BEANO - THE DENNIS COLLECTION

Celebrating 70 years of menacing...

Copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

Got any Christmas money left, Crivvies?  Then you may want to consider treating yourself to a copy of this great book which arrived at Castel Crivens today.  No need for any info from me when you can read the official spiel on the back cover of this nice thick hardback volume - oh, what the heck, I'll give you some anyway.  This terrific tome contains Dennis's first appearance, the 'speculative' debut of his striped jumper, Gnasher's initial appearance, and no doubt other 'firsts' as well.  (Not long arrived, so only had a cursory browse through it.)

Originally £20, I got mine (new) on eBay for just under £14, post free, so check online for the best deal you can get as, considering the book is still currently available, I've seen some ridiculously high asking prices.  It's a great collection, though there's no explanation as to why Dennis's mum and dad suddenly change appearance towards the end of the book, so older readers who haven't seen The Beano in some years might be left scratching their heads.  Most strips have the date of when they were first published, but two or three seem to have slipped through the net.  Anyway, highly recommended.

(Scary thing is, it only seems like a year or two since I bought the 60th Anniversary collection - a whole 10 years ago.)

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Having now read the book, I note that a few of the later stories appear to 'start midstream', as if they began on the cover which has then been omitted.  One story even seems to have a third page missing, as it ends as if there's more to come, and another seems to be a Dennis 'extract' from a larger, issue-length story featuring all the comic's characters.  That aside, up to that point it's great.  And let's face it, it's really the classic stories that most readers will be buying this book for anyway.  In that regard, it doesn't disappoint.