| Wee Peem | |
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| Character fromThe Beano | |
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| Appearance timeline | Issues 1 – 89, 714 – 765, 486 – 507, 3945[1] |
| Author(s) | Uncredited |
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Wee Peem was a British comic strip character inThe Beano, first written and designed by James Jewell.[2] He starred in two comic strips between 1938 and 1957, and would get up to various forms of mischief in a similar way to laterBeano strips such asDennis the Menace andMinnie the Minx.
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 theScots language.
Peem debuted inWee Peem (He's a Proper Scream) inThe Beano's first issue[Note 1][4] withLord Snooty and His Pals,Helpful Henry,Morgyn the Mighty,The Adventures of Tom Thumb, andBig Eggo.[5]The Beano magazine contained two types of children's fiction: comic strips and adventureprose stories;Wee Peem was the former, inspired by the funny pages of American newspapers.[5] When it ended in issue 89,[6]DC Thomson reprinted some of theWee Peem strips inThe People's Journal, along with some new stories by James Malcolm.[2]
A similar character in both appearance and mannerisms appeared in the firstDandy Monster Comic under the name Dipper the Dodger.[7]
Peem returned toThe Beano a decade later in issue 486'sWee Peem's Magic Pills,[8] a 21-issue series by Charles Grigg about Peem and his mischief after finding a bottle oftablets (named B-Pills)[9] that fell from Dr Quack's medicine truck.[10] Peem made his firstBeano Annual appearance in 1940.[11]
In 1956, theWee Peem strip got rebooted by Hugh Morren[12] for 51 stories between issues 714 and 765.[13][14] As of 2021, it was the last time Peem had aBeano series, although he would make appearances for the 80th anniversary in both the 2019Beano Annual[15] and the 80th-anniversary issue.[1]
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