Looking back, several readers noticed something curious about The Beano and The Dandy.
Why was it so often Dad who delivered the final punishment?
The phrase “wait until your father gets home” belonged to an older model of British family life in which the father was frequently presented as the final household authority. Several contributors to the discussion independently noticed that this convention appeared repeatedly in the comics.
Whether comics reflected family life or helped reinforce that image is much harder to determine.
Probably there was a little of both.
Comic artists worked with situations their readers immediately recognised. The angry father waiting at the end of a Dennis the Menace story required almost no explanation.
Everyone knew the joke before the final panel arrived.
