Dennis the Menace (U.S. comics)

Characters and setting

The Mitchell family

• Dennis Roger Mitchell is a freckle-faced five-year-old boy with a troublesome but soft-hearted and helpful personality. His long-suffering parents, Henry and Alice Mitchell, can only shake their heads and try to explain their son's antics to others, yet they very much love and care for him. The comic efficacy of Dennis's personality lies within how his genuine attempts to help those in need, combined with his youthful energy and enthusiasm, frequently lead to trouble wherever he goes. He wears a black T-shirt with blue stripes, red overalls, and white sneakers. He hates carrots and baths, loves root beer, ketchup, sandwiches, water pistols, playing with other boys his age, mud puddles, camping, and Westerns, and has occasionally been depicted wearing a cowboy costume. Dennis has a Cowboy Bob Deputy Badge, poster, and an autographed picture of Cowboy Bob, as well. Among the running gags: Dennis has a soft spot for animals such as kittens and puppies, which he is always taking home to feed; he loves loud instruments, such as horns and drums, and he ruins Christmas songs with shouts of cowboy songs or annoys adults by shouting out loud. When Dennis is in the local department store trying out toys, such as tricycles, he often ends up breaking them and making his parents buy them. Dennis nearly causes portrait photographers, hairdressers, kindergarten teachers, bus drivers, house heating equipment repairmen, the town mayor, barbers, and the local post office workers to have nervous breakdowns when he comes around. A running gag is that Dennis causes chaos wherever he visits, such as the city park, a Marineland Aquarium, the US Army, and even on vacation trips to Mexico and Hollywood. Despite all this, he is a "popular kid" with his peers, having countless friends both at his school and around the neighborhood, who are taken with his fun-loving demeanor. Dennis also believes in the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Another running gag is Dennis dreaming that he meets Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and causing chaos for everyone else. Another running gag involves Dennis's ever-changing parade of new babysitters; no one will take the job twice, much to Alice's annoyance.
• Henry Mitchell, age 32, is Dennis' father, an aeronautical engineer. Henry seems to understand Dennis more than his wife does, especially in affairs of the heart. Like his creator Hank Ketcham, Henry served in the United States Navy; starting position as a quartermaster second class on a US Navy ship, he ended up on an aircraft carrier and rose to the rank of chief petty officer. Among his hobbies are playing card games such as poker, bird watching, and playing the ukulele and singing old songs. A running gag is that Henry often plays the straight man dupe—either resulting from Dennis's "helpfulness", or because of his foolishness; once, he tried to save money on a Christmas tree by cutting one down in the country—and ended up paying $20.00.
• Alice Mitchell, née Aberdeen is Dennis' stay-at-home mother, who is usually the reassuring figure to whom Dennis can run when things get too overwhelming, ready to greet him with a warm hug. Although she grew up among animals on a chicken ranch, a running gag is that Alice is ophidiophobic. She is the president of a local bridge club. Alice is the disciplinarian in the Mitchell household; for example, she punishes Dennis for his misbehavior by having him sit in the corner in a rocking chair for timeout.
• Ruff is Dennis's dog and best friend. He is always eagerly following him around, accompanying him while Dennis is running, or riding his bike or skateboard. Another running gag is that although Ruff chases cats, he is afraid of them.
• Hot Dog is Dennis's rarely seen cat, which usually commiserates with him while he sits in the corner and reflects on his wrongdoings. Dennis gave the cat its name after the cat ate a package of hot dogs.
• Barney is another cat of the Mitchells.
• Grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell
• Grampa is Alice's father, who spoils Dennis often. He evokes the unintentional jealousy of Mr. Wilson, for he gets to see Dennis occasionally, but Mr. Wilson sees him all the time. Because they are so much alike, Dennis and Grampa Johnson get along well. Mr. Wilson and Grampa have different perspectives on life and how to live it. While Mr. Wilson believes in acting one's age, Grampa encourages Dennis to enjoy life to the fullest. His wife's status is unknown; she is never seen in the comics, although she is mentioned four times—twice when, thanks to Dennis, Alice finds out Henry destroyed his Christmas gift from his mother-in-law; another time a furious Alice finds out that Henry had thrown his mother-in-law's gift into the trash. Another time, Alice wished her mother a Happy Mother's Day by telephone. Grandpa mentions his wife to Dennis, but not her status.
• Uncle Fred and Aunt Mollie
• Uncle Richard and Aunt Ginny
• Uncle John lives in Florida. The Mitchells visited him once for a vacation.
• Uncle Al lives in Texas and works in the "oil business." He runs a small oil and gas station.
• Uncle Charlie
• Uncle Ernie and Aunt Blanche
• Aunt Betty
• Aunt Hetty
• '''Aunt Sue'''

  The Wilsons

• George Everett Wilson Sr. is Dennis's cranky middle-aged next-door neighbor, a retired mail carrier and his best adult friend. Not much is told about his early life except he grew up on a farm, lived through The Great Depression of the 1930s, served in World War II, and is a retired postman. Dennis loves Mr. Wilson, but unintentionally annoys him, as he disrupts Mr. Wilson's attempts at a serene, quiet life; he often interrupts Mr. Wilson's hobbies such as gardening and bird watching, at times accidentally damaging his property. As a result, he displays a less than cordial attitude towards the young boy, though Dennis continues his well-meaning intrusions unabated. He is secretly fond of Dennis and misses him when he is away, although he would never openly admit it. On one occasion when the Mitchells went to Hollywood for two weeks, Mr. Wilson kept seeing Dennis' face everywhere. Mr. Wilson is named after a teacher Hank Ketcham knew. Dennis often refers to him as "Good Ol' Mr. Wilson." Although a running gag is that Dennis's pranks drive Mr. Wilson crazy, at times Dennis tries to do nice things for Mr. Wilson, such as the time Dennis left Ruff the dog and Hot Dog the cat with Mr. Wilson so he would not be lonely on Father's Day, while Dennis and his father went to a baseball game, or the time Dennis tries to cheer Mr. Wilson up on April Fool's day by placing a fake "Mitchell House for sale" sign up.
• Martha Wilson is Mr. Wilson's engaging wife who adores Dennis. Mrs. Wilson freely dotes on him and plies him with freshly baked cookies and milk. Martha sees Dennis as a surrogate grandson. By 1975, George and Martha had been married for 25 years.
• John Wilson is Mr. Wilson's brother.
• Eloise Wilson is John's wife and Mr. Wilson's sister-in-law.
• Earl Wilson is Mr. Wilson's estranged son.
• Elena Wilson is Earl's wife.
• Winnie Wilson is Mr. Wilson's granddaughter and Earl's daughter.
• Walter "Walt" Wilson is Mr. Wilson's grandson and Earl's son.
• Keith Wilson is Mr. Wilson's grandson and Earl's son.
• Sammy Wilson is Mr. Wilson's grandson and Earl's son.
• George Wilson Jr. is Mr. Wilson's son.
• Edna Wilson is George Jr.'s wife.
• Tammy Wilson is Mr. Wilson's daughter.
• George Wilson III is Mr. Wilson's grandson.
• Will Wilson is Mr. Wilson's grandson.
• Helga Wilson is Mr. Wilson's granddaughter.
• Uncle Ned is Mr. Wilson's 70-year-old uncle who visited his nephew in 1964.

  Dennis' friends

• Tommy Anderson is Dennis' best friend. This character eventually disappeared from the strip, although he does make appearances in the Dennis the Menace Pocket Full of Fun books.
• Joey McDonald is loyal, timid, and not too bright. He is a year younger than Dennis. He usually plays the sidekick to Dennis's schemes and sees him as a big brother figure. Dennis often gives him naïve advice and gives him little "nuggets" of wisdom and insight.
• Margaret Wade is a freckled, red-haired, bespectacled know-it-all whose cloying and self-important demeanor is always getting on Dennis's nerves. She is attracted to Dennis and is stubbornly confident in the belief that she will marry him in adulthood, but he has no interest in her. She always tries to improve Dennis and his manners but succeeds only in annoying him. She has a certain amount of dislike for Gina, whom she sees as her competition. Gina gains Dennis' respect and admiration by just being herself, and Margaret's pretensions fail to impress him. Margaret, who is two years older than Dennis, is very ambitious: when she was five, she decided to join the Camp Fire Girls when she reaches the age of seven, and in one cartoon, she sells Girl Scout cookies to the Mitchells. She likes taking gymnastics and ballet, and singing Christmas carols. She is a devout religious believer, and has had pets of her own—four white Persian cats: Charlie, Prudence, Snowflake, and Mr. Coddles. Whenever Margaret seeks to show him kindness, such as inviting him over to her house to help decorate a Christmas tree, be a guest at her birthday party, or when Dennis tries to have Margaret give him too much candy, Dennis' "helpfulness" results in his expulsion. Regardless of his ill-will toward Margaret, Dennis cannot resist eating at the Wades'. Margaret and Dennis are not always adversaries. Dennis once used a water pistol to spray both Margaret and Gina with his mother's perfume, prompting both to play with him and angering his mother. Margaret is a frequent victim of Dennis's practical jokes, such as being sprayed by a garden hose. On one Valentine's Day, Dennis gave "trick" Valentine's messages to Margaret, Gina, and Sally that had messages read "I DON'T Like", which earned him punishment. In one April Fool's Day comic, Dennis decided to trick Margaret with compliments instead of pranks; to his horror, she accepted the joke as real and dragged Dennis to hear her piano playing. Although she is fond of Dennis, she can lose her temper and "bop" him.
• Gina Gillotti is a fiercely independent young Italian-American girl, on whom Dennis is mostly unaware that he has a crush. Gina is tomboyish yet still feminine in appearance. She also likes Dennis in a future-sweethearts manner, but in contrast to his dislike of Margaret, Dennis enjoys Gina's company because of her independent mind and their common interests. Gina is aware of her femininity, and woe betide anyone who thinks otherwise. Just as Margaret had "flipped" Dennis in karate, Gina once "flipped" Dennis in judo. and in at least one story, her mother is depicted as being an excellent cook.
• Jackson is an African American character whom Ketcham decided to add to the cast in the late 1960s. A panel from May 13, 1970, depicted Jackson and Dennis playing in the backyard, with Dennis saying to his father, "I'm having some race trouble with Jackson. He runs FASTER than I do!" Because Jackson was illustrated as a racial caricature, the character was not received well. Protests erupted in Detroit, Little Rock, Miami, and St. Louis, and debris was thrown at the offices of the Post Dispatch. Taken aback, Ketcham issued a statement explaining that his intentions were innocent. Jackson appeared in another comic with a less exaggerated design, in which Dennis says "Me 'n Jackson are exactly the same age. Only he's different. He's left-handed." However, readers found the redesigned character "scarcely less offensive". He makes no further prominent appearances in the comics.
• * On January 22, 2024, Dennis is illustrated speaking to a black child of indeterminate identity. This child does not resemble either of Jackson's earlier designs, but like Jackson, he has no spoken dialogue.
• Jay Weldon is another African American friend of Dennis. He appeared in the 1986 animated series and was characterized as being fond of basketball. Jay was much more well-received than the character of Jackson because he was not designed as a caricature.
• Ben is a Jewish friend of Dennis. Although they celebrate different religious holidays, Ben and Dennis bond over a love of Halloween.
• Cowboy Bob is a film cowboy whom Dennis idolizes. He appears in a series of Westerns known as Cowboy Bob films. What the boy fails to realize is that Westerns are rarely made in his time and that the films he watches so enthusiastically are old repeats. In one story arc, Dennis' parents invite the retired actor to a party, and Dennis meets him and remarks that he must be Cowboy Bob's grandfather.