The Beezer 1962

Formerly known as Classics from the Comics, this forum covers all of DCT's retired titles, like Beezer, Topper, Victor, Nutty and Sparky!

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Peter Gray
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The Beezer 1962

Post by Peter Gray »

I always felt let down by The Beezer comic from 1962...they shrank down comic pages to put in gag cartoons...A B C education reducing down Paradise Road by Ron Smith..which was awful..
losing the power of the large page...
Pop Dick and Harry...Banana Bunch..Ginger..Baby Crockett..Capt Hand..all shrank..

not a good move by the new editor..just my opinion..
I must like the early Beezer editor a lot has he was great on Sparky...did he do a good job on the girl comic he was moved to?

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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by ISPYSHHHGUY »

I assume you also mean the later Baxendale Banana Bunch page, near the end of the comic, where two strips run together at odd angles like a crossword---the vulture strip the Gobbles running at an odd angle on the left of the page, Peter?

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philcom55
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by philcom55 »

Looking at them now I tend to agree that the full page strips have a particular magnificence that makes them stand out from all other British comics Peter. However, I can also remember getting Beezer as a six-year-old in 1962 when it was almost as big as me, and I had to lay it flat on the carpet in order to read it - and at that time I really valued the feeling of 'value for money' I got from having several extra strips crammed into the margins, along with pages of jokes and puzzles. For the most part I only bought Topper or Beezer as a luxury item when I could afford a bit more than that week's Dandy or Beano so loved the 'Fairy Liquid factor' that meant every page had twice as much content and therefore lasted twice as long.

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suebutcher
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by suebutcher »

Strips like "Numskulls" and "Gobbles" pulled out into L shapes looked really awkward. Dividing the page horizontally is easier on the eye.
Last edited by suebutcher on 08 Aug 2015, 03:00, edited 1 time in total.

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Peter Gray
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by Peter Gray »

Nice to hear different opinions..
yes the vulture strip mixed with banana bunch..
all good strips But prefer the large page format..

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Peter Gray
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by Peter Gray »

Image
Image

from my blog quote

This is a very early Numskulls probably the second one?

Its interesting the page layout of an upside down L surrounding Dudley D Watkin's Ginger. In 1962 Beezer there was a lot of pages with more than one character strip to give even better value for money. The problem with this layout is it seems to restrict the artist..the Head closeup is always shown to the right. Its also hard to vary the size of the panel.

Its funny seeing the Numskulls actually causing harm to the man on purpose!
Malcolm Judge also drew The Bad Lads for The Beezer.
Billy Whizz and Ball Boy for The Beano from the beginning to 1989 when he died.

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Digifiend
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by Digifiend »

Two Brainys!?!

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Peter Gray
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by Peter Gray »

also two nosey numskulls..one for each nostral..

Image
they are both great strips...But they both suffer from lack of space...in my mind..
the banana bunch has only Fatty and not the gang..not enough space...

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suebutcher
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by suebutcher »

I like the way the cactus is the only green thing in the Banana Bunch, and the somewhat inaccurate "V For Victory" sign! But you're right, no room for hordes of truncheon-waving policemen.

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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by ISPYSHHHGUY »

The Bunch section above is more akin to most BEANO-style artwork seen today: that is, much less space for the artist to draw in, which encourages more use of economy. [less crowd scenes, etc]

The above type of page is a nice experiment but I probably prefer the full-scale Bunch pages meself.

DavidKW
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by DavidKW »

I agree it does look a bit messy and dizzy distracing with those page set ups.

Think they may have been trying too hard to cram too much in on limited space.

Many of the strips were much better when given just the full page in the 1970s - or in some cases giving half a top od page for one and bottom for another (such as Little Mo on top half, Dickie Bird on bottom. Or whatever).

Did find it frutrating sometimes thoguh when some weeks The NumSkulls strip got cut to half a page to feature half a page of adverts for another DCT publication - including likes of Blue Jeans or Warlord.

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suebutcher
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by suebutcher »

Here's a mess, Baxendale drawing with a Beezer level of detail for the Beano (Beano No. 953, 1960). The printing just isn't up to the job. Even if it had come out clearly, you'd still need a magnifying glass to see everything!
bashst953.jpg

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philcom55
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by philcom55 »

It's worth remembering that for a 5 or 6 year-old Dandy and Beano's pages looked much bigger than they now seem to an adult eye - though I agree the printing wasn't always up to that level of detail.

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stevezodiac
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by stevezodiac »

Don't want to start a thread but as this is a Beezer question this one will do.

This was in today's Daily Mail. I presume Rodney means Colonel Blink.

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Phoenix
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Re: The Beezer 1962

Post by Phoenix »

stevezodiac wrote:I presume Rodney means Colonel Blink
Both characters have a Wikipedia entry, Steve.

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