The Christmas Beano

[Lew Stringer]

This coming Wednesday (10th Dec) sees the publication of the bumper Christmas issue of The Beano, for those of you who collect them.

Christmas issues of Toxic and Viz are already on sale. The current Dandy Xtreme also has some Christmas theme to its strips but no festive cover.

Lew

[David]

How many pages is The Christmas Beano? What price is it?
How many reprints, and how old are they?
I will be getting it anyway, just nice to know (I don't mind old reprints I haven't read).

[AndyB]

£2.50, and 48 pages. Content as yet unknown.

[NP]

Content not completely unknown; there is a huge 16 page story about the Bash Street kids saving Christmas that is so new, the ink is barely dry!

[David]

£2.50, and 48 pages. Content as yet unknown.

Thanks. I was hoping it would have double the pages in, but never mind. I'll still buy it.

Content not completely unknown; there is a huge 16 page story about the Bash Street kids saving Christmas that is so new, the ink is barely dry!

I like The Bash Street Kids, but it would be good if they did an extra long Beano all stars story.

[Lew Stringer]

Content not completely unknown; there is a huge 16 page story about the Bash Street kids saving Christmas that is so new, the ink is barely dry!

Nice work Nigel, and kudos also to Laura and Hunt for the Christmas Ratz!

The girl in our papershop said "You get a lot for your money don't you? I'll stick one of these in the stocking for me babby".

Lew

[stevezodiac]

I picked it up this morning but was disappointed to see there were no free sausages as advertised among the four free gifts. I can only presume that the recent health scare over Irish pork forced them to remove that particular item. I checked the copies in Tesco tonight just to make sure and none of them had the sossies either. Anyone get the free sausages? Collectors item there. Seems a bit odd giving a meat product away with a comic.

[Conor B]

Brilliant new stories, and the reprints (apart from Les Pretend) are all carefully and wonderfully chosen, especially Too Riski and Dennis the Menace. Favourite part, as usual was Super School.

[AndyB]

Sausages were almost certainly confectionery, and I'd say that the bagging was done well before the scare (and too late to be stopped)

[stevezodiac]

Yes i just looked at the advert in the Weekly News and it says Sour Hot Dogs (see scan) they are sweets, so now I have no idea why they were removed. Anyone from DC Thomson reading this? Ooh look it's lovely Lisa doing the Sky weather - she's pregnant! I'll moider the bum...!

PS it says on sale 10th to 22nd of December so is this a fortnightly issue? Obviously yes. Unusual that.

[Lew Stringer]

There are sausages in the Christmas Beano. Check out page 32, panel 6.

As for the sweet/sour free hot dog being replaced by a sweet/sour free burger I suppose it's simply due to availability. These free gifts are bought in from outside sources so perhaps they simply sent Thomsons "burgers" instead of "hot dogs". I imagine both shapes of sweets taste exactly the same anyway!

Lew

PS: Yes, this issue is on sale for a fortnight, as was last year's Xmas edition. This used to be common in British Christmas comics in the Thirties and has been revived in comics in recent years. The Christmas Toxic is on sale for a month (instead of fortnightly), Dandy Xtreme is out for three weeks (instead of fortnightly) and the Xmas DFC will be a bumper issue covering two weeks instead of one.

After all, the Radio Times etc do it every year!

[David]

I got the sour hot dog. The Beano Funsize I got was Roger The Dodger and Calamity James.

[Raven]

After all, the Radio Times etc do it every year!

Yes, but the Christmas issue *and* the New Year issue both used to feel quite special as individual comics.

(Actually, you'll probably still get both - but December 12th is too early for the Christmas issue to be out, really.)

[Lew Stringer]

After all, the Radio Times etc do it every year!

Yes, but the Christmas issue *and* the New Year issue both used to feel quite special as individual comics.

(Actually, you'll probably still get both - but December 12th is too early for the Christmas issue to be out, really.)

I'm not always in favour of marketing decisions but in this case it makes sense. Regular readers of The Beano will buy the Christmas issue anyway. The idea of the Xmas bumper issue is to bring in new readers in a package that appeals as a stocking stuffer. Bringing it out this week is the perfect time. If it came out next week, it'd mean the double issue would still be on sale for a week after Christmas, thus losing its potential. As it is, the issue has a shelf life of two weeks and all that time to attract the Christmas pressie seekers.

The DFC double Christmas issue isn't out until next Friday, (Post Office willing) but then they're not relying on newsstand sales so it makes sense for them to do theirs closer to Christmas.

Yes it would be nice to have the previous system of weekly Christmas / New Year issues reliant only on fun stories but it's a different world now for comics unfortunately and publishers rely more on gimmicks (bagged gifts) to attract custom. The DFC is the exception, but then I doubt its sales are anywhere near those of The Beano, Kraze Club, Toxic, etc.

Lew

[AndyB]

and the new year Beano will be out just in time for Christmas!