The Beano

The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.

The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During World War II, The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink rationing. D. C. Thomson's other publications also suffered, with the Oor Wullie and The Broons annuals falling victim to paper and ink shortages. Paper and ink supplies were fully restored shortly after the end of hostilities and weekly publication of The Beano and The Dandy resumed in 1949. In September 2009, the Beano's 3,500th issue was published. The Beano is currently edited by Michael Stirling.

Its iconic characters such as Dennis the Menace, Roger the Dodger, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, Calamity James, Ball Boy, Ivy the Terrible and Billy Whizz have become known to generations of British children. Earlier generations will remember other notable characters who have been phased out, such as Biffo the Bear and Lord Snooty. Some old characters, like The Three Bears and Little Plum, have more recently made a return.

The comics were also distributed in some of Britain's colonies or former colonies. As they were sent by sea mail, they would go on sale some weeks after the date shown on the cover.