Leo Baxendale
Encyclopedia


Leo Baxendale is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...

, who was the creator of the classic Beano
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 the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...

strips
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

 Little Plum
Little Plum
Little Plum is a fictional character in the UK comic The Beano.The eponymous hero and his friends Chiefy, Pimple and Hole-in-um-Head are members of the "Smellyfeet" American Indian tribe, who spend much of their time clashing with their rivals the "Puttyfeet" tribe. Other characters include Dr...

(1953), Minnie the Minx
Minnie the Minx
Minnie the Minx is a fictional character in the British comic The Beano. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953 making her the third longest running Beano character, behind only Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger...

(1953), The Bash Street Kids
The Bash Street Kids
The Bash Street Kids is an ongoing comic strip featuring in the British comic The Beano. The strip was created by Leo Baxendale under the title When the Bell Rings, and first appeared in The Beano in issue 604, dated 13 February 1954. It became The Bash Street Kids in 1956 and since then, it has...

(created October 1953, began publication February 1954) and The Three Bears (1959).

Leo Baxendale was at the end of his National Service days in the RAF, when he decided he wanted to be an artist. He got his first job as an artist for a local newspaper, drawing adverts and cartoons. In 1952 he began freelance work for the children's comic The Beano. He became one of the most important artists of this comic, drawing series like Little Plum, Minnie the Minx (started in 1953, taken over by Jim Petrie
Jim Petrie
Jim Petrie was a British comic artist. He is most notable for drawing 2,000 episodes of Minnie the Minx, a comic strip featured in The Beano, after taking over from the strips original artist Leo Baxendale in 1961...

 in 1961), The Three Bears and The Bash Street Kids (initially called When the Bell Rings ).

Baxendale also co-operated on the launch of The Beezer in 1956 and Wham!
Wham! (comic)
Wham! was a weekly British comic published by Odhams Press. It ran for 187 issues from 20 June 1964 to 13 January 1968, when it merged into its sister title Pow!...

(Odhams Press
Odhams Press
Odhams Press was a British publishing firm. Originally a newspaper group, founded in 1890, it took the name Odham's Press Ltd in 1920 when it merged with John Bull magazine. By 1937 it had founded the first colour weekly, Woman, for which it set up and operated a dedicated high-speed print works...

) in 1964. He left The Beano in 1962. Later in his career Baxendale spent a few years working for Fleetway
Fleetway
Fleetway, also known as Fleetway Publications and Fleetway Editions, was a UK publishing company which mainly produced comic magazines. For a time owned by IPC Media, they are now a division of Egmont Publishing....

 (IPC Magazines), creating the likes of Clever Dick and Sweeny Toddler. Other artists like Tom Paterson
Tom Paterson
Tom Paterson is a Scottish comic artist who drew characters for Fleetway in 1973–1990, and D.C Thomson from 1986-onwards. He lives in Leith, with three kids, and is a Hearts supporter.He is famous for drawing comics such as:-Fleetway:...

 and Martin Baxendale (Baxendale's son), carried his technique into the 1980s.

In the seventies Baxendale created the Willy the Kid series, published by Duckworths.

In the 1980s he fought a seven-year legal battle with D.C. Thomson
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd
D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, is a publishing company based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando comics...

 for the rights to his Beano creations, which was eventually settled out of court.

In 1987 Leo Baxendale founded the publishing house, Reaper Books. In the same year he brought out THRRP!, an adult comic book.

In 1990 he created I Love You Baby Basil! for The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

.

The Beano

  • Little Plum
    Little Plum
    Little Plum is a fictional character in the UK comic The Beano.The eponymous hero and his friends Chiefy, Pimple and Hole-in-um-Head are members of the "Smellyfeet" American Indian tribe, who spend much of their time clashing with their rivals the "Puttyfeet" tribe. Other characters include Dr...

  • Minnie the Minx
    Minnie the Minx
    Minnie the Minx is a fictional character in the British comic The Beano. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953 making her the third longest running Beano character, behind only Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger...

  • The Bash Street Kids
    The Bash Street Kids
    The Bash Street Kids is an ongoing comic strip featuring in the British comic The Beano. The strip was created by Leo Baxendale under the title When the Bell Rings, and first appeared in The Beano in issue 604, dated 13 February 1954. It became The Bash Street Kids in 1956 and since then, it has...

    (originally When the Bell Rings)
  • The Three Bears
    The Three Bears
    "The Story of the Three Bears" is a fairy tale first recorded in narrative form by British author and poet Robert Southey, and first published anonymously in a volume of his writings in 1837...

  • Lord Snooty
    Lord Snooty
    Lord Snooty was a fictional character in a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano, first appearing in issue 1, dated 30 July 1938, and was the longest running strip in the comic until Dennis the Menace and Gnasher overtook it...

    issues 691-718

Further reading

External links

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