Dennis the Menace Coloring Books (Part 3) by Joe B.

(Note: We're lucky today to be graced with the presence of yet another excellent post by distinguished Dennis the Menace collectables expert Joe B.

Joe's gonna tell us about a swell coloring book that's so full of great black & white Al Wiseman images that you'll be tempted to take out your crayons and start coloring your computer screen! But don't- you'll get everything all waxy.

Thanks Joe!)


(Above: The 29 cent edition of this book)

Dennis the Menace 1962 Coloring Book
by Joe B.

Coloring books, since Bill brought them up, will be the topic today. Like the game and toy of my previous posts, the coloring book I'll be discussing has a beautiful Al Wiseman cover. That alone is worth this write-up. I could just stop here, but I won't.


Not only is the cover by Al, but the entire coloring book is drawn by him. The drawings appear to be made especially for this book, and, to my knowledge, have never been reprinted. Unlike many of the coloring books that contain large versions of daily cartoon reprints for kids to color, this coloring book tells a continuous story in large, full-page panels. Not only that, but there are two versions of this rare coloring book.

There are tons of Dennis coloring books out there, and just when I think I have them all, I discover another one. For the record, I have indexed 24 coloring books that exist so far. The one that Bill has posted pictures from I have never seen, so that would be #25.


Let's start with the more expensive version of the coloring book. Published by Watkins-Strathmore Company, it was a whopping 29 cents back in 1962. This coloring book contains 83 different full-page panels, each drawn by Wiseman. The story all takes place on a single Saturday: Dennis wakes his parents up early, eats, "helps" his dad wash the family car (with the car windows open), annoys the Wilsons, goes to town with his dad, goes on a boat ride with his dad & gets him soaked, then visits a pet store with Joey and buys a pet skunk for the Wilsons. In all, it is not a very memorable story but is a clever idea.

(Above: The 10 cent edition of this book)

What is the difference between the two books? If you look at the upper-right-hand corner of the coloring books, you can see the prices with the catalog numbers above them. The only differences between the book covers are those. The big book is squarebound with 83 panels and is #1838 for 29 cents, and the smaller book with 23 panels is #1800-7 for 10 cents. The story makes sense in the 83 panel version, and it seems no thought was given to the story in the smaller version as there is no flow to the story. Unless you are a completist, the smaller version only has a portion of the larger book, so if you want only one, you should seek out the larger edition.


How hard are these to get? I see them appear maybe once a year on eBay, and they can go for up to $15, depending on who's bidding and the condition.

So, I hope I have been able to show through these past several posts that the Dennis merchandise Al worked on represents some of his finest artwork during his peak years.


-Joe B.
Ultimate Dennis the Menace Thread
Joe B. posts:
Real Action Toy
Pressman Paint Set

Dennis the Menace Coloring Book Posts:
Part 1/Part 2

Please order Dennis the Menace books from Fantagraphics (and ask them to reprint the Wiseman Dennis comic books and Sunday strips).

"Dennis the Menace" & related characters are ©Hank Ketcham Enterprises, Inc.