Henry's comic strip pulled by Beano

An entire week's print-run of the Beano comic was pulped after a cartoon character based on Arsenal star footballer Thierry Henry was depicted doing a naked streak.

Dundee-based publishers DC Thomson scrapped all 200,000 copies of the January 8 edition of the comic after the company's managers saw the Ball Boy story starring a French, shaven-headed character called Henry Thierry, who wore a red football shirt, just like the real Thierry Henry.

In the fictional cartoon strip the Henry Thierry character was shown being sent off in a match before running down the street semi-naked, but Beano bosses thought the story might cause offence.

The Beano's editor, Euan Kerr, said: "In the cold light of day we felt it might cause offence and we did not want to do that so we replaced it. We thought it was safer as we always try not to offend anyone. There were certainly similarities to Thierry Henry."

Mr Kerr added: "The 200,000 comics never went out of the offices and I think they have been pulped by now."

Editions of the Beano are printed about five weeks ahead of their Thursday sale date. Thomson printed an entirely new run using a Ball Boy page that had already been written and drawn for a future edition.

Re-printing the whole edition would have been an expensive operation, but possibly not as expensive as any court action that may have arisen if the footballer had taken offence at his image being used in this way.

He is a notoriously clean-living athlete who, as one of the world's best footballers, can command a small fortune for the use of his image rights.

Thierry Henry's agent refused to comment on the story today. As the offending issue of the comic never reached the newsagents shelves, the star striker would never have had a chance to see if he found it offensive, or maybe even funny.

He has starred in a series of humorous "Va Va Voom" adverts for Renault Clio - one of which required him to star alongside The Muppets' drummer Animal. And having an English wife has probably helped him have a deeper appreciation of the British sense of humour.



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