Oh dear, that whole "parental influence" thing again, responsible for C's absolute unending adoring love of all things Beano shaped.

The little miss and I were on a day trip to Brighton, strolling through the Lanes and looking through comic shops I'd been a regular visitor to when I lived down there.

One place had a huge collection of (surprisingly reasonably priced) old Beano annuals. I'd already given C the choice of buying any of the other comics or books in the store but she zoomed in on these, and we ended up picking up half a dozen of 'em.

The Beano has been in print since 1938, and is still going strong today, mostly because it's a comic that keeps true to its core set of characters but isn't afraid to respin and reinvent them from time to time (though we won't talk about the 'trendy' Dennis the Menace they tried in the early noughties, that was an unmitigated disaster).

With a fantastic pool of talent to pick from, the modern Beano (including the annuals of course) has now woven its way into our lives and our bookshelves, and it's very rare to find C scoffing breakfast without at least one of her annuals in front of her, even though she's practically read the print off them several times.

For a while we religiously bought the weekly comic as well, until we began to run out of storage space for them. Characters such as the Bash Street Kids, Minnie the Minx and of course Dennis and Gnasher are now such a colossal part of Brit comic pop culture, iconic characters that have ensured every new generation of readers that discover The Beano will find a fave character or strip to pin their colours to (C absolutely loves Calamity James when drawn by Tom "Tam" Paterson, purely because of the utterly ridiculous and hilarious jokes and details he weaves into every strip).

She's still collecting the annuals, and just like when I was a kid, they're an absolute must for her christmas stocking (do other parents still buy their kids annuals for christmas?) There's no finer thing when the house is busy and bustling with christmas preparations than being a kid who can escape the craziness by wrapping themselves up in a nice warm blanket with a copy of a Beano annual to escape into.

Original review links: 

ReadItDaddy's Booky Advent Calendar Dec 2nd: The Beano Annual 2014 - 75 years of Beano Brilliance! (DC Thomson)

Booky Advent Calendar: Christmas Eve - "ANNUALS!"

Nearly a century of mischief, mayhem and fun - Happy 80th Birthday to The Beano, the generation-spanning comic.

I think just about everyone reading this blog will have, at one point or another, owned an issue or perhaps an annual from The Beano Comic.

It seems incredible to think that the comic is coming up for its 80th Birthday, with the first issue arriving on newsagent shelves on 30th July 1938.

It's 2018 and the comic is still going strong, with a whole new generation of artists and authors bringing to life the Beano's enviable collection of miscreants, weirdos and downright cool characters.

Front and centre is Dennis the Menace, with his faithful hound Gnasher - and Dennis shows you some of his insider tricks to being a complete menace in the upcoming "Beano Book of Mischief, Mayhem and Fun" coming soon from Studio Press.

The book is chock full of brilliant makes and projects that'll definitely help you spend your summer getting up to no good (well, in a fairly lighthearted way!)

Construct all manner of amazing contraptions from pencil catapults, to pea shooters, play crazy tricks on hapless adults and don your black and red stripy jersey for japes and hijinks along with a ton of other Beano faves.

Danny shows you how to build a cool code so you and your friends can communicate in secrecy. No adults allowed!

It's a fantastic activity book and even though we've seen some of the ideas in other 'make' books, these are presented in a cool Beano-esque way.

Remember kids, safety first. Never aim any of these at animals or humans!

"The Beano Book of Mischief, Mayhem and Fun" is available from Studio Press.

The building fun doesn't stop there either, there's also a couple of corkingly brilliant project books from Studio Press.

Beano Builds Go Kart. Build your own mean machine!

"Beano Builds Go Kart" will help you realise your soapbox derby dreams with a mean machine of your own creation. (I actually remember getting into trouble as a kid for removing the wheels from my little sister's pram to build a go kart. Well, I thought she'd finished with it as she was walking at the time - how was I supposed to know they wanted to sell it :)

Karts not your thing? Well surely Dens are...

Forget playing Fortnite. Get out there and build your own fantastic den!

"Beano Builds: Secret Den" will help you create a secret lair all of your own. Love that these books are also produced in partnership with Save the Children. Bonus points for being cool AND being uber-helpful to a fantastic charity. AWESOME!

Sticking with the 80th birthday celebrations you may also want to grab the latest edition of The Beano Annual too!

The Beano Annual 2018. 80 years of keeping kids blissfully quiet for hours!

Oh and this was the first one I was bought! Yes, showing my age, I know!

Ah Biffo the Bear and Lord Snooty!

Celebrate a summer of awesome comic fun with The Beano! You know it makes sense!

I'm old school, I still believe there's no better present to unwrap than an annual and when I was a wee whippersnapper, I always wanted the Dandy or The Beano.

It's absolutely brilliant to see The Beano still going strong after 75 years and in The Beano Annual 2014, it's even more awesome to see comic strips I knew and loved as a kid being brought back so that a whole new audience can enjoy them. Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger, Lord Snooty and the superbly strong Pansy Potter once again rub shoulders with our old favourites Dennis the Menace, The Bash Street Kids and the ever-hungry 3 Bears in strips that will have you chortling and sniggering way past boxing day.

It was so great to see Charlotte sneaking off to read this annual on her own. I'd introduced her to classic fun comics like The Beano and The Dandy but this was the first time she'd had something of her own to dive into - in a format that is a great way to introduce kids to comics (so many modern comics could benefit from doing annuals. Phoenix, are you listening?)

Every strip is a hoot, every new artist and of course all the old classic artists can still cut it and can still make these brilliant characters stand out and shine. It has been so fabulous to dive back into the Beano, and I've a feeling we'll be back for more with the regular weekly comics too.


Charlotte's best bit: Minnie the Minx and the strip where she 'helps' Dad be on time for work (really hope this hasn't given her any ideas!)

Daddy's Favourite bit: I have always loved The Numskulls and they're still as ace as ever they were!

(Kindly sent to us for review by D.C. Thomson & Co)