“The Perishers” is just a very nice example for a British comic strip that’s rather unknown outside the kingdom. It’s the English version of “The Peanuts”, written by Maurice Dodd and mainly drawn by Dennis Collins. Let’s have a closer look at the names of the cast. Can you guess who’s American and who is British? Charlie Brown and Wellington, Snoopy and Boot, Linus and Marlon, Lucy and Maisie. Easy, isn’t it?
Both strips have their own, very different running gags and feature a phisophical depth quite unusual for a comic strip. The humour of “The Perishers” is based on eccentric puns and a constant play on words and idioms, making it really difficult to understand for non-Britons. Collins has drawn “The Perishers” with a love for detail that makes his work almost impossible to transfer to any other medium – Schulz found a way to minimize a children’s physiognomy like no one did before and abandons backgrounds wherever possible. The mechanism behind “The Peanuts” is gloating. We – as grown ups – smile at children having exactly our problems.
Another fascinating example is Dennis the Menaces. Born only three days apart they are not twins sharing the same name – they are completely different. The American Dennis doesn’t act in bad faith, he is causing trouble by accident, being cuddly and adorable all the time. The British Dennis REALLY is a menace. He boasts, has no manners whatsoever and fights a constant war against well-behaved boys, mainly Walter. Often his adventures end with him being spanked by his father – though a book in his shorts takes most of the impact.
Links: The Perishers, The Peanuts, Dennis and Dennis(UK): Three artworks, collection of covers.
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