h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: 'The Beano' - the Comic - A87907549
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

Flea Market Rescue of:
Entry: A Brief History of The Beano (and a bit of The Dandy) - A1071569
Author: Matthew Mattic - U185009
With: Optical Illusion U231227
And: JulesK U649222
Also: Aximili U4646274

On 30 July 'The Beano' will celebrate its 80th anniversary!
This entry is written in the hope it'll make the Front Page in time.
I had a good collection of 'Beano', 'Dandy' and 'Beezer' dating from the mid-70s to mid-80s – including the issues where Gnasher is missing and Gnipper was born. But alas they were given away

<BB<

The Beano also lacked many of the characters that are synonymous with it now; Dennis the Menace, Rodger the Dodger and Minnie the Minx only arriving in the golden years of the 1950s.

This should have a comma, not a semicolon, after 'now'.

The quote from Maggie Thatcher should have em dashes, not a hyphen followed by a comma

Over the years they have given enjoyment to countless numbers of children and the characters in their pages&mdash;such as Desperate Dan and Minnie the Minx&mdash;have become household names.

She mentions Desperate Dan but the list of characters omits him. I remember Grandpa with affection; I hoped I would grow up to be like him eventually, and eventually, I have

Thanks for those comments – I've made some changes and will double-check exactly what Margaret Thatcher wrote later to see whether she did in fact use a hyphen followed by a comma (presumably because she was paranoid that hyphens would threaten her if they grew too powerful through overuse). Still, I've added a footnote in her bit to explain that Desperate Dan is a character from The Beano's sister comic The Dandy.

I hope you don't mind that I've added your quote about Grandpa and you have an 'Additional Research By' credit too.

<BB<

That's grand. Forgot Dan was Dandy... glad to be associated with Grandpa memories.

Well rescued and excellent idea to celebrate the anniversary

I'll give it a thorough readthrough now to help speed it towards the Front Page

Your introduction is dense with information but could be tweaked for clarity, eg:

"The Beano is a weekly comic by Dundee-based publishing firm DC1 Thomson and CoDC Thomson and Co was founded in 1905 and is still directed by the Thomson family today.. At its peak The Beano had over two million weekly buyers, with the number of readers reckoned to be much higher. As a comic anthology, each issue contains numerous different stories involving different characters, with recurring and occasional one-off characters too. "

(what does 'directed by' mean? does it mean the Thomson family don't own the business but do sit on the Board of Directors?)

"The best way to learn about The Beano is still to go to a newsagents and come out with £2:75 less than you went in."

£2.75 less than you went in with - need to add 'in 2018' somewhere here, as you found the price goes up quite regularly!

"The Beano was born on the 30 July, 1938 " - "The Beano was born on 30 July, 1938 "

"the early Beano had adventure stories told with text as well as panel stories; these were told with pictures with short paragraphs beneath explaining what was going on. These were usually less cartoony, the characters looking more realistic and detailed and the stories themselves were often more serious. "

The 'these's aren't always referring to the same thing here, I see, so perhaps rephrase eg:

"the early Beano had text-based adventure stories as well as panel stories. The adventure stories were told through short paragraphs beneath pictures showing what was going on. The pictures were usually less cartoony, with more realistic and detailed characters, and the stories themselves were often more serious. "

You mention the golden age of the 1950s twice - I like the phrase "The Beano also lacked many of the characters that are synonymous with it now" but you could perhaps delete the rest of the sentence as it appears later.

"The Bash Street Kids, whose original incarnation was a basically identical story called 'When The Bell Rings'." - what does this mean about a basically identical story?

I like your paragraph about how the comic is made, but it seems a bit out of place somehow... Perhaps move it above the paragraph about DC Thomson, start the paragraph with the sentence As The Beano was published cheaply. Put the bit about the story development where it first begain - was that true from the very early days or only in the 1950s?

"Plug, began, based on the 'Bash Street Kids' character, " - character of the same name?

"This continued until 1998 when they were replaced with the Fun Size Beano." - what is 'they'?

I think Christmas annual should have a capital A on Annual each time to avoid confusion with annual events!

In the Beano Trivia section you need to clarify when 'now' is.

The paragraph starting 'The Beano Campaign' reads strangely...

The paragraph starting 'Even in the 21st Century' perhaps needs to be merged into the History section and the bit about the scarcity of pristine early copies could go into the paragraph about auctions...

Was the national tour of the artwork connected to the 50th Anniversary? If so, the sentence could perhaps be moved up there.

I object to the word 'old' in the description of Jimmy Krankie - he's younger than my mum and was only in his 40s at the time...

There's something wrong with the Television paragraph... The section would perhaps sit better after the descriptions of the characters and before the Fan Club section.

- still need to read the descriptions of the characters...

Thanks for those comments – I've made the changes you've suggested, including capitalising Annual books to differentiate them from things that happen every year. It was the bi-annual annuals that were confusing, wasn't it?

£2.75 less than you went in with - need to add 'in 2018' somewhere here
Yep – in January it cost £2:50 and when the original entry was written it was only 65p. I don't think I can afford to buy 'The Beano' weekly any more…

I changed 'old' to 'fully-grown' when discussing the Krankies – but she always looked much, much older than a schoolboy and didn't fool anyone.

<BB<

Thanks <BB< Yes, that is a lot to pay out per week these days... Not sure how much pocket money people get nowadays, but that is surely a substantial proportion of the average...

"she always looked much, much older than a schoolboy and didn't fool anyone."

She fooled me if fooled is the right word... (fascinating that I have accepted people are who they say they are from an early age! - or perhaps that I have long been gullible, as I'm not sure now what The Krankies show was supposed to be about...)

Ahem... back to the business of reading the Entry...

I'm still not clear about the Bash Street Kids - the kids were called 'When the bell rings'?

"Biffo the Bear was the second cover star in 1948-1974" - what does this mean? He was the second character ever to appear on the cover, and was the only character to appear on the cover during those 26 years?

I presume Bea the Mini-Menace is Dennis' sister, not Gnasher's...

Lord Snooty's paragraph needs a tweak, as I first read it as describing his new friends rather than his original friends.

Excellent use of quotes, and I like the concluding paragraph

Thanks for finishing reading this - I'm happy to announce I've made a couple more tweaks, so it should read much better now.

<BB<

Have you read about this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-44154679

<BB<

Thanks for the reminder about this Entry - I see the anniversary is July, so it is timely to read it again

The Annuals section made me read it twice. I think the mention of 2018 vs 2017 would sit better as a footnote on The Beano in the last sentence of the section.

What were the sales in 1983?

What is an Annual? I thought I knew, but I'm not sure now because Annuals first appeared in the 1820s but the first Beano Annual was called the Beano Book

In the Trivia section, you don't need to mention the annuals and summer specials as you've already mentioned them in detail.

Similarly you don't need to mention Plug in the Bash Street spinoff sentence.

The Biffo the Bear paragraph could be streamlined eg:

"Biffo the Bear was the second cover star in 1948-1974. This meant he was only the second character ever to appear on the cover, and was the only character to appear on the cover until replaced by Dennis the Menace. Biffo is an anthropomorphic black bear who has Mickey Mouse like ears. Although he originally could talk, after losing the cover he declined in popularity and by the mid-1980s was no longer a regular character. He continues to appear sporadically but no longer seems able to talk."

"Biffo the Bear was the second cover star, featuring from 1948 until 1974 when he was replaced by Dennis the Menace. Biffo is an anthropomorphic black bear who has Mickey-Mouse-like ears. After losing the cover he declined in popularity and by the mid-1980s was no longer a regular character. He continues to appear sporadically but no longer seems able to talk. "

You have a Whiz and a Whizz - I presume it should be two zs.

The sentence about the Dennis spinoffs needs to be moved higher up in his section, I think, as it is not clear that they are Dennis spinoffs rather than Gnasher.

You don't need to mention the Minnie the Minx statue twice.

There's still a problem with the Television paragraph.

The 1996-8 TV series paragraph could be streamlined as you don't need to mention the dates twice, and it is already stated who the main characters are. It is a bit of a dangling clause about the slipper!

There are a few dates and numbers that are not in House Style, but the Sub-editor can sort them out no problem.

Thanks for the second read-through the anniversary is getting closer!

I'm afraid the article I read didn't specify the exact number of Beano annuals sold. As for knowing what an Annual is – you know. The reason the first Beano annual was called 'The Beano Book' is because The Beano loves alliteration almost as much as rhymes, particularly with names. Hence 'Biffo the Bear', 'Minnie the Minx' and so on. Annuals are books and 'Beano Book' repeats the B. Also by calling it a book you emphasise that it is a hardback publication that is bigger than the comic. Just because it wasn't specifically titled 'Annual' doesn't mean it isn't one.

I've rearranged the bits you've suggested such as the Dennis section.

<BB<

Another quickish readthrough to keep this on the move.

You mention When the Bell Rings twice, but I think it sits best in the Characters section paragraph about the Bash Street Kids - on first mention you can just say "...and the Bash Street Kids"

You mention the Fun Size Beano twice and give 1998 and 1996 as start dates.

The television section makes sense to me now

Excellent - this is much improved

That bell only rings once now
It was 1997...

<BB<

The Fun Size Beano is slightly incongruous in the 1980s paragraph, so it would be better to delete the sentence containing the first mention, change "By now" to "By that time" and then after the quote say something like:

"The Beano Comic Library was replaced by the Fun Size Beano (1997-2010). Another spin-off..."

Change made.

<BB<

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

Well done Matthew Mattic!

<BB<

Congratulations!