Nigel Parkinson on Dennis the Menace’s enduring success

By John Freeman on July 22, 2013

The 75th Anniversary issue of The Beano goes on sale on Wednesday. Cover by Nigel Parkinson.

The Daily Telegraph has interviewed artist Nigel Parkinson about drawing Dennis the Menace and the enduring popularity of the mischievous character as The Beano celebrates its 75th anniversary this week. You can view the video here (for some reason the embed tool doesn’t work on our site)

“I’ve drawn so many Dennis stories now that I virtually dream drawing his eyes and his hair in my sleep.” Nigel Parkinson confesses as he sketches The Beano‘s signature character. He was the first of the great kid characters in comics and he remains the best because he was very simply designed.”

“I don’t actually do a page in 1.40… a little artistic licence here…” Nigel points out. The video was shot by Glen Milner.

John Freeman

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.