Beano no. 1 on ebay now

[Phoenix]

Some information from the borderland between useless and interesting. I was just looking at my reprint of the first issue of The Beano when I realised that ten of its twenty-eight pages were devoted to text stories. The Dandy started out life with twelve of its twenty-eight given over to text tales, and even The Magic, the comic for your little brothers and sisters, provided eight pages of text, from its total of twenty-four, for them to have a good long read. One third! Were Thomsons just trying to maintain a balance, I wonder, or were they hedging their bets?

[Digifiend]

Probably balance. Think about it, the comics were one third text and two thirds comics, and the boys papers had the ratio the other way around - mostly text but with some comic strips.

[stevezodiac]

35 bids and not one person has asked a question? The Beano 1 seller is based in Glasgow which isn't far frae Dundee - maybe its been under a carpet but why didn't they scan the whole front cover? The back cover would help as well as might show ageing better (but don't ask me why - just a hunch).

[-MikeD-]

35 bids and not one person has asked a question? The Beano 1 seller is based in Glasgow which isn't far frae Dundee - maybe its been under a carpet but why didn't they scan the whole front cover? The back cover would help as well as might show ageing better (but don't ask me why - just a hunch).

Well, it's almost certainly fake...the coloured chap eating the melon next to the logo has his hair cut at an oddly oblique angle. Most reprints (and, I guess the original) have his head extending a touch beyond the red background...

As the auction says...

May take off as I have it advertised elsewhere.

So methinks it'll vanish soon...

[Lew Stringer]

Some information from the borderland between useless and interesting. I was just looking at my reprint of the first issue of The Beano when I realised that ten of its twenty-eight pages were devoted to text stories. The Dandy started out life with twelve of its twenty-eight given over to text tales, and even The Magic, the comic for your little brothers and sisters, provided eight pages of text, from its total of twenty-four, for them to have a good long read. One third! Were Thomsons just trying to maintain a balance, I wonder, or were they hedging their bets?

That had long been standard practice for comics of the period. Most AP comics had 50% text stories.

[stevezodiac]

Even in the late 60s the Lion or Tiger - or both - still had a text story. And Buster had Tom Arto as a text story at the same time.

[Digifiend]

Well, it's almost certainly fake...the coloured chap eating the melon next to the logo has his hair cut at an oddly oblique angle. Most reprints (and, I guess the original) have his head extending a touch beyond the red background...

His name is Peanut.

[Jay]

Well, it's almost certainly fake...the coloured chap eating the melon next to the logo has his hair cut at an oddly oblique angle. Most reprints (and, I guess the original) have his head extending a touch beyond the red background...

You're absolutley right. Check out the Beano No.1 here and the nice clean issue is obviously a touched-up scan from a facsimile with Peanuts hair stopping at the red masthead edge. And with a scan of the original No. 1 undernealth you can see all of Peanuts hair.
There is also a small white dash above the issue number in both the ebay image and on the facsimile which isn't on the original.

I knew buying Sherlock on blu-ray would come in handy one day.

[Digifiend]

Well spotted - looks like they over-cropped the masthead on the facsimiles. There's also a clear difference in the shade of blue ink used on that cover, the original is quite a bit lighter.

By the way, I added a Dudley Watkins credit to that page, surprised it was missing since Lord Snooty's appearance was already noted.

[Phoenix]

Think about it, the comics were one third text and two thirds comics, and the boys papers had the ratio the other way around - mostly text but with some comic strips.

This assertion, while not entirely inaccurate, is extremely misleading because it is based on guesswork rather than evidence. It is true only in the sense that Thomsons' text story papers did carry the odd comic strip. The ratio, on the other hand, is by no means the other way round. I have checked every issue of The Big Five for the three weeks in question, and the findings are as follows.

Bear in mind that all five story papers had 28 pages throughout this period, although perhaps it should be pointed out that The Rover for the week ending 4 December 1937 only had 24, the 4-page pullout advertising the first issue of The Dandy making it up to 28. That week The Wizard had 2 pages of cartoon strips, The Rover half a page, and The Skipper half a page. Adventure and The Hotspur had none.

In the week The Beano emerged, 30 July 1938, the picture was roughly similar but with a slight alteration in emphasis. The Wizard carried 2 pages of cartoon strips and The Rover had 1. The other three papers had none at all.

For the week ending 22 July 1939, which provided youngsters with The Magic, The Wizard again had 2 pages of cartoon strips, The Rover carried 1, Adventure and The Skipper had half a page each but The Hotspur had none.

By my calculations that is 420 pages altogether, or only 416 if you refuse to count the insert in The Rover, of which only 10 in total carried cartoon strips. Perhaps someone else could work out the ratio for us. I think I was probably reading a copy of Adventure under the desk that lesson, immersed obviously in more important matters.

[-MikeD-]

There is also a small white dash above the issue number in both the ebay image and on the facsimile which isn't on the original..

The little things are infinitely the most important...well spotted, Holmes!

[colcool007]

...By my calculations that is 420 pages altogether, or only 416 if you refuse to count the insert in The Rover, of which only 10 in total carried cartoon strips. Perhaps someone else could work out the ratio for us. I think I was probably reading a copy of Adventure under the desk that lesson, immersed obviously in more important matters.

No you weren't. Unless you are a lot older than you have said you are. I must admit that I am surprised to see it was a 42:1 ratio of text vs strips. (Stuck with the 420 as it is easier on the maths) So that means less than a page of each paper was dedicated to strips. As I have a few copies of very early Hotspur I should not be surprised but I am.

[philcom55]

On the other hand the story paper Triumph briefly went to something like a 50/50 ratio round about the same time, with its strip content including Superman and Zatara the Magician.

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

I think I was probably reading a copy of Adventure under the desk that lesson, immersed obviously in more important matters.

No you weren't. Unless you are a lot older than you have said you are.

Your comments surprise me at least as much as the 42 to 1 ratio surprised you, Colin. Naturally my remark above was in jest, feeding on Digi's comment about my not kidding about my limitations in Maths, and not wishing to give any hint that I might actually be able to figure out that a ratio of 420 to 10 could be better expressed as 42 to 1. Equally, it is possible that I might actually have been paying attention at the time to my Maths teacher, who after all was an Oxbridge graduate like most of the rest of my teachers, and was therefore worth listening to.

However, I was in the habit of buying Adventure and The Wizard on Tuesdays on my way up to school, The Rover and The Hotspur on Thursdays. Sometimes I could wait until break to read them but on other occasions the next instalment of one of my favourite serials would be quietly demanding, from the solitude of my blazer pocket, to be read there and then. This was not a particularly rare occurrence. I remember my French teacher in the third form going apoplectic one lesson and he took my Adventure from me, ripped it up in front of the class, and then gave me two sheets of foolscap to be filled up with pointless lines for the following day. I'm still not sure where the fault lay. It was probably the fact that I was sitting on the front row at the time, but I'm pretty sure that it would have been helpful if the textbook had been larger, and consequently with better concealment properties.

On another occasion, this time in a fifth form English lesson given by one of those extremely bright teachers who have no idea how to communicate and involve children in their particular specialism, I got into more trouble. Imagine the scene. We were in a classroom in one of the older buildings in our venerable grammar school, which had furniture to match its surroundings, specifically desks that had a narrow strip at the top with a groove for your pen, and an inkwell. The desk lid sloped down towards the pupil, who was sitting on a kind of bench, which was an integral part of the desk. We were studying one of our 'O' level set texts, Milton's Comus, not the most engaging of poems at the best of times. Poet and teacher were droning along, and I had put a number of my books on the inkwell strip, and appeared to be enthralled by the sheer subtlety and cleverness of Milton's masque while I was actually on edge, hoping that Nick Smith's team would get the winner and move into the next round of the cup. I was also hungry at the time so I took from a package in my blazer pocket a couple of slices of buttered toast that my mother had made for me to eat at break so as not to give me money for the tuckshop, a nuisance in a general sense because that was what I used to buy my story papers with! The teacher, who had never previously been known to leave his area near the blackboard, did so that day, creeping down one aisle and then up mine. The first I knew about it was when I felt a hard blow on the back of my head and saw my copy of The Rover disappearing and my toast on an acrobatic descent towards the dirty floor. I'll draw a veil over the caning that followed. I was actually more concerned about the problem of replacing The Rover because I hadn't finished reading It's Goals That Count, and I didn't have any more money.

None of this obsession with DC Thomson's story papers did me any harm. I waltzed through my 'A' levels in Spanish, French and English Literature and ended up with a 2nd class Honours degree in Hispanic Studies at Birmingham University, which I chose above Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Durham and Manchester, all of which accepted me, because I would always have a decent choice of first class football to watch. At least two of Aston Villa, Birmingham City, West Bromwich Albion and Wolves would be at home every week. Job done. A full career as a schoolteacher followed apart from those years already mentioned on this forum when I was a professional singer. I am completely retired now, Col, as you well know, writing articles and books rather than living the life of Riley on my two pensions, but I do defy you to show me where I have ever stated how old I am.

[Digifiend]

Teachers confiscating/destroying prose story papers? They should've been encouraging kids to go buy them, as it would encourage good literacy. Fair enough that you got punished for reading them in class, but IMHO ripping up that Adventure was a step too far (and probably wouldn't be allowed these days).