Will The Dandy ever return?

Discuss or comment on anything relating to Britain's longest running comic. The home of Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan. Has been running since 1937.

Moderator: AndyB

User avatar
Hard Truths
Posts: 31
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 23:57

Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Hard Truths »

I heard about the sad news that the Digital Dandy ended, despite me never reading it. Anyway, you don't reckon it'll ever come back in a new form sometime, will you?

If it does, it'll almost certainly resort to advertising TV shows on the cover again, imo.

big bad bri
Posts: 1761
Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 15:50

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by big bad bri »

I Hope it Does return as Eagle did in the 80s after folding a few years earlier but alas i dont think it will return in this day & age as kids only like plastic tat covered mags,we will only have the annual to look forward to evry august but who knows for how much longer that will last.

Lew Stringer
Posts: 7041
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
Contact:

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Lew Stringer »

big bad bri wrote:Kids only like plastic tat covered mags
Might be worth pointing out that The Beano had only a handful of free gift issues throughout the whole of 2013, so it can be done. :)
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

User avatar
Hard Truths
Posts: 31
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 23:57

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Hard Truths »

BUMP. This is a topic that interests me, and I want sensible replies, with strictly no arguing.

User avatar
Dunder Ed
Posts: 227
Joined: 24 Jun 2012, 14:38
Location: Exeter, Devon

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Dunder Ed »

I think if it returned too soon people would consider the last issue as a publicity stunt knowing that they were going to bring it back in the first place. I would love to see it back as the last few issues I read were brilliant, and when it did fold I personally wanted it all to be a publicity stunt but now we realise it wasn't.

User avatar
SID
Posts: 1744
Joined: 02 Oct 2008, 22:53
Location: Mancave.
Contact:

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by SID »

Yep. Looks like the digital Dandy has gone the way of Strip (if that will ever come back).

Sad but as we have said already, we have the annual and the occasional specials that pops up from time to time.
Reading comics since 1970. My Current Regulars are: 2000 AD (1977-), Judge Dredd Megazine (1990-), Spaceship Away (2003-), Commando (2013-), Monster Fun (2022-), Deadpool and Wolverine (2023-), Quantum (2023-).

User avatar
Muffy
Posts: 343
Joined: 24 Jun 2007, 17:14

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Muffy »

I bought the Dandy Summer Special 2014 for the oldest nephew. Previously he was an occasional Dandy reader in 2012.

He just turned 11 and starting secondary in September. The thing that disappointed him was that so much of the material was reprinted. He found old-school 'Winker Watson' stories very dated. I imagine that it was aimed at the occasional reader at £4.99.

Did anyone else read this new special and either enjoyed it or thought that more new material would have made it that much more special?

Lew Stringer
Posts: 7041
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
Contact:

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Lew Stringer »

Muffy wrote:I bought the Dandy Summer Special 2014 for the oldest nephew. Previously he was an occasional Dandy reader in 2012.

He just turned 11 and starting secondary in September. The thing that disappointed him was that so much of the material was reprinted. He found old-school 'Winker Watson' stories very dated. I imagine that it was aimed at the occasional reader at £4.99.

Did anyone else read this new special and either enjoyed it or thought that more new material would have made it that much more special?

That special is all reprint, Muffy, apart from the front and back covers. Given more time I hear they'd have put more new material in it but not this year.

Sorry to hear he didn't take to the classic Eric Roberts 'Winker Watson' strips. I loved seeing old strips when I was 11 (as I imagine many collectors would) but it just goes to show that we're not the typical readers. It's a good counterpoint against the notion that if comics were like they used to be decades ago today's kids would lap them up.

Personally I thought the special had a fair balance of reprints from various decades. Did he like the more relatively modern pages such as Puss 'n' Boots, Blinky, and Korky and the Kits?
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

Raven
Posts: 2829
Joined: 16 Aug 2007, 22:58
Location: Highboro'

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Raven »

Muffy wrote: The thing that disappointed him was that so much of the material was reprinted. He found old-school 'Winker Watson' stories very dated
Lew Stringer wrote: It's a good counterpoint against the notion that if comics were like they used to be decades ago today's kids would lap them up.

Though the Eric Roberts-era Winker Watson seemed old-fashioned even decades ago!

Lew Stringer
Posts: 7041
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
Contact:

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Lew Stringer »

Raven wrote:
Muffy wrote: The thing that disappointed him was that so much of the material was reprinted. He found old-school 'Winker Watson' stories very dated
Lew Stringer wrote: It's a good counterpoint against the notion that if comics were like they used to be decades ago today's kids would lap them up.

Though the Eric Roberts-era Winker Watson seemed old-fashioned even decades ago!
It was still very popular in the sixties and seventies though, perhaps because we still had things like Will Hay films on TV. Also, I always assumed that WW was an accurate representation of boarding schools, - toffs in piped blazers, teachers in gowns, tuck hampers and all. :lol:
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

Raven
Posts: 2829
Joined: 16 Aug 2007, 22:58
Location: Highboro'

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Raven »

Lew Stringer wrote: It was still very popular in the sixties and seventies though, perhaps because we still had things like Will Hay films on TV. Also, I always assumed that WW was an accurate representation of boarding schools, - toffs in piped blazers, teachers in gowns, tuck hampers and all. :lol:

Crafty wangles in the dorm. All like the Frank Richards Greyfriars stuff from much earlier that century (which the Greytowers name obviously references).

Winker Watson's style seemed archaic to me back in the 1970s - though positively futuristic compared to Black Bob!

Good job Winker wasn't influenced by the end of If...

Lew Stringer
Posts: 7041
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
Contact:

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Lew Stringer »

Raven wrote:
Lew Stringer wrote: It was still very popular in the sixties and seventies though, perhaps because we still had things like Will Hay films on TV. Also, I always assumed that WW was an accurate representation of boarding schools, - toffs in piped blazers, teachers in gowns, tuck hampers and all. :lol:

Crafty wangles in the dorm. All like the Frank Richards Greyfriars stuff from much earlier that century (which the Greytowers name obviously references).

Winker Watson's style seemed archaic to me back in the 1970s - though positively futuristic compared to Black Bob!

Good job Winker wasn't influenced by the end of If...

I always liked Eric Roberts' artwork so that sold it for me. As for Black Bob, I found its old fashioned look very appealing. I really liked the 'dated' look to The Dandy, and even by 1980 most strips still looked like they were set in 1959. There was something cosy and escapist about it, but I appreciate that most readers would have preferred something more modern.
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

Raven
Posts: 2829
Joined: 16 Aug 2007, 22:58
Location: Highboro'

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Raven »

I liked/like Eric Roberts's artwork, too, though much preferred Dirty Dick. It was also the format of Winker Watson that seemed especially dated, like Brassneck, with the unnecessary text-heavy captions, pointlessly describing what you could see in the actual picture: 'Winker and company stared as a large crate was humped through the dormitory and into Boodle's room', etc.
Lew Stringer wrote:I really liked the 'dated' look to The Dandy, and even by 1980 most strips still looked like they were set in 1959.
Yes, the present day Dandy kid characters usually looked and dressed like they were from anywhere between the 1930s and 1950s. Black Bob seemed 1940s-ish or earlier!

User avatar
Muffy
Posts: 343
Joined: 24 Jun 2007, 17:14

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Muffy »

Thanks Lew and Raven.
I think some boarding schools like Harrow are still like Winker’s school. Harrow still has the straw hats! And apparently the pupils are told NOT to use public transport so as to mix with comprehensive school children! :shock:

He did enjoy Bananaman and Desperate Dan and I don’t think he thought they were reprints.
Any idea if next years will have more original material?

He’ll be 12 next Summer and all of the younger 2012 readers will be that much older.

Lew Stringer
Posts: 7041
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
Contact:

Re: Will The Dandy ever return?

Post by Lew Stringer »

Muffy wrote:Thanks Lew and Raven.
I think some boarding schools like Harrow are still like Winker’s school. Harrow still has the straw hats! And apparently the pupils are told NOT to use public transport so as to mix with comprehensive school children! :shock:

He did enjoy Bananaman and Desperate Dan and I don’t think he thought they were reprints.
Any idea if next years will have more original material?

He’ll be 12 next Summer and all of the younger 2012 readers will be that much older.

I don't know what next year's special will contain (if there is one). Work won't begin on it for a long time yet. Freelancers will be the last ones to know, after the other decisions have been made (costings, page count, etc). This year's Beano special has new material though so personally I hope The Dandy one will too. (The Dandy Annual is out now, with all-new material.)

Raven, oddly enough I never minded the captions on the artwork. Even when The Dandy was the only humour comic still doing them. They did sometimes provide valuable information that wasn't in the pictures. The old 1930s AP comics were worse culprits for having text that stated the obvious I think.
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

Post Reply