List of Beano comic strips facts for kids

The Beano comic has been around for a very long time, and it's been home to many different kinds of stories! From funny comic strips to exciting adventure tales and even stories told just with words (called prose stories). The prose stories stopped appearing in 1955, and the adventure strips finished in 1975. The last adventure strip was General Jumbo.

Even though they tried to bring back adventure strips a few times, like with Billy the Cat and Katie in the 2000s, they didn't stick around. The longest-running comic strip in The Beano is Dennis the Menace, which has been making readers laugh for over seventy years! Other popular and long-lasting strips include Biffo the Bear, Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger, The Bash Street Kids, Little Plum, and Billy Whizz. By 2015, The Beano had featured 371 different comic strips!

This list focuses on the strips that appeared regularly in the weekly comic. It also includes information about the "Comic Idol" winners, which were special competitions held from 1995 to 2010.

Funny Comic Strips in The Beano

The Beano is famous for its funny comic strips. Here are some of the most well-known ones, along with when they started and who drew them.

Short Funsize Funnies

In 2012, The Beano started a new section called "Funsize Funnies." These are short comic strips, usually with only three or four panels. At first, they featured older or existing Beano characters, but later they started including parodies of celebrities and brand new characters.

Exciting Adventure Strips

From the very first issue of The Beano until 1975, the comic included exciting adventure strips. These stories were often longer and more serious than the funny comic strips. While they stopped appearing in the weekly comic, they continued in the yearly Annuals. Some of these adventure strips even started as prose stories (stories told only with words).

The longest-running adventure strips included Tom Thumb (1938–1958), Jack Flash (1949–1958), Jimmy and his Magic Patch (1944–1959), The Iron Fish (1949–1967), Red Rory of the Eagles (1951–1962), General Jumbo (1953–1975), and Billy the Cat (1967–1974, 2003–2009).

Here are some of the adventure strips that appeared in The Beano:

Stories Told with Words (Prose Stories)

From the very beginning of The Beano until 1955, the comic included "prose stories." These were like short stories you'd read in a book, usually one or two pages long, and often had a picture at the top. Many of these prose stories later became adventure strips, and some adventure strips even had prose versions!

In total, there were 79 different prose stories in The Beano. Fifteen of these also appeared as adventure strips, including Tom Thumb, The Iron Fish, and Red Rory of the Eagles. After a long break, a new text story called Diary of an Ugly Kid appeared in 2013, followed by Diary of a Bash Street Kid in 2014.

Here are some of the prose stories:

Comic Idol Runners-Up

Sometimes, The Beano held competitions like "Comic Idol" or "Beanotown's Got Talent" to find new comic strips. The strips listed here were runners-up, meaning they didn't win the main competition. However, many of them still appeared in the comic or in annuals, and some even lasted longer than strips that were regularly featured!

See also

• The Beano
• List of Beano comic strips by annual
• The Dandy
• List of Dandy comic strips
• The Beezer
• List of Beezer comic strips
• List of Beezer and Topper comic strips