This week's issue Take 2

[Jonny Whizz]

Don't worry about that Jay.

I don't think there's any real chance of Ball Boy being dropped as a result of the poll, as he did fairly well (he received 8% of the vote). In truth, I don't think the poll should be used in order to drop any strips, as I don't feel there are any obvious weak links and with the roster looking fairly thin right now I wouldn't want to see any of the strips go without being replaced.

Also, the problem with the poll was that it told you to vote for the strip you thought was best in that week's issue. I voted for Billy Whizz (of course) but his story wasn't especially strong that week. If the readers had been asked simply to vote for their favourite strip, then I wonder if the results would have been different, though I suspect many readers will have, like me, just voted for their favourite story anyway.

I must say I think while Ratz is still quite good, I personally feel it isn't as strong as it was around 2007-2008, when in my opinion it hit its absolute peak (at the time when Hunt was drawing it and Laura was writing the scripts), but again that's just my opinion.

[swirlythingy]

I think Ratz is pretty good, and it certainly doesn't deserve its atrocious placing in the poll. Ball Boy was looking a bit tired once upon a time, but Dave Eastbury's new style has really breathed new life into it (more so now everything's not orange!) and, while I wasn't happy about some characters like Titch and Dimmy being dropped, they, like Rasher and the Gnasher/Gnipper combo, seem to be being reintroduced on the quiet, if this week's strip is anything to go by.

While I can't answer for next week's Beano, I did hear a rumour about something coming back, and not before time, in the near future...

[Digifiend]

That's NOT a rumour. Both Mike Stirling and Lew Stringer already confirmed Super School's return. Only question is how soon.

[Jonny Whizz]

My guess would be that Super School will return when Postman Prat's current run in the Dandy comes to an end. I'm far from certain, but I'm glad to hear it's coming back in any case.

It should be pointed out that, if the worst performing strips have done well enough to garner 3% of the vote, then that's actually fairly decent. Korky the Cat was dropped from the Dandy because no one had voted for him as their favourite or least favourite, which was a bit odd as you'd have expected the most widely disliked strip to be dropped instead.

I would have been interested to see what the results would have looked like if readers had been asked to vote for their least favourite as well, as I think this would have been helpful towards the lower end of the poll - it would have made clear the difference between the strips readers dislike, and the ones they like or are neutral towards. I actually don't have a least favourite at the moment so I probably wouldn't have voted for one had that option been available.

I find it interesting that Dennis was left out of the poll, because regardless of what the advert for the vote says, I think it's more apparent than ever that he isn't everyone's favourite character. I don't think D.C.T. would have wanted to see Dennis perform poorly, given all the bad publicity that would likely attract, but after the dull TV-series style strips we had for 18 months I'm not sure he'd have done that well.

There is an argument for leaving the established strips - Dennis, Roger, Minnie and BSK - out of the poll so more readers vote for newer stories (I think this was done when Super School started), but in my opinion it's worth putting them in so it becomes clear if those strips aren't working at the moment. If Minnie had been left out of the poll in 2007, under the assumption that she was universally popular with the readers, the Beano staff wouldn't have realised that the story wasn't working at that time and we would never have got Ken Harrison's much improved version.

[Lew Stringer]

My guess would be that Super School will return when Postman Prat's current run in the Dandy comes to an end.

I hope I can continue to draw both!

No idea when Super School will return yet as they only have two for the new series so far. I'm drawing the third one this week, as well as another Postman Prat.

[Jonny Whizz]

I'm looking forward to seeing the new Super School strips. Thank you for posting that Lew.

If you've drawn two Super School stories so far, then my revised guess is that we'll see the first one in a month or so - I think strips are usually drawn about six weeks in advance of appearing, unless they're topical (in which case the delay between being drawn and printed is much shorter), or have been stockpiled.

[swirlythingy]

That's NOT a rumour. Both Mike Stirling and Lew Stringer already confirmed Super School's return. Only question is how soon.

Well, Lew Stringer has now, both here and on his blog, but given both posts were written on Sunday it was hardly 'already' when I posted that!

Would you mind pointing out where Mike Stirling confirmed Super School's return?

[WizzKid97]

That's NOT a rumour. Both Mike Stirling and Lew Stringer already confirmed Super School's return. Only question is how soon.

Well, Lew Stringer has now, both here and on his blog, but given both posts were written on Sunday it was hardly 'already' when I posted that!

Would you mind pointing out where Mike Stirling confirmed Super School's return?

Quote by Mike Stirling in e-mail I recieved:

"Super School will return for a full run later this year. We also have an episode in the next BeanoMax. "

Do we need any more proof?

[Digifiend]

Look further back on Lew's blog - he mentioned (in response to somebody asking) that he was working on it, in the comments somewhere, IIRC.

BeanoMAX's current Super School strips are from a previous stockpile.

[AndyB]

Don't take publication dates in the Dandy as an indication of publication dates of another strip by the same artist in the Beano. Next time round, Craig might ask Lew for six Prat strips early next year but not run them for a few months, but Mike might ask him for six Super Schools in February and run them as soon as he gets them. It all depends on who needs the space filled first

[Jonny Whizz]

I assume you were referring to the Retro Beano reprint of Sid Burgon's Biffo, Andy, which was indeed in full colour. I think it was a good choice, as his silent version of the character was very good.

I also enjoyed this week's Numskulls, and I was pleased to see that Dennis is now rightfully the first strip in the comic again. I was less happy that Billy Whizz was absent (hopefully he won't be dropped after the poll!) and I didn't like this week's Dandy preview, which I felt was all the worse for coming after the brilliant Jamie Smart Desperate Dan in the previous week's issue.

I don't want to go into too much depth on the Dandy in this section of the forum, and in fairness, it wasn't all bad, as NP's artwork was very good, but I felt that the strip represented the worst thing about the Dandy right now (the celebrities) while last week's preview represented the best things (the great humour and artists).

[Tin Can Tommy]

Good to see Retro Beano back again this week. Where's Kevin was an odd feature but it did make me laugh. The Dandy preview was a bit of a disappointment I have only had one Dandy since it's revamp and this week's strip was from that issue and it was one of that issue's weakest strips.

Some odd background gag in Minnie the Minx this week in her dad's boss' office there is a picture of what is labelled as the universal flange and shows some odd sword drill thing and after looking up the word flange on Wiktionary one of the word's meanings (which i was aware of but had to make sure of because I dont trust my memory) made me giggle a little and makes me wonder whether that gag was a Getting crap past the radar moment or if I was reading too much into it.

[Digifiend]

I assume you were referring to the Retro Beano reprint of Sid Burgon's Biffo, Andy, which was indeed in full colour. I think it was a good choice, as his silent version of the character was very good.

I also enjoyed this week's Numskulls, and I was pleased to see that Dennis is now rightfully the first strip in the comic again. I was less happy that Billy Whizz was absent (hopefully he won't be dropped after the poll!)

Gnasher's Bite was absent too. Thanks a lot Phineas and Ferb, and Horrid Henry! (Yes, I'm blaming adverts)

Of course, the majority of Biffo stories (everything from 1948 to 1974 except annuals, and everything after 1993, plus some after 1989, which is when the one in this week's issue dates from) are in colour.

[Peter Gray]

i'm still very impressed with David Sutherlands work.so pleased they gave him another character to do in Fred's Bed..his work is still good to look at..

The eye ball characters for the olympics have the worse punch lines ever..if it was a punch line..the sandcastle smashing was fine..
the graphic designers who created characters without a proper face was very stupid..really difficult for expression..two eyes would have helped..

[Digifiend]

...would have helped.