Cummings and Johnson in the Beano

[Fambo Number Mive]

In a special pullout special in the latest Beano (do any of you read it? I don't)

This week's Beano comic includes a pull-out section called Bean-OLD, designed to cheer up adults in the midst of the pandemic - and who better to help in that than Mr Cummings, the former Vote Leave impresario who quit his government role last week?

One strip - commissioned before his resignation - features him (sort of) reprising his famous lockdown road trip from London to County Durham earlier this year.

This time he has Boris Johnson in the back seat - alongside Wilbur Brown, the square-jawed mayor of Beanotown, who could be said to bear a slight resemblance to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

The Beano makes play of Mr Cummings's discomfort at the furore that followed his journey and his subsequent drive to Barnard Castle, which he insisted had been an attempt to test his eyesight before the longer return south...

Mr Rashford and fellow prominent campaigners Captain Sir Tom Moore and Greta Thunberg are among those who join forces with Beano anti-hero Dennis the Menace's father to try to foil Mr Brown's plot.

Mike Stirling, editorial director of Beano Studios, told the BBC: "Wilbur Brown is the real baddie in this this, not the others."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54976553

Not exactly strong satire but then it's the Beano, not Private Eye. I like how Johnson has the name of the place he is visiting written on his body.

I hope Comedy Chat is the right place for this as it's sort of satire, apologies if not.

Putting current figures in an issue is a good way of getting more sales.

[Sin Agog]

Rees-Mogg in The Dandy.

[Huxleys Babkins]

My lad gets the Beano, so I'll have a look at this. I expect late Simpsons-level "Look, it's Simon Cowell!" levels of nothing, due to a) not wanting to alienate the kids and b) not wanting to get dragged into some culture war cancellation row.

[Jackson K Pollock]

My gut response to the OP was that, as much as I feel like what's going on in the world right now really is too important to ignore, perhaps the Beano is the one place we should keep politics out of.

But having looked at the strips posted in the BBC story, I'm surprised how funny they actually are, and they even have a bit of bite!

There's (at least) two good jokes just in the first two frames (

Spoiler alert

"I'll have to give you a ticket for driving without glasses" "But I have contacts" "I don't care who you know, you're still getting a ticket!"

[close]

being my favourite).

And the frame of Johnson attempting to deliver a speech to the singularly unimpressed residents of "Beenotown" is great. Why would the residents of Beanotown be pleased to see him?

I don't know if it's just that I had low/zero expectations, or that I thought a kid's comic isn't the right place for political messages, but I'm really pleasantly surprised by this, and think it's quite daring of the Beano to be so overtly political.

I'm quite tempted to buy my first copy for the first time in maybe... 30 years?[nb]It was a staple in my household since birth, as my Dad had got it since he was a kid, and even has annuals dating back to the... 1950s, maybe?[/nb]

[ajsmith2]

I thought their 'Trumpkin' cartoon from 3 years ago went surprisingly far (for a kids thing) in addressing Donnies crazy racial antics, his appreciation for the sheet ghost being a pretty transparent KKK allusion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpzbMHgdl2w

[Pranet]

Had a flick through a Beano in a GP waiting room a few years ago and I remember it being ok.

Also remember reading somewhere that a lot of their sales these days come from adult collectors so perhaps this is acknowledging that to an extent.

[Blue Jam]

This is funnier and more savage than the Spitting Image reboot tbf.

[petril]

cannot wait to see the Beano eventually becoming more adult and funnier than Viz

[kidsick5000]

This is funnier and more savage than the Spitting Image reboot tbf.

Yep. Was thinking the same

[The Mollusk]

Fucking hell, someone got paid to draw that shite. Atrocious illustration, what the fuck's going on with the yellow and white streaked car?

[Zetetic]

This is funnier and more savage than the Spitting Image reboot tbf.

More subtle and moving cock-nose motifs as well.

[Annie Labuntur]

I'm sure politicians have appeared in The Beano and other comics for years, but only as public figures to be quickly chuckled at like any famous face off TV.
If I was a kid reading this strip I'd think it was rubbish and turn the page quickly. "This isn't the first car crash you've been involved in this year - I remember your press conference from the Downing Street rose garden!"  BORING

[Billy]

Not the first politician to appear in the Beano, this is the one I remember in a time-travel special from 1996...

[Hand Solo]

How long have The Beano being putting politicians and fucking celebs in its cartoons, it seems to be the general thing now? I don't really remember any during my day.. now it's all this!

Even Danny fucking Wallace gets a cameo??



Raising a right load of tabloid consumers.

[magval]

There's no E in Tracy, The Beano.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

what pandering, ass-kissing shite

[Replies From View]

And horrendous drawings too.

[Replies From View]

Not the first politician to appear in the Beano, this is the one I remember in a time-travel special from 1996...

Why didn't Dennis send Gnasher to gnaw off one of his testicles?  That would have made history without changing it.

[beanheadmcginty]

The Daniel Craig/Plug comparison is pretty funny to be fair.

[kalowski]

Were Walliams and Wallace outed by the Beano?

[Pranet]

I remember Joan Armatrading turning up now and again in the strip Tom Dick and Sally.

Edit-looking at wiki Madness also featured in the same strip.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I remember Joan Armatrading turning up now and again in the strip Tom Dick and Sally.

One thing I associate Joan Armatrading with , apart from crap music, is her banging on about her liking the fucking " Beano".
I like how you've phrased her appearance in that comic  tale of sibling rivalry ; she probably only turned up once ( indeed, I can remember the strip she turned up in), but it's amusing to imagine her popping up on that strip as a semi- recurring character like  Sideshow Bob, or something

[ajsmith2]

Armatrading  was apparently an official member of the Beano fan club. Not sure if the connection started with the Beano folk collaring her for an appearance or if she was such a huge fan that she was begging them to appear. I suspect the latter as she seems a bit of a random choice for a celeb endorsement for a kids comic otherwise.

While I don't think I was reading it when she made her appearance (s?), I remember later retrospective and anniversary editions referring back to the Beano/Armatrading special relationship and thinking 'arsed mate' as primary school kids weren't exactly her target audience otherwise.. one of those issues also claimed Mark Hamill was also a Beano fan, which of course was a fair bit cooler to an 8 year old in 198something.

EDIT: some evidence of the Hamill/Beano connection https://twitter.com/hamillhimself/status/718459010219909120?lang=en-gb

[Gurke and Hare]

The Kemp twins signed for Melchester Rovers in the 1980s of course, which was the reason for Fultchester United signing Shaky.

I walked past the DC Thompson office in London a few weeks ago, and they've got a great painting hanging up in the window which is in the style of a Lowry, but with all Beano characters in it.

[Bad Ambassador]

I remember one Christmas Beano c.2003-4 having a big story about how the regulars hadn't sent their letters to Santa, and tried to think of how to get them there. Someone suggests stowing away on a plane to the North Pole, leading Dennis to comment while rolling his eyes, "Yeah, 'cos airports are really relaxed about security these days."

[therubiconhasbeencrossed]

I'm old enough to remember racist calypsonian Mike Read appearing in the Beano in 1986.

I never had the comic library telling the story of when Minnie the Minx met the nation's most notorious sexual abuser though

[stonkers]

[ian01604]

How long have The Beano being putting politicians and fucking celebs in its cartoons,

Since the 40s when they mocked Mussolini.
They do it very rarely these days and the latest thing is aimed at parents to cheer them up after a suggestion from one of their focus groups.