Saturday, 26 March 2022

The Unofficial History of The Beano - New book out now

It's out at last! The Unofficial History of The Beano, written by ex-staff member Iain McLaughin. I've just started reading it and it's a very interesting account of the Beano's 80 years. No strips are shown but this is a prose history of the people involved with the comic, from its 1930s origins to today, (and I feel very honoured to be mentioned several times).

Iain was the writer of Super School that I drew for the Beano years ago, plus a series of Ivy the Terrible we worked on. It was always a pleasure working on his scripts. They were well crafted and very funny! It's fascinating to read his insider's viewpoint of the Beano and although this book is unofficial it's still a positive appraisal of the comic.


An essential purchase for anyone interested in comics history. The book is available from the publisher at this link:
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Unofficial-History-of-the-Beano-Hardback/p/19237

7 comments:

Tony Howson said...

Well, this looks very interesting. Just been over to that link and ordered a copy so thanks for the heads up.

If you feel it's appropriate to review, I'd be interested in seeing your thoughts after you've had chance to read it properly.

Lew Stringer said...

Hi Tony, I don't do my review blog any more but I thought I'd give this a plug as it's written by someone I've collaborated with on Beano strips. It's an interesting book that covers all the basics plus background info that might not have been known before.

Tony Howson said...

Well, I appreciate you highlighting this book anyway. Some of the others you've plugged recently were very enjoyable - particularly Alan Clark's two about Ally Sloper and Charles H Ross.

Biotec Jones said...

Seconded for more book reviews please Lew. I miss how the blog used to be. You never used to just talk about yourself so lets see this blog become 'Blimey" again please.

Lew Stringer said...

I think you're mixing up two different blogs BJ. My 'Blimey' blog covered all comics but it ended in 2019. This LewStringerComics blog is my personal blog where I've been talking about my own work since 2013.

Anonymous said...

I just don't undertstand why you stopped the other blog. Why not review comics and books on this one then? A bolds a blog at the end of the day!

Lew Stringer said...

I gave my reasons on my final post on Blimey! in 2019. If you're interested in reviews check out John Freeman's Down The Tubes blog or various other blogs and websites. They do a very good job.