Teenage sporting heroes are honoured in this year’s special Beano collectible issue

Sky Brown, Emma Raducanu, Maisie Summers-Newton, Bukayo Saka and Matty Lee are some of the young sporting stars starring in this year’s special 2021 special edition Beano comic.

Following the success of last year’s BeanOld, Beano is back with another hilarious take on the year.

With friends and families hopefully able to celebrate together this year, BeONE has been created for everyone to enjoy as one and commemorates the incredible golden year of sport enjoyed by Great Britain in 2021.

Featuring as a special pull-out inside the weekly comic, BeONE sees Dennis set off on a solo quest to reunite Gnasher with his family for Christmas. On realising her beloved boy has gone, Mrs Menace alerts Mayor Brown to help track him down but Mayor sees his opportunity to keep Dennis out of Beanotown for good.

As Dennis tries to make his way back to Beanotown, to be reunited with his family just in time for Christmas Day, Mayor and Walter try to stop him at every turn but luckily Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova, Sky Brown, Kare Adenegan, Matty Lee, Maisie Summers-Newton and Emma Raducanu come to the rescue. The special comic also sees special appearances from some of the other biggest names of 2021 including Matt Hancock, Piers Morgan, Jackie Weaver on Zoom and Elon Musk and his moon mission.

Mike Stirling, editorial director of Beano Studios, said: “This year, our sporting superstars have lifted the nation’s spirits so we couldn’t think of a better way to round off 2021 than with some well-deserved appreciation for these incredible young athletes and the joy they brought to the nation. The reception to last year’s BeanOLD was incredible and we saw generations of families using it to connect when they had to be apart. We hope BeONE is the comic families have been waiting for and that this year they can enjoy reading it safely together!”

Four individual special gold leaf comic cover arts featuring the sports superstars Matty Lee, Maisie Summers-Newton and Sky Brown will also go on sale today on the Beano Shop. The funds raised from these exclusive covers will be donated to Save the Children to help children in the UK and around the world stay safe, healthy and learning.

Gold medal winning Olympic diver, Matty Lee, said: “I loved reading the Beano as a kid so to see myself on the cover of such a special, charity issue is a crazy feeling, it’s absolutely amazing. I’ve had a sneaky preview and it’s as hilariously funny as I remember.”

Double gold medal winning Paralympic swimmer, Maisie Summers-Newton, said: “Seeing myself on the cover the special charity issue Beano is amazing, it’s such a memorable part of the childhood of many generations, so it’s a real honour to be a part of it and celebrate a fantastic year for sports.”

In 2021, teenage stars have smashed records and become sporting heroes. Emma Raducanu was the first ever qualifier to win a Grand Slam final and the first British woman to win a Grand Slam in 44 years, all at the age of just 18. Bukayo Saka was a stand-out star of the young England team in the Euros who brought the country together this summer by reaching their first major final in 55 years.

Maisie Summers-Newton won two swimming gold medals and set a world record at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Paralympics aged just 19. Sky Brown became Britain’s youngest ever medallist in Olympic history with a skateboarding bronze this summer.