Bea (Dennis the Menace)

Bea
Beano strip

Current/last artist	Nigel Parkinson
First appearance	Issue 2935 (17 October 1998)
Last appearance	2010
Regular characters	Bea, Dennis, Mum, Dad, Gnasher, Gnipper, Rasher

Bea, real name Beatrice, is a fictional character in the UK comic strip Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, from The Beano. She is Dennis' baby sister, born in issue 2931, dated 19 September 1998.^[1] She gets her own comic strip in issue 3737 dated 7 June 2014.

Character history

Introduction to The Beano

Bea's introduction to the comic began with the edition of 8 August of The Beano ensuring readers that they may be in for a big surprise. Subsequently, Dennis' strip inside revealed that his mother was in fact pregnant. Dennis, reacting to the news, fainted out of surprise. The next week the comic went through a revamp and the cover showed Dennis' father announcing that he had just become father to a daughter. The story inside showed Dennis was worried about the news, feeling having a younger sister would tarnish his reputation as a menace. However, his family portrait revealed that his little sister, named Bea, was just as much of a trouble maker than him. These were the first Dennis strips drawn by the new artist David Parkins, who had taken over from the previous artist, David Sutherland.

Parkins had always intended that the character would be called "Bea" (short for Beatrice), taken partly from the comic's name and evidenced in the yellow-and-black striped romper suit/onesie she was seen wearing in her first appearance. However, the comic staff decided to put the name up for vote. The readers seemed to agree with Parkins, as "Bea" won the vote by a nearly two-thirds majority. Dennis' Mum regularly shouts; "Bea! No!" whenever she does something naughty, the two words evidently making the word "Beano".

Nigel Parkinson strips (1998–2008)

In issue 2935 dated 17 October 1998 Bea gained her own solo strip entitled Beaginnings drawn by Nigel Parkinson. It was here that Bea uttered her first word, "Mud". Bea was voted naughtiest baby in Beanotown when she was only a week old, has Gnipper as her dog, and loves playing with Rasher. But for five isolated examples, the strip has always been drawn by Nigel Parkinson, who also frequently drew the main Dennis strip at that time. Issue 2942 (5 December 1998) was a special issue dedicated to her, where she appeared in every strip in the comic.

Subsequent appearances

She shares notable similarities with fellow Beano character, Ivy the Terrible, who, from August 2008, joined Bea in her strip, renamed Bea and Ivy. Nigel Parkinson continued as artist, as Ivy had been reprinted before the team up. Bea's own strip returned for a few issues in 2009, however, this was dropped later that year, mainly due to her older brother's relaunch. In 2010 Bea joined up with Gnipper and Harley, Gran's pet pig, in a new strip titled The Bea Team, the title being a parody of The A-Team film which was released around the time the strip was in The Beano. In 2014, Bea returned to her strip drawn by Nigel Parkinson

Bea makes appearances in the CBBC series Dennis the Menace and Gnasher.

Physical appearance

As a pun on her name, Bea dresses only in a yellow and black one piece with a yellow hair band to match. Her appearance is extremely similar to her elder brother's in that she sports jet-black messy hair and a behind the nose grin. After the 2009 re-launch of Dennis and Gnasher, eyelashes were added to her appearance and she became far more baby-like in not only looks but also personality.

References

↑ "Comicvine". Retrieved 10 August 2012.

DC Thomson comics

Currently Running Comics	The Beano BeanoMAX Commando

Adventure Comics	Adventure Bullet Buddy Champ Commando The Crunch The Hornet The Hotspur The Rover The Skipper Spike Starblazer The Vanguard The Victor Warlord The Wizard

Girls Comics	Bunty Judy Mandy Nikki

Humour Comics	The Beano BeanoMAX The Beezer Buzz Classics from the Comics Cracker The Dandy Fun Size Comics Hoot The Magic Comic Nutty Plug Sparky The Topper

Pre-School Comics	Bimbo The Magic Comic Twinkle

Notable Strips	Alf Tupper Baby Crockett Bananaman The Bash Street Kids Beryl the Peril Black Bob Biffo the Bear The Broons Calamity James Cuddles and Dimples Dennis the Menace Desperate Dan Ginger Gnasher Ivy the Terrible Keyhole Kate Korky the Cat Little Plum Lord Snooty Matt Braddock Minnie the Minx The Numskulls Pansy Potter Roger the Dodger Oor Wullie Willy Nilly Wilson the Wonder Athlete Wolf of Kabul

Comic annuals	The Beano Annual The Beezer Book The Bimbo Book The Dandy Annual The Hotspur Book for Boys The Sparky Book The Topper Book The Victor Book for Boys Warlord Book for Boys

Character annuals	Bananaman Annual The Bash Street Kids Annual Beryl the Peril Annual Black Bob Book The Broons Annual Dennis the Menace Annual The Desperate Dan Book Oor Wullie Annual

Notable Artists	Leo Baxendale Gordon Bell Nick Brennan Paddy Brennan Sid Burgon John Geering Barry Glennard Ken H. Harrison Laura Howell Malcolm Judge David Law Allan Morley David Mostyn Robert Nixon Gary Northfield Nigel Parkinson Tom Paterson Jim Petrie Ken Reid Bill Ritchie David Parkins David Sutherland Kev F. Sutherland Dudley D. Watkins Wilbur Dawbarn Karl Dixon The Etherington Brothers Andy Fanton Nigel Auchterlounie Lew Stringer Alexander Matthews Jon Rushby Trevor Metcalfe Barrie Appleby Charles Grigg Vic Neill Jamie Smart

See Also	Beanotown Racing List of D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd publications List of Fleetway and IPC Comics publications List of Beano comic strips List of Dandy comic strips List of Beezer comic strips List of Beezer and Topper comic strips

The Beano

Current strips	Ball Boy Bananaman The Bash Street Kids Beaginnings Biffo the Bear Billy Whizz Calamity James Dennis the Menace Gnipper Les Pretend Little Plum Lord Snooty Minnie the Minx Number 13 Beano Street The Numskulls Pansy Potter Pup Parade Rasher Roger the Dodger Tom, Dick and Sally Tricky Dicky

Notable former strips	Baby Face Finlayson The Bash Street Kids - Singled Out Beaginnings The Belles of St. Lemons Big Eggo Billy the Cat Colin the Vet Colonel Crackpot's Circus Crazy for Daisy Danny's Nanny Derek the Sheep Fatty Fudge Freddie Fear Fred's Bed General Jumbo Gnasher's Bit(e) Gnasher's Tale Gnash Gnews Gordon Bennett Grandpa Hairy Dan Helpful Henry The Germs Ivy the Terrible Jack Flash Jimmy and his Magic Patch Joe Jitsu Joe King Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green Jonah Lord Snooty the Third The Magic Lollipops Maxy's Taxi The McTickles Meebo and Zuky Morgyn the Mighty The Nibblers Nicky Nutjob Olaff the Madlander Ping the Elastic Man Pirates of the Caribeano Ratz Robbie Rebel Richard the Lion Simply Smiffy* Smudge Splodge Super School The Three Bears Tim Traveller Tin-Can Tommy Winston Wee Ben Nevis Wee Peem The Yeti with Betty Zap Zodiac

Supporting characters	Walter the Softy Foo Foo

See also	The Beano timeline Bash Street School Beanotown The Beano Annual Beano comic libraries BeanoMAX The Beano Summer Special List of Beano comic strips List of Beano comic strips by annual Beanotown Racing

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