Suspended Animation Classic #893 First published February 5, 2006 (#6) (Dates are approximate) Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis The Menace: 1951-1952 By Michael Vance Hank Ketchum was master of the punch line without a "set-up", better known as the single-panel cartoon, and Dennis the Menace was his masterpiece. In parallel to the universal "every-man" concept of prose, Dennis has been everyboy for over fifty years. He has been so for two very good reasons. 1) Ketcham was an astonishing artist. Every Dennis panel is meticulously staged; everything needed to accomplish his punch line is included, and nothing more. The balance of black with white areas is flawless, his line work is fluid and dynamic in execution, and his mastery of human stance and expression is unsurpassed. 2) Dennis is a 'real live boy', to quote Pinocchio. He is smaltzy sweet and downright nasty. He is too full of energy and curiosity, socially awkward, and blatantly honest (especially with his parent's opinions!) His father, mother, friends and neighbors are also real live people. Characterization and dialog ring true because Ketcham was an astute scholar of the human condition. As an added bonus for those of us alive in the 1950s, Ketcham also caught the nuances of that decade. This reviewer was almost overwhelmed with memories triggered by simple things like the shape of an automobile or refrigerator, a discarded toy, clothing, and the attitudes of that decade. Yes, young readers, neighbors really did watch after neighborhood kids, 5 ? year old boys could walk around alone with no fear of being manhandled, and the exuberance of being alive was not labeled "A.D.D." (Attention Deficit Disorder—ha!!). I liked the world better in the '50s. And comics cost a dime! Dennis the Menace is comics at their highest level of achievement, and this massive collection receives the highest recommendation for readers of all ages. Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis The Menace: 1951-1952/589 pages and $24.95 from Fantagraphics/sold in comics shops.

I liked this issue because it contained a beautifully designed little plastic toy car that you would clip together. You would get one of the six little red vehicles (they were all red in colour and made of a polypropylene type plastic) - from the picture shown on the cover - in a small bag taped to the front of the comic. Also, because the bag containing the little car was clear, you were able to see which model car it contained - in case you didn't like that model. The only thing was, that most of the cars free with the comic were the same type of car. I did manage to get five of the six, though - which I still have today - including the comics. Strangely enough, these little cars came as a free gift with a now defunct (and which was was my favourite) cereal called Puffa Puffa Rice a couple of years earlier - in an assortment of different colours and a harder type of plastic. Ironically, the car that I couldn't get in the comic, was the only one I was able to get with the cereal. Happy days. Some information about the comic: Crunch or to give it it's full title 'The Crunch', crunched it's way onto newsagent's shelves dated 20th January 1979 with it's humble claim, 'The sensational new paper with the most dynamic bunch of stories ever!' It's first issue free gift was 'The Black Band with 6 Super Crunch Stickers'. The bunch of stories inside included 'Arena' (Alcatena), 'The Mantracker' (Salinas), 'The Kyser Experiment', 'Here Come The Walking Bombs', 'Hitler Lives' (Pat Wright) and 'Who Killed Cassidy?' 'The Crunch' is famous for introducing 'Ebony' (Magallanes), who was not only the first female action heroine in a boys' comic but was also black, which was groundbreaking stuff at the time. Ebony, agent in the 'British Special Mission Squad', used her expert karate skills to free her partner, Bleak, from Merando in Italy where he was being held by Nazi war criminals. 'The Crunch' which many believe to be DC Thomson's answer to 2000AD didn't capture the readers' imagination in the same way and more importantly the sales to compete with it's IPC rival.. 'The Crunch' managed only 54 issues before merging, with a dull thud, to it's much more conservative and older stable-mate 'The Hotspur'.