Ever since the revamp of The Dandy back in October last year many nasty comments from bored and mindless critics all over the world have been popping up on this thing we call the internet. I'm not here to rewrite what Desapeate Dan artist Jamie Smart wrote here - http://www.fumboo.com/blog/an-open-letter-to-the-internet/comment-page-1/#comment-5826 and here: http://www.fumboo.com/blog/criticisms/, or what Lew Stringer, artist of Postman Prat, wrote here: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2011/09/days-of-thrills-and-laughter.html, but it'll probably end up as pretty much the same message. As we all know the Dandy sales have dropped dramatically since last year, but personally (and I know I'm not alone here)I'm fed up of hearing: "...The Dandy will fold..." or "..It will merge with The Beano..." etc. because there is currently no evidence towards this and before that happens D.C. Thomson will probably do their best to save the much loved title anyway.
Another revamp perhaps?
But what they did was a very brave and bold move - removing all the free gifts, having 100% comic strips and making it come out weekly! Surely they deserve something for that? Oh, and Desperate Dan did NOT start being drawn by Jamie Smart at the revamp as many state - it happened four years ago! If readers hadn't liked it I doubt Thomson would have kept good ol' Jamie for that long! No, comics aren't like they were back in the 1960's, but these days they have to make themselves heard above the charm of iPods and video game explosions! Just walk into your local Tesco's today and if your lucky you'll probably find The Beano or The Dandy hidden somewhere behind a hoard of girls and baby comics. Visibility is another problem! It is often very hard to find comics in shops with crammed shelves (I've read that many WHSmith stores rarely have The Dandy and Beano). There was a useless author in a recent Sunday Times who made up facts and stole artists comments from their websites. Surely newspapers should be helping to support Britain's comics - not making up nasty comments. I'm going to stop moaning now, it wont help anything!
So, on a lighter note...
Over on The Dandy facebook page some artists and fans have been posting "Save The Dandy!" posters. I thought they were quite nice, so I've downloaded them to share with you here!
Steve Beckett
Steve Beckett
Wayne Thompson
Conan McPhee
Andy Fanton
Stu Munro
Wayne Thompson
Karl Dixon
Keep it up guys! I'm loving these an I hope you post many more!
So, help the Dandy (and the Beano) by buying a copy (or two) every Wednesday, reccommending to your friends and family and sharing your copies around to get others intrigued! Cheers!
The latest Dandy is out now, with a free set of "snapping teeth"!And 44 pages... but snapping teeth! Unlike previous bumper issues this one has a 4 page Bananaman stroy (and it's even continued into next week), drawn by Wayne Thomson. Also, this issue has 4 brilliant new stories, Britian's not got talent, Knock-Knock, The space dogz and Bone-o!
And for the first time in a while a step by step drawing guide in the Dandy, see below.
George Vs. Dragon is back! Hooray! Replacing Boo after his 8 week run, George comes back from the Himalayas, with a beard! Once again, he hopes to slay that ice-cream eating dragon (see this issue)! Fanton's Grampire only appears once, however.
Finally, as readers of this blog would know, I would not like this strip:
Until box three, that is!