*ADVERTS SPOILER ALERT* #3617 - 7th Jan 2012

[Digifiend]

Bananaman is now in BeanoMAX as well.

EDIT: And it's a lazy job. Both the Beano and BeanoMAX used material from (I think) the Bananaman Annual 1985. But they didn't update them. Both mention Nuttytown, which should've been changed to Beanotown, and one of them mentions Pa Slobb of The Snobs and the Slobbs, while the other one has an unnamed cameo from the same character. All three comics were produced in a hurry this week, I think, since the Dandy had a Beryl the Peril strip with un-updated speech captions.

[diegotheterrible]

Thanks for the information Classic Comics - I'm also interested in what you say about the audience reaction to Ivy. Did she fall in popularity due to being reprints, or did the core readership not take to Diego's version, and was this due to the stories themselves or the artwork?

Just to clarify, Alan was the writer on IVY, not me. He wanted to do something creative before retiring, and boy did he deliver, though humble as he is, he refused to be credited (i asked him several times if he wanted his name to appear alongside mine, but he gently turned me down).
I was told the reason they were dropping the strip was Ivy being too similar to Bea; but my guess is, Ivy being Alan's baby, his departure also had to do with the decision. If the strip was subject to any polls, i never heard of it, but if it failed to engage readers, it's surely my fault, though i certainly gave it my very best...

[AndyB]

I can see why the captions on Bananaman weren't updated - it was already in mixed case, so was quite close to the current house style.

I think the Dandy is no longer doing captioning in house. The uniformity of the lettering among those who didn't already letter their own strips has gone.

[Jonny Whizz]

Thank you for clarifying that Diego. I thought you did a very good job on your sadly brief tenure as Ivy artist, she had been in need of freshening up as, apart from one strip by Lew Stringer, she hadn't appeared solo in new stories since early 2007. If there was one weakness, I think she could have done with slightly more consistent characterisation - she veered from being a cute toddler some weeks to playing with chainsaws in others, when I think Ivy should come somewhere in between the two.

I find the claim that Ivy is too similar to Bea interesting, as of course a few years ago they shared a strip. If that was the sole reason for dropping Ivy then I'm slightly surprised, and in truth a bit disappointed, as Bea is only a minor character in the Dennis the Menace strip these days - when they both had their own separate strips, I could have seen the logic behind it more.

I suppose though that different writers and editors can view the same characters and strips in different ways - this might just be me, but judging by Alan Digby's interview for The History of the Beano I sense that he saw that Freddie Fear's humour potential lay in living in a castle, whereas I felt the early strips under Euan Kerr seemed to place more emphasis on spookiness and how weird his mum was.

[Tin Can Tommy]

I think a new bea and Ivy strip with both of them would be the best solution to the problem as neither character appears in the comic very much these days and I doubt they fell that far in the reader polls. It also enables a potential beano dandy crossover with Bea and Ivy and Cuddles and Dimples which I think would be pretty cool.

[WizzKid97]

I find the claim that Ivy is too similar to Bea interesting, as of course a few years ago they shared a strip. If that was the sole reason for dropping Ivy then I'm slightly surprised, and in truth a bit disappointed, as Bea is only a minor character in the Dennis the Menace strip these days - when they both had their own separate strips, I could have seen the logic behind it more.

I actually prefer Ivy as a character - I think you can do a lot more with her, besides all it is with Bea is gross humour whereas Ivy was naturally funny.

I think the problem with Diego's Ivy was the writing - some weeks were fantastic with her being a little monster - then other times she'd be cute and innocent but the two never seemed to go hand in hand in the Diego era...

I also found it a shame that the Dad never appeared, what I liked about Ivy was that both parents featured.

However I really did like Diego's take on Ivy - I think he nailed it and I wish he'd have had longer to develop his style further. I was particularly keen on the 4 page Summer Annual story which hit the nail on the head - it was typical Ivy and I loved it!

To be honest, would I like to see Ivy back - yes. But I actually wouldn't mind Bob Nixon reprints as for some reason, like Pup Parade, they seem somewhat acceptable because no-one can beat them.

Laura Howell would be a good artist to draw Ivy - I loved her take on her in the 2012 Annual. I'd love to see Diego take on drawing Roger the Dodger perhaps - or maybe Dennis and Gnasher.

Actually, that said - I can imagine him making a good artist for Number 13 (Beano Street) or (Totally Gross) Germs. Or maybe Freddie Fear? His art-style seems somewhat dark and would work amazingly on a spooky story I reckon!

So, in other words - bring back Ivy the Terrible and Diego Jourdan Pereira!

[Digifiend]

Well surely Roger won't stay in reprints forever. And I agree that they should give Diego another chance.

[diegotheterrible]

I think the problem with Diego's Ivy was the writing - some weeks were fantastic with her being a little monster - then other times she'd be cute and innocent but the two never seemed to go hand in hand in the Diego era...

Oh my, i took that as a sign of schizophrenia, always drawing her a tad deranged (those eyes!), even when supposedly "cute"

Well surely Roger won't stay in reprints forever. And I agree that they should give Diego another chance.

Wouldn't that be nice? I certainly miss the weekly strip grind, so feel free to show your support by writing to The Beano editorial, and make your voice heard

[swirlythingy]

Well surely Roger won't stay in reprints forever.

Two years is the standard benchmark for major runs, and we haven't even had one yet. Also, only two years' worth (1986-88) of the A4/1.5 page layout compatible with the current comic and Dodge Diary were ever drawn, so at the very least they'll have to do something different after that runs out.

And I agree that they should give Diego another chance.

Count me in with everyone above - Ivy's personality got derailed when she came out of reprints. She did have occasional psychopathic episodes, but they were so overshadowed by her newfound innocence and cuteness that, if anything, the chainsaw just looked desperate, if not even enhancing the cuteness and innocence in some bizarre and inexplicable way.

Time for some contemporary reader feedback! To quote a paragraph which was pointedly not printed in the Beano, it was cute but not funny, with good artwork, but no more of the little menace we had come to know and love.

As for the Bea and Ivy/Cuddles and Dimples idea, I've made this point before: remember how Cuddles was originally just Dimples' next-door neighbour, having fled for his life from the collapsing universe of Hoot!? And how, by the 2004 era of the stories conveniently being reprinted right this moment in the Dandy, the two had been retconned as brothers? Now have another think about the logical conclusion of a Bea and Ivy series of any significant length.

Diego drawing Roger is a pleasingly symmetrical prospect, since those two strips (Ivy and Roger) were Robert Nixon's first two jobs on his return to the Beano.

[diegotheterrible]

Well, if you want to see some of my latest art, look no further than the latest few issues of Moshi Monsters Magazine COVERS --issues# 11,12, and 13 to be precise

Cheers!

[Peter Gray]

Nice seeing Rasher in the retro page coming up for Wednesday and also the introduction to the germs..