The Beano has dedicated its Christmas cover to the mischievous Minnie the Minx this week, to celebrate 60 years of the world’s wildest tom boy. Her solo appearance is a first in the comic’s history.
The bumper Christmas issue goes on sale on Wednesday 11th December with a cover featuring Minnie by Nigel Parkinson, up to her usual high jinks, exclaiming, “It’s my birthday and I’ll Minx if I want to!”.
In this special issue, the Beanotown gang also throw Minnie a surprise birthday party which renders her speechless… perhaps for the first time ever.
The first full appearance of Minnie the Minx in The Beano, 19th December 1953. Art © DC Thomson
The first full Minnie the Minx strip debuted in The Beano on 19th December 1953, trailed for the two weeks in advance of this by some teaser promotional panels. The strip was the work of Leo Baxendale, and joined two other long-running newcomers – Roger the Dodger, first drawn by Ken Reid and Little Plum, also by Baxendale, in the comic.
Down the years, Minnie – The Beano’s third longest running character after Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger – has been drawn by a handful of artists on a regular basis – Baxendale (who reportedly based the look of Minnie’s dad on the first Beano editor, George Mooney), Jim Petrie, Tom Paterson, Ken Harrison, Laura Howell and Nigel Parkinson.
Alongside The Dandy‘s Desperate Dan and his pet Dawg, Minnie was given her own statue in Dundee, DC Thomson’s base, in 2001. She has also featured in the line-up of McDonalds “Happy Meal” toys in Britain and has several models and figurines and on T-Shirts and in video games.
“We can’t quite believe its Minnie’s 60th anniversary,” says Beano Editor in Chief Mike Stirling. “She looks so young!
“The Christmas issue cover is the most coveted of the year in Beanotown. It usually stars Dennis and some of the gang. Dennis and Gnasher were not happy that it’s all about Minnie this year… come to think of it, she’s lucky they threw her a surprise party with only a little menacing thrown in for good measure.”
“This bumper issue has a Christmas theme running throughout,” Mike notes. “We couldn’t make it all about Minnie, no matter how much she tried to trick us into it.
“It’s packed full of funny stories including How The Cowell Stole Christmas – which sees Simon Cowell receive a Grinch style makeover. Plus, those naughty Numskulls make Santa forget all about Christmas – eek!”
Alongside The Beano’s regular strips the Christmas issue also features Will.i.am the Conqueror and Dec-k The Halls – and is on sale in all good newsagents tomorrow.
• More about Minnie the Minx on the official Beano website here
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, downthetubes Comics News, Featured News
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“who reportedly based the look of Minnie’s dad on the first Beano editor, George Mooney” : If you’d listen DC Thomson, their characters are ALWAYS based on editors from the house ; I guess it’s a way to give them some kind of legitimity over the artists they of course haven’t.