Dennis the Menace Annual
Encyclopedia
The Dennis and Gnasher Annual is the current name of the book that has been published since 1955 to tie in with the children's comic
The Beano
, specifically the Dennis the Menace
comic strip
. there have been 39 over the years. Since they are traditionally published in the northern autumn and in time for Christmas, since 1965 (with the release of Dennis the Menace 1966) they have had the date of the following year on the cover. Before then no date was given. Until the 2009 edition, the annuals mainly featured reprints from around 14–15 years ago from the cover date of Dennis the Menace, Gnasher and Gnipper
and formerly Gnasher's Tale and Rasher strips in The Beano, although there is some new material. The 2010 and 2011 editions are all new material based on the updated style seen in the CBBC series.
Originally a new annual was published every two years. However, after the 1987 annual was published it was decided to make the annual a yearly publication instead. The next annual was published the following year and the others every year onwards since then.
The original title was simply "Dennis the Menace" with the year added at the end later on. This name continued, the year changing for each different annual, until the release of the 1978 book. There was then a short break until the next annual was published in 1982. From then on the words "from The Beano" were printed elsewhere on the cover, the same thing The Bash Street Kids Annual
had been doing for a few years earlier.
The name has had various suffixes since then, including "and Gnasher" on the 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995 and 1997 books, and "Book" on the 1991, 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2002 editions. The annual permanently changed its name to Dennis the Menace Annual from the 2003 book, though the following year and "from The Beano" still appear. The 2010 edition was renamed the Dennis & Gnasher Annual to tie in to the CBBC cartoon. It now says "as seen on CBBC" instead of "from The Beano".
There is no 2012 annual.
This information is necessary to date older annuals which were without dates. Annuals were published the autumn before with the 1956 annual published Autumn 1955. Prices are in shillings and (old) pence with one shilling equal to 5p.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
The Beano
The Beano
The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
, specifically the Dennis the Menace
Dennis the Menace (UK)
Dennis the Menace, later called Dennis the Menace and Gnasher and now Dennis and Gnasher, is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by D. C...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
. there have been 39 over the years. Since they are traditionally published in the northern autumn and in time for Christmas, since 1965 (with the release of Dennis the Menace 1966) they have had the date of the following year on the cover. Before then no date was given. Until the 2009 edition, the annuals mainly featured reprints from around 14–15 years ago from the cover date of Dennis the Menace, Gnasher and Gnipper
Gnasher and Gnipper
Gnasher is the pet dog of Dennis the Menace in the British comic strip Dennis the Menace from The Beano. First introduced in 1968, in issue 1363 dated 31st August 1968 , seventeen years after Dennis the Menace started in The Beano...
and formerly Gnasher's Tale and Rasher strips in The Beano, although there is some new material. The 2010 and 2011 editions are all new material based on the updated style seen in the CBBC series.
Originally a new annual was published every two years. However, after the 1987 annual was published it was decided to make the annual a yearly publication instead. The next annual was published the following year and the others every year onwards since then.
The original title was simply "Dennis the Menace" with the year added at the end later on. This name continued, the year changing for each different annual, until the release of the 1978 book. There was then a short break until the next annual was published in 1982. From then on the words "from The Beano" were printed elsewhere on the cover, the same thing The Bash Street Kids Annual
The Bash Street Kids Annual
The Bash Street Kids Annual was a book that has been published yearly since 1979 to tie in with the children's comic The Beano, specifically The Bash Street Kids comic strip. there have been 26 editions. They are published in the autumn in time for Christmas, and have the date of the following...
had been doing for a few years earlier.
The name has had various suffixes since then, including "and Gnasher" on the 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995 and 1997 books, and "Book" on the 1991, 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2002 editions. The annual permanently changed its name to Dennis the Menace Annual from the 2003 book, though the following year and "from The Beano" still appear. The 2010 edition was renamed the Dennis & Gnasher Annual to tie in to the CBBC cartoon. It now says "as seen on CBBC" instead of "from The Beano".
There is no 2012 annual.
This information is necessary to date older annuals which were without dates. Annuals were published the autumn before with the 1956 annual published Autumn 1955. Prices are in shillings and (old) pence with one shilling equal to 5p.
- 1956. Large picture of Dennis holding tin of paint. Price 5/-
- 1958. Dennis travelling down hill on a go-cart, knocking over a policeman, a chimney sweep and a painter. Price 5/6
- 1960. Dennis wearing flippers and swimming underwater, using pincers on a swimmer's foot. Price 5/6
- 1962. Dennis holding large caricature head of himself over his head with five small figures next to him including a policeman and a school teacher. Price 5/6
- 1964. Head of Dennis bursting through a black and red paper sheet. Price 6/-