continued it after Ketcham's death in 2001,[5] and they still produce it to this day.
Dennis the Menace has been published in comic books and comic digests from the 1950s through the 1980s by a variety of publishers, including Standard/Pines (1953–58), Fawcett Comics (1958–80, during their only return to comics after losing the Captain Marvel lawsuit), and Marvel Comics (1981–82). These included comic strip reprints and Dennis the Menace comics produced by others besides Ketcham. Al Wiseman, one of Ketcham's assistants in the 1950s and 60s, worked on many of them. Ron Ferdinand, Ketcham's Sunday page artist, drew several of the Dennis stories in the Marvel books, including the cover for issue #11.
The main comic book series (simply named Dennis the Menace) ran in tandem with the “Giant” series. The Dennis the Menace Giant Vacation Special[10] and Dennis the Menace Christmas Issue[11] were published by Standard in 1955. Those issues inaugurated the Giants series, which was published by Pines for issues 2-6,[12] and continued by Hallden/Fawcett for issues 6-75.[13] The Giant series was later renamed the Dennis the Menace Bonus Magazine Series, which started with issue #76 in 1970.[14] CBS and Hallden later retitled the series as The Dennis the Menace Big Bonus Series, which it ran through issue #194 in October 1979.
By October 1979, Fawcett began publishing a separate series of 36 issues entitled Dennis the Menace and Mr. Wilson. By the second issue, the Dennis and Mr. Wilson series was re-christened Dennis the Menace and His Friends which now involved Dennis, Mr. Wilson and friends, Joey, Margaret and dog, Ruff. Because of this, the Mr. Wilson stories were alternated with the three characters as Ruff, Joey and Margaret who each shared a #1 issue with Dennis.
There were also other series of Dennis the Menace comic books published in 1961, first there was Dennis the Menace and His Dog, Ruff and Dennis the Menace and His Pal, Joey published the summer and the last but not least was Dennis the Menace and Margaret published in the winter of 1969.
In 1977, Word Books, Inc. commissioned Hank Ketcham Enterprises, Inc. to produce a series of ten comic books under the title Dennis and the Bible Kids, with the usual cast of characters reading (and sometimes partly acting out) the stories of Joseph, Moses, David, Esther, Jesus, and other Biblical characters. These were sold through Christian bookstores and related outlets. Each issue contained several inspirational renderings by Hank Ketcham himself.
The Dennis the Menace Fun Fest and the Dennis the Menace Big Bonus Series were revived for a short issue run in 1980.
January: The Dennis the Menace Fun Fest #16
February: The Dennis the Menace Big Bonus #10
March: The Dennis the Menace Fun Fest #17
April: The Dennis the Menace Big Bonus #11
After this revival series, the Hallden and CBS comics run came to an end in 1980. Fortunately, Ketcham had half of the comic book rights purchased by Stan Lee and Marvel Comics, so they were able to produce a new series of Dennis the Menace comic books. The new Marvel series started in December, 1981 and ended in November, 1982. The smaller Dennis the Menace comic digests were published continually by Fawcett and Hallden between 1969 and 1980 and they were briefly resurrected in reprints by Marvel in 1982 for a run of three issues.
The seventh issue featured a Spider-Man spoof called “Spider-Kid”. The story featured Dennis imagining himself as a pint-sized Spider-Man fighting crime with Mr. Wilson as J. Jonah Jameson, Gina Gillotti as his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson and Joey, Margaret and Ruff being themselves. The cover showed Dennis as Spider-Kid jumping from a cloud and unmasking himself.
| Title | Starting year | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Dennis the Menace (#1-14)[15] | 1953 | Standard |
| Dennis the Menace (#15-31)[16] | 1956 | Pines |
| Dennis the Menace (#32-166)[17] | 1959 | Hallden/Fawcett/CBS |
| Dennis the Menace (#1-13)[18] | 1981 | Marvel |
| Title | Starting year | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| The Best of Dennis the Menace (#1-5)[19] | 1959 | Hallden |
| Dennis the Menace Pocket Full of Fun digest (#1-50)[20] | 1969 | Fawcett |
| Dennis The Menace and the Bible Kids (#1-10)[21] | 1977 | Word Books |
Dennis the Menace has also been published in paperback. These books collect the comic strips released around the time of each books' original publication.[citation needed] Avon Books,[22] Gold Medal,[23] Crest,[24] and Pocket Books[25] have all published collections of the strip. In 1991, Abbeville Press published a trade paperback retrospective titled Dennis the Menace: His First 40 Years.[26]
| List of paperbacks |
|---|
| Dennis the Menace (1952) |
| More Dennis the Menace (1954) |
| Babysitter’s Guide by Dennis the Menace (1954) |
| Wanted: Dennis the Menace (1955) |
| Dennis the Menace Rides Again (1956) |
| Dennis the Menace vs. Everybody (1957) |
| Dennis the Menace: Household Hurricane (1958) |
| In this corner… Dennis the Menace (1959) |
| Dennis the Menace …Teacher’s Threat (1960) |
| Dennis the Menace Voted Most Likely (1960) |
| Dennis the Menace A.M.* *Ambassador of Mischief (1961) |
| Dennis the Menace: Happy Half-Pint (1962) |
| Dennis the Menace …Who Me? (1963) |
| Dennis the Menace: Make-Believe Angel (1964) |
| Dennis the Menace …Here Comes Trouble (1966) |
| Dennis the Menace and Poor Ol’ Mr. Wilson (1967) |
| Dennis the Menace: All-American Kid (1968) |
| Dennis the Menace and his pal Joey (1968) |
| Dennis the Menace: Your Friendly Neighborhood Kid (1969) |
| Dennis the Menace: Perpetual Motion (1969) |
| Dennis the Menace …Everybody’s Little Helper (1970) |
| Dennis the Menace: Non-Stop Nuisance (1970) |
| Dennis the Menace: Surprise Package (1971) |
| Dennis the Menace: Short ‘n Snappy (1971) |
| Dennis the Menace: Where the Action Is (1971) |
| Dennis the Menace: Dennis Power (1972) |
| Dennis the Menace: Just for Fun (1973) |
| Dennis the Menace: The Kid Next Door (1973) |
| Dennis the Menace: Busybody (1974) |
| Dennis the Menace: Little Pip-Squeak (1974) |
| Dennis the Menace: Play it Again, Dennis (1975) |
| Dennis the Menace: To the Core (1975) |
| Dennis the Menace: Little Man in a Big Hurry (1976) |
| Dennis the Menace: Short Swinger (1976) |
| Dennis the Menace and His Girls (1977) |
| Dennis the Menace: Stayin' Alive (1977) |
| Dennis the Menace: Good Intenshuns (1978) |
| Dennis the Menace: One More Time (1978) |
| Someone's In The Kitchen With Dennis (1978) |
| Dennis the Menace: “Your Mother’s Calling!” (1978) |
| Dennis the Menace: Ol’ Droopy Drawers (1978) |
| Dennis the Menace: Driving Mother Up the Wall (1979) |
| Dennis the Menace: I Done It MY Way (1979) |
| Dennis the Menace: Short in the Saddle (1979) |
| Dennis the Menace: Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1980) |
| Dennis the Menace: The Way I Look at It… (1982) |
| Dennis the Menace: Dog’s Best Friend (1982) |
| Dennis the Menace: Supercharged and Ever Ready (1983) |
| Dennis the Menace: Sunrise Express (1983) |
In 2005, comics publisher Fantagraphics began to reprint Ketcham's entire run on Dennis the Menace (excluding Sunday strips) in a 25-volume series over eleven years.[27] They are published in hardcover editions as well as paperback.
Dennis the Menace has been the subject of a number of adaptations. The first and perhaps most well known was a CBS sitcom that aired from 1959 to 1963 starring Jay North as Dennis[28] and both Joseph Kearns[29] and Gale Gordon, successively, as Mr. (George and John) Wilson. North also appeared as the character while guest starring on an episode of The Donna Reed Show in 1960.[30] A live-action film starring Walter Matthau as Mr. Wilson and Mason Gamble as Dennis was released to theaters in 1993.[31] It was originally titled "The Real Dennis the Menace" before the final name was approved. This was followed up with Dennis the Menace Strikes Again in 1998 starring Don Rickles as Mr. Wilson.
The most recent film adaptation, A Dennis the Menace Christmas was released to DVD on November 6, 2007. The Warner Brothers production starred Robert Wagner as Mr. Wilson, Louise Fletcher as Mrs. Wilson, and Maxwell Perry Cotton, a six-year-old actor, as Dennis.
Films [32]
Dennis the Menace: Dinosaur Hunter (1987, live-action)
Dennis the Menace (1993, live-action)
Dennis the Menace Strikes Again (1998, live-action)
Dennis the Menace in Cruise Control (2002, animated)
A Dennis the Menace Christmas (2007, live-action)
TV shows
Dennis the Menace (1959, live-action)
Dennis the Menace in Mayday for Mother (1981, animated)
Dennis the Menace (1986, animated)
All-New Dennis the Menace (1996, animated)
In 1952 Hank Ketcham spearheaded the construction of the Dennis the Menace Playground, designed by Arch Garner.[33] It opened in Monterey, California on November 17, 1956.[34] The playground featured a bronze statue of Dennis sculpted by Wah Chang. On the night of October 25, 2006, the 125-lb statue, which was estimated to be worth $30,000 was stolen from the playground.[35] It was not recovered, but in April 2007 it was replaced by a reproduction of another Dennis statue Chang made for the Ketchams.[36]
The comic strip has been translated into many foreign languages, which has helped make the strip's characters famous worldwide.
| List of foreign language titles |
|---|
| Arabic: 'ّماهر الصغير' (Little Dennis) |
| Brazilian Portuguese: Dennis, o Pimentinha |
| Croatian: Vragolasti Denis |
| Danish: Jern-Henrik |
| Dutch: Dennis de Bengel |
| Finnish: Ville Vallaton |
| French: Denis la malice |
| French Canadian: Denis la petite peste |
| German: Dennis der Lausejunge (also known as Dennis die Nervensäge) |
| Greek: Ντένις ο Τρομερός |
| Hebrew: דני שובבני (Danny Shovevani) |
| Hungarian: Dennisz, a komisz |
| Icelandic: Denni Dæmalausi |
| Italian: Dennis la Minaccia |
| Japanese: わんぱくデニス (Wanpaku Dennis) |
| Korean: 개구쟁이 데니스 |
| Norwegian: Dennis the Menace |
| Polish: Dennis Rozrabiaka |
| Portuguese: Dennis o Pimentinha |
| Russian:Дэннис непоседа |
| Serbian: Denis Napast |
| Spanish: Daniel el Travieso |
| Slovenian: Dennis pokora |
| Swedish: Dennis, early called Jern-Hernik, Bosse BusorKristian Tyrann. |
| Turkish: Afacan Denis |
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