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Wee Peem
Character from The Beano
Publication information
Star of	Wee Peem (He's a Proper Scream) (1939–1940) Wee Peem's Magic Pills (1951–1952) Wee Peem (1956–1957)
First appearance	Issue 1 (30 July 1938)
Last appearance	Issue 3945 (25 July 2018)
Appearance timeline	Issues 1 – 89, 714 – 765, 486 – 507, 3945
Author(s)	Uncredited
Illustrator(s)	James Malcom Charles Grigg Hugh Morren

Wee Peem was a British comic strip character in The Beano, first written and designed by James Jewell. He starred in two comic strips between 1938 and 1957, and would get up to various forms of mischief in a similar way to later Beano strips such as Dennis the Menace and Minnie the Minx.

Synopsis

Peem is a little boy with a large, round head with long limbs, usually dressed in a stripy jumper, shorts, and a strip cap too small for his head. His stories would be about his misbehaviours irritating and angering adults. His name is "Little James" in the Scots language.

Character history

Peem debuted in Wee Peem (He's a Proper Scream) in The Beano's first issue with Lord Snooty and His Pals, Helpful Henry, Morgyn the Mighty, The Adventures of Tom Thumb, and Big Eggo. The Beano magazine contained two types of children's fiction: comic strips and adventure prose stories; Wee Peem was the former, inspired by the funny pages of American newspapers. When it ended in issue 89, DC Thomson reprinted some of the Wee Peem strips in The People's Journal, along with some new stories by James Malcolm.

A similar character in both appearance and mannerisms appeared in the first Dandy Monster Comic under the name Dipper the Dodger.

Peem returned to The Beano a decade later in issue 486's Wee Peem's Magic Pills, a 21-issue series by Charles Grigg about Peem and his mischief after finding a bottle of tablets (named B-Pills) that fell from Dr Quack's medicine truck. Peem made his first Beano Annual appearance in 1940.

In 1956, the Wee Peem strip got rebooted by Hugh Morren for 51 stories between issues 714 and 765. As of 2021, it was the last time Peem had a Beano series, although he would make appearances for the 80th anniversary in both the 2019 Beano Annual and the 80th-anniversary issue.

References

Notes

1. Named The Beano Comic at this time.

Bibliography

• The History of the Beano. Dundee, Scotland: D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. 2008. ISBN 978-1-902407-73-9.
• Anderson, John, ed. (2018). Beano: 80 Years of Fun. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. ISBN 9781845357023.

Citations

1. ^ Auchterlounie, Nigel; Parkinson, Nigel (25 July 2018). Walliams, David (ed.). "The Big Birthday Horror!: A Beanotown Adventure". The Beano. No. 3945. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.
2. ^ History of the Beano (2008), p. 305.
3. History of the Beano (2008), p. 315.
4. Jewel, James (30 July 1938). Moonie, George (ed.). "Wee Peem". The Beano Comic. No. 1.
5. ^ 80 Years (2018), p. 11.
6. Jewell, James (6 April 1940). Moonie, George (ed.). "Wee Peem". The Beano Comic. No. 89. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.
7. Dandy Monster Comic No. 1. Dundee, Scotland: D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. in conjunction with Aurum Press Ltd. 2006. pp. 54, 86, 127. ISBN 1-84513-217-3.
8. Grigg, Charles (10 November 1951). Moonie, George (ed.). "Wee Peem's Magic Pills". The Beano. No. 486. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.
9. Gifford, Denis (1987). Encyclopedia of Comic Characters: Over 1200 Characters!. Harlow: Longman. p. 237. ISBN 0582892945.
10. History of the Beano (2008), p. 317.
11. "Archive: Beano Annual 1940 - The Very First Beano Book | Archive Annuals | Archive on Beano.com". Beano. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021.
12. History of the Beano (2008), p. 322.
13. Morren, Hugh (24 March 1956). Moonie, George (ed.). "Wee Peem". The Beano. No. 714. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.
14. Morren, Hugh (16 March 1957). Moonie, George (ed.). "Wee Peem". The Beano. No. 765. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.
15. Anderson, John, ed. (2018). Annual 2019 Beano. D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd.

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

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

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