''Wee Peem'' was a British comic strip character in ''

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 written and designed by James Jewell. He starred in two comic strips between 1938 and 1957, and would get up to various forms of mischief in a similar way to later ''Beano'' strips such as '' Dennis the Menace'' and ''

Minnie the Minx Minnie the Minx, whose real name is Hermione Makepeace is a comic strip character published in the British comic magazine ''The Beano''. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953, m ...

''.

Synopsis

Peem is a little boy with a large, round head with long limbs, usually dressed in a stripy jumper, shorts, and a strip cap too small for his head. His stories would be about his misbehaviours irritating and angering adults. His name is "Little James" in the

Scots language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commo ...

Character history

Peem debuted in ''Wee Peem (He's a Proper Scream)'' in ''The Beano'' first issue with ''

Lord Snooty Lord Snooty is a fictional character who stars in the British comic strip ''Lord Snooty and his Pals'' from the British comic anthology ''The Beano''. The strip debuted in issue 1, illustrated by DC Thomson artist Dudley D. Watkins, who designed ...

and His Pals'', ''

Helpful Henry ''Helpful Henry'' was the name of two comic strips—one from the United States, the other from the United Kingdom. American comic strip ''Helpful Henry'' (1922–1927) ''Helpful Henry'' was an American gag-a-day comic strip, created by cart ...

'', ''

Morgyn the Mighty ''Morgyn the Mighty'' is a British action-adventure comic strip about a super-strong shipwreck survivor. The strip debuted in 1928, created by Dudley D. Watkins, and continued to be published until about 1968. Publication history The strip fir ...

'', ''The Adventures of Tom Thumb'', and ''

Big Eggo ''Big Eggo'' was a British comic strip series about an eponymous ostrich, published in the British comic magazine ''The Beano''. He first appeared in issue 1, dated 30 July 1938, and was the first ever cover star. His first words in the strip w ...

''. ''The Beano'' magazine contained two types of children's fiction: comic strips and adventure

prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the fo ...

stories; ''Wee Peem'' was the former, inspired by the funny pages of American newspapers. When it ended in issue 89,

DC Thomson DC Thomson is a media company based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded by David Couper Thomson in 1905, it is best known for publishing ''The Dundee Courier'', '' The Evening Telegraph'' and '' The Sunday Post'' newspapers, and the comics ''Oor W ...

reprinted some of the ''Wee Peem'' strips in ''

The People's Journal ''The People's Journal'', first published in 1858, was a Dundee-based Scottish periodical, originally produced by John Leng & Co., a local publishing company that for a time enjoyed the Scottish artist, political cartoonist, postcard illustrato ...

'', along with some new stories by James Malcolm. A similar character in both appearance and mannerisms appeared in the first '' Dandy Monster Comic'' under the name Dipper the Dodger. Peem returned to ''The Beano'' a decade later in issue 486's ''Wee Peem's Magic Pills'', a 21-issue series by Charles Grigg about Peem and his mischief after finding a bottle of

tablet Tablet may refer to: Medicine * Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill" Computing * Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the ...

s (named B-Pills) that fell from Dr Quack's medicine truck. Peem made his first ''Beano Annual'' appearance in 1940. In 1956, the ''Wee Peem'' strip got rebooted by Hugh Morren for 51 stories between issues 714 and 765. As of 2021, it was the last time Peem had a ''Beano'' series, although he would make appearances for the 80th anniversary in both the 2019 ''Beano'' Annual and the 80th-anniversary issue.

References

Notes

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Citations

Beano strips 1938 comics debuts 1957 comics endings Comics characters introduced in 1938 Comics characters who use magic British comics characters Child characters in comics Fictional tricksters Gag-a-day comics Fantasy comics Fictional Scottish people Children's comics {{UK-comics-stub