A Response from the Creator of 'Dennis the Menace'

The creator of "Dennis the Menace" himself was kind enough to send me this email this morning, which he said I could reprint here.

 

From:     Marcus Hamilton

Subject:     Same gag

Date:     January 27, 2011 7:38:23 AM PST

To:     theratandpig@aol.com


Hi, Stephan,

I saw on your blog that Dennis and Margaret "relived" the same gag that you had done 9 years ago.

The question is, "was it a coincidence, or a swipe, or a compliment???"

Actually, when I chose that gag from one of our writer's submissions, I was not aware that it had been used before.

If I had known that, I wouldn't have accepted it. But I do believe it was a case of "creative minds" coming up with the same, or similar, idea.

Over the years, there have been several occasions where I have seen "mirror" situations of gags occurring the same day in the comics.

Please be assured that there was no intention to copy. If I had intentionally "swiped" the gag, it would have been done as a parody and would have included a credit line, "with apologies to Pearls Before Swine."

Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

Here's a tho't…you could have rat and pig reading the comics and commenting that Dennis is more intelligent than dumb ol' Margaret, 'cause he gets his common sense from reading Pearls!

Keep up the good work,

Marcus Hamilton

www.dennisthemenace.com