It's been a shame to witness the decline over the years of the once proudly baleful Dennis (UK version). For instance, the last frame of almost every comic would show Dennis getting whacked (usually by his father or teacher) for whatever his misdeeds had been that time. There was a nice symmetry. The audience of kids was left under no illusion that they could get away with anything like his actions, much as they'd like to. I suppose his getting grounded or having his phone privileges taken away is not so easy to show visually.
Then there was his rather epicene antagonist, Walter Softee, whom Dennis would bully unmercifully. To avoid accusations of homophobia Walter was given a
girlfriend. He was also portrayed as a much nastier piece of work than hitherto, sly and calculating, capable of initiating nasty pranks on Dennis. That provided more of an excuse for Dennis beating him up than the earlier comics, where it was obviously just because he was soft.
Also Dennis's dog, Gnasher, hardly mentioned in the early comics, has come to play a much larger part. Instead of Dennis beating someone up, Gnasher now bites them. That way a lot of the innate violence is removed from the character of Dennis.
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
