This week's issue - Take 4

[big bad bri]

GOOD to see Jonah back this week even if it is only a puzzle page,i want more of him in new stories.Also the beano could do with losing a lot of the unnecessary pages like the contents,bash st diary & the numerous ad pages,more stories,even classic reprints.

[Digifiend]

Contents isn't unnecessary in my book, especially as it includes artist and writer credits!

I agree about Jonah... and I'm pretty sure the Digital Dandy has some unused material, considering the file names from issues 12 and 13.

[Lew Stringer]

GOOD to see Jonah back this week even if it is only a puzzle page,i want more of him in new stories.Also the beano could do with losing a lot of the unnecessary pages like the contents,bash st diary & the numerous ad pages,more stories,even classic reprints.

When The Beano had reprints, people here complained. Now you're suggesting they drop an originated page (Diary of a Bash Street Kid) for a reprint?

There's more new content in the comic than there was a few years ago, and people still aren't satisfied.

[big bad bri]

Contents isn't unnecessary in my book, especially as it includes artist and writer credits!

I agree about Jonah... and I'm pretty sure the Digital Dandy has some unused material, considering the file names from issues 12 and 13.

You know i never even noticed the artist & writer credits that page can stay then.

[Digifiend]

GOOD to see Jonah back this week even if it is only a puzzle page,i want more of him in new stories.Also the beano could do with losing a lot of the unnecessary pages like the contents,bash st diary & the numerous ad pages,more stories,even classic reprints.

When The Beano had reprints, people here complained. Now you're suggesting they drop an originated page (Diary of a Bash Street Kid) for a reprint?

There's more new content in the comic than there was a few years ago, and people still aren't satisfied.

lol, well I for one would like to see reprints... in a separate comic, not the Beano. I still miss Classics from the Comics.

[johnfreeman96]

Had a look at this week's issue in WHS, put it back on the shelf. Any comic that insults my intelligence by wasting space with a contents page is asking for my contempt, to be frank. I remember feeling the same way when The Dandy did the same thing back around 2004 and my opinion hasn't changed. Too many pages these days just seem like 'filler' material to me.

Does seem a bit odd to have a contents page in a title like The Beano, TBH... We always had an update/content page in Overkill at MUK but found most people simply skipped it and waded straight into the the strips. I do think they're useful for new readers, though.

[big bad bri]

GOOD to see Jonah back this week even if it is only a puzzle page,i want more of him in new stories.Also the beano could do with losing a lot of the unnecessary pages like the contents,bash st diary & the numerous ad pages,more stories,even classic reprints.

When The Beano had reprints, people here complained. Now you're suggesting they drop an originated page (Diary of a Bash Street Kid) for a reprint?

There's more new content in the comic than there was a few years ago, and people still aren't satisfied.

I skip past diary pages ads etc i would rather read classic 50s- 70s reprints yes people will complain if reprints are no more than 10 years old or less.

[Lew Stringer]

GOOD to see Jonah back this week even if it is only a puzzle page,i want more of him in new stories.Also the beano could do with losing a lot of the unnecessary pages like the contents,bash st diary & the numerous ad pages,more stories,even classic reprints.

When The Beano had reprints, people here complained. Now you're suggesting they drop an originated page (Diary of a Bash Street Kid) for a reprint?

There's more new content in the comic than there was a few years ago, and people still aren't satisfied.

I skip past diary pages ads etc i would rather read classic 50s- 70s reprints yes people will complain if reprints are no more than 10 years old or less.

Ads bring in revenue. And if that many children wanted to read 50s - 70s reprints then Classics from the Comics would still be around.

Also, remember The Beano ran a series of classic reprints a few years ago. Presumably they didn't sit too well with the kids or they'd have continued.

There's already too little comics work around without it being cut back for reprint.

[Phoenix]

And if that many children wanted to read 50s - 70s reprints then Classics from the Comics would still be around. Also, remember The Beano ran a series of classic reprints a few years ago. Presumably they didn't sit too well with the kids or they'd have continued. There's already too little comics work around without it being cut back for reprint.

There is very little here to argue about. Thomsons will always have the dilemma of deciding which of their potential retrospective collections will sell enough to make it worth their while doing it in the first place, and one must sympathise because there are no absolute guarantees for them whatever they choose. All they really need to do is read the comments of our comics-committed members on this forum for them to realise how difficult it is to satisfy anybody, let alone enough people to enable them to make their profit. For what it is worth, my view is that their retrospectives should not be aimed at children because they would merely be curious for say the first couple of issues of any Classics From The Comics replacement, before returning to their weekly issue of The Beano. Thomsons should instead direct their attention towards the nostalgic adults. But then what? The Digis of this world would settle for something along the lines of Classics From The Comics, people of my generation would prefer compilations of text stories, people thinking like Kashgar and Colcool007 would very likely be looking at picture strip compilations from The Victor, Scoop, The Hornet and the like, and then, of course, there will be ladies like helsbels, peace and Tammyfan etcetera for the company to consider as well. Any single compilation comic attempting to satisfy such disparate groups would fail like a no-hoper carrying fifteen stone trying to negotiate the first fence in the Grand National. I'd be able to hear the crunching bones and fence poles while enjoying a glass of lager and reading an issue of The Rover in a deckchair in my back garden.

But what can Thomsons do? I'm a soft touch because I've bought such a lot of their productions, and will no doubt continue to do so. But I also believe that most of the books I have bought have been of that nostalgic type that I referred to earlier, the Dandy and Beano compilations that seemed to emerge annually, and the Oor Wullie and the Broons volumes likewise, not forgetting Phil Shrimpton's book of Classic Christmas Comic Covers of The Dandy and The Beano from 1937 to 1969, that he published last year. And don't let us forget either the immense amount of love and sweat that went into those coffee-table histories of The Beano and then The Dandy that they have provided for us during the last few years. Ultimately, I think we should simply accept whatever they choose to chance their arm with, buy it, and be grateful that they are still searching for that elusive nostalgia item that will satisfy everybody without their cutting back as a consequence on any new humorous artwork either for The Beano or their other publications.

[BeanoMaster]

GOOD to see Jonah back this week even if it is only a puzzle page,i want more of him in new stories.Also the beano could do with losing a lot of the unnecessary pages like the contents,bash st diary & the numerous ad pages,more stories,even classic reprints.

When The Beano had reprints, people here complained. Now you're suggesting they drop an originated page (Diary of a Bash Street Kid) for a reprint?

There's more new content in the comic than there was a few years ago, and people still aren't satisfied.

I skip past diary pages ads etc i would rather read classic 50s- 70s reprints yes people will complain if reprints are no more than 10 years old or less.

I really like The Diary Pages from The Bash Street Kids

[philcom55]

Anybody else notice that Appleman's giant new robot body is the spitting image of Robot Archie...?

- Phil R.

[big bad bri]

I opened up the contents page welcome to Beanotown to see a classic Bananaman intro & had really hoped he was gonna be drawn or ghosted in his classic image but got to the story & it is still the same cartoonish/childish style,What a letdown
Mini-Rant over

[Peter Gray]

Liked the silliness of the Dennis the Menace story as a viking nice nods to sci-fi...reminded me of torchwood a bit and Steve Bell's comic strip on what happens when they grow up.....also nice gag with the waterpistol...won't say any more than that...But its a gem..

now to read more..

[Peter Gray]

Lovley cover of the Beano stars this week..
lots of sunbathing theme...
The Roger the Dodger page is nice...(of course like Jamie's version as well)
Biffo was very funny!!!;0))

The Beano is great!

[Nigel Auchterlounie]

This week marks the end of a series of connected Dennis stories...
A long time ago Dennis met a ghost in the library that mentioned
The duck pond island
The clock tower
Under Bash Street School


-The duck pond was covered in the Dennis magazine
-the clock tower was mentioned in the halloween "zombie" strip
-in the tunnels under Bash St school it's pointed out that Minnie the minx could be related to vikings. (monthly mag)
-In the caveman Dennis at the museum strip we find out that behind the scenes they melt people out of ice
-In the Double Dennis strip Dennis tells Dennis about the clock tower
-in the viking strip Dennis is melted out of the ice and we see that the minx really was descended from vikings. (And that Dennis named Beanotown)
-And this week the last clock tower strip