Seeing as it's April Fool's Day, I've decided to take a brief break from blogging about Bananaman.  Instead, I'm going back to the 1st April 1972 to look at issue 1550 of The Beano.

As you can see, Biffo the Bear is star of the front cover.  Dennis the Menace and Gnasher wouldn't have this honour until issue 1678, dated 14 September 1974.  For the time being, readers would find them on the back cover.

Biffo the Bear's story is a nice, short Easter tale featuring The Bash Street Kids. Biffo and Professor Screwtop (known to current day readers of the Beano as Rubidium "Rubi" von Screwtop's father) decide to surprise Class 2B by gifting them some chocolate Easter eggs, dropping them into the playground from a Biffo-themed flying egg invention.  Even teacher is seen enjoying one!

It's a different story on the centre pages though...

Issue 1550 is notable for the first appearance of Cuthbert Cringeworthy, who from the very beginning establishes himself as a teacher's pet and openly informs Teacher of his classmates wrongdoings, much to their despise.

Interestingly, Teacher turns a deaf ear to Cuthbert openly being rude and disparaging towards his classmates.  Meeting them for the first time, he says "Greetings, ugly pupils!".  Then, Cuthbert refers to Frederick "Fatty" Brown (who is these days nicknamed Freddy) as "that fat boy" and Plug as a "far-from-lovely youth".

Thanks to Cuthbert's eagerness to squeal, Plug and Smiffy end up receiving corporal punishment, with Teacher giving each of them "six of the best" with his cane!

The story concludes with Cuthbert leaving alongside Teacher at the end of the school day in order to avoid being set upon by Class 2B.  The final panel shows Cuthbert turning to give his classmate a smug, taunting look as he walks out of the school gates. They vow to get him, setting the precedent for many years to come.

Like Biffo the Bear, Dennis the Menace's story on the back cover is also Easter-themed, with Gnasher dressing up as a pterodactyl to scare Walter and The Softies into abandoning their Easter Egg Roll.

I love Gnasher's costume and the lively sequential art which shows him springing out of a giant Easter egg to scare Dennis's rivals before walking back on his hind legs and relaxing in a very human-like way.  That said, I'm not so keen on seeing Gnasher eating chocolate, which is toxic to dogs!  An oversight by the writer, no doubt! Tut-Tut!

None of the characters within the comic have Easter-themed stories, these being The Three Bears, Grandpa, Minnie the Minx, Lord Snooty, Billy the Cat and Katie, Pup Parade, Roger the DodgerThe Belles of St. Lemons, The McTickles, The Nibblers and Little Plum.  Still, it's a bargain read for the cover price of 2p!

Dated March 1st 1980, issue 3 of Nutty included The Whirlyjig, which was the last of the free gifts from the comic's introductory period.

Essentially a tied-off balloon with an extra neck at the opposite end, a rectangular plastic tube was inserted into this in order to blow it up with a few strong breaths.  Upon release, the balloon would spin around in a whirling motion and make an entertaining noise.  Hours of fun to be had!

The Whirlyjig was previously a free gift for another DC Thomson comic, under a different name.  Issue 1 of Plug (he of Bash Street Kids fame in The Beano), dated September 24th 1977, included The Screamin' Demon!

Highlights in this week's issue include an appearance by Dennis the Menace (of The Beano) in Big 'N' Bud, Steevie Star as Captain Quirk in Star Trick (a parody of Star Trek), General Jumbo mobilising his army of model soldiers to foil a bank robbery and Scoopy the dog reporter bringing excitement to a dull game of cricket.

The whole story can be found in the nanamanfan gallery.

Launching with a cover date of February 16th 1980 and comprising of 24 pages, Nutty was DC Thomson's attempt to produce a more tumultuous weekly comic compared to many others on sale at the time.

Available every Saturday for the pocket money-denting sum of 10p, this likely helped give the impression Nutty's content was more chaotic than established titles such as The Dandy and The Beano, which cost 7p respectively.
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The cover and centre pages were printed in full-colour, the reverse of these black ink plus one colour (red in this instance), and the remaining pages black ink only.

A packet of Space Dust bonbons (popping candy) was included with the first issue as a free gift, taped to the inside front cover.  Various flavours were available, including lemon, orange and strawberry.

Stories consist of Big 'N' Bud (a couple of wise-cracking boys, one of which is tall in stature), Pearl Potter (daughter of a TV and film producer), Mitey Joe (a boy with aspirations to be a strong man), Scoopy (a news journalist dog), Steevie Star (a boy whose adventures mimic popular movie plots, he also appeared in The Topper), Peter Pest (a young boy who inadvertently yet frequently bothers his older sister), Pig Tales (a family of pigs not unlike The Three Bears in The Beano), Wacky (a crackpot inventor), The Wild Rovers (a pack of mongrel dogs), Dick Turban (a young desert highwayman somewhat similar to Baby Face Finlayson in The Beano), Doodlebug (a mouse who likes to draw using a magic pencil), General Jumbo (from The Beano), The School Belles (rebellious schoolgirls in a similar vein to those in 1954 movie The Belles of St. Trinian's), Samuel Creeps (a teacher's pet), The Bar-O Boys (a family with the characteristics of American Wild West cowboys, only living on a farm somewhere in England), and Ethel Red (a Norse Sea Viking who looks strikingly similar to Minnie the Minx from The Beano).

The front cover features Wacky and Doodlebug, along with an eye-catching depiction of the free gift.  The Wild Rovers have a two-page story across the comic's centre pages.

Contributors to the first issue included editor David Donaldson, writer Steve Bright and the late British artists John Geering, Gordon Bell and Michael Attwell.