Dennis The Menace (UK)

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (originally titled Dennis the Menace and currently titled Dennis and Gnasher) is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by DC Thomson, of Dundee. The comic stars a boy named Dennis the Menace and his dog, an "Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound" named Gnasher.

The strip first appeared in issue 452 (dated 17 March 1951) and on sale from 12 March 1951. It is the longest-running strip in the comic. The idea and name of the character emerged when the comic's editor heard a British music hall song with the chorus "I'm Dennis the Menace from Venice". The creation of Dennis in the 1950s had sales of The Beano soar.

Dennis is the archetypal badly behaved schoolboy. The main recurring storyline throughout the years features his campaign of terror against a gang of "softies" (effeminate, well-behaved boys), particularly Walter the Softy. Walter finds himself in unfavourable circumstances on many occasions, although he sometimes gets the last laugh. Author Michael Rosen states, "In most children's books, a bad child gets made good – but the great thing about Dennis is he never gets better".

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher was first drawn by David Law (1951–1971) and David Sutherland (1970–1998). David Parkins took over from 1998 until 2006, although Nigel Parkinson drew most of the strips after 2002, and Jimmy Hansen alternated with him in 2005–06. Tom Paterson drew some second Dennis strips for the comic's rear pages. Barrie Appleby did the artwork for the Beano Superstars series, which, toward the end of its run, resorted mostly to strips based on the TV series. In 2011, he took over as Dennis's main artist. In 2012, Nigel Parkinson was named the sole official Dennis artist. Dennis was returned to his previous appearance and personality. Nigel Auchterlounie began writing for Dennis a month later and gave Dennis (and the other characters) wider personalities. Auchterlounie has proven to be a very popular writer since taking over Dennis. Dennis and Gnasher have remained the mascots of The Beano.