Funday Times RIP

[kevf]

Two minor British comic institutions bit the dust this weekend, without much fuss being made.

Firstly, with 'comic' meaning funny, Dick & Dom In Da Bungalow had its final episode. Having been a hit on the scale of Tiswas and Swap Shop, it had sunk to the ignominy of being relegated to BBC2 for some unknown reason, all in the space of 4 years. I hope they'll be back without something good soon (don't hold your breath though, it took Chris Tarrant 20 years to recover from Tiswas)

Secondly, in a comic strip sense of the word, The Sunday Times' pullout section The Funday Times, appeared for the last time. "Don't worry", they say almost convincingly, we'll be continuing online. Yeah, and my arse plays the banjo. Much as we all use and love online, there aren't many of us. And to go from a physical manifestation in print, in one of the best selling papers in the country, to being hidden away somewhere on the internet just doesn't compare.

Over the years the Funday Times has played a big part in educating the comic readers of the future, with fine reprints such as The Powerpuff Girls and The Simpsons, as well as weaker efforts like Scooby Doo. The original commissions, which included my own Goosebumps adaptations (drawn by John Erasmus) a few years back, were something that will be missed. And the regular Dennis The Menace and Beryl The Peril strips can't have hurt awareness of The Beano & Dandy.

Well, no more. It's gone, and the tradition of comic strips in British life sails a few feet closer to that distant horizon over which it will very soon fall off. Sigh.

Kev F out Of The Beano
http://comicfestivals.co.uk

PS: My Ickle Bitty Werewolf On Bash St is in The Beano this week. Episode one on sale for one more day, episode two on sale Wednesday.

[Steve Bright]

Sad news, Kev. I worked for Funday for over a decade on 'Rex & Tex' and 'Scribble'. R&T came in very early on and was the cover story for a few years, before gradually being whittled down from the original two pages, to a one-tier strip.

I can't say I'd followed the section's progress much in recent times (I'm not an avid reader of comics, or Sunday newspapers, I have to admit), but when last I picked up a copy it seemed to have very little cartoon content indeed.

I have my own thoughts, but any suggestions from all of you enthusiasts as to how we begin to reverse this decline in the fortunes of British comics would be good to hear.

[Gary Northfield]

That's very bad news indeed. I've just had a quick browse on their (horribly uninspiring) online version and unless I'm going blind, I couldn't see any sign of any comicstrips (although I guess there's a chance they might turn up on Sunday I suppose).
I know the chap who draws Robot Crusoe, so maybe I can squeeze some further info out of him about the future of the strips.

[David]

Was the Funday Times the comic that had a 12 page Beano in it or was that some other comic?

[Peter Gray]

I'll miss these fellows.......astreiks was great to see also...

[img:567:656]http://uk.geocities.com/pjgstevebright/ ... ytimes.jpg[/img]

I also miss Cartoons The Mail on Sunday......with Mr and Misses (my fav)...Frank and Ernest..For Better or for worse....Marvin...Robotman (my 2nd fav)

Also Funday in The Sun with Robot Ron.......Small talk...Street wise........anyone remember these characters

More cartoons on Sunday please.......

[Lew Stringer]

I remember when The Funday Times started and the buzz was that it could influence other newspapers to follow suit with their own comics sections. (As was, and perhaps still is, the case in the USA). Sad to hear it's gone, although I'm not too surprised given they've been cutting back on the strip material for a long time.

Some fellow cartoonists tried to get a tabloid daily to invest in a weekly comic section several years ago, but it came to nothing sadly. It's all down to the bean counters wanting to save money.

Lew

[Magnet]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! That's poop. I used to get it sent to me every few weeks from a guy that is much older than me and reads the Sunday Times but he stopped, don't know why. Anyway, It was quite a good comic. Not up to the standards of Dandy and Beano but still great. More british comics biting the dust. What's next?

[Lew Stringer]

More british comics biting the dust. What's next?

On a more positive note, what new comics will come out next? It's sad that The Funday Times is gone, but it had a decent run (longer than many comics of recent years).

Lew

[Magnet]

I supose your right but humour comics just aren't what people want anymore. DS Thompson aren't bringing another one out any time soon, neither are Egmont or any others. This ain't good.

[Lew Stringer]

I supose your right but humour comics just aren't what people want anymore. DS Thompson aren't bringing another one out any time soon, neither are Egmont or any others. This ain't good. :(

Times have changed, and the market evolves as it always did. Look outside of what used to be the "big two" publishers and you'll see other publishers are stuffing the shelves with comics. Not many humour comics I'll admit (Wallace & Gromit, Lucky Bag Comic, and UK editions of The Simpsons, Futurama, Tom & Jerry etc) but magazines such as Toxic and Zap feature some humour comics material. Comic strips ain't dead yet. Keep watching the shelves. ;-)

Lew

[colcool007]

I'll miss these fellows.......astreiks was great to see also...

[img:567:656]http://uk.geocities.com/pjgstevebright/ ... ytimes.jpg[/img]

Gawsh, I remember actually picking up the Times with this episode in it. Steve, more power to your pen for Rex & Tex.

Sad to see yet another comic outlet quietly exiting stage left.