Dennis the Menace

Dennis the Menace is a 1951 humoristic newspaper cartoon series created by Hank Ketcham. It features a young boy called who always causes mayhem, which works on his parents and especially his neighbor George Wilson's nerves. George's wife, Martha Wilson, usually defends little Dennis in front of her husband. Between 1959-1963 the comic strip was adapted into a TV sitcom, which Matt Groening saw as a child and disappointed him deeply, since Dennis didn't really live up to being a menace. As Groening described in the documentary My Wasted Life (2000) it was with this instinct in mind that he created Bart Simpson to be more like an actual menace. Dennis the Menace has been adapted into various films and an animated TV series too.