Comics UK

Al,as much as everybody here seems to venerate the Beano and The Dandy,it's starting to get a little tiresome!I for one do not like these publications,even as a child.This is not a slur on the writers or artists many of whom post here.I can even undersatand the fanaticism behind it as many fans can get to talk to the actual artists and writers and some cases even the editors.This is all very well for an extant comic and perhaps rightly so.But I feel as if the other comics merit very little in the minds of most forum members.Which brings me to my main point.Why not create a new forum for fans of Beano and Dandy,where they can talk about the issues,writers,artists et al to their hearts content.Maybe divide the whole Comics UK fora into Extant and Extinct Comics!Then the rest of us can get on with piecing together the comics past by hunting down and discussing writers/artists/strips etc of all the other publications?A lot of which were a hell of a lot better anyway!......Unleash the hounds of hell.....

But there are forums for the Beano and the Dandy!

I seem to recall a similar shout a while back, bemoaning the Dandy and Beano monopolising this forum, though I can't recall who started that one, but at the time I said nothing. This time the itch needs scratching.

A quick look at the first page of the main discussion board shows that out of the top 50 threads in this forum, 5 are dedicated to issues exclusively related to the Beano and Dandy (including this one), whilst a further 8 are discussions that encompass both comics, but are not exclusively about them. Leaving 37 threads which have nothing whatsoever to do with either the Beano or Dandy. If I recall correctly, it was a similar ratio the last time this was mooted.

Admittedly, I haven't sifted through every word of every post, so there may be the odd mention of either, such is the way conversation meanders, but certainly the main thrust and theme of those 37 was totally unrelated to DCT's big two. That doesn't look much to me like "everybody here" 'venerating' those particular comics.

I can't quite figure out whether you're proposing this apartheid Beano/Dandy sideshow as an elite area or a leper colony, but may I suggest, as one who is not a collector as such, and whose narrow field of interest is somewhat confined to UK humour comics of the last 40 years (though not exclusively), that anyone who finds any threads particularly tiresome or tedious do as I do - don't read 'em.

Ain't it great to be human?!

I was thinking last night that since the new forum started on this site it has done away with the multiple Dandy/Beano posts, and the old 'someone is posting as me' posts.
This forum is now one of the few I visit, I say leave it as it is, working well so far.
I would like to see more topics on 2000ad and IPC comics in general, but I suppose thats up to me to start the topics if I want to talk about them!

Would a review section on this site work? Something like the excellent 2000ad review site.
If I had read one of the titan collections, or Beano annual or Trigan Empire collection, that there would be a section to put a small review of, and then comment on the forum.

David

I think one of the main reasons there's so much Beano/Dandy is that there is something new to talk about every week. I'm far more into 'action' comics than humour myself but there's little new to say on the subject most weeks unfortunately.

Chris

Steve Bright wrote:I seem to recall a similar shout a while back, bemoaning the Dandy and Beano monopolising this forum, though I can't recall who started that one, but at the time I said nothing. This time the itch needs scratching.

It may have been me I'm afraid Steve, but what I was suggesting was that a wider appreciation of other current comics might be in order because I'm tired of the "British comics are dead" myth. (If comics are dead who's been paying our wages for the last 20 plus years?) I'll reiterate again that Wallace & Gromit Comic (for one example) is a brilliant comic, and even "traditional" in a way but no one seems interested.

I thought we were here to appreciate UK comics in general. I mention next weekend's Comic Show... and there's zero response. A British comic convention in the heart of the country and no one seems intererested. I'm wondering if this is a forum for comics old and new or just a nostalgist's potter down memory lane.

Lew

Lew Stringer wrote:
I mention next weekend's Comic Show... and there's zero response. A British comic convention in the heart of the country and no one seems intererested.
Lew

Perhaps you should've kept quiet about the Beano/Dandy artists that will be there, Lew . I'm looking forward to it meself!

Lew Stringer wrote: It may have been me I'm afraid Steve, but what I was suggesting was that a wider appreciation of other current comics might be in order because I'm tired of the "British comics are dead" myth. (If comics are dead who's been paying our wages for the last 20 plus years?) I'll reiterate again that Wallace & Gromit Comic (for one example) is a brilliant comic, and even "traditional" in a way but no one seems interested.
Lew

Nope - it wasn't your thread, Lew. Had a quick scroll back through time and found it. You certainly contributed, and I completely agree with your thoughts then and now, even though as I've stated, I'm no expert, collector or fan(atic) of any one comic or genre.

This forum talks about it all, and let's be thankful for that instead of trying to isolate people into various pigeon holes. As has been pointed out, the pigeon holes are available for those who wish to use them, but as soon as you start issuing any kind of restrictions on the main board about what MAY not be of general inerest, then you're on the slippery slope.

I love these forums.

Lew Stringer wrote:
I mention next weekend's Comic Show... and there's zero response. A British comic convention in the heart of the country and no one seems intererested.
Lew

Personally, I didn't post about the show as it was and still is very unlikely that I will be in the UK for any shows for the next few years.

Back on-topic, I like the fact that these bulletin boards has cut down immensely on the trolls and it is now very difficult to hi-jack someone else's identity. And if people want to chat about Beano and Dandy then fill your "Puss 'n'" boots!

In response to Lew.

I am only 40 miles from Birmingham so I should have gone.

When it was announced earlier in the year, I thought I would go.

I used to go to 'fairs' in the 90's but stopped going as it's easier to find the few missing issues I still want on ebay and online stores.

I have never been to a convention and in the end decided to stay at home for this one. Why was that?

I would not be looking for back issues.
I don't want any creator signatures
I only have a minor interest in talking to creators.

So I would probably have been going to talk about comics, collecting and comics history in the bar and I?m not a comfortable chatting with strangers and to pick up a few indies that I can?t get at the newsagents.

Now there is probably a lot more going on at these things that I don?t realise so sell to me why I (interested in 19th century comics, 80?s UK comic nostalgia) and interested in the art and publishers history would enjoy a convention.

Earl
(Should probably have gone)

Earl
(Should probably have gone)

Don't worry, you can still go after all. It's next weekend! And you don't have to talk to any creators, you can just stare at them. That's what I do.

Gary Northfield wrote:

Earl
(Should probably have gone)

Don't worry, you can still go after all. It's next weekend! And you don't have to talk to any creators, you can just stare at them. That's what I do.

Me too. First one to blink gets the drinks in, Gary. See you next week!

Sadly it's looking like I won't make Birmingham at all. I have a caricaturing gig slap bang in the middle of Saturday, which will take me into the evening and is slightly out in the wilds. Which, since I'm currently temporarily obliged to travel by public transport and lots of taxis, means that I can't just nip up to Brum in a couple of hours as I would have done normally.

So Sunday's the earliest I could set out, and with the journey looking like taking 4 hours each way, and having missed the fun of Friday and Saturday nights in the bar, looks like I'll be missing it again.

It's starting to look like I've got something against comics events, having missed Dez's Brighton affair last year too, but such are the perils of freelance work.

Missing you all already.

Kev F

Gary Northfield wrote:

Earl
(Should probably have gone)

Don't worry, you can still go after all. It's next weekend! And you don't have to talk to any creators, you can just stare at them. That's what I do.

Really

ha!, ha!, ha!

Well I would have felt a bigger pratt if I had turned up yesterday then.

Feeling the pressure to go now