1998-2003 : A transition period for the Beano?

[Digifiend]

These say it all...

[Neo]

Where's your evidence that it wasn't? Are you suggesting that Ivy the Terrible was dropped from the Beano at exactly the same time as the departure of her creator, on whose daughter she was based, and the appointment of a new editor in his place, because she was bottom of the reader poll?

That's a lot of typing to say 'none'.

[dishes]

Also, Swirlything hasn't explained why the dropping of a comic strip was "ideologically" motivated. Were there hidden Marxist messages in Ivy the Terrible scripts?

EDIT: I'd just like to say this post was intended as good humoured silliness and in no way intended to escalate ill-feeling.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

well, there is a reference to Russkie legend Ivan the Terrible inherent in the name, so I don't see why not!

[Jonny Whizz]

Erm, how did the topic of the 1998-2003 period for the Beano turn into a topic asking for an explanation as to why Ivy was dropped? Especially as it's about the Beano from when Euan was still editor!

I think it's partly my fault for attempting to answer the question by explaining about how James was dropped, and whether this could explain why Ivy got dropped, but it annoys me seeing an interesting and in some ways quite nostalgic (for me anyway) thread turn into bickering.

[Digifiend]

Me too, hence my settee and coat comment above.

[Lew Stringer]

it annoys me seeing an interesting and in some ways quite nostalgic (for me anyway) thread turn into bickering.

Unfortunately that tends to happen when people jump in to make unsubstantiated claims on the internet. Better to challenge it head on than let it spread like Chinese whispers.

[Old Freddy]

On the topic of the 1998-2003 (or 2004) transition period, did anyone think the changes were for better or for worse?

I'm not sure what I think; one of my favourite ever eras for the Beano is the 1998/1999 season, at the very start of the transition period. It really made the Beano seem like a really fun, new and exciting comic, especially in comparison with Buster which was almost all (if not all) reprint and not everything was full colour (and some of the stuff that was looked like it was coloured in using microsoft paint!)

the changes that would've happened anyway- i.e. artists retiring/dying- couldn't have been avoided, but I never really liked Tom Paterson's minnie that much (despite the fact that it was the one I grew up with) or at least not as much as Jim Petrie's. Mind you, there was this ghost artist (was it Leslie Reavey?) that I wasn't too keen on. He seemed to be trying his damndest to ghost Tom Paterson, but I never really liked the fact that he seemed to want to make Minnie's parents midgets (They were the same size as Minnie) or the fact that he wasn't really displaying a dinstinctive style of his very own.

Some artist changes, I did quite like. Nigel Parkinson taking over the Dennis the Menace Strip, for example. His style really has a sense of fun that suited Dennis down to the ground. Though during this time, in my opinion, David Parkins' Dennis seemed to change slightly. No matter what I shall always prefer his Earlier style used on Dennis (1998-2000) rather than his later one, even though people may argue that David's earlier Dennis was perhaps not quite as menacing looking and was perhaps a bit 'Too cute', whereas his later dennis was possibly the most menacing looking depiction of Dennis since March 1993.

I've dissed Jimmy Hansen's Dennis in the past, but now it's sorta grown on me. I think the only really bad thing about his version of Dennis is the way he drew Bea. To be honest, most of the Dennis strips he drew were really good, but I still prefer Nigel Parkinson's Dennis.

Then of course there was The Numskulls being taken over by Barry Glennard. which was fine really, although Barry's not the most interesting artist I've ever seen. Barry Glennard's not the most lively of artists and I prefer Tom Paterson's Numskulls to Barry's, but there could've been a worse artist (Dave Eastbury did a couple during 2002/2003, and they weren't the best)

Is it just me, or in 2003 did the Beano switch to a much smoother type of paper- still gravure but much glossier? by having a read through some of my Beanos from around this time, it seems that might be the case, or it could be due to the aging or condition of earlier issues I have.

I still dislike the repositioning of the date and issue number. sometimes I just wish it would revert back, but it never will. It's going to stay in tiny letters near the barcode. I should just accept that; it's been like it for years. It's not the biggest problem but at the same time I wish it never happened for some reason.

[Jonny Whizz]

I agree about Buster as it neared its final issue. I have one from 1998, and you're right about the colour. Having said that, if you didn't know that the strips were nearly all reprints (in the issue I have, Buster and Crazy Maisie are brand new, but everything else is repint), the reprints wouldn't stand out so much, whereas reprints in the Beano in recent years tend to stick out like a sore thumb.

With regard to Tom's Minnie, I think it was very good at first (though not as good as Jim's, or the current Ken Harrison version) but by 2005 more strips were being ghosted than actually drawn by Tom. After the transition period, I hated it when her jumper turned red and yellow, and was glad when it reverted to her proper colours.

I've never had a problem with Jimmy Hansen's Dennis, and I think he's a good artist, but I personally prefer Nigel. When I was younger I used to really look forward to Nigel drawing Dennis, as his covers were brilliant.

[Lew Stringer]

I agree about Buster as it neared its final issue. I have one from 1998, and you're right about the colour. Having said that, if you didn't know that the strips were nearly all reprints (in the issue I have, Buster and Crazy Maisie are brand new, but everything else is repint), the reprints wouldn't stand out so much, whereas reprints in the Beano in recent years tend to stick out like a sore thumb.

Yes, that spot colour method of using basic Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow was never really convincing for an "All Colour" comic was it?

Sadly Buster was losing readers but the reprints doomed it as many people had read them before. Also, reprinting a style of strip that was going out of fashion didn't help. A major revamp for Buster in its 40th anniversary year was needed but Egmont felt that children's magazines and licensed properties were the way forward so axed the comic. A sad end for the last of the A.P./IPC/Fleetway/Egmont traditional comics. (The success of Sonic the Comic and Toxic would prove them right, but a revamped Buster or a new comic would have also been welcome.)

[Digifiend]

On that subject, The Dandy's latest revamp seems to have proven a success... so maybe it's time Egmont launched a similar comic - something they'd already have if Buster was still running. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery as they say, and Dandy Xtreme was an imitation of Toxic's format. It would be nice to see them get their own back! Would give the Beano more competition as well, of course.

[swirlythingy]

David Parkins' Dennis was an undoubted classic. Jim Petrie's Minnie I never really got on with; I don't like 'loose' styles myself (and I'm not very fond of David Law or Leo Baxendale's early work, either - I think Ken Reid was much better). One thing both had delivered, though, was consistency - which was sorely lacking for a number of years afterwards.

I liked Nigel Parkinson's and Jimmy Hansen's Dennises about equally - each had their quirks and foibles, but it more or less balanced out in the end. (One thing in particular I remembered about Hansen's later version leading up to the 2009 revamp was that there was nothing to distinguish the two legs of his shorts, so more often than not he looked as if he was wearing a skirt!) But I was still glad when Barrie Appleby took over - eight years of an increasingly manic game of pass-the-parcel over the Beano's most prominent and iconic character just wasn't good enough. Everyone else had one official artist, so why not Dennis?

As for Tom Paterson's tenure on Minnie... well, 'mixed' is the best way to describe it. I don't think I've ever seen him draw in so many different styles in all of his other stories put together. One style for the first few strips while he settled in, one style for the next couple of years, no style for about three years while an unlikely array of ghost artists filled in (some of which really were very unlikely, and surprisingly convincing, considering), one style for about two months (during which he appeared to be coming to terms with the cancellation of Calamity James and its style), and one style up until Ken Harrison replaced him (which brought us the infamous colour scheme change). That's not counting a few highly experimental strips, such as one around 2006 in a noticeably different style which he never used again, using a script recycled from a few years previously - it came across rather as if that one had been printed in the comic by accident! So, yes, consistency was the main benefit when Harrison took over Minnie, too.

The main thing I remember about Dave Eastbury's Numskulls was the "Edd's Brain is Missing!" story arc. Ah, yes, those were the days. At present we've got some guff about Minnie camping in the garden, and that's the first arc in months, if not years - and it reads (particularly in the first installment) as if it was meant to be a long story, but got chopped up into standard two-page segments at a late stage.

[Lew Stringer]

On that subject, The Dandy's latest revamp seems to have proven a success... so maybe it's time Egmont launched a similar comic - something they'd already have if Buster was still running. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery as they say, and Dandy Xtreme was an imitation of Toxic's format. It would be nice to see them get their own back! Would give the Beano more competition as well, of course.

As we've mentioned here several times in the past, it's very difficult getting a new non-licensed comic into the shops these days.

[Digifiend]

They managed it with Toxic, and DCT had to persuade many retailers who'd discontinued the Dandy to start stocking it again last year when they relaunched it. It's difficult but not impossible.

[swirlythingy]

They managed it with Toxic, and DCT had to persuade many retailers who'd discontinued the Dandy to start stocking it again last year when they relaunched it. It's difficult but not impossible.

And the Dandy is a testament to precisely how difficult it is - by all accounts, eight months on, it's still almost impossible to find.