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books:


	• Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1957-58 (Vol. 4) Hank Ketcham Fantagraphics Books, 2007 - 672 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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The story of our culture can be told through comic strips. If we consider the historical movements throughout the world in the decades from the early 1900's to the present, every era has had one strip that captured the prevailing spirit and provided a segue to the next generation of cartooning.

If we disregard the rise, peak and fall of the adventure strip (which could be discussed another time), the family/gag strips have retained their readerships. Blondie began as a strip with 2 flappers who foun d love, each other and raised a family over 70 years ago. It has changed with the times, but still celebrates Dagwood's love of sandwhiches and Blondie. Other strips have represented time periods that have audiences today. Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois, Dennis the Menace, for Better or For Worse and Peanuts play off the same market.
The newest addition to the Dennis the Menace line covers 1957-58 in what has become typical Fantagraphics style. Squarebound and printed on high quality paper, the series looks good on any bookshelf, but will not find itself there often. You can't put these down. Innocence can be so charming, and the Ketchum slice of life cut through readers everywhere. In one strip, Dennis prays 'God, I goofed again...' That could be any of us. Dennis yells at his parents, 'Go Home' during a particularly noisy New Years Party. I tried that once, and stayed up to eat the snacks.

There are so may ways to describe why these books are so good. If I could make up a word, it would be 'Ketchamisms: Timeless vignettes resonating eternal youth and optimism.

[...]

Tim Lasiuta

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"Hey, Mr. Wi-i-i-i-i-lllson!"?the Menace is back in this fourth volume in the Complete Dennis the Menace!

Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace was Fantagraphics' second "complete" series of newspaper strip collections and one of the most successful books in the company's history, greeted by reviews with praise similar to that garnered by The Complete Peanuts. We are proud to present the fourth volume of Hank Ketcham's phenomenal panel covering the years 1957 and 1958.

Dennis the Menace began on March 14, 1951 and he went on to become the second most popular cartoon kid in the world (after Charlie Brown). The timing was perfect: the post-war generation, at the height of the baby boom, embraced the perennial troublemaker and turned Dennis into a global publishing, merchandising and multi-media phenomenon, with over 50 million book collections sold, the fondly remembered live-action TV show from 1959-63, two major motion pictures in the '90s, a full-length animated film in 2002, and many other media tie-ins. The strip currently is enjoyed by readers of over 1,000 newspapers every day.

Ketcham captured the mischievousness, rambunctiousness, and anarchy of a kid's world better than any other cartoonist. The strip appeals to both parents and children?while parents shake their head ruefully at how accurately Ketcham caught the essence of children's natural zest for mayhem, children identify with Dennis and the chaos that he leaves in his wake. Ketcham's gags are funny, subtle and touching, and executed with a vivacious, exquisite line.

Ketcham drew Dennis the Menace from 1951 to 1994, when he retired and let his assistant take over the strip. This fourth volume of Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace publishes every single panel strip from 1957 and 1958 in one handsome and thick hardcover volume. Ketcham's legendary pen and ink work achieves its full flowering in this volume as do the various situations and themes that Ketcham would return to again and again.

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