To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Beano’s longest-running character, comic strip The Epic Yarn of Awesomeness will tell the garment’s backstory
Cruella de Vil was recently given a new backstory by Disney; the Wicked Witch of the West’s past was reimagined by Gregory Maguire in Wicked. Now the Beano is to reveal an origin story of its own: that of Dennis the Menace’s red and black stripy jumper.
The roguish Dennis made his first appearance in the pages of the Beano on 17 March 1951, wearing a shirt and tie. A month later, the 10-year-old hero was clad in his iconic jumper, which was originally portrayed in black and white. Colour was added shortly afterwards, with the red and black tones chosen because they were the strongest colours of ink available to printers in the 1950s. Now a new comic strip created to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Beano’s longest-running character will unveil the jumper’s secret history.