Hank Ketcham (1920–2001)

I love that so many comic strips are getting the complete reprint treatment these days. I never would have picked it before becoming re-familiarized with it through Fantagraphic's fine reprints, but "Dennis the Menace" was certainly an underrated and well-chosen candidate for it. I would imagine one-panel cartoons are harder than the multi-panel format, but Ketcham pulled it off for decades, consistently at a high level of humor, and an artistic line and design that show an effortless mastery. It's not a brilliant psychological study on the level of "Peanuts". It's just a very good, funny one panel comic strip about a mischievous little boy that has never disappointed.… (more)

I didn't really appreciate Ketcham's artistry when I read his cartoons in the newspaper as a child. He did set himself a pretty narrow working space; a one-panel cartoon about a 6-year-old boy, a real "boy's boy" who's a lot more mischievous than most, but with a basically good heart. And it can't go much beyond the bounds of believability, and the artwork has to be inobtrusive but contribute perfectly to the idea, and it's gotta be funny... and the artist has to do it every day for decades without letup, repetition or fall in humor. Pretty tall order. There are a few comic strip artists that have done this, but offhand I can't think of any that have done it this well or long with a single panel. "Dennis the Menace" may be one of the more underappreciated comic strips I know of.… (more)

For some reason I'm really coming to enjoy this strip as I read the collected panels. It's a remarkably even work, with few clunkers, a few exceptional panels, and most of them a consistently good idea, and fine draftsmanship in an understated way. I also like the nostalgic charm and simplicity of the strip. I think my favorite of this book is the one that has Dennis walking up behind his parents who are on the couch snuggling, with Alice on Henry's lap (she is quite a babe in this collection, by the way). Dennis cannot see his father's face, just that someone is holding his mother on his lap, and he says "Hi, Mom. Is that Dad?" Henry's facial expression is a remarkable blend of emotions, and I think the level of humor and artwork here is quite sophisticated, and unusual for this strip - or any strip of the early 1950's. I also quite like the strip which appeared on the day I was born, September 25, 1954.… (more)