"New look" for the Beano

[Conor B]

The price may have gone up by 26p...but in my opinion it's all worth it!

Lew Stringer's new strip - Super School - starts and looks brilliant!!

Billy the Cat returns in a new adventure strip!!

The cover is beautifully drawn by Nigel Parkinson, with some great colouring too!!

The speech bubble font has changed to CLOUDSPLITTER, the same one that the Dandy Xtreme uses!!

And to top it all off...
32 PAGES OF GLOSSY PAPER!! Woo!

All that for just 26p more. What a bargain!

[Lew Stringer]

I'm pleased that you like it Conor, - and thanks for the e-mail heads up about my typo on my blog by the way. (I'd mistakenly added 2,000 issues to the Beano number saying it was No.5454 instead of 3454! Doh!)

I'm really enjoying drawing Super School (or "The Ultras" as it was in the "dummy" stage, and mentioned in The History of The Beano). The first episode is introductory as you saw, then it livens up as the weeks go on. Good scripts from Alan Digby. Gnasher guest stars for one story in a few weeks, and there's a brand new character planned to join the class next year. (Can't say anymore yet.)

The new paper certainly does the colours justice, although it's a bit flimsy. However the taped gifts can now be removed without tearing the covers, although the glue tends to take the print with it!

Thanks for giving the name of the lettering font. I don't know that one. (It's done in the office of course.) A big improvement on the previous font.

The font used for the cover blurbs looks to be Zoinks, a ComiCraft font designed by my editor on Elephantmen! (And a font I use on my Blimey! blog topline!)
http://www.comicrazy.com/comicraft/cata ... 7IudE1i6Q3

Lew

[Peter Gray]

I quite like the original colouring last week by Nigel it was different to a computer effect.he used pens in a great fun way.......so I prefer the pen and paint effect...
I still think the cover is too busy...too many words..a bit messy for me..

So the Utras are here.......or Super school....like the water one...and Animalad...nice to see more different type characters other than menacing ones...
Hope Billy the cat gets two pages every week..

the page amount has stayed the same...
nice glossy paper..
why didn't the Dandy go this route if it is cheaper to produce..this type of glossy paper..

[Lew Stringer]

nice glossy paper..
why didn't the Dandy go this route if it is cheaper to produce..this type of glossy paper..

The Dandy does use the same type of paper, as does BeanoMax, albeit with different stock for the covers.

Lew

[AndyB]

The Beano makes a lot more money than the Dandy - sales are between 3.5 and 4 times as good, and even Beano Max sells twice as many as the Dandy.

In perspective, the Dandy was frozen at £1.25 for a couple of years after it was relaunched, during which time it was cut from 44 pages to 36. I can't remember if it had a price rise before it went Xtreme - but the Beano has now in my opinion got as close to the original Dandy relaunch as it is ever likely to, and allowing for falling sales and increasing costs, probably costs less in real terms than the relaunched Dandy did after its page count was cut.

I would also suspect that shifting the Beano over has possibly resulted in economies of scale for the glossy paper with the increased order. I think this means that apart from DCT's newspapers, only Commando, Fun Size, and Classics now use newsprint.

As for the content - I'm pleased, very pleased. I think NP was ghosting Ken on Minnie

[Lew Stringer]

I'm tempted to start signing my posts "Lew S out of The Beano".... but I won't.

Lew

[Conor B]

In perspective, the Dandy was frozen at £1.25 for a couple of years after it was relaunched, during which time it was cut from 44 pages to 36.

Yeah, the Dandy went to £1.20 for 44 pages, cut to 36 in October 2005, then upped the price to £1.30 in April/May (?) 2006. It next went up when it turned Xtreeeme. (by 69p).

[Kashgar]

I'm tempted to start signing my posts "Lew S out of The Beano".... but I won't.

Lew

I'd go for it Lew. Then again, if you read the same sentence the other way it might be tempting fate! Great to see you as a Beano regular though. What with you, Laura and Nigel in there every week comicsuk is only a couple of defenders away from being able to field a Beano 2008 All-Stars 5-a-side team.

[steelclaw]

I bought the Beano this week first time for ages,
"Nice one Lew your new strip is looking good"
infact I was quite surprised seeing a lot of the old characters still in Beano.
I might even get a subscribtion.

[dandy mad]

I got the new look beano today the first one in about 18 years! Nice to see most of the characters what were in it when i was a nipper are still there ie dennis,minnie,the bash street kids ect the paper reminds me of the beano summer specials back in the 80s.

[Rory Milne]

The new look is fine but where has Ratz gone??? Come to think of it I haven't seen a Little Plum strip in Beanomax for ages either. Surely Hunt hasn't fallen out of favour with DC Thomson? His work for them to date has been nothing short of brilliant so I can't imagine that can be the case.

Anyone know of any reason why the Beano and Beanomax have been, well, Emerson-less of late?

[Digifiend]

I'm sure you'll have noticed Ratz was only absent for the one issue - it's absent again this week (along with no less than EIGHT other stories!). Did you see the Ozymandias poem in last week's issue. It was drawn by Hunt and featured the Bash Street Kids.

Also, does anyone know who draws Billy the Cat? And why has it been missing for the last two issues, when the last episode was part one of a new storyline?

[Rory Milne]

Yep, Ratz seems to be every fortnight rather than every week these days unfortunately. On the other hand I do enjoy Hunt's illustrated poems so I suppose I shouldn't complain.

Beanomax on the other hand...where's Hunt's Little Plum gone?!? Fnar! Fnar!

The childish ones are the best ones I say!!!

[Digifiend]

Speaking of which, the Little Plum story in The Beano Annual 2009 has "MAX 002" at the bottom of the page. Reprint from BeanoMAX?

[Rory Milne]

Yes, I wondered if the Beano Annual's Little Plum strip was a reprint too. I stopped buying Beanomax because I never knew if it would have Little Plum in it or not so I'm not sure.

It would incredibly handy if the Beano website told you what the contents of the current Beano and Beanomax were along with credits but of course it doesn't...