Cartoonist Hank Ketcham created one of the most enduringly irresistible imps in the world. Dennis the Menace first began to plague his next-door neighbor, Mr. Wilson, in 1950 on the pages of America's newspapers. Today the comic panel appears in more than 1,000 newspapers in 48 countries and in 19 languages.

Ketcham's brainchild has been the subject of a hit network TV series, starring Jay North, which ran from 1959 to 1963, and still appears on stations around the country. Animated Dennis adventures produced for General Mills aired in 1988-89. More than 50 million "Dennis" books have been sold. And the half-pint has become a popular spokescharacter for many worthy causes throughout the years.

Although Ketcham turned the active reins of his comic over to longtime assistants Ron Ferdinand and Marcus Hamilton in 1994, he supervised the work on his favorite kid until his death in June 2001.

Web site: www.dennisthemenace.com