Mike Pearse - Wild About Harry

Not so very long ago, everyone was celebrating Harry Potter's birthday - which just so happened to have been J. K. Rowling's birthday as well. What are the odds?! ;)

To many Potter fans, it seemed like only yesterday when 'The Philosopher's Stone' was first published. And seven books, eight movies, several supplementary works and over 20 years later, 'The Boy Who Lived' is still going strong to this day.

So it was hardly surprising that, a year after 'The Philosopher's Stone' movie was released in 2001, Mike Pearse decided to get in on the action in Issue #3121 of The Beano while the iron was hot. As with all of his Beano stories before and since, he doesn't disappoint. That one gag on Page 6 is a great example of his wit - you'll see what I mean when you find it...!

Mike Pearse - Space Cadets

I may not be much of a fan of the series or the movies myself, but as it's the 50th anniversary of Star Trek this year, I couldn't let it pass by without celebrating it as only I know how...!

This special 2009 Bash Street Annual featured some of Mike Pearse's best "extra-long" Bash Street Kids stories originally printed in The Beano - and one new story drawn especially for this book alone, a hilarious tribute to one of the best sci-fi shows in the world.

It would also be the last time Mike Pearse contributed for DC Thompson. He didn't draw further comics, Bash Street or otherwise, until the 2015 Beano annual. But that's another story...

Mike Pearse - Pop Idiots

As this year's X Factor draws to a close, I think it only fitting to mark the occasion with a rather aptly-named Mike Pearse classic - back when Simon Cowell first introduced its "predecessor", Pop Idol, from the early 00's. Love it or hate it, it must have inspired Mike either way to draw what I consider to be one of my personal favourites of his.

In fact, I adore massive character team-ups within the same "world", but Mike's handling for the Beano characters has always been superb. Just imagine an animated series featuring the entire residents of Beanotown than just Dennis the Menace alone...!

This story was first published in Beano Issue No.3250 from October 2004 - a year after Pop Idol was "relaunched" as the X Factor...

Mike Pearse - "It's A Funny Old Game"

In the past I have shared and gushed over Mike Pearse's contributions to the Beano in previous blog posts. But just in time for this year's World Cup, here's his first-ever "extra long" story that truly established his creativity and fresh approach to these old friends of ours. ie; telling a superb storyline in the look and style of European Comics like Asterix.

Although it wasn't given an official story title as such, this was republished, recoloured and edited in the 2009 Bash Street Kids Annual (alias "Space Cadets") under the name "It's a Funny Old Game". However, I thought it was time to show off the original in all its glory. For die-hard Beano fans, try to name all the characters featured in the crowd scenes whilst you're reading!

PS: I apologie for the quality of the double-spread pages. They were hardest to scan and edit...