Seattle ? “Peanuts” turned to gold for Fantagraphics. Now the once-struggling comics publisher hopes another cartoon icon, “Dennis the Menace,” can follow in Charlie Brown’s footsteps.

Fantagraphics will publish the first book in a 25-volume series, “Hank Ketcham’s Complete Dennis the Menace,” in early September. The series will run 11 years and reprint every “Dennis the Menace” newspaper strip drawn by Ketcham – nearly 11,000 strips spanning more than 44 years.

The 624-page first volume will reprint the first two years (1951-53) of the cartoon life of the mischievous lad who bedevils his parents and neighbors. The company also will republish Ketcham’s autobiography as a companion to the first volume. The cartoonist was born in Seattle and died in 2001 at age 81.

“Dennis is everybody’s kid,” said Ketcham’s widow, Rolande. “He’s a lovable guy who gets into trouble but in a nice way.” She had never heard of Fantagraphics until she saw its “Peanuts” anthology and its proposal to reprint “Dennis.”

“They did a lovely job on ‘Peanuts,’ and we are quite flattered that they are doing ‘Dennis,’ too,” she said.

Fantagraphics was on the verge of going broke just two years ago. Four best-selling “Peanuts” reprint editions and a boom in the graphic novel industry helped turn around the struggling Seattle company.

“For a small independent publishing company to get a license for the biggest cartoon character in the world was surprising,” said Eric Reynolds, a special projects editor at Fantagraphics. “It’s been the biggest thing we’ve ever done.”

Charlie Brown and his pals have an enduring and almost universal appeal.

“He has hope, but knows there is always the possibility of failure,” said M. Thomas Inge, a humanities professor at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va. who has curated exhibits on comics art for the Smithsonian Institute. “He’s a loser, but he’s always trying to get ahead.”

“Dennis the Menace,” on the other hand, persists in being the troublesome child but also has a universality. “Dennis explores new environments, he challenges parental authority. We can all relate to him because almost every family has a child like this.”

Marcus Hamilton, who took over the strip after Ketcham retired in 1994, said that the first volume of reprints might surprise longtime fans who view Dennis as a mischievous, but harmless little kid. “The strip was a little more risque when it first started,” he said. For example, in one panel, Dennis tied a swan’s neck in a knot.