The Beano

This article is about the comics magazine. For other topics, see Beano (disambiguation).

The Beano
The Beano issue 1678, cover dated 14 September 1974, the first appearance of Dennis the Menace and Gnasher on the front cover.
Chief-EditorJohn Anderson
Former editorsSee list
Staff writersSee list
CategoriesAnthology comic, Children's humour
FrequencyWeekly
FounderR. D. Low
First issue30 July 1938; 86 years ago (1938-07-30)
CompanyDC Thomson
CountryUnited Kingdom
Based inDundee, Scotland
LanguageEnglish
Websitebeano.com
OCLC28686914

The Beano (formerly The Beano Comic) is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938,[1] and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019.[2] 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.

The Beano was planned as a pioneering children's magazine that contained mostly comic strips, in the style of American newspaper gag-a-days, as opposed to the more text story based Story papers that were immensely popular before the Second World War. In the present, its legacy is its misbehaving characters, escapist tales and anarchic humour with an audience of all ages. Beano is a multimedia franchise with spin-off books and Christmas annuals, a website, theme park rides, games, cartoon adaptations, and a production company.

The Beano is the best-selling comic magazine outside Japan, having sold over 2 billion copies since its inception, and is the world’s longest-running comic magazine, having been run on a weekly basis since 1938, alongside its sister comic The Dandy until 2012.[3][4]

It has had three characters as the mascot throughout the years: Big Eggo (1938–1948), Biffo the Bear (1948–1974), and the current, Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (1974–present).

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference issue1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Anderson, John, ed. (31 August 2019). "The Fight For the Future is On!". Beano. No. 4000. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. (published 28 August 2019).
  3. ^ "Dandy owner DC Thomson to end comic's printed edition". BBC News. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  4. ^ Fraser-Nash, Alex (6 August 2021). "BEANO: The World's Most Collectible Comic?". Collectology. Retrieved 7 June 2024.