Dennis the Menace and Gnasher

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
Comic strip character(s) from The Beano
Dennis with his pet dog Gnasher
Publication information
Stars in	Dennis the Menace Bringing Up Dennis (issues 801–808)
Other names	Dennis the Menace Dennis and Gnasher
Creator(s)	George Moonie (editor) David Law (artist) Ian Chisholm
Other contributors	David Sutherland Nigel Auchterlounie Nigel Parkinson James (Jimmy) Hansen Tom Paterson
Current/last artist	Nigel Parkinson
First appearance	Issue 452 (12 March 1951 (dated 17 March 1951) (as Dennis the Menace))
Also appeared in	The Beano Annual Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger, The Bash Street Kids, The Beano Annual Dennis the Menace Annual
Current status	Ongoing
Schedule	Weekly
Spin-offs	Dennis the Menace Annual, Go, Granny, Go!, Rasher, Dennis & Gnasher 1996, Dennis & Gnasher 2009, Bea, Gnasher's Tale, Gnasher and Gnipper
Main Character
Name	Dennis Menace, Jr.
Alias(es)	Dennis the Menace
Family	Sandra (mum) Dennis, Sr. (dad) Gnasher (pet) Hermione Makepeace (cousin) Bea (sister) Gnipper (pet) Granny (grandmother)
Friends	Curly, Pieface, Rubi and JJ
Characters
Regular characters	Walter the Softy, Spotty Perkins, Bertie Blenkinsop, Sergeant Slipper, the Colonel, Foo Foo, Angel-Face
Other characters	Mr. De Testa, Claudius
Crossover characters	Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger, The Bash Street Kids
v t e

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (originally titled Dennis the Menace and currently titled Dennis and Gnasher) is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by DC Thomson, of Dundee, Scotland. The comic stars a boy named Dennis the Menace and his dog, an "Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound" named Gnasher.

The strip first appeared in issue 452, dated 17 March 1951,^[1] and on sale from 12 March 1951.^[2] It is the longest-running strip in the comic. The idea and name of the character emerged when the comic's editor heard a British music hall song with the chorus "I'm Dennis the Menace from Venice".^[3] The creation of Dennis in the 1950s had sales of The Beano soar.^[3] In issue 1678 (dated 14 September 1974), Dennis the Menace replaced Biffo the Bear on the front cover, and has been there until to issue 3961 (dated 17 November 2018). Coincidentally, on 12 March 1951, another comic strip named Dennis the Menace debuted in the US. As a result of this, the US series has initially been retitled Dennis for UK audiences, while the British character's appearances are often titled Dennis and Gnasher outside the UK. In 2021, Dennis and Gnasher featured on a series of UK postage stamps issued by the Royal Mail to mark 70 years of the character.^[4]

Dennis is the archetypal badly behaved schoolboy. The main recurring storyline throughout the years features his campaign of terror against a gang of "softies" (effeminate, well-behaved boys), particularly Walter the Softy. Walter finds himself in unfavourable circumstances on many occasions, although he sometimes gets the last laugh. Author Michael Rosen states, "In most children's books, a bad child gets made good – but the great thing about Dennis is he never gets better".^[3]

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher was first drawn by David Law (1951–1970), then David Sutherland (1970–1998). David Parkins took over from 1998 until 2006, although Nigel Parkinson drew most of the strips after 2002, and Jimmy Hansen alternated with him in 2005–06. Tom Paterson drew some second Dennis strips for the comic's rear pages. Barrie Appleby did the artwork for the Beano Superstars series, which, toward the end of its run, resorted mostly to strips based on the TV series. In 2011, he took over as Dennis's main artist. In 2012, Nigel Parkinson was named the sole official Dennis artist. Dennis was returned to his previous appearance and personality. Nigel Auchterlounie began writing for Dennis a month later and gave Dennis (and the other characters) wider personalities. Auchterlounie has proven to be a very popular writer since taking over Dennis. Dennis and Gnasher have remained the mascots of The Beano.