Comics UK

Hi all,

Does anyone know about 'Personal Presentation' copes of the Dandy's 60th Birthday issue? I've recently purchased this as a curio addition to my collecting but have never seen one before.

From the description inside, I can only assume they sent out copies for companies to try and gain advertising revenue. Does anyone else have one? Does anyone know anything more about it or how many they might have sent out?

There is a description inside -

Desperate Dan and the Dandy may be 60 years old but Dandy readers are still as young as ever! Every week 451,000 (Youth TGI 1997) young fans throughout the country eagerly await their copy.

For 60 years, The Dandy has proved to be an ever popular high spot in the week for many of the young (and the not so young!) members of the family. Even in competition with the video culture of today, there is a place for traditional humour and entertainment.

So many of us have grown up with The Dandy that today, it has something of a cult status. Stake your place in one British tradition that is still proving popular today. If your target audience is in the 7-15 year old bracket, give our advertisement representatives a call.


The back of my copy says "Dandy Represented by Madison Bell Ltd, 3 St Peter's Street, Islington Green, London, N1 8JD" and then a phone number and a fax number.

Pictures below;

7-15? Isn't that a bit high? Most 15 year olds don't read comics - or if they do, it would be more likely to be superheroes. I know I was very much in the minority at that age, and I was 15 in 1999 (I was two months shy of 14 when this issue came out).

Also, that 451,000 readership figure is depressing, when you consider just how low it was when it was axed (which was less than 7000), because it shows just how far they fell. I wonder what Beano's sales were at the same time, compared to now?

Digifiend wrote:7-15? Isn't that a bit high? Most 15 year olds don't read comics - or if they do, it would be more likely to be superheroes. I know I was very much in the minority at that age, and I was 15 in 1999 (I was two months shy of 14 when this issue came out).

Also, that 451,000 readership figure is depressing, when you consider just how low it was when it was axed (which was less than 7000), because it shows just how far they fell. I wonder what Beano's sales were at the same time, compared to now?

I imagine that figure is an estimate by Youth TGI based on their surveys. I don't think any comic was selling half a million copies in the late 1990s.

Re the readership figure of 451,00: note that they carefully say "readership", not "sales". It wouldn't surprise me if they assumed that each copy sold was read by several people (siblings, friends, even parents), and inflated sales accordingly.

Re the readership figure of 451,00: note that they carefully say "readership", not "sales". It wouldn't surprise me if they assumed that each copy sold was read by several people (siblings, friends, even parents), and inflated sales accordingly.

I thought that seemed very high! A marketing trick then to get advertising sales? Even when I was in primary school, my school mates thought I was odd reading the Dandy as nearly all of them read the Beano.

Still, only from nostalgia perspective, my most memorable Dandy comics are the ones from the early the mid 1990s. I loved the build up story of Desperate Dan leaving the Dandy and culminating in the 60th Birthday issue.

When that issue fell through my letter box it really did feel like a huge treat, I had never seen some of the golden age artwork before!