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This page is about the United States comic strip Dennis the Menace. For information about the British comic strip of the same name, see Dennis the Menace (UK). Dennis the Menace is a comic strip (single panel on weekdays, full strip on Sundays) originally created by Hank Ketcham. Dennis was later made into a live-action 1960s television sitcom, a 1980s television cartoon, a 1987 movie, a 1993 live-action film, and another animated series based on that film. Originally, Dennis spent most of his time making life miserable for his parents. In recent years he has spent nearly all his time disturbing the serenity of the grumpy Mr. Wilson, and being coddled by Wilson's engaging wife Martha, who is more like a grandmother figure to Dennis. In tone, Dennis is most like an escapee from a 1930s movie, such as an Our Gang film.
History On March 12, 1951 the Dennis the Menace comic strip appeared in newspapers across the US for the first time. Coincidentally, another cartoon strip titled Dennis the Menace was published in the United Kingdom on March 15 (cover dated March 17 - the "off sale" date) of the same year. In the UK, the US cartoon series is known simply as Dennis. Ketcham received the Reuben Award for the strip in 1953. Dennis the Menace has been published in comic books and comic digests from the 1950s through at least the 1980s by a variety of publishers, including Standard/Pines (1953-58), Fawcett Comics (during their only return to comics after losing the Captain Marvel lawsuit) (1958-80), and Marvel Comics (1981-82). These were produced by others, in particular Al Wiseman in the 1950s and 60s, who was one of Ketcham's assistants. There have also been paperback book collects of the comic strips and comic books during the same time period from Avon Books, Gold Medal, Crest, and others. Ketcham gradually turned the production of the strip over to his assistants Ron Ferdinand and Marcus Hamilton, who continued it after his death in 2001. Other Adaptations Dennis has been the subject of a number of animated adaptations, as well as a CBS sitcom from 1959 to 1963 starring Jay North as Dennis and both Joseph Kearns and Gale Gordon, successively, as Mr. (George and John) Wilson. A 1993 live-action film starred Walter Matthau as Mr. Wilson. This was followed up with Dennis the Menace Strikes Again! in 1998 starring Don Rickles as Mr. Wilson. For some years, Dennis the Menace was the "spokestoon" for Dairy Queen; he has since been supplanted by other cartoon characters. In 2005, comics publisher Fantagraphics began to reprint Ketcham's entire run on Dennis the Menace in a 25-volume series over 11 years. On October 25-26, 2006, a 125-lb statue of Dennis the Menace, installed in a city park in Monterey, California, USA was stolen during the night. The statue had been commissioned by Hank Ketcham and executed by artist Wah Ming Chang. List of characters Adaptations Trivia See also | ||||||||
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