An Eighties edition of The Beano which appeared in an April episode of Dr Who has been reprinted and is included inside the comic now on sale, as part of a series of specials to mark The Beano's 75th anniversary this year.
Matt Smith, who plays the Doctor, was seen reading a Beano summer special from 1981 in an episode aired on April 6, The Rings Of Akhaten.
Publishers were inundated with messages from fans and decided to reprint the 32-page comic. The front cover features a caricature of Matt Smith and Dennis the Menace making short work of a Dalek.
Editor-in-chief Mike Stirling said: "Everyone at The Beano was delighted to see one of our summer specials appear on Doctor Who. We're big fans of the show and so are our readers, who haven't stopped talking about it.
"Some of the strips are colour while some are black and white. We've stayed true to the original summer special so that our readers can really find out what The Beano was like more than 30 years ago.
"We hope Matt Smith and the whole Doctor Who team love this issue. We're giving every child the opportunity to travel back in time, just like the Doctor."
The comic is published weekly by DC Thompson and first appeared on July 30 1938. During the Second World War The Beano and Thompson's other comic The Dandy were famously published on alternating weeks because of shortages of paper and ink. In September 2009, the Beano's 3,500th issue was published. Its current editor is Michael Stirling.
Its most famous characters and strips include Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz and Ball Boy.
