Dundee celebrates 80th birthday of Scottish comic Beano with portrait of 'Minnie Lisa'

Last year The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum celebrated its 150th anniversary. This year The McManus is celebrating another anniversary associated with the Scottish city of Dundee (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Dè). The children's comic the Beano is celebrating its 80th birthday and is published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938. Its characters include Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, The Numskulls, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz and Tricky Dicky.

Called Bash Street’s Back at The McMenace, the exhibition has drawn more than 80,000 visitors since opening in June. It is due to close on 21 October, but such is the success of the exhibition, it is now hoped that visitor numbers will reach 100 thousand by the time the show comes to the end. In order to encourage this the organisers have unveiled a portrait of Beano character Minnie the Minx in the style of  The Mona Lisa. Described as Minnie Lisa by "Duh Vinci", it shows Minnie with a mysterious enigmatic grin, wearing her trademark red and black jumper. More information on the exhibition, which has free admission, can be seen on the The Mc Manus: Dundee's Art Gallery and Museum website.