The Art and History of the Dandy

[-MikeD-]

Maybe there could be a limited edition big one that matches the Beano book, sold only online for collectors? The small publisher PS Publishing produced no less than three versions of their Frank Hampson biography!

This. I'd buy it. A collector's edition could feature even more obscure material for the real old fans, but I'd be happy if it was hardback and matched the Beano volume on my shelf.

[blaing]

I, too would like to still have the index as it will be an excellent reference to the strips published in the Dandy after the Dandy Monster Comic index's cutoff point of March 1990.

[Lew Stringer]

Maybe there could be a limited edition big one that matches the Beano book, sold only online for collectors? The small publisher PS Publishing produced no less than three versions of their Frank Hampson biography!

Each of those versions features the same content though I believe? Just with different covers or added extras (leatherbound covers, slipcase, prints etc)? I don't think the £249 edition is actually bigger (ie: more pages or different size) than the £30 version is it?

Same for PS' horror books. All of which, like the Hampson one, are excellent by the way. (I'm content to buy the £30 versions myself.)

Anyway, we don't know exactly what format the Dandy archive book will be yet. "Not as heavy" could mean slimmer or smaller format. Or even more lightweight paper stock. Content and accuracy are the main things. Chances are it won't sell as well as the Beano one, simply because The Beano has been the more popular title for 60 years, so producing a massive expensive book might not be wise.

[Phoenix]

It would be interesting to learn whether Thomsons' considered doing this upcoming history of The Dandy in 2007 to celebrate its 70th birthday, and then quietly shelved the idea, or whether it never even occurred to them, perhaps until someone put forward the idea of the history of The Beano for its 70th, at which point they would clearly have realised it was too late for The Dandy, but then pencilled it in for its 75th to compensate. My guess is the latter, in which case work will now be pretty well advanced where text, illustrations and general layout are concerned. I'm really looking forward to this book and, like blaing and Tin Can, I feel that all the major components that made The Beano's history so satisfying, especially the index, should be integral to The Dandy's. Maybe the preparation of the index for the book is what has kept Kashgar from posting here since his return to the forum.

[big bad bri]

I Dont think Beano has ever officially absorbed another title But dandy has absorbed nutty & hoot so lets hope there are quite a few pages covering both these titles with index of stories & covers but i doubt it will have.

[Digifiend]

You have a point, but Nutty and Hoot's indexes would both have to be done from scratch, as I don't think Ray ever did those. They already need to update the Dandy's index, so the merger comics will probably not get indexes. I'm sure they'll both get coverage though, especially their cover stars, Bananaman and Cuddles, who both still appear in the Dandy to this day.

[Phoenix]

But dandy has absorbed nutty & hoot so lets hope there are quite a few pages covering both these titles with index of stories & covers but i doubt it will have.

Surely the index will only list the contents of The Dandy. Those strips from Nutty and Hoot that survived the respective mergers to have an extended life in The Dandy will quite naturally feature, from that point onwards only, but the rest quite obviously won't. Why should they?

[Peter Gray]

I hope the book is a large format to show off the art..
also hope there is an index often rereading it the Beano coffee book..

It must have been partly done for the 70th...and because Dandy went extreem it wasn't the right time..now it is more a comic it is more the right time..

Will it be rectangle upwards or sideways?

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

The BEANO volume is one of my favourite comics reference books and it's a shame if the same format is not used for the DANDY edition: I'll still likely buy it though.........

[Jonny Whizz]

It would be interesting to learn whether Thomsons' considered doing this upcoming history of The Dandy in 2007 to celebrate its 70th birthday, and then quietly shelved the idea, or whether it never even occurred to them, perhaps until someone put forward the idea of the history of The Beano for its 70th, at which point they would clearly have realised it was too late for The Dandy, but then pencilled it in for its 75th to compensate. My guess is the latter, in which case work will now be pretty well advanced where text, illustrations and general layout are concerned.

I seem to recall the general impression was that it was the other way round. I can't remember when or where exactly (I had a search on the forum for posts around that time, and didn't find anything) but I'm sure I read something from D.C.T. saying that 70th birthday books would be released for both comics, starting with the Dandy in 2007 and the Beano the following year.

I'm not sure what happened to the prospect of a History of the Dandy around that time, but 2007 was the year when the Dandy turned Xtreme, taking the comic largely beyond recognition from the one most nostalgics would recall. I therefore think it would probably have been seen as a bad moment to release a book celebrating the Dandy's history, whereas now the Dandy is much closer to its traditional form (in terms of format and content, if not in overall style) it makes more sense to produce a history of the comic. The Beano has never really had such a radical change in style, so the comic today is still recognisable for people who read it decades ago.

[Phoenix]

I'm not sure what happened to the prospect of a History of the Dandy around that time, but 2007 was the year when the Dandy turned Xtreme, taking the comic largely beyond recognition from the one most nostalgics would recall. I therefore think it would probably have been seen as a bad moment to release a book celebrating the Dandy's history

The fact that The Dandy changed its essence in 2007, Jonny, would have given Thomsons the perfect opportunity to produce its 70-year history at that point. On the one hand The Dandy appeared to have died, an excellent point at which to revisit its past you would think, to look in depth at its popular strips, and its not so successful ones, and to reflect upon its qualities across the years, in other words to sum up its contribution. The point you make about nostalgics is largely irrelevant because they would not have been in any way affected by the existence of the Dandy Xtreme. 80-year-olds would be looking back to the thirties, 70-year-olds to the forties, 60-year-olds to the fifties and so on and so forth. In my opinion, any decision taken by the company not to produce the History in 2007 cannot have been determined in any way by the switch from The Dandy to Dandy Xtreme. The point you make later about The Beano not having undergone any significant stylistic change, making it recognisable to people who read it decades ago, is equally applicable to The Dandy right up to the switch. Dandy Xtreme could have been covered in a final chapter just to bring things up to date. In the book being prepared now it will no doubt be in the penultimate chapter, the final chapter being given over to the rebirth of the original.

[booksandcomics]

Hi all,

I've actually received a publishers advert about this book and very excited to get hold of it! There is a picture of the cover but I am not sure how to insert a picture into this blog?

Cheers,

Adam

[Peter Gray]

you can upload pictures on http://imageshack.us/
then copy the properties which will have the e.g dandybook75years.jpg and put here then highlight it and then click image img the button above..then post..

love to see the advert..

[booksandcomics]

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay, but, feast your eyes on the cover of the Art and History of the Dandy!
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/5349/photooqh.jpg

Very excited about this!

[Digifiend]

So it's in portrait format instead of landscape like History of the Beano. I like the tagline at the bottom - the banana skins bit seems like an obvious Bananaman reference, but slipping on a banana skin is an old classic gag as well (as seen in this week's Bananaman strip where Meecher slips on one in the background!).