Comics UK

Would this be too strong....is this funny now? the dolly in bed of Minnies is funny

A lot of Dennis the Menaces have been changed a bit.slippers deleted...
stories mostly chosen avoiding Dennis getting the slipper at the end...

Of course I say don't change it......But a written note could be added to the page or contents page...

Sometimes the editing can spoil the story...one Classics had the Mum hitting Dennis bottom with her fist...because the slipper was edited out...it looked worse

It definitely shouldn't be altered - it's made clear throughout that this is historical material; the very title of the magazine lets us know that these are old reprints. If it's necessary an explanation on the contents page - same as usually comes with DVD releases of old US cartoons - would be okay, but it defeats the point of a classic mag to publish them not as they actually were, changing the writer and artist's intentions.

Maybe they should decide for sure if 'Classics' is mostly aimed at adult or child collectors, and if it's firmly the latter they should just avoid those stories (possibly hard with strips like Dennis as DCT were so keen on showing their naughty kid protagonists being beaten at the end to learn their lesson.)

Which year is that strip from, Peter?

1960 14th November

I'm trying to collect the early 1960's Beano..Dandy...Beezers..Toppers...my favourite era for Leo Baxendale etc..

Thanks, Peter. I thought it'd be early 60s.

Leo B. himself considered 1960 to be a peak year for his Beano work according to his autobiography.

a little bit


from the same comic

I agree: these pages are beautifully-drawn.

And 48 years later, they still haven't left school.

You certainly couldn't cherry-pick strips from this vintage period looking for the non-violent comuppance. You'd soon run out of reprint material if you did that. I would reckon that at least 90% of strips ended with Dennis' bum in the air waiting for the slipper to descend.

We have a similar situation in tv where It ain't half hot mum and Love thy Neighbour are never repeated because of offensive dialogue ("poofs" and "nig nog" &c.). But kids were slippered and caned at school and some say they still should be. We had a teacher who was ex army and the hardest caner in the school, kids were generally like angels around him. I wonder what today's kids make of these slippering panels? You could also say that The Road Runner and Tom Cat were more severely punished but we kill ourselves laughing when half a mountain collapses on the Coyote. (But no matter what happens they return completely intact in the next scene). Funnily enough as i type they are having a debate about smacking on Talksport (bloke locked up overnight for slapping his kid on the leg). No its not Jon Gaunt - he's suspended.

In Classics

Classics seem to have a poilcy that the slipper hitting the bum is banned...or waving it around..
they suggest it happens ....the panel with the Dad being angry is alterted the slipper is no longer being waved in the air...its been whited out...
it all seems silly to me.........


I've found more proof..hang on..

even canes hitting a kid on the nose is too much for our kids.......it all seems stupid to me...who thought up this rule......it even says its from the late 50's on the strip...

I used to think Classics was all I needed ...to expensive to get old comics..now I'm spending the money...the colour..the strips that are never shown...I've changed my mind completely...I love the red colour in the old comics..the paper colour...crisp black line...colour pages..

Homer Simpson strangles Bart Simpson and children and adults laugh along to it. Corporal punishment should NOT be altered, it annoys me that it was ended in the first place, bring it back I say lets see Dennis's Dad back in his stripey suit dishing out slipper! Kids are not sensitive to this sort of thing.

Steve Henderson wrote:Homer Simpson strangles Bart Simpson and children and adults laugh along to it. Corporal punishment should NOT be altered, it annoys me that it was ended in the first place, bring it back I say lets see Dennis's Dad back in his stripey suit dishing out slipper! Kids are not sensitive to this sort of thing.

I think it's more to do with the reactions of over-hysterical parents and retailers, more than how children would perceive it. A complaint against a comic from some over-cautious parent could get a comic withdrawn from the shelves, costing the publishers thousands. Since the situations with Action and Oink! (two comics kids loved but some parents hated) publishers are very careful now.

That said, comics have to move with the times. As caning is now illegal it makes no sense to show teacher brandishing a cane. Sure, Classics should show strips in context, but it's a newsstand comic not a history book, so has to follow the same criteria as other comics.

As for the disappearance of caning in schools, blame over-zealous teachers for part of it. In the early 1970s a teacher at my high caned the entire class because ONE kid threw a rubber at her and no one would own up who did it. The fact that half the class of 30 pupils didn't even SEE who thew the rubber didn't seem to occur to the teacher. This was reported on the local tv news at the time and was one factor in getting caning banned. (Luckily I was away that day so missed the whack.)

There were other instances of abuse from other teachers that I remember, particularly a sports teacher who'd be sacked on the spot today for his behaviour. The sad fact is some teachers were bullies and sadists who should never have been allowed near children and they made it bad for the majority of decent teachers.

Lew

I went to probably the roughest school in London, Credon Road, SE16. Millwall territory. It was like a zoo. But it was funny how the kids who had been the troublemakers came back after they had left and got a job to see their old teachers again and have a friendly chat. The teachers never seemed to remember the well behaved kids. I always remember one kid who had carved a swastika onto the back of his hand with a penknife. And one teacher who had a nervous breakdown (after he'd punched his fist though a window pane). Kids who forgot their PE kit were given a pair of 1940s grey flannel shorts down to their ankles.

happy days are here again!