A touch of Minx

A few months ago, I, along with everyone else, fell in love with the movie Inside Out.  I also appreciated that one of the main story points was it is  okay to feel sad, sometimes it’s an emotion that cannot be avoided. It was nice to see a movie not sugar-coat tough emotions and show that memories can be shaded with a blend of feelings. I thought the writers were so clever to materialize emotions into characters that kids could understand. Again, I was overwhelmed by their inventiveness that there are little beings living in the main character’s brain.

As I watched these colorful characters on the screen, I had a nagging reminder of a comic strip I had read growing up. It was in the British  comic book called The Beano.  Not to be confused with the natural remedy.  The Beano comic book has been going strong for over 60 years in Great Britain.

When I arrived home, I looked up these characters. The cast that started me doing comparisons was The Numskulls.    Come to find out, I was in good company on this very thought process. There was an article in The Hollywood Reporter that focused on this same observation. 

 I revisited this comic strip of bean-shaped (there’s a theme here, I know it!) tiny people that were in charge of the human’s functions, such as the Eye and Nose Department, rather than his emotions.

Looking through The Beano’s website, I saw the other players was entertained by: Lord Snooty: the equivalent to Richie Rich,  but he dressed in a top coat and tails; Roger the Dodger: a crafty boy always thinking of schemes to get out of his chores; Dennis the Menace: he looked nothing like the American counterpart. This comic had him with spiky black hair and a doppelganger dog by the name of Gnarly; and my favorite Minnie the Minx.

She looked just the way I remembered—the girl with the mischievous smile, wearing a vibrant red and black striped sweater and coal black Tam O'Shanter  hat covering her shocking red hair ponytails. Why was she my favorite character? Was it because she was one of the few girls in the comic strip?  Was it because her side kick was a cat? Why did I find her impish antics so amusing? Was it because she was the exact opposite of me?

It was nice to visit the past of my childhood and in the spirit of the movie, this memory ball of my favorite comic book character will be tinged with richer emotions.