This Week In 2003... The Dandy! (Updated)
The early years of this century are rarely covered on this blog, or other comics blogs for that matter! A few years ago I managed to pick up an unbroken run of about 3 years of Dandy comics from 2002 - 2004. On the cover of this issue from 23rd August 2003, Desperate Dan beats the indians at hide 'n' seek, by shaking them out of a tree.
Inside, Tom Paterson does an incredible job with Bananaman, who accidentally defeats Doctor Gloom and General Blight whilst admiring himself in the mirror!
There's still some good old classic characters in there too, such as this Cuddles and Dimples strip, who originally began in Hoot in the 1980's.
Karl Dixon's Ollie Fliptrick was a very popular strip with readers, and this two page strip is a perfect example why!
Despite having a story on the front cover, Desperate Dan also had another full page strip inside, and this one is about the fun fair!
The best strip in the comic hass to be Dandy Days in Beanotown, where the Dandy characters are having an ongoing mission to defeat the Beano characters! If you look closely, you can see Corporal Clott in there too!
Blinky is a strip I've always enjoyed, all about the worlds most short-sighted (and long-sighted) kid!
Korky the Cat is an intresting strip, our friendly feline seems to have made friends with a blue alien from outer-space!
Another classic strip is Puss 'n' Boots, a classic cat vs dog strip, which debuted in Sparky.
Pinky's Crackpot Circus, drawn by Blinky (and now Billy Whizz) artist Nick Brennan. The title pretty much explains this strip - its a circus owned by Pinky who always face strange problems, and come up with wacky solutions!
As well as drawing Ollie Fliptrick, Karl Dixon also drew the classic Beryl the Peril, originally created by David 'Davy' Law for Topper.
I really like this Owen Goal strip by Nigel Parkinson. It has lots of hidden detail, such as the "Don't Lose Your Head" motto on the statue!
There are quite a lot of adverts in this comic (seven in total), but the most intresting one is this comic strip and puzzle for Kellogs Coco Pops!
7 comments:
It was more a well drawn comic then...though nothing wrong with the style it is today..
I wish steve Bright drew more than one page today..also miss Ken H and Tom Paterson..
I think you should review the other pages in this issue..it is really interesting comparing today with almost 10 years ago...its like a different comic!!!
I loved the Dandy back then. A brilliant range of stories, incredible artwork and actually quite experimental. If The Dandy has to revert back, my this be the style of it.
Personally I find this era one of the best, if not the best, part of the comics life!
I'll add some more pages soon - and it really is like a completely different comic, and it was less than 10 years ago!
I've mentioned it at comicsuk forum your post..it is a tricky topic has I like todays artists as well...don't want to tread on anyones toes..
I liked both incarnations. Even 2004-2007 was quite good with its longer stories which I found pretty cool.
Too bad we had the Xtreme era though.
Thanks for the link Peter! I've replied on the forum :)
The Extreme ruined the Dandy forever - it lost the fans of comics, who were replaced with fans of articles. Then when it went back to the comic form (that it should be), it lost all the article fans and never found the comic fans again.
Nice seeing the overall comic now..
Post a Comment