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Boris and Dom may have gone their separate ways, but their crazy antics endure, and this week they can finally get what they deserve. Not in real life yet, but at least in the Beano.
The 82-year-old comic will publish its first adult-oriented version this week with a story revolving around Sandra and Dennis Sr Menace, Dennis’s parents, and the coward Wilbur Brown, father of Walter the Softy.
The cast list also includes Captain Tom Moore, Marcus Rashford, Greta Thunberg and, as an adult Dennis and Gnasher, Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings.
It’s a pull-out section, BeanOLD, that kids and parents alike should enjoy, said Mike Stirling, editorial director of Beano Studios. “We just wanted to cheer everyone up. One thing we noticed was that our readers felt a little sorry for the adults in their lives. “
Stirling said that Beano had a team of kids they call “trend scouts” that make up the Beano Brain and let writers know what kids across the UK are talking about.
Both Johnson and Cummings have been big issues for the average 10-year-old, he said. One of the comic’s young trend seekers described the latter as someone who “broke all the rules. He got a crown and took his children to their grandparents … you have to stick to the rules, even if they are your own rules. “
Stirling said the Beano was well placed to address the subject of Cummings and his trip to Barnard Castle. “Even though our characters are always really mischievous and misbehaving, our readers are very moral. When our child characters break the rules, there is always a consequence for doing so. “
In the new Beano story, Dennis Sr. loses his job at the Beanotown clip factory after a “restructuring” by owner Brown.
Cummings appears several times. “It’s like the rules don’t apply to him!” he fumes over Santa’s non-arrival. Later, Brown asks him to be the getaway driver for him and the prime minister: “Can you drive Dom? I can’t see very well! “
Stirling, who co-wrote the recall, said they had tried to include as many references a year as possible, whether it was video meetings, homeschooling, the delayed Bond movie, or toilet paper shortages.
It wasn’t too difficult to write, Stirling admitted. “So many crazy things have happened that it was easy to build a story and turn Beano’s sense of humor into it.”
That humor is one that, Stirling said, is “a little rebellious, a little cheeky, but it’s a humor that everyone can participate in. It transcends the ages. “
The Beano has been a part of British life since 1938 with its first cover featuring an ostrich named Big Eggo (“Someone has taken my egg again!”).
He has often addressed contemporary issues, especially during World War II, when Lord Snooty and his friends clashed with Adolf Httler.
In one story, they sent him a message in Morse code that translated as “Dear Herr Hitler, no one has heard of you in Britain”, which caused a furor. “Smell! Smell! This is terrible,” cries Hitler. “Why haven’t you told the British pig-dogs about me?”
The Beano’s golden age was the 1950s when its stories, often with literal spankings of corporal punishment, yielded weekly sales figures of nearly 2 million.
Today’s readership is closer to 40,000 a week, but Stirling said there was a significant increase during the shutdown, likely because people crave familiarity and security in uncertain times.
“We could all benefit from thinking a little more like children,” Stirling said. “I would say that because I can do it every day, but I really think it’s a powerful thing … the optimism, hope, and moral worldview that children always have.”
The unique comic has a lot to do with the comedy soft and funny ending. It’s not meant to be Viz or anything else people might think of. “We were very careful not to call it an adult edition,” Stirling emphasized.
