The Eternal Five Year Old is 75
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Dennis the Menace celebrates its 75th anniversary today, first appearing on March 12, 1951.
Created by Hank Ketcham the daily panel was so successful that the syndicate added a Sunday page less than a year after the daily panel’s debut.
Later in 1952 Dennis the Menace began being published in hardcover and paperback books.
In 1953 Dennis the Menace began a long run as a comic book series.
By the mid 1950s Fawcett was the publisher of the mass market paperbacks, and by 1959 the comic books. The comic books would run to 1979 (and again 1981-82), the paperbacks until 1983.
Oh, there was also a television series of some note that aired 1959-63 and in reruns ever since.
Dennis the Menace the comic panel and strip would eventually appear in over 1,000 newspapers and continues to be one of the top circulated newspaper comics.
It is currently produced by Hank Ketcham’s son Scott Ketcham (editor, writer, Sunday inker), Marcus Hamilton (daily artist), and Ron Ferdinand (Sunday and daily artist).
This week Dennis the Menace is rerunning classic panels (other than today’s anniversary special):
March 9, 2026 is from March 12, 1952
March 10, 2026 is from March 12, 1953
March 11, 2026 is from March 13, 1955
March 12 2026 is the new anniversary celebration
March 13, 2026 is from March 12, 1957
March 14, 2026 is from March 12, 1958
Coming up in 1954 are the Diamond Anniversaries of Hi and Lois and Marmaduke.
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