A cartoonist from Macclesfield has achieved a life-long dream to appear in the longest running comic in history – the legendry Beano.
Marc Jackson made his debut in the comic on the 30 July, with his character Lenny the Lettuce.
The iconic British comic was first published in 1938, on the 30 July and is the home of such brilliant characters as Dennis the Menace, Roger the Dodger, and Pansy Potter The Strongman’s Daughter.
The ball started rolling three years ago when Jackson submitted different strips to see if they would be interested.
“It wasn’t about any particular comics, it was more about them seeing my drawing style,” he said.
After that they kept him on a mailing list so every six months one of the editors would send out an email to the cartoonists and writers on the list, asking if anyone had any new ideas.
“I just had loads of different ideas, lots of different characters so I sent them all over to them and they said no to everything else but yes to Lenny the Lettuce.”
Lenny the Lettuce, is you guessed it – about a Lettuce called Lenny.
The cartoonist said:, “When I came up with the idea I had The Beano in mind and I wanted to do something that was aimed directly at children. Something a bit fun and daft that’s easy to follow for the younger readers but still fun for older readers, a bit like a SpongeBob Square Pants.”
Although it is too early to gauge how popular his creation is, the editors extended the number of comic strips he would be appearing in even before he made his debut. He was originally commissioned to do six strips but four weeks ago they asked for three new ones.
“I’m guessing they must think it’s got some appeal because at that point it had not appeared.
“I’d like to think they have faith. It is a brand new character and I’m relatively unknown so they are willing to take a chance. I don’t want to get too carried away but it if someone had said this time last year I would be in The Beano I wouldn’t have believed them.”
Locally it has been a definite success with the issue featuring Lenny the Lettuce selling out in Macclesfield.
