Guardian article: The Dandy Faces Closure

[Tin Can Tommy]

Maybe they should switch to cheaper paper to push down costs. I know no other kid's comic uses cheap paper any more but do kids really care?

[BeanoKev70]

We all know the main issue here is finding the Dandy I have had to take out a subscription because I was going further & further to find a shop that stocked it. If people can't find it then it won't sell simple. Lew has made valid points about displays many times & this is another factor.

For me the main reason is it has moved away from its roots. Most of the classic characters people remember from the past have been gone a long time. If I was DC Thomson as a last throw of the dice I would go back to basic's bring back a classic look old style paper less colour & maybe down to 28 pages make it a pocket money price & bring back classic Dandy strips like Smasher, Brassneck, Winker Watson, Dinah Mo, Original Desperate Dan (I love JS Dan by the way), Korky the Cat, Harry & his Hippo, Dirty Dick have some new strips along side these classics like Lew's excellent Postman Prat & others like Bad Grandad, nuke noodle & Arena of awesome.

Its really is worth a try, if it fails then at least the old girl goes down fighting....

[Lew Stringer]

Maybe they should switch to cheaper paper to push down costs. I know no other kid's comic uses cheap paper any more but do kids really care?

Retail giants aren't interested in ordering cheap comics I'm afraid. The Dandy and Beano are already the cheapest comics around. Those non-readers complaining about price are out of touch.

[Gilly]

It has just been on Radio Sheffield that DC Thomson has not decided The Dandy's fate yet.

Let's hope that if it is to go it hangs on till its 75th so it can go out with the bang it deserves!

[Phoenix]

Mark Sweney's article in yesterday's online version of The Guardian has today been printed verbatim on page 3 of The Guardian, without even the spelling mistakes being corrected. The only variation that I can see comes in the final section of A Colourful History, which was called The Dandy - key dates in yesterday's online report, where it writes under August 2012, DC Thompson (sic) announced plans to retire The Dandy, as opposed to yesterday's announces. The main headline is Desperate times for the Dandy: Britain's longest running comic facing closure. The subheadings are Magazine could be closed before its 75th anniversary and Favourite characters could go to sister title the Beano.

[dandy mad]

If true and Thomson pulls the plug on The Dandy I hope as Gilly says it hangs on until it's 75th birthday edition as it does deserve it

[Raven]

165 news articles on Google News now. Even the Washington Post is covering it!

[Gilly]

Just read that people on Twitter are trying to get a protest going by all going out to buy The Dandy tomorrow.

If that takes off make sure you all get your copies early.

[Digifiend]

165 news articles on Google News now. Even the Washington Post is covering it!

Not that surprising, since it is the third oldest surviving comic, behind Detective Comics (March 1937) and Il Giornalino (1924). It'd be famous for that statistic alone.

[paw broon]

Radio Scotland had a biggish feature on the subject this morning and wheeled in the bloke from Dundee Uni. who delivers the degree course in Comics Studies
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/postgraduate/co ... _mlitt.htm
Here's a bit from BBC Scotland online news:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-t ... l-19248459
The stat re. longevity was also mentioned.

[Raven]

Just read that people on Twitter are trying to get a protest going by all going out to buy The Dandy tomorrow.

About thirty thousand of them will have to do that every week, from now on, though.

[Digifiend]

To match the Beano's readership, right? It's too little too late. The damage was done in 2007, the Xtreme relaunch was such a failure the Art and History book barely acknowledges it.

A few more links:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... doubt.html
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/08/14/ ... d-the-bat/
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scott ... er-1260182

It outlived other kids’ titles The Beezer and The Topper by at least 20 years.

Not quite - it's just under 19 years right now, as the Beezer and Topper folded in September 1993.

Not about the closure, but this article will be of interest: http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012 ... -fan-adam/

EDIT: Jamie Smart blogs for the Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/au ... ll-matters

Channel 4 News article: http://www.channel4.com/news/dandy-comi ... es-decline

[dandy mad]

To match the Beano's readership, right? It's too little too late. The damage was done in 2007, the Xtreme relaunch was such a failure the Art and History book barely acknowledges it.

A few more links:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... doubt.html
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/08/14/ ... d-the-bat/
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scott ... er-1260182

It outlived other kids’ titles The Beezer and The Topper by at least 20 years.

Not quite - it's just under 19 years right now, as the Beezer and Topper folded in September 1993.


Not about the closure, but this article will be of interest: http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012 ... -fan-adam/

EDIT: Jamie Smart blogs for the Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/au ... ll-matters

Channel 4 News article: http://www.channel4.com/news/dandy-comi ... es-decline

The article about the Dandy collector has a very nice collection of the early Dandy Monster comics especiallly the 1943 edition plus he's got a 1940 Monster comic too!

[Gilly]

About thirty thousand of them will have to do that every week, from now on, though.

Let's hope that many who are part of this protest then are parents who are buying it for their kids. I also doubt that The Dandy will match The Beano's sales but I hope against hope that it will get enough to keep it floating. It's not dead yet the plug hasn't been pulled.

[Phoenix]

EDIT: Jamie Smart blogs for the Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/au ... ll-matters

A heartfelt series of comments by Jamie Smart. A nugget standing out within the derivative and repetitive. Well spotted, Digi.