COMICS WITH
PROBLEMS issue #2
DENNIS
THE MENACE TAKES A POKE AT POISON
Free comic, distributed to children in the 60s
and 80s.
1960s version also distributed to parents during parent teacher
conferences and at health fairs.
16 pages each issue, full color throughout, newsprint for both.
Published in 1961 through 1969 and with a complete revise to
content (as shown) in 1981.
PROBLEM
DEALT WITH: Poison and Other Household Dangers
SPECIFIC CONCERNS(s) DEALT WITH: Heights and Ledges, Medicine
Cabinets, Pills, Ear Problems (Canine), Flea Powder, Importance
of Shaking Medicine Before Consumption, Spoiled Food, Running
Off Into the Woods, Poisonous Berries, Insect Spray, Weed Spray,
Importance of Bathing After Being Covered in Poisonous Spray,
Ventilation While Stripping Paint with Chemicals, Danger of
Consuming Medicine in the Dark, Danger of Pill Bottles without
Labels, Properly Dating Medicine with a Pen, Disposing Methods
of Old Medicine, Using Cleaners and Chemical the Wrong Way,
Taping Up and Labeling Household Poisons, Labeling Bottles or
Cans Filled with Poison, Not Throwing Spray Cans into Burning
Trash, Furniture Polish, Cough & Cold Medicine, Tranquilizers,
Paint Thinner, Iron Tablets, Oven Cleaner, Pesticides, Anti-Freeze,
Soap, Medicine, Cleansers, Bleach, Sprays, Lye, Polish, Chewing,
Smelling, Tasting, Bottles, Perfumes, Pineapples, Cake, Carrots,
Stomach Aches, Poison Control Centers, and Ipecac. (Also containing
supporting information and text-based summaries, as well as
lists of other poisons, found here, here,
here and here.)
YOUR
LETTERS
Do you have a comment? Send us your thoughts at epersoff@yahoo.com
(indicate a first name and a city)
 |
I don't know
about that anagram page. I had to huff a whole can of
paint thinner before it made any sense to me.
-- Todd, Las
Vegas NV
|
The cover's a little
disingenuous. No where in either comic does Dennis actually
battle a gigantic pill bottle. It's nice to see he's beaten
it down to an eighth its original size in the second edition,
though. Who says America isn't winning this war on drugs!
-- William, Cincinnati
OH
I like how the sixties
version is full of good information while the eighties one is
full of songs and confusion.
-- Rebecca, Atlanta
GA
Wow! As late as the 1980s they name the poor African-American kid "Cleveland"? If I didn't know better, I'd think THAT was the 1960s version of the story!
-- David, Baltimore MD
Dousing Mr. Wilson
with poison has to be one of the funniest Dennis gags I've ever
read.
-- Richard, Austin
TX
You know I read that Weed Killer panel six times before I didn't see that as Mr. Wilson screaming instead about Killer Weed. I'd scream at Dennis too. You don't just waste that sort of righteous bud on flowers.
-- Madalyn, Tulsa OK
Okay, the eighties
comic is horrifying! That song is sexually bizarre, too. "We
ask first ... We ask first ... What we may taste ... What we
may taste." WTF?? Asks who? Taste what? This song provides
no answers.
-- Paul, SanFrancisco
CA
This comic is totally
about fucking. I mean, look at it, Margaret shows up with two
big cardboard vaginas and talks about partying. And God why
is Margaret's such a kiss-up. ALWAYS A FUCKING KISS-UP!
-- Rose, Salt Lake
City, UT
Yeah, that song's just
incredibly creepy. And the lip game is very disturbing. Talk
about blurring the issue into complete grey mush. Just tell
kids NO, don't teach them a cabaret act with pictures of carrots
and cake. Christ.
-- Paul, SanFrancisco
CA
I love how in the end
we find out that Dennis is, himself, a recovering drug addict.
Sounds like quite a bender, Dennis!
-- Thomas, Chicago
IL
Scariest or most annoying
song ever written. And yeah, to agree with everyone else, odd
and perverted.
-- Mary Anne, Englewood
CO
I think pharmacists now recommend that you don't flush medications, due to the water becoming medicated over the decades.
-- Heather, Minneapolis MN
Hm, no where on the list do they say you can't chug Comet. I guess it's okay! (goes to pantry)
-- Russell, New Orleans LA
Have to make a filthy
joke:
I really like how Margaret
asks "What's that, Gina?" right by the cardboard sex
box. And the other girl gives the only possibly reply. 'Gina,
ha. Well at least she didn't call it a vadge.
-- Donald, Washington
DC
Man, I'd like to slip
my carrot into the teacher's lip slot, if you know what I'm
saying.
-- Matthew, Jacksonville
FLA
THANK
YOU FOR YOUR LETTERS
send us your thoughts, at epersoff@yahoo.com
(indicate a first name and a city
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