The Beano Top 100.

[NP]

23) Beaginnings (365) In Sept 1998 Dennis' Mum gave birth to a little girl and Beano readers, thanks to a poll, named her Bea. In the last ten years Bea has proved to be, in her own cute, guilless way as much of a menace as her older brother and certainly worthy of the strip of her own that has now appeared in the comic more often than not for nearly a decade. (Now simply titled Bea). Artwork David Parkins and main artist Nigel Parkinson.

A technical point: Although David Parkins created the look of Bea, He has never drawn an episode of Beaginnings or Bea. I, on the other hand, have.

[Kashgar]

First off, deepest apologies Nigel for robbing you of your proper credit for Bea. I'd assumed, wrongly, that as David had created the initial look for Bea he must have had some early input into the strip itself.
The fact that errors and omissions can be pointed out and rectified immediately is certainly one of the most positive aspects of a site like this.

[Kashgar]

18) Les Pretend (649) Lesley Presley Pretend, the lad with the lively imagination and a talent for dressing up entertained Beano readers for a very creditable seventeen years (1990-2007). Artwork John Sherwood, Trevor Metcalfe and Laura Howell.

[Kashgar]

Sorry Peter he didn't quite make it to No 13.

17) Calamity James (651) In more issues than not for two decades (1986-2007) 'the world's unluckiest boy' and his unlucky mascot of a pet Alexander Lemmimg survived life, but only just, in the pages of the Beano. Artwork Tom Paterson and Steve Bright.

[Kashgar]

16) Pansy Potter (674) The spiky-haired 'Strong-mans daughter' first appeared in the Beano just in time for Xmas 1938 and, in four series spanning 45 years (1938-1947) (1949-1955) (1958) (1989-1993), brought her girlish beefiness to bear in all manner of situations including a four year journey to Wonderland (1949-1953).
Pansy also appeared in the pages of Sparky (1965-1975).
Beano artists Hugh McNeill, Basil Blackaller, Dudley Watkins, Sam Fair, James Clark, Charles Grigg, Gordon Bell and Barry Glennard.

[Kashgar]

15) Babyface Finlayson (699) Originally appearing as a minor character in the Little Plum strip Babyface 'the cutest bandit in the West', garbed in his cowboy gear, complete with bib, and astride his super-powered pram was the bane of Marshal 'Marsh' Mallow's existence in two series spanning twelve years (1972-1977) (1980-1987) and a fair number of issues since (1989-1993) (2004-2005).
Artwork Ron Spencer and Emilios Hatjoulis.

[Kashgar]

14) Grandpa (798) A sort of geriatric take on the relationship between Dennis and his dad in which a whiskery old rascal, enjoying his second childhood, gets up to all sorts of mischief under the nose of his disapproving and even more whiskery parent. Ran in two seperate series published 14 years apart (1955-1957) (1971-1984). Artwork Ken Reid, Robert Nixon and Jimmy Glen.

Next time we move into the realm of the real Beano big-hitters, those strips that have managed a 1000 appearances and more.

[Steve Bright]

Can't wait! Good work, Mr Gar.

And thanks for the credit on Calamity James. Not sure I earned it though - I can't recall doing more than two or three...about the same as I did on Les Pretend... and Jacky Daw...and one or two others still to come .

[LauraH]

Yeah, likewise me on Les Pretend... I only did one! But thanks for acknowledging it Can't believe it ran for that many episodes. Amazing.

[Peter Gray]

Didn't Bob D draw some Calamity James in the late 80's...

Calamity James by Tom is the best! Bring him back...

[NP]

Les Pretend has had several illustrators not mentioned; Paul Palmer, Steve Bright and myself have all drawn episodes, I expect there are others, too.

[Lew Stringer]

Les Pretend has had several illustrators not mentioned; Paul Palmer, Steve Bright and myself have all drawn episodes, I expect there are others, too.

I drew a couple of Les Pretends for the Fun-Size Beano. (Nos.78 and 118). However this list just focuses on the weekly of course.

Lew

[David Gerstein]

44) Rasher (196) Dennis the Menace first encountered his porcine pet in 1979 but it wasn't until five years later that he earned his solo spot in a strip that lasted, on and off, for eleven years (1984-1995). Artwork Dave Sutherland.

Kashgar, this lineup and associated thread are brilliant—thanks so much!
As for Rasher, who was his artist in the final 1990s appearances? I was the writer on one of the last, in issue 2744—was told by Euan Kerr at the time that they preferred not to do Rasher solo strips anymore. Another I did around the same time was rejected for Dennis' dad threatening Rasher with the slipper; somehow I hadn't realized they'd banned slipper-whacking from the stories.

On a different note, I'm not in the UK at present so haven't been able to follow the modern Beano regularly. But are Les Pretend and Calamity James really gone for good since last year, or "just resting" for awhile? What is today's criteria for deciding which strips live and die?

[AndyB]

Les was retired firstly when John Sherwood died, and finally died a death when budget cuts saw the end to Trevor Metcalfe's new work in the Beano - barring, of course, Laura's one-off strip.

Tom Paterson's time is fully occupied with Dennis and the odd Numskulls strip - presumably he is also still drawing a few Minnie strips. I don't think he's going to be asked for any new new James strips for a while.

[Kashgar]

First off I'm not pretending in any way that the Top 100 was intended as a definitive listing of all artists who ever worked on every strip. Who could ever compile such a list? It really is only a bit of fun to help celebrate the comic's 70th birthday. If anyone wants to add names to the artist lists then please feel free to do so. And sorry Nigel if I seem to keep getting up your nose by missing you out when some 'lesser lights' are getting credit. As I said before I apologise but only to a point.