The pc brigade are at it again

[dandy mad]

Ive read a story in todays daily mirror that thomsons had complaints about dennis the menace was a gay basher because of the way he treated softy walter and euan kerr said the relationship between dennis and walter always worried me and that there were accusations of gay bashing-this obviously wasnt the way we intended it to be perceived and went on to say we eventually gave walter a girlfreind . I never thought that about dennis when i was a kid

[MikeC]

He didn't say they got complaints in the interview I read - he said he was worried about it being perceived that way.

And when you say you didn't think about Dennis, do you mean in 'that' way?







Just joking, obviously. no offence intended, in case you're ultra-sensitive and have no sense of irony!

[Lew Stringer]

The "pc brigade" aren't actually at it "again" though. It's old news isn't it. Euan was talking about the past. The Telegraph seized upon that aspect (as they do) and the rest of the media followed.

If anything, it's the ANTI pc brigade in the media who are "at it again" in focusing on one aspect of an interview to drag up an old topic.

The way the anti-pc media goes on anyone would think all comics ever had going for them was corporal punishment, racism, and violence. These things were toned down over two decades ago and yet today's kids still love The Beano. Proof if anything that comics can evolve and survive, - what a pity the media can't do a positive story about that!

Still, it's all good publicity for The Beano.

Lew

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I'm anti-PC and proud of it, LEW, and the only loss I truly grieved regarding DENNIS was the passing of his original artist DAVEY LAW, [in 1970] ; I felt most work done after this paled in comparison.

I remember also that 'BATMAN and ROBIN' were slammed for 'being gay' many years back; but this wasn't the anti-PC mob saying this: it was the quite seperate 'pseudo-intellectual' mob, the same lot who have corrupted TV [possibly terminally] and desire to spread their pale propaganda to the world of comics......just ignore them, they're not worthy of our attention.......

[Lew Stringer]

I'm anti-PC and proud of it, LEW....I remember also that 'BATMAN and ROBIN' were slammed for 'being gay' many years back; but this wasn't the anti-PC mob saying this: it was the quite seperate 'pseudo-intellectual' mob, the same lot who have corrupted TV [possibly terminally] and desire to spread their pale propaganda to the world of comics......just ignore them, they're not worthy of our attention.......

Actually it was one man; Dr.Frederick Wertham and his book Seduction of the Innocent. His comments about Batman & Robin made no difference whatsoever to Batman comics because they were false claims. (He did however instigate the massive and disgraceful anti-horror/crime comics wave of ignorance which crippled the American comics industry in the 1950s and led to the Comics Code.)

You're missing my point though ISPYSHHGUY. What I'm saying is that the media are regularly getting on their high horse about "political correctness" in UK comics but it's old news! It's the anti-PC "mob" who keep dragging it up, not the "politically correct crowd".

For example, corporal punishment went out of comics over 20 years ago (perhaps over 30 years ago now) simply because it stopped being used in schools! The comics merely reflected changes in society, yet they get the blame for it!

Speaking of high horses, Desperate Dan was on his in last week's Dandy Xtreme, firing his six guns. So much for that myth!

I wrote/drew the exploits of school bully Tom Thug for 10 years in Oink! and Buster and, in over 400 pages, not once did I feel restricted in not being able to show him being caned or whacked. Yet he always received his comeuppance in other ways. (Usually his pranks backfiring on him.)

If anything, the "limitations" of "political correctness" encourage the writer to be more creative, rather than falling back on the old "six of the best" punchline.

Thankfully, British comics have always had a lot more going for them than merely depicting corporal punishment. Same goes for any other so-called "pc" changes which have been around for over two decades now. Those "changes" were made years ago. It's nothing new, but the media has to fill space with something I suppose. It's all too easy to get adults in a froth by hacking out tired old "comics aren't like they used to be" articles than actually going out and researching the subject properly.

"the pc brigade are at it again"? Really, they're not. But the anti-pc "brigade" are.

Lew

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

the 'SEDUCTION of the INNOCENT' book/pamphlet in 50s America was a bi-product of the hysteria whipped up by the similarly-paranoic Mc Carthy witch hunts of the same period, LEW, in fact much of this period teetered on psychosis, reflected in sci-fi cinema of the time, notably the 1956 ' I nvasion of the Body Snatchers, a telling example of the psychosis that gripped much of the US media at the time.

Having said that, some EC Horror comics of this era were truly nightmarish, and could have disturbed some sensitive kids: even in my youth, there were imported US horror comics that somehow slipped through the code, and I found some of these tales pretty unwholesome and slightly disturbing.....I think that 'MAD' had to change format to a magazine in order to stay in business.

However, the COMICS CODE succeeded in producing a dead-end, repressed comics industry, with no real new talents surfacing for well over a decade, US comics today may be more 'ghettoised', but there is at least a healthy diversity for those who want it.

Regarding UK comics and corporal punishment, I actually recieved '6 of the best' on at least one occassion, and it done me absolutely no harm---or good------in equal measure.....I'm still exactly the same individual, with the same unique thoughts, as I was before the 'strapping'. Lack of discipline [ lauded by the liberals] in society is simply creating seperate problems....thankfully, it's not me who has the responsibility of sorting out the sorry mess.

[Lew Stringer]

Having said that, some EC Horror comics of this era were truly nightmarish, and could have disturbed some sensitive kids

Even though there's absolutely no evidence that they did?

However, the COMICS CODE succeeded in producing a dead-end, repressed comics industry, with no real new talents surfacing for well over a decade,

Apart from a little thing like the launch of the Marvel age of comics in 1961. I wonder what became of them?

Regarding UK comics and corporal punishment, I actually recieved '6 of the best' on at least one occassion, and it done me absolutely no harm---or good------in equal measure.....I'm still exactly the same individual, with the same unique thoughts, as I was before the 'strapping'. Lack of discipline [ lauded by the liberals] in society is simply creating seperate problems....thankfully, it's not me who has the responsibility of sorting out the sorry mess.

So if, as you admit, "six of the best" did you no harm or good, what on Earth is the point of defending it? And how does this relate to The Beano?

Lew

[Lew Stringer]

Ive read a story in todays daily mirror that thomsons had complaints about dennis the menace was a gay basher because of the way he treated softy walter and euan kerr said the relationship between dennis and walter always worried me

Here's the full article. As you can see, in reality it's part of a promotional campaign for the forthcoming History of The Beano book. Those canny folk at DC Thomson just earned themselves free publicity by getting the Mirror, the Telegraph, The Times and who knows who else to rant about something that happened 20 years ago.

"Euan Kerr says that he stopped Dennis from menacing fellow character Walter the Softy in the late 1980s because of fears that his behaviour appeared to endorse the violent bullying of homosexuals."

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sc ... 4489989.jp

[Brendan McGuire]

I still think Walter's a poof.

[stevezodiac]

Here are a few cuttings, two from the Daily Mail including one from Richard Littlejohn's page (illustrated by Gary - whoever he is):

No idea where my scans went to but i've put them on again. Here's hoping. Don't know why you folks are so anti right wing, look what Labour has done to Britain over the last decade, turned it into a ghetto with crime as its biggest import. Well done you Labour voters. You must be proud. Made myself very unpopular here but I couldn't care less. I detest the left as much as most of you detest the right.

[Lew Stringer]

[quote="stevezodiac"]Here are a few cuttings, two from the Daily Mail including one from Richard Littlejohn's page (illustrated by Gary - whoever he is):[/quote

When I click on it I just see the message "The selected attachment does not exist anymore." - but as the items are from the Daily Mail, and written by Littlejohn, I'm guessing they're ill-informed anti-PC rants, right?

Lew

[Gary Northfield]

Here's the article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... stool.html

He doesn't really have much to say for himself apart from a couple of "hilarious" digs at Andy Pandy, The Flowerpot Men and Desperate Dan. Pretty pointless commentary to be honest.

As much as I loathe the Daily Mail, I've always admired the drawings of "Gary"; his caricatures are brilliantly simple.

[Lew Stringer]

Here's the article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... stool.html

He doesn't really have much to say for himself apart from a couple of "hilarious" digs at Andy Pandy, The Flowerpot Men and Desperate Dan. Pretty pointless commentary to be honest.

As much as I loathe the Daily Mail, I've always admired the drawings of "Gary"; his caricatures are brilliantly simple.

Cheers Gary. The artist has a really nice style. First time I've seen his work as I avoid the Daily Mail like the plague. Scaremongering rag.

As for Littlejohn, his hypocrisy is laughably pathetic:

"It wouldn't have crossed most readers' minds that Walter might be gay."

"I've always wondered what Bill and Ben got up to in their flowerpots when the man who worked in the garden went in for his dinner."

So he wouldn't think about Walter being gay but he's quite proud to fantasize about Bill and Ben.

What a plonker.

Lew

[Brendan McGuire]

When the man who worked in the garden went in for his tea, it was then that Bill and Ben Climbed out of their flowepots. So, you could see EXACTLY what they were getting up to. :rolleyes:

[David]

The Metro newspaper article claims picking on Walter was banned in the late 1980's, but isn't that a 1990's Walter getting picked on in the picture?
Also, didn't Walter have a girlfriend in one issue?