Changes Afoot?

[Spencer]

It's not on there anymore but 2 weeks back on the 'Letters' section of the Dandy website someone had asked a question along the lines of:

"I would really like to see characters on the front cover" and the answer was

"Watch this space" ...

Are we due a re-launch / new-look Dandy soon?

I am concerned with the recent sales that the Xtreme relaunch hasn't worked too well, am hoping this means maybe reverting to more of a comic again, which, if they are planning to put characters on the cover again, could be the case?

There have been more and more comic pages of late... 19 in the latest issue.. although many reprints.

Any DCT bods have any information they can disclose along these lines?

Fingers crossed

[Digifiend]

Many reprints? Same thing happened prior to the 2004 relaunch, so that's another symptom.

[Digifiend]

Agree about the website, all they did in 2007 was replace the logo, the website is the same version that launched with the comic's 2004 relaunch. Make dandy.com more like beanotown.com.

Reader loyalty? Again, do the same as the Beano's doing. They're replacing their club with an incentive based website, which may be pay or may be free.

I disagree about frequency. Maybe with the fact it's only fortnightly, kids don't know when it's out? So revert to weekly.

Definitely put Dandy characters back on the cover. Even if a licensed property hijacks Beano's cover, their own characters still show up too. That's how it should be on The Dandy.

The Tootuff strip ran to coincide with a French cartoon that was on GMTV's Toonattik at the time. I doubt that'll come back. Bogies is licensed, so they aren't avoiding using licensed material.

I agree about features pages. The Beano doesn't use a lot of them, but when they do, they involve the cast. Dandy can learn from them.

Free gifts? That's something Beano, Dandy, and BeanoMax all need to improve on, to be honest. I've had a couple of those cheap plastic toys break before I've even removed them from the comic recently (i.e. between buying them and getting them home).

[felneymike]

- Move to an A5 format and give The Dandy a spine (I believe that Shout, DC Thomson's teen girl mag moved to this format, so it's possible). I think The Dandy needs something that will make it stand out from everything else on the shelves. At the moment it's not doing that. Obviously, it would need to be bagged to make the overall package larger (not covering the logo please).

Given the state of the comic shelves, i think making it A5 sized would just make it even more invisible!

Of course the "wait and see" doesn't nessescarily mean they are going to actually do a big relaunch, they might just be going to put characters on the cover!

[Digifiend]

If they do that it's still a pretty major marketing change.

[MikeC]

The annuals are made early, so any reason for Xtreme being dropped from the ad is not going to be due to a recent decision. Probably more to do with not presenting a confused brand message to an audience more familiar with the traditional Dandy.

Also, judging by other titles out there, I'd suggest more gifts and less comics would be the way it heads. That seems to be the general path.

[MikeC]

The annuals are made early, so any reason for Xtreme being dropped from the ad is not going to be due to a recent decision. Probably more to do with not presenting a confused brand message to an audience more familiar with the traditional Dandy.

Also, judging by other titles out there, I'd suggest more gifts and less comics would be the way it heads. That seems to be the general path.

[stevezodiac]

Perhaps they'll revert to a previous title logo say from the late seventis - appeal to the nostalgia market - after all there have been a lot of these reprint compilation books out lately and maybe they have been a minor success. If the sales of Dandy Extreme have reached rock bottom perhaps Thomson's figure "why knock ourselves out, we can shift just as many copies by making it a cheaper standard comic" (with a lot of reprints) and put it out for £1.25. Is it possible for them to re-present strips previously in one colour as new full colour strips? I'm thinking of Eric Roberts' Winker Watson which, for one series I think, ran in full colour and looked great. Or would it be too expensive?

[BeanoKev70]

I stopped buying The Dandy Xtreme last year as it just wasn't the same, first time since the 70's it has not been in my house. If they reverted back to a more tradintional format with well know Dandy characters (Like the Beano) then it would be back on the Thomas table. I've said before Thomson's need to be bold and make it a bit crazy/near the mark forget the PC brigade & really go for it. This could be the last chance saloon for one of Britain's icons....come Thomson's show some balls...let the phoenix rise from the ashes.......

[Digifiend]

Perhaps they'll revert to a previous title logo say from the late seventis - appeal to the nostalgia market - after all there have been a lot of these reprint compilation books out lately and maybe they have been a minor success. If the sales of Dandy Extreme have reached rock bottom perhaps Thomson's figure "why knock ourselves out, we can shift just as many copies by making it a cheaper standard comic" (with a lot of reprints) and put it out for £1.25. Is it possible for them to re-present strips previously in one colour as new full colour strips? I'm thinking of Eric Roberts' Winker Watson which, for one series I think, ran in full colour and looked great. Or would it be too expensive?

£1.35, if you're thinking of the same price and page count as the Beano. Recolouring black and white or black white and red strips would be cheaper than commissioning new ones. What you describe sounds similar to what late 1990s Buster was.

[Digifiend]

Well one thing seems to be confirmed...
http://nigelparkinsoncartoons.blogspot. ... ecial.html

Readers of The Dandy and it's 2007-10 incarnation Dandy Xtreme will have seen Cuddles and Dimples, a strip about two dangerously unpleasant children which was inherited by me in 2004 from it's original cartoonist Barry Appleby.

..............

This charming little story hasn't yet been published and isn't likely to be. But as a parting gift, enjoy the maxing and relaxing chores of this particular Yummy Mummy one last time!

So C&D have hit the end of the road then? And I notice it says 2007-10 instead of 2007-present.

[Peter Gray]

Maybe Nigel will be drawing some new characters for The Dandy...

[Lew Stringer]

Recolouring black and white or black white and red strips would be cheaper than commissioning new ones. What you describe sounds similar to what late 1990s Buster was.

And look how that turned out.

[Lew Stringer]

I stopped buying The Dandy Xtreme last year as it just wasn't the same, first time since the 70's it has not been in my house. If they reverted back to a more tradintional format with well know Dandy characters (Like the Beano) then it would be back on the Thomas table. I've said before Thomson's need to be bold and make it a bit crazy/near the mark forget the PC brigade & really go for it. This could be the last chance saloon for one of Britain's icons....come Thomson's show some balls...let the phoenix rise from the ashes.......

To be fair to Xtreme, toilet humour and Jak & Todd's pranks against their teacher are hardly politically correct.

[Little Squelchy Thing]

I don't know about changes, but I do know that I'm going to be contributing...

http://www.andyfanton.com/2010/08/always-keep-a-dandy-handy/

Gulp!