Gnasher's Tale

Gnasher's Tale was a comic strip in the UK comic "The Beano" that the fictional character Gnasher used to star in. It ran from issue 1818 (21 May 1977) to 1986, and was drawn by David Sutherland. In the strip, Gnasher would tell stories from when he was a puppy.

Gansher was created by Ian Gray (writer) and Davey Law (artist). Ian was just a young writer for the Beano when he and Davey Law came up with Dennis the Menace's famous mongrel sidekick. As Davey struggled to picture the dog, Ian suggested he simply draw Dennis's hair and "put a leg on each corner and two eyeballs at that end" The result was one of the most enduring images for publishers DC Thomson.

Gnasher is the dog of Dennis the Menace, and as such appears in that strip. Later Gnasher also starred alongside his son, Gnipper, in Gnasher and Gnipper, the strip that replaced Gnasher's Tale when Gnipper was born. When Gnasher went missing for a short time in 1986, the strip was replaced with Foo Foo's Fairy Story, Foo Foo being the pet poodle of "Walter the Softy" (another character from the Dennis strip).

Although Gnasher's Tale officially ended in 1986, occasional new episodes by Barry Glennard (The artist for Gnasher and Gnipper since 1993) can be seen in annuals (namely the 2001 and 2007 ones).