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Helpful Henry was the name of two comic strips—one from the United States, the other from the United Kingdom.

American comic strip Helpful Henry (1922–1927)

Helpful Henry was an American gag-a-day comic strip, created by cartoonist J. P. Arnot (Paul Arnot – Born: 16 September 1887 – Died: 2 December 1951). The series ran from July 17, 1922, until 1927 and was syndicated by International Feature Service. Despite its brief run actor Oliver Hardy, of Laurel and Hardy fame, said the character was an inspiration for his own screen character. He described Helpful Henry as being big, fussy and self-important, but underneath it all, he was a very nice fellow.

British comic strip Helpful Henry (1938–1939)

Helpful Henry was also a British gag-a-day comic strip from the magazine The Beano. It first appeared in Beano issue 1, dated 30 July 1938, drawn by Eric Roberts. A similarly named character had also appeared in the first issue of The Wizard under the name 'Elpful 'Enery.

The central character is Henry, a young boy who attempts to be helpful but ends up doing more harm than good – usually as a result of a misunderstanding or misinterpretation.

He was also in The Dandy Annual 1939, which came out two months after Beano No. 1 – it is unknown whether the character moved comic or if this was a preview. However some characters, such as Marmaduke Mean the Miser, only appeared in the annuals, so that could be the explanation. As well as this some early Dandy characters such as Podge appeared in the 1940 Beano annual so this could be the case of minor characters just appearing in any DC Thomson annual.

Helpful Henry reappeared in Sparky in issue 211 (dated 1 February 1969) drawn by Hugh Morren this strip lasted in Sparky until issue 230.

References

1. "J. P. Arnot".
2. Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 187. ISBN 9780472117567.
3. "J. P. Arnot".
4. Dandy Monster Comic No. 1. Dundee, Scotland: D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. in conjunction with Aurum Press Ltd. 2006. pp. 48, 56, 69, 80, 96, 124. ISBN 1-84513-217-3.
5. The Sparky File http://crikey.forumotion.com/t148-the-sparky-file

v t e The Beano
DC Thomson R. D. Low
Stories	1938-1939 Big Eggo Hairy Dan Helpful Henry Lord Snooty Morgyn the Mighty Pansy Potter Ping the Elastic Man Tin-Can Tommy Wee Peem 1940s Biffo the Bear Jack Flash Jimmy and his Magic Patch Winnie the Witch 1950s The Bash Street Kids (Pup Parade, Simply Smiffy, Singled Out, Winston) Dennis the Menace (Bea, Gnasher, Walter the Softy, Rasher) General Jumbo Grandpa Jonah Little Plum Minnie the Minx (Fatty Fudge) Roger the Dodger The Three Bears 1960s Billy the Cat Billy Whizz Colonel Crackpot's Circus 1970s Baby Face Finlayson The Belles of St. Lemons Gnasher's Tale The McTickles The Nibblers Richard the Lion Tom, Dick and Sally 1980s Calamity James Danny's Nanny The Germs Gnasher and Gnipper Ivy the Terrible Number 13 Beano Street 1990s Beaginnings Betty and the Yeti Crazy for Daisy Gordon Bennett Joe King Les Pretend The Numskulls Tim Traveller Tricky Dicky 2000s Colin the Vet Derek the Sheep Freddie Fear Joe Jitsu Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green Lord Snooty the Third Olaff the Madlander Ratz Robbie Rebel Splodge Super School 2010s Bananaman Corporal Clott Meebo and Zuky
Other media	Spin-off media The Beano Annual List of Beano comic strips by annual Beano comic libraries/Fun Size Comics EPIC Magazine The Beano Summer Special Dennis the Menace Annual The Magic Comic Plug Adaptations Bananaman (TV series) (BBC, 1983-1986) The Beano's Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Show (TCC, 1990–91) The Beano Video (1993) The Beano Videostars (1994) Dennis and Gnasher (BBC, 1996–98) Dennis and Gnasher (BBC, 2009–13) Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! (BBC, 2017-present) Banananman Musical (2017-2018)
Creator staff	D.C. Thomson artists Leo Baxendale Paddy Brennan Jim Petrie Ken Reid Dudley D. Watkins Freelance artists Barrie Appleby Nigel Auchterlounie Gordon Bell Basil Blackaller Nick Brennan Sid Burgon Reg Carter Wilbur Dawbarn Hunt Emerson Andy Fanton John Geering Barry Glennard Harry Hargreaves Ken H. Harrison Laura Howell Diego Jourdan Malcolm Judge David Law Trevor Metcalfe Allan Morley David Mostyn Vic Neill Robert Nixon Gary Northfield David Parkins Nigel Parkinson Tom Paterson Mike Pearse Dean Rankine Bill Ritchie Jon Rushby Cavan Scott Duncan Scott Jamie Smart Lew Stringer David Sutherland Kev F. Sutherland Stevie White
History	The Beano timeline
Category

v t e DC Thomson comics
Currently running comics	The Beano Commando Fun Section in The Sunday Post
Adventure comics	Adventure Bullet Buddy Champ Commando The Crunch The Hornet The Hotspur The Rover The Skipper Spike Starblazer The Vanguard The Victor Warlord The Wizard
Girls' comics	Bunty Judy Mandy Nikki
Humour comics	The Beano The Beezer Buzz Classics from the Comics Cracker The Dandy EPIC Magazine Fun Size Comics Hoot The Magic Comic Nutty Plug Sparky The Topper
Pre-school comics	Bimbo The Magic Comic Twinkle
Notable strips	Alf Tupper Baby Crockett Bananaman The Bash Street Kids Beryl the Peril Black Bob Biffo the Bear Big Eggo The Broons Calamity James Cuddles and Dimples Dennis the Menace Desperate Dan Ginger Gnasher Ivy the Terrible Jonah Keyhole Kate Korky the Cat Little Plum Lord Snooty Matt Braddock Mickey the Monkey Minnie the Minx Nero and Zero The Numskulls Oor Wullie Pansy Potter Send for Kelly Roger the Dodger Tricky Dicky Willy Nilly Winker Watson Wilson the Wonder Athlete Wolf of Kabul
Comic annuals	The Beano Annual The Beezer Book The Bimbo Book The Dandy Annual The Hotspur Book for Boys The Sparky Book The Topper Book The Victor Book for Boys Warlord Book for Boys
Character annuals	Bananaman Annual The Bash Street Kids Annual Beryl the Peril Annual Black Bob Book The Broons Annual Dennis the Menace Annual The Desperate Dan Book Oor Wullie Annual
Notable artists	Barrie Appleby Nigel Auchterlounie Leo Baxendale Gordon Bell Nick Brennan Paddy Brennan Sid Burgon Reg Carter Wilbur Dawbarn Karl Dixon The Etherington Brothers Hunt Emerson Andy Fanton John Geering Barry Glennard Charles Grigg Ken H. Harrison Laura Howell Diego Jourdan Malcolm Judge David Law Trevor Metcalfe Allan Morley David Mostyn Vic Neill Robert Nixon Gary Northfield Nigel Parkinson Tom Paterson Jim Petrie Ken Reid Bill Ritchie David Parkins Jon Rushby Jamie Smart Lew Stringer David Sutherland Kev F. Sutherland Dudley D. Watkins Stevie White
Notable writers	Mike Chinn Gilbert Lawford Dalton Alan Grant Ian Gray R. D. Low Grant Morrison John Radford Cavan Scott John Smith
See also	List of D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd publications List of AP, Fleetway and IPC Comics publications List of Beano comic strips List of Dandy comic strips List of Topper comic strips List of Beezer comic strips List of Beezer and Topper comic strips
Category

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