Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green
Encyclopedia
Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green was a comic strip in the comic The Beano
. It first appeared in Beano issue 3404, dated 27th October 2007. It is the first Beano comic strip
ever to be regularly drawn by a female
artist
. The strip's artist is Laura Howell
, who also pens and has subsequently taken over outright Hunt Emerson
's "Ratz
", and has also drawn one Minnie the Minx
and one Les Pretend
strip.
The strip focused on the title character, and his attempts to terrorize the citizens of his village, Happy Bunny Green, in a less extroverted, but more cunning way than that of Dennis the Menace
. The citizens include Mr. Garden
, his neighbour, Mrs. Garden, his wife, Mr. Baker the butcher
and Mr. Butcher the baker
, who are sworn enemies. He has a penchant for amazing ruthlessness. In one strip, he shows a cow a picture of a beefburger during a Cowpat Lottery (in which a cow has to defecate on a villager's selected square). In the Beano Annual 2009, he hijacks an anthropomorphic train, injures the driver, drives it dangerously, and eventually destroys it (a parody of Thomas the Tank Engine
).The early stories featured a narrator, who spoke in a heavily sugar-coated way, but he disappeared during 2008.
His strip continued to appear regularly in the Beano until autumn 2009, when Laura Howell started drawing Beano Manga. As she was already drawing Ratz
for the comic, Johnny's appearances became increasingly infrequent. He later made a return as a regular before the strip ended in 2010, after Laura Howell's strip Meebo and Zuky
won that year's Comic Idol contest.
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...
. It first appeared in Beano issue 3404, dated 27th October 2007. It is the first Beano 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....
ever to be regularly drawn by a female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. The strip's artist is Laura Howell
Laura Howell
Laura Howell is a British-born comic strip artist. She is the first female artist in the history of The Beano comic, and responsible for "Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green", "Les Pretend" and Beano Manga. She also drew Billy the Cat in the Special 70 Years Beano, and two Minnie the Minx strips...
, who also pens and has subsequently taken over outright Hunt Emerson
Hunt Emerson
Hunt Emerson is a cartoonist living and working in Birmingham, England. He was closely involved with the Birmingham Arts Lab of the mid-to-late 1970s, and with the British underground comics scene of the 1970s and 1980s...
's "Ratz
Ratz (comic strip)
Ratz is a comic strip appearing in UK comic The Beano, which first appeared on August 19, 2006. It was developed by artist Hunt Emerson to replace the retired strip Little Plum, which he had worked on since 2002...
", and has also drawn one Minnie the Minx
Minnie the Minx
Minnie the Minx is a fictional character in the British comic 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 only Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger...
and one Les Pretend
Les Pretend
Lesley Presley Pretend is a fictional character in a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. Originally drawn by John Sherwood, he first appeared in issue 2493, dated 28 April 1990. In each issue, Les pretends to be something and dresses up like it, beginning with a martian in his debut...
strip.
The strip focused on the title character, and his attempts to terrorize the citizens of his village, Happy Bunny Green, in a less extroverted, but more cunning way than that of 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...
. The citizens include Mr. Garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
, his neighbour, Mrs. Garden, his wife, Mr. Baker the butcher
Butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
and Mr. Butcher the baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
, who are sworn enemies. He has a penchant for amazing ruthlessness. In one strip, he shows a cow a picture of a beefburger during a Cowpat Lottery (in which a cow has to defecate on a villager's selected square). In the Beano Annual 2009, he hijacks an anthropomorphic train, injures the driver, drives it dangerously, and eventually destroys it (a parody of Thomas the Tank Engine
Thomas the Tank Engine
Thomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas and Friends.Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue...
).The early stories featured a narrator, who spoke in a heavily sugar-coated way, but he disappeared during 2008.
His strip continued to appear regularly in the Beano until autumn 2009, when Laura Howell started drawing Beano Manga. As she was already drawing Ratz
Ratz
Ratz , officially the Movement for Civil Rights and Peace was a left-wing political party in Israel from 1973 until its formal merger into Meretz in 1997.-Background:...
for the comic, Johnny's appearances became increasingly infrequent. He later made a return as a regular before the strip ended in 2010, after Laura Howell's strip Meebo and Zuky
Meebo and Zuky
Meebo and Zuky is a comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano. It was introduced as one of three new strips in the Beano's Comic Idol competition, in June 2010, where the winner gets a permanent place in the comic. It was up against Home Invasion, about green aliens who want to invade...
won that year's Comic Idol contest.