animals' hair including Pa's. This was drawn by Ken Harrison. They made another appearance in the Beano's 2008 Summer Special, again drawn by Chris McGhie. In the 2009 annual they were drawn by Hunt Emerson, appearing alongside another Western-themed Beano star, Little Plum. Their final new story in the weekly comic came in issue 3365 of the Beano, drawn by Tom Paterson. This was a new strip, not a reprint. The characters later reappeared 3 years later in issue 3541. Recent appearances In annuals, they have been drawn by Mike Pearse (2001, 2002, 2003), Chris McGhie (2004), Ken Harrison (2005, 2006, 2008), David Parkins (2007), Hunt Emerson (2009) and David Sutherland (2012). The Three Bears are often seen in the BeanoMAX and Beano annuals, although they hardly ever make appearances in the comic itself. They continued weekly in the comic, as reprints of the Mike Pearse strips until early 2011 when the strip stopped appearing. In the 2012 Beano Annual, their strip was drawn by David Sutherland. The Three Bears are featured in the 2015 Beano Annual. Parodies of the strip The strip was the subject of two parodies by the adult comic Viz. The first was a surreal parody entitled 'The Three Chairs', about a family of three chairs who lived in a cave and frequently robbed Frank's Store for food. The second was called 'Three Blairs' in which Pa represented the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Ma represented Cherie Blair (Tony Blair's wife), Ted represented Leo Blair (Tony Blair's youngest son), and Hank represented the then British Chancellor Gordon Brown. In this story the Three Blairs plan to rob "Hank's" store so that "Pa" won't faint in the House of Commons due to hunger. To distract "Hank" while "Ma" and "Ted" rob the store "Pa" stages a press conference outside "Hank's" store and states that all the conditions have been met for Britain to start using the Euro. "Hank" promptly states this is untrue and chases after "Pa" while shooting at him. Though this plan works "Ma" and "Ted" have eaten all the food by the time "Pa" has returned home. In the last panel the newspaper reads that the Prime Minister has fainted in the House of Commons. Coincidentally this strip was drawn by Brian Walker, a former Beano artist, albeit never on The Three Bears. 'The Three Shakespeares' also appeared in Viz in February/March 1999.