Dennis the Menace Annual is the current name of the book that has been published since 1955 to tie in with the children's comic The Beano, specifically the Dennis the Menace comic strip. As of 2004 there have been 33 over the years, with another (Dennis the Menace Annual 2006) to follow in 2005. Since they are traditionally published in the autumn and in time for Christmas, since 1965 (with the release of Dennis the Menace 1966) they have had the date of the following year on the cover. Before then no date was given. The annuals mainly feature reprints from around 14-15 years ago from the cover date of Dennis the Menace, Gnasher and Gnipper and formerly Gnasher's Tale strips in The Beano, although there is some new material.

Originally a new annual was published every two years. However, after the 1987 annual was published it was decided to make the annual a yearly publication instead. The next annual was published the following year and the others every year onwards since then.

The original title was simply 'Dennis the Menace' with the year added at the end later on. This name continued, the year changing for each different annual, until the release of the 1978 book. There was then a short break until the next annual was published in 1982. From then on the words 'from The Beano' were printed elsewhere on the cover, the same thing The Bash Street Kids Annual had been doing for a few years earlier.

The name has had various suffixes since then, including 'and Gnasher' on the 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995 and 1997 books, and 'Book' on the 1991, 1996 and all ones from the 1999 to 2002 books (except the 2000 book). The annual permanently changed its name to its current name from the 2003 book, though the following year and 'from The Beano' still appear.

See also

List of DC Thomson publications