The Kids of Class 2B

A great traditional thing to find under the tree on Christmas morning is this year's Bash Street Kids Book! Of course, the ones from the mid-1980s, when I was young, were the best, because things were so much better all round in the good old days. But the Kids were of course around long before I was born, and are continuing their misadventures unabated even today, so it's good to see there's at least a Bash Street Kids special on the shelves of Smiths right now, to delight the latest generation of readers!

You might remember how back in May 2022 I went on about how the Kids weren't as good as they used to be, only to find immediately afterwards that the good people at DC Thomson had taken my words to heart and revamped the strip once again. This new collection reprints the strips from that relaunch, with the usual smattering of bonus features to fill the 68 pages (including covers), it's a great successor to the classic books, and I heartily recommend it to anyone still shopping for stocking-fillers!

(Although six ninety-nine for a comic? Spoilt brats these days, getting such expensive things in their stockings. We were happy with a satsuma and a kick up the bum!)

Now, introducing the cast is an important part of this kind of comic, and for me the definitive roll-call of the Bash Street Kids came in the Beano Book 1979 - perhaps more because of it being the first one I read rather than any great literary merit. But I can still reel off that list of the classic nine characters, and I remember being grateful to have a proper checklist, since the weekly adventures wouldn't usually identify everyone by name.

A lot of the strips in the 1979 Beano Book still ended with violent, brutal and furious corporal punishment being meted out on the heroes by a parent or teacher. This was phased out over the eighties as fashions changed. Teacher hasn't wielded his cane in anger for many years now. This year's collection, though, gives us a very nice introduction to the Kids and their personalities - even to the extent of telling us their full names!

Wilfrid's name is misspelt, which is annoying. The Beano needs to hire me as a proof-reader to catch things like this. I inherit this pedantry from my dad, who was a teacher very much in the mould of the Teacher of 2B, and "Wilfird" makes me want to descend on the Beano offices with a cane of my own...

But apart from that, these names aren't all new! They're historically-established, in many cases, dating from the text stories that appeared in the Wizard comic in 1955! I don't own any of these classic comics, but they can be found for sale at reasonable prices in places like here and here. I'm so desperately poor at the moment, that I can't really buy them myself, but... it IS the season of giving, and if anyone was looking for a last-minute gift for MY stocking...

Anyway, the "Bash Street School" stories in the Wizard were narrated by Sidney Pye, and included characters like Death's Head Danny Morgan, Fatty Brown and Jimmy Smiff. This was before the comic in the weekly Beano had settled down into a fixed cast, but the main stars were already there. It's good to see the Kids have, mostly, kept their earliest identities!

A few points - Danny is short for Daniel (that's what Teacher always called him), so that should be mentioned here. Smiffy, as mentioned above, was a Jimmy in at least one Wizard comic, although to be fair he's not the type who can always remember what his name is. His surname, though, has always been given as Smiff rather than Smith before now. Stevie's real name is Super Star? Did he legally change it, or did his parents want to call him that? And check it out - Toots is Kate! I don't know if that's ever been mentioned before...

Yes, I approve of this. Long may the Bash Street Kids continue to wreak havoc!