Baby Face Finlayson is a fictional character in a comic strip in the UK comic ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'', also known as ''Beano'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it became the world's longest-run ...

'', first appearing in issue 1553, dated 22 April 1972. Baby Face Finlayson "The Cutest Bandit in the West" is an outlaw from the American Old West, and is, in fact, a baby. His name is derived from the real-life American gangster of the 1930s

Baby Face Nelson Lester Joseph Gillis (December 6, 1908 – November 27, 1934), also known as George Nelson and Baby Face Nelson, was an American bank robber who became a criminal partner of John Dillinger, when he helped Dillinger escape from prison, in Crown P ...

(real name Lester Joseph Gillis). He was originally a minor character in Little Plum, but was later given a spin-off strip of his own. He rode around in a motorised pram, stealing everything that wasn't tied down, whilst shouting "Yuk Yuk!". He had a number of accomplices, including Jessie James, Sid the Kid and Goo Goo McGoo who were also, apparently, babies. Their chief nemesis was Sheriff "Marsh" Mallow of Cactus Gulch. When the strip returned in 1980, the Wild West theme was dropped, and the setting was moved to England. The tagline was also changed to "The Cutest Bandit Around". However, in the final strip of the second series, he was posted back to America by the angry Beano editor, whom Baby-Face had tried to kidnap. On both occasions, the strip was drawn by

Ron Spencer Ron Spencer is an American illustrator whose most famous work has been for the collectible card game '' Magic: The Gathering''.Felt, Kevin (December 17, 2007). "Painter of 'Magic' cards inspiring random acts of kindness", ''San Gabriel Valley Tri ...

. In issue 3181, dated 5 July 2003, he cameoed in a Little Plum strip, when he stole Little Plum's wigwam. He sped off in his pram, crashed into a buffalo so Little Plum thought he had learned his lesson, until he steals Little Plum's clothes without him noticing and rides off. In September 2004 he reappeared again for five weeks in his own strip, this time drawn by Emilios Hatjoullis. He has appeared in the

Beano Annual ''The Beano Annual'' is the current name of the book that has been published every year since 1939, to tie in with the children's comic ''The Beano''. there have been 84 editions. The annuals are traditionally published in July or August, in t ...

every year since then. In 2006 Baby Face returned as a villainous gangster in the

Bash Street Kids Bash or BASH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Bash!'' (Rockapella album), 1992 * ''Bash!'' (Dave Bailey album), 1961 * '' Bash: Latter-Day Plays'', a dramatic triptych * ''BASH!'' (role-playing game), a 2005 superhero game * "Bash" ('' ...

adventures "School's Out" and "Hot Rod Cow", written and drawn by Kev F Sutherland. He appears in the 2008 Beano annual in the story "Pluggy Love", where Danny believes that Plug's girlfriend is evil as he thinks Baby-Face is her father. It turns out she's his babysitter and her father was pushing his pram. He appeared once again in the 2009 annual in "Reservoir Dodge", where after discovering a Weather-Predicting device Roger and Walter sold him is fake, he tries to kill them and invites a group of other fictional villains over, like the Joker, a

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction on television, science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by write ...

, a

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

, and

Bully Beef Bully beef (also known as corned beef in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and other Commonwealth countries as well as the United States) is a variety of meat made from finely minced corned beef in a small amount of ge ...

. Other Beano characters try to help Roger, but are also placed above the piranha fish tank. However Alexander the Lemming and Winston the Cat push the tank over, forcing the villains away. Baby-Face Finlayson returned to The Beano in the Funsize Funnies in #3660 drawn by Alexander Matthews.

References

{{Beano 1972 comics debuts Beano strips British comics characters Child characters in comics Comics characters introduced in 1972 Comics spin-offs Western (genre) comics characters Western (genre) outlaws Humor comics Male characters in comics