Beano summer special number 1 out now WHSmiths

[Lew Stringer]

My local Smith has now moved the Special from its display area to put it behind The Beano. I'd have thought the special promotion would have lasted longer than a week, but I've noticed that some Smiths now stack Beano and BeanoMax (and now this special) in the same space so that only the top one is visible. Perhaps they don't realize they're three different titles.

[Digifiend]

Not surprising. I found the Beano, BeanoMAX, the special and the Dandy all in the same place the other day... in fact the single copy of the Dandy was covering up the summer special. MAX is usually on the shelf below, and the special should've been on a display stand, so something went wrong for sure.

Steve, editorial don't control adverts.

[Lew Stringer]

Oddly, in one branch some Beanos were on a promotional stand alongside partworks and the Jacqueline Wilson Magazine, but there wasn't a special offer on or anything.

Sounds like the staff have confused The Beano with the Summer Special and put the wrong one in the special display.

[Jon]

Not surprising. I found the Beano, BeanoMAX, the special and the Dandy all in the same place the other day... in fact the single copy of the Dandy was covering up the summer special. MAX is usually on the shelf below, and the special should've been on a display stand, so something went wrong for sure.

In the defence of all employees who have the unfortunate job of stacking magazines, at least one comic on the rack each week will without fail come in a large bag containing an extremely bulky gift (think BeanoMax), making the comic physically impossible to stack neatly, or at all.

It seems that gifts these days are far more likely to be large plastic items instead of the good old flat Refreshers bar, so let's have some sympathy on the magazine stackers - comic publishers do often insist on the free gifts making comics virtually unstackable.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I've been too busy to search for this mag/book, as I'm fortunate enough to be very busy doing paid cartoons! [after a long time......]

[RamblingSid]

Picked it up today but haven't read it beyond a quick skim. Looks great, though. I'm sure I actually remember some of the stories.

[Digifiend]

Not surprising. I found the Beano, BeanoMAX, the special and the Dandy all in the same place the other day... in fact the single copy of the Dandy was covering up the summer special. MAX is usually on the shelf below, and the special should've been on a display stand, so something went wrong for sure.

In the defence of all employees who have the unfortunate job of stacking magazines, at least one comic on the rack each week will without fail come in a large bag containing an extremely bulky gift (think BeanoMax), making the comic physically impossible to stack neatly, or at all.

It seems that gifts these days are far more likely to be large plastic items instead of the good old flat Refreshers bar, so let's have some sympathy on the magazine stackers - comic publishers do often insist on the free gifts making comics virtually unstackable.

Good point, why can't more gifts be flat, like the Xtreme Boomerang I got with this week's Dandy?

Oddly, in one branch some Beanos were on a promotional stand alongside partworks and the Jacqueline Wilson Magazine, but there wasn't a special offer on or anything.

Sounds like the staff have confused The Beano with the Summer Special and put the wrong one in the special display.

You're probably right.

[felneymike]

I got this today (In Cambridge it was with the rest of the comics as the dedicated "bookazine" shelf has dissapeared). I love some of the painted artwork such as on the Biffo story with the speedboat race! Also the "Minnie's Movies" feature. Looks so much better than flat computer or even simple watercolour colouring!

[Lew Stringer]

I got this today (In Cambridge it was with the rest of the comics as the dedicated "bookazine" shelf has dissapeared). I love some of the painted artwork such as on the Biffo story with the speedboat race! Also the "Minnie's Movies" feature. Looks so much better than flat computer or even simple watercolour colouring!

They look fantastic don't they? It was genuinely exciting to see full colour painted artwork back then, compared to the flat mechanical colours on the weeklies. It added a different dimension to the Summer Specials and the painted style of that period was similar to artwork on seaside postcards so it tied in neatly with the summer feel of the comic. Very happy memories.

The only downside of the book is it isn't the size of those old specials so the pages are reprinted smaller than intended but for costs and practical reasons that wouldn't be possible unfortunately.

Speaking of seaside postcards, as you may know, Charlie Grigg went on to draw quite a few of those after he retired from comics. (http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2007/04 ... -next.html)

[dishes]

Lew, in that old blog post about Charlie Grigg you mention he retired from regular comics work in 1983. This is interesting as his Korky the Cat was still appearing when I started getting the Dandy in 1986 (shortly before Robert Nixon's takeover- an awful choice in my opinion). Were these reprints? No wait, they surely couldn't have been, given that Korky was still on the cover in 1983 and these full page strips wouldn't have fitted on the cover. Were they ghosted then? If so it was a very adept ghost artist!

Ian

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Charlie was still contributing occassional work for DCT later in the 80s: I remember seeing some Korky stuff he done as it just came in for the Dandy comic Library, around 1985-86, he was supplementing his pension at the time I remember.

I think there were occassional Grigg Korkys turning up on the cover after he 'retired' as well.....most of the covers after around '83 were by Dave Gudgeon.

Dunno if the 'new' Griggs were repeats or brand-new..Charlie's stuff was always so consistent, it was difficult to 'date'.

There was similarly very accomplished colour artwork in the BEEZER/TOPPER annuals from as far back as the late 50s, which still impress today......I do agree that the painted techniques used in some of the Summer Specials artwork really did seem 'special' in more ways than one, though.....I even liked the smell of the 'magazine-like' paper!

[Peter Gray]

Its nice seeing a change with the painted effect..

Wish I had some 60's Beano and Dandy summer specials..off to Lews blog to see his summer specials post..I remember there was a good Korky painted cover and back on there..
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2009/07 ... ecial.html

[Peter Gray]

Beano summer special number 2 is out now..
with Beezer summer special bits on Fred's Bed and Numbskulls
also a few Bananaman summer special bits..
and a few Beano comic pages..

So good news..
some nice 60's pages again inside..

see blog for pictures and samples..

[swirlythingy]

Wow, there was a No. 2, then! Weren't we all expecting it would be a Christmas special at one stage?

I'll try and get it tomorrow.

I wish they'd stop stamping "Special Collector's Edition" on anything and everything. Surely, if it is a comic then it is by definition collectible? What makes this publication any more collectible than anything else?

At one point last year the Beano published an otherwise quite ordinary issue (it wasn't even overpriced) which had the text "Special Collector's Cover - Part One" across the top of the quite ordinary cover. Part Two never materialised. (Granted, Part One did share an issue with the first half of a two-part Dennis story which climaxed in the unexpected resurrection of Foo-Foo, but I'm not sure that was what they meant.)

EDIT: I see last year's special advertised itself as "Year of the Menace Collector's Edition". Ridiculous. My money's on "75th Birthday Collector's Edition" for next year.

[Rasher]

I don't 'get' your bile, swirlythingy, they can call it whatever they damn well like.

What about all those 'special edition' cars we used to get all the time. There was nothing special other than a paint job and a badge, but it sold. And that's all they're doing here. Making people see it, make it stand out, make sure there's no confusion with any other product with the Beano name on. Make sure it sells.

Even if you paid a visit to Beano HQ, meet the staff, meet the bosses, the decision-makers, the directors, even the ghost of DC Thomson himself - it still would never satisfy your hunger to bash the life out of a decent, well-made comic for 7-11 year olds.