Wednesday, December 31, 2014

"Great Minds Think Alike," Part One ~~ A "Comical Wednesday" Post



Welcome to the latest installment of our sporadic feature, "Comical Wednesday," fellow babies! For those of you who are unfamiliar with "Comical Wednesday," it consists of articles about comic books, comic strips, or both.

For today's post, I'll be offering the first chapter of an eventual three-parter called "Great Minds Think Alike." It'll touch upon three instances in comic history where two similar characters or groups of characters debuted in such a short span of time, it ensured that neither was copied from the other.

To begin today's "lesson," I'd like to tell you about two comic characters named Dennis the Menace. Now, that name may conjure up one of two very different images (both shown above).

If you're British, Dennis is a dark-haired chap whose original persona was rather vicious. That's when he first appeared in the pages of The Beano, issue 452, dated March 17th of 1951. This Dennis was created by Beano editor Ian Chisholm and artist Davey Law.


If you live in the USA, as I do, you may be familiar with an entirely different Dennis the Menace, one introduced in the comic strips five days earlier, on March 12, 1951! This Dennis was created by writer/artist Hank Ketcham and named after Ketcham's son Dennis. The USA's version was more of a "mischief-maker" than an actual troublemaker.


In the interests of an unaccustomed brevity (for me), I'm going to spare you a lengthy entry on the UK Dennis or his American counterpart. If you'd like more information on the British brat, click here, and if you'd like to read up on the USA's Dennis Mitchell. click here.

Don't worry, I'll make up for my "short-windedness" in my next two chapters! (But don't hold your breath waiting for them.) See you then.

Thanks for your time, and Happy New Year (for those who care about that sort of thing)!

28 comments:

  1. Dennis is a dark-haired chap? Say it ain't so!

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  2. I love Dennis I read a lot of his comics in my childhood!!
    Happy New Year Davidi!

    (is OK I said ????)
    xo

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  3. I wasnt sure to say you : Happy New year:)

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    1. Yes, Happy New Year is fine. I don't like "See you next year" when the next year is only a few days away.

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  4. Those are two dramatically different Dennises!

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  5. The first Dennis looks scary with his with his Twilight Zone freak dancing with him. The Blond Dennis-I just wanted to see him get a good spanking

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  6. Do you have an inhaler handy? If you make it, I hope you have a very Happy New Year!

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  7. Wow, never knew there was a second one. First one is kinda scary looking.

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  8. Did not know there is another Dennis the Menace. Interesting they were published within days of one another. I always hear about the connectivity of many brains or whatever it is they call it. This sure does fit that bill.

    btw, I want to be Batman.

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  9. Was your oops post posted by oops?

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    1. After I posted it, it started doing strange and horrible things! So I deleted it.

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  10. Thanks for sharing.
    Happy New Year.

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  11. Funny stuff stop! I also wonder about those that actually unfollow, which is really silly as one can just go on by if one is too busy to read! But I'm still here!

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  12. how interesting the difference in the two denis'...i wonder if the second was created in knowledge of the first...i think the US version has a heart behind all the toruble he causes...you know....

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    1. Yes, he does. And I think they were published too closely to one another for either one to be a rip-off.

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  13. I call this phenomena "The Collective Unconscious." You will always find a similar version to a widely popular title if you look for it. :)

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