Comics UK

Just noticed this morning that my local branch of The Works has loads of copies of 'The Beano Story' for sale. Unfortunately, at £16.99 it's still more expensive than the Amazon price; then again, it is a very big pile so I think I can afford to wait for it to come down a bit more before I finally buy one...

- Phil Rushton

I nearly bought it for £9.99 in one of those cheap book shops in London,they had a small pile of them.

£16.99? That is a bit expensive, considering The Works is supposed to be a discount bookstore. You're not talking about The History of The Beano: The Story So Far, which I already have, are you? If not, it's news to me.

I think mines cost about 12 quid from Amazon, Phil, which I feel was a price worth paying.

Digifiend wrote:You're not talking about The History of The Beano: The Story So Far, which I already have, are you?

That's the one. The only reason I didn't get it when it came out was because I'm mostly interested in the late 1950s to early 1960s, which only feature in two chapters. It does look impressive though so if I see a copy for under a tenner I'll definitely buy it.

- Phil R.

Digifiend wrote:£16.99? That is a bit expensive, considering The Works is supposed to be a discount bookstore.

It is discounted, from £25.

Sounds like a good price to me.

Lew Stringer wrote:It is discounted, from £25. Sounds like a good price to me.

I agree. The book is a very impressive item and I bought it full price shortly after it was published, despite the fact that my period of interest in The Beano is really only the late forties into the early fifties, a period not unlike Phil's interest in the late fifties/early sixties. I felt it was worth the money because it would allow me to see my period of interest within the overall history of the comic. Two things surprise me, the first being that Phil hasn't got it already, the second being his assumption that such a heavy, colourful and extremely informative tome would at some point be offered by any discount outlet at less than a tenner. Naturally steelclaw's £9.99 is a tenner in all but name. I'd be more worried about it selling out while I was waiting.

This was the one £9.99 they had about 5 of them stacked on top of each other.

Lew Stringer wrote:

Digifiend wrote:£16.99? That is a bit expensive, considering The Works is supposed to be a discount bookstore.

It is discounted, from £25.

Sounds like a good price to me.

I was able to get it cheaper than that not long after it came out.

It's doubtful if a DANDY version of this fine tome will ever see print: I would have loved to have seen TOPPER and BEEZER versions as well.....sadly, there's maybe just not the audience for this, and these volumes exist only in my dreams.

ISPYSHHHGUY.

With staff from D. C. Thomson reading this forum, I wouldn't be surprised if something similar for "The Dandy" come out down the track.

Here's hoping, blaing! I wonder if sales of the BEANO version were worthwhile doing more along these lines?

blaing wrote:ISPYSHHHGUY.

With staff from D. C. Thomson reading this forum, I wouldn't be surprised if something similar for "The Dandy" come out down the track.

I very much doubt it considering that most collectors here didn't buy the Beano one, or are waiting for it to be heavily discounted.

There's a healthy collectors market in the USA and archive volumes and historical books are appearing all the time but on the whole UK fans seem to be reluctant to support similar books on British comics.

It's a curious dichotomy. Americans will willingly pay $60 per book for archives of Marvel superhero comics on the day of publication (http://www.marvelmasterworks.com/home.html) but British fans procrastinate over books costing more than ten quid.

Obviously if people can't afford it then no one's criticizing them but there does seem to be a big difference in attitudes between American and British collectors on such books and it always comes down to cost. If the market isn't there to support it, the publishers aren't going to risk it.

If I want a book badly enough Lew, I will pay full price for it...I have spent 35 quid on one book on occassion. But it has to be something unique and high quality.

blaing wrote:ISPYSHHHGUY.

With staff from D. C. Thomson reading this forum, I wouldn't be surprised if something similar for "The Dandy" come out down the track.

Wasn't there plans to do this before the Beano one even came out? After all, Dandy's anniversary was first... but ended up ignored by the comic itself thanks to the Xtreme relaunch a few months prior.