Little Plum

Discuss or comment on anything relating to D.C.Thomson's second longest running comic. The home of Dennis the Menace. Has been running since 1938.

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Raven
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Re: Little Plum

Post by Raven »

philcom55 wrote:As I understand it comic sales as a whole were in decline on both sides of the Atlantic from the early 1960s, but Marvel Comics went on to become the single most successful publisher when they finally overtook DC in the early 1970s.
Yes, I think they surpassed DC's market share shortly after Kirby left, but did it largely by flooding the racks with more and more (and cheaper) titles, crowding DC out somewhat. About forty titles a month with lots of reprint comics and the new black and white magazines coming out, as well as new colour comics. They also did a deal with newsstand owners, offering them a bigger profit cut, so they got better rack space. I think sales were fairly weak, though, with Marvel's circulation steadily dropping.

How about The Beano, though? Did it become more successful than ever after 1962?

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Re: Little Plum

Post by Raven »

colcool007 wrote:You only have to listen to the 2000AD podcast when John Wagner talks about his start in D C Thomson and you know it was a fairly rigid working environment. When he describes how conservative (small c) the company was then you are surprised at how much innovation the company created in the comics world. Go to the 12 minutes mark of Part One of the John Wagner interview and listen to him talk about how the working environment was quite constrained.
This sounds interesting but, unfortunately, lots of the D. C. Thomson bit seems fairly unintelligible, due to the clamorous cacophony. Seems an odd decision to conduct an interview somewhere so shriekingly noisy, rather than an environment where the interviewee could be clearly heard.

Raven
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Re: Little Plum

Post by Raven »

alanultron5 wrote:When Iain Chisholm saw what Leo did, he told him he should have informed him first- but Crammonds reaction was pretty inflexible in my opinion! We forget from today's viewpoint that most staff at DCT had to do as told-or else! It was rare for someone (Who I term more `understanding`) such as `Chiz` to work there!

Maybe i'm judging DCT too harshly, but to me it really comes across rather `Harsh` environment in some ways!

I remember reading - in Leo's autobiography, I'm pretty sure - how, when the call came from above, editors could suddenly be pulled off one title and put onto another, without any consultation or much notice, just presented to you as a fait accompli.

So you may have been, say, building up The Topper for three years, and be feeling very close to it, but suddenly be shifted to editing a new nursery or girls' title almost overnight, however you felt about that. That seemed quite harsh to me, and a way of creating an uneasy, potentially paranoid atmosphere, and seems to reflect Leo having his favourite strip Little Plum suddenly taken from him with no consultation.

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colcool007
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Re: Little Plum

Post by colcool007 »

Raven wrote:
colcool007 wrote:You only have to listen to the 2000AD podcast when John Wagner talks about his start in D C Thomson and you know it was a fairly rigid working environment. When he describes how conservative (small c) the company was then you are surprised at how much innovation the company created in the comics world. Go to the 12 minutes mark of Part One of the John Wagner interview and listen to him talk about how the working environment was quite constrained.
This sounds interesting but, unfortunately, lots of the D. C. Thomson bit seems fairly unintelligible, due to the clamorous cacophony. Seems an odd decision to conduct an interview somewhere so shriekingly noisy, rather than an environment where the interviewee could be clearly heard.
I understand what you are saying but if you are quaffing (like drinking but you spill more) a jar or three, then it is unlikely that you are going to get a noise free zone.

For myself, after years of dealing with strange accents that I am supposed to accept as natural, listening to John Wagner was a doddle.
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!

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