Comics UK

He has - for the annuals at least.

The Next Time page definitely cannot be trusted any more. It advertises Rocky Roller - but the strip in question was used this week.

Gilly wrote:That a hint that you've been working on New Cuddles and Dimples strips Nigel?

Taking this line of discussion towards its natural conclusion, who's saying that (whether new or reprinted) the Cuddles and Dimples strips will be drawn by Nigel at all?

The next issue page advertised it - including an illustration. It's definitely Nigel's version.

If it's the strip I think it is, and I'll know tomorrow, I drew it a couple of weeks ago specifically for the weekly Dandy, and indeed, for the first time with Cuddles and Dimples, wrote it.

Something to do with a hole in one?

I really liked it in Bananaman strip this week with a kind of Abbey Road thing with Smasher Brassneck, Corpral Clott and Eric, a real nice touch.

Good timing too, because Clott's back next issue.

Dunder Ed wrote:I really liked it in Bananaman strip this week with a kind of Abbey Road thing with Smasher Brassneck, Corpral Clott and Eric, a real nice touch.

I thought so too.

Last week, I was talking to a boy who loved jokes like the "aerial shots of Mexicans" which he hadn't seen before. But he had never heard of the Dandy!

I am getting The Dandy whenever I'm in Tesco now. I haven't been reading it for years so I've not seen the reprints (though Puss N Boots was very restrained - "violence in comics"?) and I do feel that, if it does close, it will be many years before we see anything as good again. I hate to think that only a closing-down Beano could be as good!

Have you seen the advert in this week's Dandy?

If I didn't know better, I would say that the Dandy is just bowing out.

I can understand the logic - transfer any readers to the Beano after the Dandy finishes in print form.

But even so...

They made two blunders there. Firstly, Plum isn't in the Beano right now and hasn't been for a while, so that's revealed that he is apparently coming back, which we obviously weren't supposed to know yet. Secondly, they should've mentioned that the Beano features Bananaman, so even if nobody else transfers over, the readers will know that they will still be seeing at least one Dandy favourite.

Oh great it's bad enough for all of us that The Dandy is ending without having it rammed down our throats every week.

Maybe they didn't put about Bananaman being in The Beano because they haven't fully decided which characters will be transferring over yet, as I'm confident Desperate Dan will move over but maybe one or two others are being considered. I know that doesn't make much sense given that Bananaman has been a weekly fixture in The Beano now for nearly a year but that's the only reasoning I can think that they wouldn't mention it.

In some ways I do find it strange. I would have thought that they would be more interested in getting their readers to continue their subscriptions with the digital Dandy when the paper one retires.

Talking of digital Dandy, I take it no-one knows what the digital version (after the last printed issue) will be like? I would assume it would (at first) the same as the printed version but if so, why the classic logo/Dan on the website?

Because it's not going to be the same as the current Dandy. I'm expecting it to be a mix of reprints and interactivity (stuff which wouldn't be possible in the printed comic). Most of the current artists will have to find other outlets to work for, as unless Mike Stirling (Beano editor) decides to use some of them (and I hope he does), they'll only find DCT work for the annuals.

So no expected new artwork for the digital version? That's sad. Strips like Bad Grandad, Arena of Awesome and Postman Pratt to name a few are just too good to never see in print again. Let's hope that they start appearing in the annual (they should go to the Beano along with Dan).

Talking of which, do we know for sure if any of the Dandy characters are going over to the Beano? I would love for the likes of Dan, Cuddles & Dimples (though I would doubt that because of Bea) and some of the new strips to move over. At the very least, it should be Dan.

Apart from Bananaman, who's already doing double duty, we don't know if anyone else will transfer over.