Origins of Dennis the Menace’s striped jumper revealed in Farshore Beano collection

The origins of Dennis the Menace’s iconic red and black striped jumper will be revealed for the first time in a new Beano collection. 

Earlier this year the HarperCollins imprint Farshore signed a publishing partnership with Beano Studios, which saw three titles published to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Dennis the Menace. 

Emma Cairns-Smith, licence acquisitions director, signed a deal for world English rights with Rob Glenny, head of commercial planning at Beano Studios. In July Farshore launched the world’s first "boomic", a book and comic hybrid, written by I P Daley and called The Battle for Bash Street, followed by the The Abominable Snowmenace released at the beginning of the month.  

The new title is a volume of collected comic strip adventures called Ultimate Dennis and Gnasher Comic Collection, to be published on 30th September. It includes more than 50 comics from recent years, including the never-before-seen story "The Epic Yarn of Awesomeness" about Dennis’ striped jumper.  

In his very first appearance in the comic Dennis wore a shirt and tie, but this was replaced just a month later with Dennis’ iconic striped jumper. The jumper originally appeared in black and white, but soon after, the recognisable red and black colour was added because they were the strongest colours of ink available to printers in the 1950s.  

In "The Epic Yarn of Awesomeness", Dennis reveals that his jumper was knitted by his ancestor’s grandmother, who was a friendly witch. Using spider wool infused with special red and black magic potions, she knitted the jumper with her wands to create an awesomely powerful jumper, which has helped Dennis get through so many scrapes and escapades mostly unscathed.  

Beano Studios editorial director Mike Stirling said: “The red and black stripy jumper has become a genuine British fashion icon. It returns to catwalks across eras, but it’s remained stylish in Beanotown since 1951. Despite being adopted by superstars it remains synonymous with the original adopter: Dennis Menace. But does he wear it best? Our new fiction range allows us to tell taller, more expansive, tales than ever before. They’re inspired by readers of the weekly comic, who told us they wished they could read the Beano every day. Readers constantly ask us brilliant questions about what our characters truly think and feel and this is the first time in Beano history we’ve been able to answer everyone, with the help of superstar author I P Daley.”