Dandy Relaunch THIS WEDNESDAY!!!

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

After all this fuss, I just had to have a look through this comic today: bright and colourful, with much better quality paper than the DANDY I remember. [twice as many pages as I remember as well]: very 21st-Century outlook and design.

The cartoonists and writers all seem to have had great fun working on this, and I wish this new update of the comic great success.

[Lew Stringer]

After all this fuss, I just had to have a look through this comic today: bright and colourful, with much better quality paper than the DANDY I remember. [twice as many pages as I remember as well]: very 21st-Century outlook and design.

The cartoonists and writers all seem to have had great fun working on this, and I wish this new update of the comic great success.

We're all having a great time Rab. Glad it's coming across.

The Dandy (and Beano) have had 32 glossy pages for a long time now, but this is the first publication to be printed outside of DC Thomson by their new printers. It's very posh.

[Digifiend]

New look http://www.dandy.com is up! Free samples of Desperate Dan, Postman Pratt, George vs Dragon, Shaolin Punks, and Count Snotula available to download.

Have you bought a copy James? What did you think?

Am about to go to the newsagent and pick up both Beano and Dandy. So I'll answer that later.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-New ... heryl_Cole
Good article about New Dandy from Sky News - pity about the comments:

The update has unfortunately been done with little regard to artistic skill. Desparate Dan looks so strange. It looks like a case of playing to the masses to try to get sales-remember what they did to the 're-vamped' Dennis the Menace a year or so back???And what Gnasher did to the re-vamp??Ripped it to shreds.

Evidently that fool doesn't realise that they design the strips for kids, not for nostalgics. Jamie's version of Dan is drastically different to Dudley Watkins and Ken Harrison, but that doesn't make it bad like this guy seems to think. Jamie's Desperate Dan was a rare success story in the Dandy Xtreme era.

EDIT: Stupid Martin McColls! They had The Dandy in the system at £2.50! I had to point out the correct price on the cover! How the hell they did that I don't know, considering the screens at the tills which display special offers were advertising the new look Dandy! I hope nobody's been overcharged because of this.

[Spencer]

Found the new Dandy's in Smiths Chelmsford. 28 of them stacked in 'Home Entertainment' next to 'Total Film' and 'DVD Review' - weird.

At lunchtime I moved 12 of them over to next to The Beano and 4 have since been sold...

Will keep you posted on how they are selling

[steven]

New look http://www.dandy.com is up! Free samples of Desperate Dan, Postman Pratt, George vs Dragon, Shaolin Punks, and Count Snotula available to download.

Have you bought a copy James? What did you think?

Am about to go to the newsagent and pick up both Beano and Dandy. So I'll answer that later.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-New ... heryl_Cole
Good article about New Dandy from Sky News - pity about the comments:

The update has unfortunately been done with little regard to artistic skill. Desparate Dan looks so strange. It looks like a case of playing to the masses to try to get sales-remember what they did to the 're-vamped' Dennis the Menace a year or so back???And what Gnasher did to the re-vamp??Ripped it to shreds.

Evidently that fool doesn't realise that they design the strips for kids, not for nostalgics. Jamie's version of Dan is drastically different to Dudley Watkins and Ken Harrison, but that doesn't make it bad like this guy seems to think. Jamie's Desperate Dan was a rare success story in the Dandy Xtreme era.

EDIT: Stupid Martin McColls! They had The Dandy in the system at £2.50! I had to point out the correct price on the cover! How the hell they did that I don't know, considering the screens at the tills which display special offers were advertising the new look Dandy! I hope nobody's been overcharged because of this.

£1.50 for a comic!!!!!

This bloke hasen't released how much the Dandy Extreme was especially the occassional price hike too when more gifts are in

[Digifiend]

Not to mention the fact that The Dandy is the cheapest comic you can buy this week (Beano's regular price when it has no gifts is £1.35, but that'll almost certainly go up to £1.50 when they switch to the external printers, as they'll presumably use the same paper stock as The Dandy). The days of getting comics for under a quid are gone forever.

[Sheldon]

Lauras done a very unusual manga type one..Shao Lin Punks very unusual style..like the chicken running across..
also the little series looks great..when he was young Wow Comic type But with celebraties..

I'm guessing it's by Wayne Thompson. Arm movement/eyes/line quality. Think he did Noel Edmonds as well!

I really love the mini strip idea, harks back to ye olde Dandy and really emphasises the snappy fun aspect of Dandy 4.0. Absolutely loved it, and it was sticking out like a sore thumb in WHSmiths! Hurrah!

[Jay]

At lunchtime I moved 12 of them over to next to The Beano and 4 have since been sold...

I've been doing the samething with the Beano for months! I like to think I've helped shift a few more copies to people who otherwise would've missed them.

Lew's blog has had a bad (or good) influence on me...

[Digifiend]

I agree about the mini-strips, Sheldon, it's a format they used way back in 1937, but updated for the 21st century. Although Korky with blue fur?

The comic certainly does stand out on the shelf. It's design is very modern and not like any other comics.

As for the other contents, Bananaman flying into a panel making it crack like glass, Postman Prat slipping and literally getting egg on his face ("we'll ome-lette you off though!"), George facing a plummet to make Alexander Lemming proud because unlike Dragon he can't fly! Just a few of the good jokes in there.

I just hope come Tuesday I don't find lots of issues still in the shop, like I often did the day before a new Xtreme came out. Because this really deserves to be a success.

[Mr. Sheridan]

Well... I was SO EXCITED to buy the new look Dandy today... I actually bought two copies... I just couldn't help myself.

I just wanted to congratulate everybody who has worked so hard to make Britain's oldest comic wonderful again.

I love the style, layout, humour, paper, characters... EVERYTHING!

(But can we have Desperate Dan over two pages again by Christmas! Ha ha!)

Let's raise a glass of banana milkshake to The Dandy!

[wayne thompson]

Congratulations to all who have contributed to make this comic happpen.
I can reveal i am responsible for The Mighty Bork, Banana Man, Pepperoni Pig,
Shaolin Punks and Noel Edmonds.

[felneymike]

Bought it, read it, loved it!

I saw it in the post office where i got my car tax, but they only had one so i left it for a child (it's in an area with an, ahem, high birth rate). Then on the way home i looked in Tesco but couldn't see it (i also looked for the last Xtreme on monday so i could possibly do a comparitive blog but they didn't have that either). Then i looked in the new shop in my village but they don't have any publications! (It was a big curry resturant that nobody's ever in so they turned half of it into a shop over about 2 days!). Then i looked in the old shop in my village and they had one copy too, but i couldn't wait so bought it! Had a brief chat with the owner about the last time i bought The Dandy it must have been about 25p! (actually it was probably more). I should have mentioned the price issue 1 went for a while ago and told him to have a look in the loft!

[Sheldon]

Wayne, that's an impressive difference in styles there!

[intune]

Well I felt like a ten year old again today. I was stupidly excited and hyped up after weeks of reading this thread and blogs from Lew and Nigel.

I arrived at my local Sainsburys for just after opening at 8am. I scanned the shelves and couldn't find it.

I was just about to leave and head to another shop on the other side of town when the shop worker wheeled around crates of magazines.
I loitered around pretending to be interested in gadget magazines and the like until I couldnt stand it.
I asked the shop assistant to search through his crates, and after a few grumbles he agreed.
They only seemed to have a few copies.
I was really impressed with look of the comic, that big bold masthead is unmissable. The paper it's printed on feels gorgeous. (is the Beano being printed on the same?) It was nice to see inside the comic, I hate bagged comics and magazines - I want to look inside before I spend my money.
After a quick flick through, I wanted to savour my excitement some more, so drove to my train station some 20 minutes early. After parking up I started to read.
I didn't care who spotted me reading The Dandy.

I am really really impressed. The artwork is great and the stories are funny. I think Harry Hill is fab and Postman Prat has so much potential. I always liked Desperate Dan, but now he's in another league - I was looking at some of his recent strips on Jamie's website. Very funny. I would have perhaps liked to have seen a little more from Korky, but I'm not complaining.

I love it - The ten year old me would have been totally crazy about it. Dare I say it even makes The Beano look a little 'old skool' -
It reminds me a little of 'Oink' - a comic I so wished I'd discovered much earlier than I did.

I hope it catches on and it gains new readers and advertisers.

Big big big congratulations to all involved, and thank you for keeping one of my childhood favourites alive.

[big bad bri]

its funny seeing all us old blokes on here getting exited again about comics again but i have one teensy tiny complaint about the new dandy.I didnt like the new bananaman the art just doesnt do it for me i know its for kids but bananaman has been a favourite of mine since nutty,although i did fell the same way with desperate dan when jamie started on it but have got used to it now.let the fireing squad now commence.
brian