BillyBatson4360

Well, Dennis fans, the new Overstreet Price Guide has hit the streets – and alas, the price on Dennis’ books remains flat – despite the increased attention for Al Wiseman from this thread, Bill Alger’s blog and other corners. Ah well, it means if you haven’t completed your Dennis runs yet, you can still get ‘em at last year’s prices! BTW, I went on a little mini-rant about Overstreet last March (comment # 759664): My post quickly drew this response from Overstreet “Special Advisor” Arnold T. Blumberg: Okay, I took Arnold at his word and I wrote a very long letter, detailing some 21 errors and omissions. I also took the time to scan copies of comics from my personal collection to back up all the information I gave them in the letter. The new Guide has been published now (a year after my letter) and how many of my errors do you think these great guys corrected? Not a one. For example, the Guide has a listing for Al Capp’s Shmoo Comics that says issue #4 features the very first appearance of the “Super Shmoo” character. The character is actually featured on the cover of issue #2 and stars in that issue’s lead story. The Super Shmoo is also in issue #3 starring in another story. I provided scans of the cover to #2 and both Super Shmoo splash pages. The result: no change in the almighty Overstreet. So, I stand by my original comment.

My auctions never turn out this well! In fact, I sold a Dennis # 1 last year - in better shape than this eBay copy - for $100. But I sold it to someone on this thread - so I don't mind. What really griped me about these eBay listings is they once again perpetuate the myth that Hank Ketcham drew the comic. Nary a mention of our boys - Toole & Wiseman. BTW for anyone viewing these pages, you really need to be checking Bill Alger's blog on a daily basis. It is the "motherlode" of information as well as samples of Wiseman's wok.

Just came back from reading Bill's blog! Fantastic! I'm looking forward to many, many future installments. It seems AW is finally getting that long overdue recognition. I've always thought that Al should be included in the same group that mentions Carl Barks, John Stanley, and George Carlson as the ultimate masters of the "funny" comic book story. Jim: I was also hoping you might shed some light on whether or not you thnk your dad worked on the DAILIES for Dennis. I've always thought the many of the Dennis panels from the mid-50's to early 60's looked an awful lot your dad's clean, straight-line style. Perhaps, he helped on the backgrounds, leaving the main figures for Ketcham.

Actually, my comics shop neglected to order it for me when it came out originally and they had to back order it. The shop I patronize is out of town. My wife will be picking it up for this weekend on a road trip. I'm looking forward to reading it (although I try to make them last a little longer - I read 'em one month at a sitting). I'm hoping Jim W (aka Wiseguy) still checks in here from time to time, because I'd like to get his feedback on whether or not AW had input into the daily strip in the early days. Ketcham's drawing style seems to get verrrrry close to AW's during the late fifties. I've always wondered if AW ghosted some of the dailies in addition to handling the Sundays.

Well kids, it has been placed on the release schedule - Volume 3 of the Complete Dennis the Menace: Amazon.com listing Put this on your Christmas list now and avoid the November rush!

I know the looser style of Dennis was something that Ketcham oversaw. I can still remember how crushed I was when I first picked up "Dennis the Menace Goes to Camp" and discovered the drawing style had changed. Knowing nothing about what happened behind the scenes vexed me until the birth of this thread finally shed light on the career of Al Wiseman. I just know I stopped buying Dennis comics shortly after Wiseman left. I continued to read the newspaper strip (and still read it). But I wish they would go back to featuring the more "Menacing" Dennis more consistently. And I really do find the current Sunday strip to be almost unreadable. The early days of the strip didn't evoke an "Aw, how precious!" kind of response. The kid was a terror! I haven't seen Volume 2 of the "Complete Dennis" yet as my comic bok shop neglected to order one. I will be correcting that situation shortly.

Am I alone in thinking today's Dennis looks horrible? Maybe I've become a cantankerous old curmudgeon, but the drawing style is just so loose and sloppy! I doesn't help getting massive doses of the original Ketcham illustrations in the "Complete Dennis" to compare to today's strip. I know the artists may not be to blame because they draw in the style the syndicate wants - but I really have a hard time reading the strip (especially on Sundays!). The bite and nastiness is all gone. Reading a Sunday Dennis the Menace today is like opening one of those sickly sweet Hallmark greeting cards that aren't nearly as clever as Hallmark thinks they are. Wiseman & Ketcham have it all over this stuff!

I absolutely loved volume one and will pick up volume two as soon as its available. The only sad thing - reading these panels - is seeing how tame the strip has become today.

In moving some of my collection to a new storage area on Saturday, I came across a box of Dennis the Menace comics that are basically doubles of what's in my permanent collection. These includes issues from # 27 to # 107 (not a complete run, but quite a few issues). Most of these books range from Good to Fine. The majority are what I would call "reading copies." Before I offer them on eBay, I thought I would offer them here to the real hardcore of Dennis comic fans. If you need any particular issues, PM me and we'll see if we can work something out.

It's really too bad, Joe, as the song in question also appears on this disc - albeit not by Rosemary Clooney. The ironic thing is, I have never forgotten the tune after having played this record to death as a kid. I was crushed when they didn't use it as the theme for the TV show!

Joe - What can we say? I guess there really is a Santa Claus! BTW on the "Dennis the Menace Songs" Album - My memory is that all the songs were voiced by Jay North. But after seeing some of the 45's that had the same selections, I'm starting to doubt my memory. I can't read the fine print on your scan of the album cover. Does it credit the vocalist(s)?

Actually, Joe. This is the one you sent me, which is the one I really wanted. This one predates the CBS TV show and contains a totally different Dennis the Menace "theme song." It also features some great examples of Dennis panels on the back sleeve. The other 45/78 should feature Jay North on vocals - giving you a vocal version of the DTM TV theme song. I didn't own that TV-show based single, I owned the album that featured songs by Jay North in character as Dennis (it featured both the songs on the single and, I think 9 or 10 others).

Well, according to the article, AW drew "Clubhouse Rascals' prior to joining the Ketchum studio, so his style was still evolving (look at the early Dennis comics compared to the middle and end of his run). I think I have all of the Clubhouse Rascals stuff either in original issues or in reprints, so I will try to post some scans in the near future. But, we are about to head out of town from Thanksgiving, so it may be a while before I can dig down in the "Vault o' Comics" and retrieve the long box in question.

Great find! I found this part of the article about Toppie to be the most interesting: I have always loved the very limited run of Clubhouse Rascals at ME (having been exposed to the strip as a kid through the I-W reprints). I always thought the strip's style bore a resemblance to Dennis the Menace and now I know why! Yet another title to collect if you are a Wiseman fan! I posted a page from one of the Clubhouse Rascals comics a while back. In case you missed it, here it is again: Now, I will go back through my long boxes and see if I can find a better example that looks more like Wiseman. What say, Jim? Do you recognize AW's hand in the above work?

This would argue strongly in favor of Hallden being a self-publishing company set up by Post-Hall & Hank Kethchum. "Mark Trail" was another Post -Hall strip. You also remember the Mark Trail "feature" in "Dennis the Menace Goes to Camp?" Maybe they wanted to see if they could market other Post-Hall strips, although Mark Trail seems like a poor choice. Most kids I knew back then would never read that strip. Sounds like the same situation Western Publishing had with Dell comics in the 50's and early 60's. Western actually packaged the books even though Dell was listed as the publisher. My guess is that Fawcett handled the distribution once DTM left Pines as Post-Hall was not set up to distribute comic books. Jim - as always - appreciate you sharing any insights your father had. BTW Al does get a mention in the first volume of "The Complete Dennis the Menace." I'm hoping they give us more information on him in future volumes.

This is speculation on my part, but I always thought "Hallden" was a shell company created specifically to publish Dennis the Menace comics. The Dennis newspaper strip was syndicated by the Post-Hall Syndicate. The name "Hallden" simply seems like the last part of the syndicate combined with the first part of Dennis. This type of arrangment would allow Hank Ketcham and the syndicate to share in the profits from the comic. My understanding was that Fawcett was the actual printer/publisher of the comic from the time it moved from Ned Pines Standard/Pine Comics until it ceased its original run. That would also explain why the indicia were inconsistent. It realy didn't matter that much. Fawcett did the actual printing/publishing and "Hallden" got their royalties. As far as I know, the Hallden name never appeared on any other comics outside the Dennis the Menace family. As to the mention of CBS, I'm a little stumped. Maybe CBS acquired the merchandising rights to Dennis at some point in the late 70's. Jo Rowling has a similar deal right now with Warner Brothers. Warners technically owns the Harry Potter characters and controls all the merchandising.

Or not what? You don't believe he was my college roommate... You don't believe he's a nice man... You don't believe he meant well?

I'm sorry to hear that. Believe it or not Steven Grant was my college roommate and is a very nice man. I'm sure he meant well.

I love that panel as well, Joe! Not only wouldn't Henry be going to a strip club today - but the fact that he took his 5-year old kid along shows you how much our ideas of good parenting have changed. Of course, it's no surpise that Dennis soon caught the fancy of kids. How many other strips on the "funnies" page had a star that young? I know he was the first comic character that I paid attention to. I'm taking my time working my way through the book as it will be a few more months before we get Volume 2. My first observation is the predominance of sharp angles in the early character designs. Yet, by the end of 1952, we see the designs becoming softer and more rounded. In the very early days, Dennis' height seems to fluctuate. In some panels he looks like he could be 7 years old based on his height. We also see quite a bit of the "evil" eyebrows - where Dennis knows he's being bad. As the strip progressed his mayhem would become much more unintentional. The first appearance of the classic Dennis outfit appears in panel #3, but it takes several months before it settles in to become his regular uniform. It also looks to me like Tommy is the first member of the supporting cast (besides Henry & Alice) to appear in the strip - predating Ruff and Mrs. Wilson. There are several strips where Dennis' playmate looks like an early version of Tommy and then on 4-27-51, Dennis calls to Tommy from a window (although Tommy is not seen in the panel). Ruff shows up on 7-16-51. Mrs. Wilson debuts in the panel on 3-12-52. There are plenty of other great non-PC cartoons. If I get a chance, I'll try to scan a few of my favorites.

Joe, do you own a copy of this record? This is the one I owned as a kid. I loved this record! It has a Dennis the Menace "theme" song that bears no relation to the one used on the Jay North TV series (I believe this record preceded the TV show by a year or so).

I did not find it that hard-to-find - especially if you were not looking specifically for the first printing. The story inside was reprinted in the regular Dennis series at just about the same time. BTW, the Collected Dennis is only available in comic book shops right now. The general book stores are still scheduled to get it in early September (I checked at my local Books-a-Million yesterday).

Good to see you back CBG. Glad your summer is so relaxing. You can look at the increase in Dennis collecting two ways. Of course, it means you'll be paying more for items you need - but the value of the items you already have are going up, too! As we know that AW was definitely involved in the production of the Sunday strips - I'm hoping we get those included in these reprints at some point. Those also have been the strips that have been seen least since their original publication. I know the Collected Dennis is already out in comic book stores - has anybody seen it in a regular book store? (The comic book stores in my neck of the woods are abysmal when it comes to anything that's not Marvel/DC super-hero related.)

Hasn't been much happenin' - but I check this board nearly every day. Has anybody purchased the Complete Dennis yet? I saw a post on another board that said it was out - but the poster had purchased it at a comics store (strange if Diamond says the book is being shipped this week). Depending on what this current hurricane does (I live in Florida), I will be checking book stores in our area on Saturday.

StevenR- First of all, welcome to the board! Second, you mention Dell material credited to Wiseman. What material? And is any of it actually Wiseman?

It certainly has the look of Wiseman - Holley would have been my second guess. It makes me impatient for the Fantagraphics book. Are they simply reprinting daillies or will Sundays be included as well? Also, I love that Dennis is still in his truly "menacing" mode!