I finally received a copy of The Last Ever Dandy Summer Special today, and thoroughly enjoyed it. As I've said before, I'm not sure about the "Last Ever" part of the title, I can't help but think that D.C Thomson have simply put that there for media attention, to try and get what happened with the last weekly Dandy to happen again. It doesn't seem to have worked - I've seen very little news about this comic, and absolutely none outside comic fan sites, which is a shame.
However, despite the lack of attention and advertising it is a good buy. For a reasonable £4.99 you get a lot of classic strips from various summer specials of the past - from the 60's right up to 2007 (I'm not sure of any pages are included from the Dandy Xtreme special from 2008). So no matter what era of the Dandy you grew up with there's something in here to please everyone, whether it's Dudley Watkins' Desperate Dan or Karl Dixon's Ollie Fliptrick!
One thing I would like to see in the comic is a history of the Dandy summer special, or information about artists or characters - something like that dotted throughout the comic. Apart from a short word from all the Dandy editors since 1982, and a quick note saying that 2013 marks 50 years since the first special there isn't any information. Not that I should be complaining, as it does mean that there's more space for more comic strips.
In conclusion - this comic is a recommended buy! There are some fantastic comic strips in there by some legendary artists, as well as some less remembered strips - all packed into a smashing 68 pages. It comes with a price tag of just £4.99, and is available from all good bookstores and newsagents, as well as D.C Thomson's online store.
5 comments:
Desperate Dan eating an elephant pie was quite something...;0)
I agree lets hope its not the last..
also more info would of been better like The Beano special..
Let down slightly by some of the more recent content at the back of the mag. 'Though it serves to show how well-drawn the 'classic' strips are.
@Peter - Yes! Poor elephant! It would be great to see another one next year, or maybe something similar under a different name. A HOLIDAY special maybe...
@KId - I disagree Kid. It's good stuff and without it it wouldn't be showing something from every era of the Dandy Summer Special.
It would have been nice if they'd included small cover scans of every Dandy Summer Special but it's a good collection all the same.
I'm not saying that they shouldn't have published anything from that era, only that it should've been better examples. However, at least it demonstrates why the weekly was cancelled.
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