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 Mitchell family

• Dennis Mitchell - a bumbling but lovable blond-haired five-year-old boy with a penchant for mischief. Everywhere he goes, Dennis' wide-eyed curiosity, his well-meaning attempts to help out and his youthful nature always seem to lead to trouble. Wears a blue/black striped shirt, red overalls and tennis shoes. He loves Westerns, and has occasionally been depicted wearing a cowboy costume.
• Henry and Alice Mitchell - Dennis' father, an aerospace engineer and Dennis' stay-at-home mother. His long-suffering parents can only shake their heads and try to explain their son's antics to others. Despite this, and the many times his mother sends Dennis to the corner chair, they really do love him very much. Henry seems to understand Dennis more in affairs of the heart. One example was when a furious Dennis stormed in saying,"Wimmin can say some of the stupidest things!", his father knowingly said to his wife, "Margaret". Like his creator Hank Ketcham, Henry Mitchell served in the US Navy. His mother Alice is usually the reassuring figure Dennis can run to when things get too overwhelming, ready to greet him with a warm hug. As a running gag, Alice Mitchell has a phobia of snakes.
• Grampa Johnson (Carleton "Swede" Johnson) - Alice's father who spoils Dennis often. He evokes the unintentional jealousy of Mr. Wilson, for he gets to see Dennis only on occasion, but Wilson sees him all the time. Because they are so much alike, Dennis and Grampa Johnson get along beautifully. Wilson also thinks that Johnson should act his age, but this advice is often ignored. To Grampa, life is worth living, and he encourages Dennis to live it to the fullest.
• Ruff - Dennis' faithful dog. Ruff is always eagerly following him around, accompanying him running, riding his bike or his skateboard.
• Hot Dog - Dennis' rarely-seen cat who usually commiserates with him whilst he sits in the corner and reflects on his wrongdoings.

The Wilsons

• George Everett Wilson - a retired postal carrier and Dennis' next-door neighbor. Dennis likes Mr. Wilson but he often annoys him as he regularly disrupts Mr. Wilson's attempts at a serene, quiet life. Often, Dennis interrupts Mr.Wilson's hobbies such as gardening, at times damaging his property. As a result, the gruff old retiree displays a less-than-cordial attitude towards the young boy, though Dennis continues his well-meaning intrusions unabated. Mr. Wilson is named after a teacher Hank Ketcham knew.
• Martha Wilson - Mr. Wilson's engaging wife, Martha coddles Mr. Wilson and adores Dennis. She sees him as a surrogate grandson, since the Wilsons never had any children.

Dennis' friends

• Joey McDonald - loyal, a bit timid, and not too bright, he usually plays the sidekick to Dennis.
• Margaret Wade - a red-haired, glasses-wearing know-it-all whose cloying and self-important demeanor is always getting on Dennis’ nerves. She is attracted to Dennis, and is stubbornly confident in the belief that she will marry him when they are adults, but he will have none of it. She always tries to improve Dennis and his manners, but only succeeds in annoying him. She has a certain amount of dislike for Gina, who she sees as her competition. Gina gains Dennis' respect and admiration by just being herself and Margaret's pretensions fail to make a mark on him.
• Gina Gillotti - a fiercely independent young Italian girl, who Dennis secretly has a crush on. He likes her because she is as independent minded as he is, and she enjoys the same things that he does. Gina is also highly aware that she is a girl, and woe betide anyone who doesn't think so. This earns her Dennis' respect and admiration.

History

Inspiration

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.

Visuals

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]

Awards

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]

UK counterpart

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 Dennis or The 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.

Ketcham retires

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.

Comic books

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.

Giant series

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.

Other series

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.

Bible kids series

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.

Marvel series

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.

List of comic books

Book compilations

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]

Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace

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.

1. Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace (1951–52) ISBN 1-56097-680-2
2. Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace (1953–54) ISBN 1-56097-725-6
3. Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace (1955–56) ISBN 1-56097-770-1
4. Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace (1957–58) ISBN 1-56097-806-7
5. Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace (1959–60) ISBN 1-56097-966-6

Worldwide success

Film and television

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)

Merchandising

• In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Dennis the Menace was licensed by Dairy Queen as their official mascot, appearing in many commercials and on the chain's cups, bags, and other promotional items. The Dennis incarnation used was the one from the 1986 animated series, as the promotions started in the middle of that series' run.

• Dennis the Menace, a video game tie-in to the 1993 feature film was released that same year by Ocean Software for the Super NES. A Game Boy version was released in 1994.

Playground

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]

Dennis the Menace in other languages

The comic strip has been translated into many foreign languages, which has helped make the strip's characters famous worldwide.

Trivia

• Ketcham included personal touches in his comic strip. For instance, The Sugar Bowl, the ice cream counter Dennis frequents, is based on a real ice cream counter of the same name in Scottsdale, Arizona, frequented by cartoonist Bil Keane and Arthur creator Marc Brown.[citation needed]

• In 2005, Dennis appeared as a guest for Blondie and Dagwood's 75th anniversary party in the comic strip Blondie.[1]

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