Talk here about just about anything associated with British comics or story papers and the industry that does not fit in any other forum.
There are separate fora open to registered members for discussing specific comics, artists, websites etc.
Sheldon wrote:I'd rather they didn't merge. Honestly honestly honestly wish the pair of them would move into webcomics. Just seems that that avenue hasn't been fully exploited yet.
I don't know too much about them but how would webcomics benefit the artists / writers financially? I don't see many comic creators making a living out of web strips so far. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)
A handful of webcomics - like PVP and MegaTokyo - have proved profitable for their creators (the PVP guys have even written a book on how to make money from webcomics!) However, a lot of that income has been from the things being reprinted and sold in paper form (ironically). Most webcomic creators I know of push merchandise, such as t-shirts, very hard to try and bring in at least a little income. Ad revenue from page hits is virtually a dead loss.
LauraH wrote:A handful of webcomics - like PVP and MegaTokyo - have proved profitable for their creators (the PVP guys have even written a book on how to make money from webcomics!)
Highly recommend that book. 'How to Make Webcomics' by Brad Guigar, Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub and Dave Kellett.
Innocent_Bystander wrote:"i checked back, it was that sheldon guy, thx for the help... WHO THE **** IS SHELDON GOODMAN!!!
kevf wrote:There is a Beano theme park, at Chessington World of Adventures (well, there was a couple of years ago). Beanoworld it's called, not that I've been.
Hmm, nobody ever corrected you. It's Beanoland, not Beanoworld.
Has anyone changed their opinion on a Beano/Dandy merger in the last 9 months? It seems despite Thomson's efforts, Dandy Xtreme still isn't selling as well as it's rivals like Toxic.
Digifiend wrote:Has anyone changed their opinion on a Beano/Dandy merger in the last 9 months? It seems despite Thomson's efforts, Dandy Xtreme still isn't selling as well as it's rivals like Toxic.
I, for one, would hate to see that merger happen. I only need to go back one generation to be pre-Dandy or Beano, but I would need to go back two generations to be pre-DCT (that includes Bluebird, Wizard et al) considering that DCT set up shop in 1905 and I feel that DCT is part of my heritage and history. So to see a merger of the last two long standing humour comics would be certainly make financial sense to DCT, it would be a sad day for me to see it happen. In short, my opinion hasn't changed.
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!
It will be a sad day when the Dandy ceases. DCT need to arrest Xtreme's decline quickly, or the inevitable will happen. I expect most people here won't want that. I'd be surprised if anyone actually wanted the merger to happen, but I wouldn't be surprised if anyone is starting to think it'll happen sooner rather than later. I certainly fear the day that I read on a website or on Ceefax the headline "Dandy comic to close". As you say, Beano and Dandy are the last old style humour comics left, and Dandy's only half of one since Xtreme was added to the title (to little avail to judge by rumoured low sales (it was mentioned on Wikipedia at one point) and the amount left in shops at the end of every fortnight).
What is it about The Dandy that provokes such pessimism? Last I heard sales were low, but stable and it's not even as if it's the lowest selling comic in the UK.
The doom and gloom merchants have been forecasting the end of The Dandy on this forum for years. One day they will be right simply due to the fact that EVERY comic or magazine closes eventually. Thousands of titles have folded over the past 100 years, so it's a fairly easy prediction to make. But that doesn't necessarily mean that day is imminent.
Frankly, the Dandy disappearing would be a terrible day for comics. Granted, not as big as some real world issues, but still very sad. I'm not convinced that the Beano and Dandy merging would work either - we'd lose the 'banter' and rivalry between the two comics, and I think they've always benefitted from having their own separate identities.
I can't see Dandy being finished for some time yet though. I feel things are looking up for it at the moment, and that many kids (the target audience remember) enjoy, or will enjoy, reading it. I think it would be better though if there were more strips and less 'Xtreme' features.
Still - as it said in the song 'Village Green Preservation Society' - God Save Desperate Dan!
'Michael Owen isn't the tallest of players, but his height more than makes up for it' - Mark Lawrenson
THe Kinks were a brilliant band , total English cool- the reference to Dan is at the start of the song (you will probably recognise the tune if you heard it Digi' , I think there was an advert parodying the song on tv recently.)
"We are the Village Green Preservation Society.
God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety.
We are the Desperate Dan Apreciation Society.
God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties...................."
the village green preservation society was covered for the BBC programme 'Jam and Jerusalem' by angel voiced folk songstress Kate Rusby. like Many Kinks songs, it is very British. A little off topic i know, but google the lyrics and they will make you laugh.
kevf wrote:We could run a book on when it'll happen. Beano & Dandy - isn't that how we already refer to them?
I could see a bright future for the Beano (and Dandy and all old DC Thomson characters) in a mix of online publishing, books and spin-offs. But it would need someone in DC Thomson who cared and was able to do something about it.
Sadly, in my experience, the people who care are regularly denied the opportunity to do something about it by the people with the power to do something about it, who don't care.
DC Thomson's intellectual properties could be as big as Marvel's or Asterix or any of the rest. They are a wasted opportunity in their current mess of repetitive old fashioned formats and reprints.
This year's Bash Street Kids annual (new Mike Pearse story and 4 good quality Mike Pearse reprints) is very promising. If it could be built on, and such books repackaged as proper books rather than annuals (ie they'd stay on the shelves all year round, and the line could be built on and added to) then that would be the beginning of a new and successful publishing direction for DCT's properties.
A daily or weekly online serial would be a good hook for new viewers, and could attract advertising and promotion on Bebo or other kid friendly sites.
Even the DFC's subscription model could be far better exploited by DCT than by the DFC. If every kid who's currently a Beano club member could become addicted to a weekly special comic....
Hell, let them get on with it themselves. They're not stupid. *
*Not all of them.
I agree with a lot of what you say. I am not a big buyer of humour comics although I did love them in my younger days (hence me chekcing in with this site every week or so) I collect novels and graphic novels though and I believe that people like me are a huge untapped market when it comes to reprint material. For instance since my sone was born three years ago I have hoovered up all the missing Beano & Dandy et al annuals I can find from my last one given to me as a present in 1980 to to the present (my Mrs is convinced he will not want to read them mind you). I would happily support a 200+ page hardcover series that reprinted classic material from the 60's and 70's comics. Just two or three books a year mind you but if they were available in bookshelves or via Amazon I am sure they would be a nice revenue stream for the publishers.
presterjohn wrote:For instance since my son was born three years ago I have hoovered up all the missing Beano & Dandy et al annuals I can find from my last one given to me as a present in 1980 to to the present (my Mrs is convinced he will not want to read them mind you).
Buy your son The Beano (once he's old enough to understand the speech captions) and he'll be hooked. Quite a few of the strips in the modern Beano are the same ones from 20-30 years ago (i.e. the earliest annuals you mention). Dennis, Minnie, Bash Street, Roger, Ball Boy, Billy Whizz. I reckon you'll prove your wife wrong. I started collecting Beano after reading a few of my older brother's hand-me-downs. I would suspect that's how a lot of kids get started these days, since they don't seem to buy their own comics nowadays.
Never heard of that song, who sung it?
