The Three Bears (comic Strip)

The Three Bears (comic Strip)

The Three Bears was a long-running comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. It made its first appearance in issue 881, dated 6 June 1959, drawn by Leo Baxendale at first and then by Bob McGrath for most of its run.

Ma and Pa Bear and their young son Teddy (later called Ted) were lazy and gluttonous, and lived in a cave upon a hill. Most storylines revolved around their attempts to steal "grub" from the local storekeeper Hank (who often shoots the Three Bears with his blunderbuss for trying to rob him). Originally disappearing from the comic after issue 2253, dated 21 September 1985, by which time McGrath had departed and briefly been replaced by Tom Lavery, the strip has returned to The Beano several times since then, between 1988 and 1995, re-appearing in issues 2391 and 2674 (dated 14 May 1988 and 16 October 1993). The first re-launch was drawn by Bob Dewar, and the second originally by David Parkins, who drew it for much of the mid-1990s, then Robert Nixon later on. Parkins' version is cited by former Beano editor Euan Kerr as one of his favourite strips.