The Beano is a British children's comic published by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd which was first issued on 26 July 1938 (dated 30 July). The present editor is Euan Kerr, who has been in this role since 1984.

There have been several long-running strips over the years. The longest-running strip in the comic as of 2004 is "Dennis the Menace and Gnasher", which first appeared (under the name of "Dennis the Menace") in 1951. Other famous strips include "The Bash Street Kids", "Minnie the Minx", and "Roger the Dodger". "Lord Snooty" appeared in the very first issue, but disappeared from the comic in 1990.

There are frequent fictional crossovers between the strips, with most of the characters living in the fictional town of Beanotown.

A first issue of The Beano sold for GB£12,100 on 16 March 2004, which was at the time the highest price ever paid for a British comic at an auction.

List of Beano comic strips

• Ball Boy
• The Bash Street Kids
• Bash Street Kids - Singled Out
• Bea
• Billy Whizz
• Calamity James
• Colin the Vet
• Crazy for Daisy
• Dennis The Menace
• Derek the Sheep (occasionally)
• Freddie Fear Son of a Witch
• The Germs with Ill Will (occasionally)
• Gnasher and Gnipper
• Ivy the Terrible
• Joe Jitsu
• Les Pretend He's Round the Bend/The Little Kid with the BIG Imagination (occasionally)
• Little Plum
• Minnie the Minx
• The Numskulls (from The Beezer)
• Pup Parade (occasionally)
• Robbie Rebel Nobody Tells Him What to Do!
• Roger the Dodger

Past comic strips include:

• 2-Gun Tony The King Street Cowboy
• Alf Wit The Ancient Brit
• Baby Face Finlayson The Cutest Bandit in the West!/The Cutest Bandit Around
• The Belles of St. Lemons
• Biffo the Bear (later abbreviated to "Biffo")
• Big Eggo
• Big Fat Joe
• Billy the Cat and Katie (originally just "Billy the Cat")
• Black Bun
• Brave Captain Kipper
• Camp Cosmos
• Chip the Stone Age Boy
• Cocky Dick He's Smart and Slick
• Colonel Crackpot's Circus
• Come To Beanotown
• The Country Cuzzins
• Danny on a Dolphin
• Danny's Nanny
• Dean's Dino
• Ding-Dong Belle
• Dog's Breakfast T.V.
• Dr Beastly's Tales of the Slightly Unpleasant
• Emlyn the Gremlin
• Even Steven He's Out for Revenge
• The Fix-It Twins
• Freddy Flipper-Feet
• General Jumbo ("Admiral Jumbo" for a while)
• Gnasher's Tale
• Go, Granny, Go!
• Good King Coke He's Stoney Broke
• Gordon Bennett
• Gordon Gnome
• Grandpa
• Hairy Dan
• Handy Sandy
• Hard-Nut the Nigger
• Have a Go Jo
• Helpful Henry
• Hot Foot
• Inspector Horse and Jocky
• The Iron Fish
• Jack Flash
• Jacky Daw with Maw and Paw
• Jimmy and his Magic Patch
• Joe King
• Johnny Hawk
• Jonah
• Karate Sid
• Kat and Kanary
• Lord Snooty
• Little Monkey
• Little Nell and Peter Pell
• The Magic Lollipops
• Matt Hatter
• Maxy's Taxi
• The McTickles
• Minder Bird
• Multy the Millionaire
• The Nibblers
• Number 13
• Pansy Potter The Strongman's Daughter
• Peter the Penguin
• Phone-a-Fiend
• Ping the Elastic Man
• Polly Wolly Doodle And Her Great Big Poodle
• Prince Whoopee
• Punch and Jimmy
• The Q-Bikes
• Rasher
• Richard the Lion
• Ricky Grainger He Laughs at Danger
• Rip Van Wink He's 700 years old!
• Sammy Shrinko
• The Shipwrecked Circus
• Simply Smiffy
• Smart Alec
• Smudge
• The Sort Out Squad
• Space Kidette
• Splodge The Naughtiest, Cleverest (he thinks) Goblin in Beanotown Woods (from The Topper)
• Sticky Willie
• Swanky Lanky Liz
• Sweet Sue
• Sydd
• The Three Bears
• Tim Traveller
• Tin-Can Tommy The Clockwork Boy
• Tiny Titch
• Tom, Dick and Sally
• Trash Can Ally
• Tricky Dicky (from The Topper)
• Uncle Windbag He Tells Tall Tales
• Vic Volcano
• Wavy Davy and his Navy
• Wee Ben Nevis
• Wee Peem
• Whoopee Hank The Slap-Dash Sheriff
• Winnie the Witch
• The Yeti with Betty

See also

• British comics
• List of DC Thomson publications
• Plug
• The Beano Annual
• The Dandy

External links

• Official Beano site (http://www.beanotown.com)
• Beano Fan site (http://www.paulmorris.co.uk/beano/)
• Comics UK: Beano (http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/ComicInformationPages/BeanoPages/BeanoHomePage.asp)
• beano.net (http://www.beano.net)

The Beano comic takes its name from the English word beano which can be loosely interpreted as a fun time, and is a suitable name for the comic. For further discussion of the origin of this word, see The Meaning Of Beano (http://www.bicycle-beano.co.uk/beano.html).

Beano is another name for the game of bingo, where numbered balls are drawn and players mark off the corresponding numbers on their gaming cards. In some parts of the US, bingo games require a Beano License (e.g.rules for Massachusetts (http://www.masslottery.com/Bingo/RafflesCasino.htm)) .

Beano is also a dietary product that prevents flatulence. Its motto is "There'll beano gas".