Fireworks in a 2011 comic!

Here is, as far as I'm aware, the first review posted online about the latest Dandy! Woop! So, before we get started, I'd just like to apologise to all those who were expecting me to write a post on the halloween Beano. Unfortunatly for me, my subscription has run out, so may not be recieving any issues for several weeks!

I'm going to start off with Nigel's Harry Hill. Both Jack (Captain Jack from Dr. Who and Torchwood) and Catherine Tate are sitting on top of lit fireworks! This is incredible! I'd never have thought this would have been allowed to be printed in a 21st Century Comic! So a big "Razzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!" to all the critics who will without a doubt moan and groan long and hard about this giving children bad ideas (a Daily Mail article parhaps?).

On the left (below) is the artwork and colouring from this weeks issue, on on the right the one from Nigel Parkinson's blog here: http://nigelparkinsoncartoons.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween.html

zdoen't the one on the right just look so much better than the printed one? I reckon it should have been used, but then both of the Harry Hill pages would have to have this background - maybe it would be a bit distracting?

And there is even more fireworks related stuff! Postman Prat uses them in replacement of his engine, Si Fawke doesn't try to blow up parliment, your very own cut out fireworks display by Nigel Auchterlounie, Korky the Cat's ancestor captures a very cunning fox and, and, well actually, that's it! (But hey, 7 pages of fireworks fun isn't that bad is it?!)

Well, that pretty much sums up all of this week's firework action! So go on out to buy The Dandy for just £1.50 - or get a subscription and it gets delieverd straight to your front door!

EEEK! It's The Dandy!

Boo! It's that time of year again! The latest issue of The Dandy is out now and it's spooktacular! (Amazingly, it comes with no 'free gift', I'd have thought that last week's ones would have come with this issue?) So we kick-start this fightingly funny comic with a title page with Boo! Yes - that's right! He's back, but, unfortunatly, it's only for the one issue. BUT (yes, theres a but!) Andy Fanton does give him a two-page spread AND theres a small cameo of a certain squirrel in his strip... (And Grampire - can you spot him?)

So, what else are you likely to find lying within the petrifying pages? Well, you may spot Bob the skull's missing eyeball, 13 dragons, some evil marshmallows and discover just what is down at the centre of the Earth!

Postman Prat makes a special delivery to Doctor Dork at Crackpot Castle! Just what is it inside that blood-curdling box of his? In the the second box (shown below) I thought that Prat would be saying: "Gulp! On Halloween night? But there could be ghosts, goblins and... and Darth Voldemort!"

Nigel Parkinson delivers some of his best Harry Hill art to date, In this weeks adventure entitled Harry Chill's terrifyingly funny real life adventures in TV land! Just look at that brilliant title box! Beautiful! I was kind of hoping that the whole comic would have art and colours similar to that...

Best Dandy ever? Maybe...

All that and much, much more only in this spine-tingling special issue! Only a scary £1.50, in shops nationwide!

We now await the halloween Beano.

44 page bumpers!

This week both The Dandy and The Beano were 44 page specials. I am going to start with the Beano. Now, if I was to spend about three quaters of the post moaning and groaning about Fred's foul facts and the extra Bash Street kids pages that somehow make it a pull-out - then this blog would be continously repeating on itself. After all, I wrote about all that in my previous two Beano posts. Seeing that I hated it when there were two pages, I am not, repeat: NOT, going to stand this. As well as the 2 useless pages we already had, they've put in 4 extra pages with made up drawings and reports. But I'll forgive them as they put in a 10 page Bash Street Kids story!Moving on, I thought that the Dennis the Menace artwork was good this week (especially the box scanned below), as was the brightly coloured Numskulls! It's one of my favorite stories yet! Also, we saw Minnie the Minx's mum in this strip, which, as far as I can remember, is for the first time! (Can anyone correct me on this one? I'm sure The Beano Review are going to love her!And finally, "DEN DO"... what do you think it is? I'm guessing something along the lines of Beano Manga, who knows?Ok, now moving onto this weeks Dandy. Now I knew instantly that the so called "suprise gift" is an old, unused gift from the old Dandy Xtreme comics. How do I know? Well, I got a Xtreme-erang! Which was basically a green, plastic boomerang with a small sticker on it. It will forever remain sellotaped to the cover of the comic. (This weeks Beano gift was MUCH better - a Dennis and Gnaher mini bowling alley!) The other gift was some "Bogies stickers", excellent artwork as I'm sure you'll all agree.This weeks madvertisement (drawn by Nigel Auchterlounie) was the classic "open eyes specs"! You know the one - where there is a picture of some glasses with eyes in them so that you can sleep in class but look like your still awake! Amazing!Another of Nigel Parkinsons "Where's Harry?" puzzle is in this weeks issue. Tell you what, I'll let you in on a little secret. Here's where you'll find Harry: !%&!#$"{}+_--(_)*! The Harry Hill story this week was also quite funny, but I'm not quite sure how it got from an Elephant in Harry's bed to a runaway teleision. Just another myster in The Dandy! You will also spot Dave the Squirrel in George Vs. Dragon - make sure you like his facebook page! I also liked this weeks Sea Dogs, who were been chased by Cut-throat Cat! ARRRRR!!!!!Both The Beano and The Dandy were great this week, so make that you go and pick up a copy!

This Dandy has 51 gifts! (Updated)

This weeks Dandy, #3531, has 51 free gifts, if you count every single sticker as a free gift. The other gift is a mystery, I got a water pistol (Hurrah!), was that the mystery free gift, or are there others?Harry Hill's story this week is all about apples, cramming as many apple jokes as you can into one story! How many did you count (we spotted 6)! Amazing artwork by Nigel Parkinson!After Bone-o was launched last week, a lot of people are wondering who drew it. Well, this weeks story was signed, revealing that it is drawn by:I was really looking forewards to this weeks Arena of Awesome story, after all, it had so much advertising. But, after all that, it was a let down! In my opinion. So, I decided to spoil it for you and show you part of the last box! Well, here it is!And for this week only, 3 New 'shorts' were inside! Springwatch and Mad March hare by Andy Fanton, and The Eggheads by Nigel Auchterlounie!
Farmula one ends this week to be replaced by, I'm not sure, possibly Thor? As usual, another fantastic Justin Beaver - I couldn't spot Korky this time Stu, but is that Odd ball from Whizzer and Chips and Brassneck in box 8? And Dave the squirrel makes another appearence in George vs Dargon! Oh, and yes, that was me who sent that photo to the mailbag!

(UPDATE)

Well, it's now been confirmed! There were many different free gifts, including a Marvo the wonder chicken gun and a Xtreme Splatapult. Also, a hidden detail I didn't notice - Brassneck is also hiding somewhere in one of Andy Fanton's comic strips.

Harry gets wet!

A few blogs back I was saying how the "Little Celebrity" stories had finished. Well, they're back! #3525 features Little Lewis Hamilton, as usual drawn by Nigel Parkinson. In next weeks issue it's little Chris Evans! Click here to read Nigel Parkinson's blog on Celebs in comics.

Beat the , erm, Wednesday morning blues... BUY A DANDY*!! Issue 3525 - £1.50, out now.

*Or two.

Comic Celebrities!

Dan Leno's comic journal (issue one dated Febuary 26, 1898), Film Fun and Radio Fun were the first comics to start featuring celebrity stories, but most people will remember them from Buster comic. Celebrities started appearing in Buster way back in the early 60's. It started with Whacko (who came to Buster with Radio Fun), quite a popular character who survived most of the 60's, finishing in 1968. Jimmy Edwards was Whacko, a nasty school master (with the moustache for it too)! He always had trouble from the kids, led by Claude and Cuthbert. Unfortunatly for them, they nearly always lost in the end! Originally drawn by James Malcom, but Reg Parlett took over in 1966. From Buster 6th January 1962.

Charlie Drake was another popular character, starting in Buster in 1961 (he was also lauched in Radio Fun) and ended in 1965. Artwork by Arthur Martin. This one is from Buster issue dated 24th March 1962.Bruce Forsyth wasn't a very popular character, he was launched in September 1962, and finished in August 1963. Heres one from 10th November 1962. Artwork by Roy Wilson.There were also other celebrities such as Benny Hill (1966- 1968) and Harry Secombe (1967 - 1968), but they were all gone by the 1970's.

It looked as though celebrities in comics had died, until the Dandy changed it's style late last year, with issue 3508! I'm not sure if they got the idea of including Harry Hill off Buster, but it did have a similar style to it. But then again, don't all comic strips?

Harry Hill, the popular T.V comedian, is drawn by Nigel Parkinson, and must be popular with Dandy readers, as he has survived six months in (and mostly on) The Dandy. But Harry wasn't the only celebrity to appear in the Dandy. There were one off stories (again drawn by Nigel) featuring 'Little' celebrities. Or, put into Other words, celebrities when they were kids. Unfortunatly, it no longer appears in the Dandy, but it's always good to read them over and over!

But really, comic characters are celebrities on their own aren't they? I mean, who hasn't heard of Desperate Dan?