Little Plum (full name revealed to be Little Plum Stealing Varmint) is a British humoristic western comics series about a little Native American, originally created by

Leo Baxendale Joseph Leo Baxendale (27 October 1930 – 23 April 2017) was an English cartoonist and publisher. Baxendale wrote and drew several titles. Among his best-known creations are the '' Beano'' strips '' Little Plum'', ''Minnie the Minx'', ''The Bas ...

and published in the magazine ''

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 ...

''.

Concept

The eponymous hero and his friends Chiefy, Little Peach, Pimple and Hole-in-um-Head are members of the "Smellyfeet" American Indian tribe, who spend much of their time clashing with their rivals the "Puttyfeet" tribe. Other characters include Dr. Kildeer (the tribal medicine-man), Treaclefoot (Plum's faithful horse) and Pudding

Bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North A ...

(a 'marvellous' creature who eats anything – also featuring in spin-off strips

Baby Face Finlayson Baby Face Finlayson is a fictional character in a comic strip in the UK comic ''The Beano'', 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 i ...

and The Three Bears).

Character history

Original run (1953–1998)

created Little Plum in 1953 as a puny cartoon character in a dangerous cartoon world. It first appeared in issue 586, dated 10 October 1953. The comic strip employed a caricature of English language spoken by American Indians, notably replacing the word "the" with "um". Baxendale dreamed him up claiming he was a mixture of

Hiawatha Hiawatha ( , also : ), also known as Ayenwathaaa or Aiionwatha, was a precolonial Native American leader and co-founder of the Iroquois Confederacy. He was a leader of the Onondaga people, the Mohawk people, or both. According to some account ...

and Dennis the Menace and gave him into the editing team. Unsure of the name, Baxendale gave it in to the then Beano editor under the working title 'Booster' before the strip was officially titled 'Little Plum, Your Redskin Chum' .History of the Beano: The Story So Far... They consisted of Plum, a ten-year-old member of the Smellyfoot tribe and the misadventures he got up to trying to prove himself a valuable member. After Baxendale left The Beano in 1962, Robert Nixon drew a few strips before Ron Spencer took over that same year. The strip originally finished in 1986, but it continued to appear in the Beano annuals up to 1994, and reappeared for a short time in 1998 under the name 'The Legend of Little Plum', drawn by

Tom Paterson Tom Paterson is a Scottish comic artist who drew characters for Fleetway in 1973–1990, and D.C Thomson from 1986 to 2012. As of 2013, he currently draws strips for Viz. He lives in Leith, with three children, and is a Hearts supporter. Ta ...

Hunt Emerson strips and later history (2002 – 2015)

From 2002 it has returned again under its original name, drawn by Hunt Emerson. The strip was finally dropped in 2006 when Hunt Emerson started drawing Ratz, though he has since appeared in

BeanoMAX ''EPIC Magazine'' (Previously known as ''Dennis the Menace and Gnasher's EPIC Magazine'' (2014–2016), ''100% Official Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine'' (2013–2014) and ''BeanoMAX'' (2007–2013)) was a monthly British comic magazine ...

and in the 2009 Beano Annual. In Issue 3566, Little Plum returned to the comic once again, as reprints of Hunt Emerson's strips. However, all uses of the word "um" present when the strips originally appeared were removed in the reprinted versions. In autumn 2012, a new feature launched in the Beano called Funsize Funnies, each page of which features four single line strips. One of these is Little Plum, drawn by

Laura Howell Laura Howell is a British-born comic strip artist. She is the first female artist in the history of ''The Beano'' comic, and is responsible for '' Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green'', '' Les Pretend'', '' Tricky Dicky'' and the manga adaptation o ...

. Some episodes are written and drawn by Andy Fanton, an ex-Dandy artist. Little Plum now features in

every week in new full page strips drawn by Hunt Emerson and written by

Claire Bartlett Clair or Claire may refer to: *Claire (given name), a list of people with the name Claire *Clair (surname) Places Canada * Clair, New Brunswick, a former village, now part of Haut-Madawaska * Clair Parish, New Brunswick * Pointe-Claire, Que ...

Other appearances

* Little Plum was parodied in adult comic Viz with their character " Little Plumber".

References

{{Beano Beano strips Humor comics Western (genre) comics British comics characters 1953 comics debuts 1986 comics endings Comics characters introduced in 1953 Fictional Native American people Native Americans in popular culture Child characters in comics Male characters in comics Comics set in the United States