Free Gift gallery

[Lew Stringer]

I've finally gotten around to uploading some scans of old free gifts on my blog. More to come when I have time:

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/11 ... art-1.html

[colcool007]

That is a great post Lew. My favoured League Table was from the 1979/80 season, so I will have to dig to see what comic that came from, but I have a feeling that ROTR may have been involved.

You have yet to mention the myriad of medals on a diorama that came from DCT and the booklets filled with stickers from later issues, but I am sure that you will get to them. A modern equivalent would be those ruddy huge albums given away with 386 stickers to put in them and you would be beggared to ever get sticker 135 or equivalent!

My take on it was the Superman cards from films 1 and 2 and I collected for months to build that giant picture on the back (you know the one, where you had to collect however many cards to build up the picture on the reverse of the cards). I suppose one of the modern versions is my lil 'un's quest to collect the Club Penguin Card-Jitsu trading card game (or TCG if you like).

I do however have a fondness for those miniature hand-guns given away in the late 70's/early 80's where you had those horrible yellow caps instead of a proper roll of caps.

It is a shame that free-gifts are no longer the comics event they once were, but as times change, so does the economics of the market. I understand the need for companies to keep up with the times; however, it does not mean that I do not mourn the passing of the event that once was a comic free gift.

[Lew Stringer]

You have yet to mention the myriad of medals on a diorama that came from DCT

I had scheduled Part 2 for later this week but as you've mentioned those medals, I've uploaded it now:

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/11 ... art-2.html

It is a shame that free-gifts are no longer the comics event they once were, but as times change, so does the economics of the market. I understand the need for companies to keep up with the times; however, it does not mean that I do not mourn the passing of the event that once was a comic free gift.

Yes, I think the free gift has been devalued because they're so commonplace these days. They're a disadvantage to comics because they're so bulky the comic can't be seen, nor can the gift! Today's kids must be so blaisé about them. They're no longer a special treat now that EVERY comic has them every issue.

Sadly, people now expect a comic to carry a freebie. The other day I saw a kid in a newsagents pick up The Dandy and his Dad said "Not that one. Here's a better one. It's got a free toy with it". Sheesh!

[Digifiend]

And I bet that other comic cost a lot more than £1.50 too.... so the gift isn't free.

You should've given that dad a talking to. Point out that The Dandy is cheaper too (the only cheaper title to my knowledge is The Beano).

[Muffy]

Nice bit of blogging Lew.

I too still have lots of old free gifts, including badges and sticker albums from the late 70s/early 1980s. I sometimes give the nephews some of these old free gifts. They liked the 'thunderbags', mildly entertained by the kazoo noise-blow things, but weren't impressed with cut-out cardboard masks at all.

I still have the unused iron-on Blakes 7 logo; Lots of plastic mini-frisbee type items; TV Comic transfers; some very thin records.

I ate all of the edible gifts

[Jay]

I don't know if he's your typical British comic buyer nowadays but my 10 year old nephew sometimes buys Toxic, BeanoMAX or Doctor Who Adventures purely for the 'free' gifts. He'll often skim through the pages not really reading any of it and then play with the toys for 10 minutes before they break.

[Lew Stringer]

I don't know if he's your typical British comic buyer nowadays but my 10 year old nephew sometimes buys Toxic, BeanoMAX or Doctor Who Adventures purely for the 'free' gifts. He'll often skim through the pages not really reading any of it and then play with the toys for 10 minutes before they break.

I know. Depressing isn't it?

Feedback shows that some buyers do read the comics, but from what I've seen in shops kids and parents sort through the comics to find the best free toy.

Unfortunately we now have parents who grew up on comics with cover mounts, so most of them expect comics to have a gift. The situation will only get worse as the current generation grow up, expecting to see bagged comics and toys for their kids. Reading seems secondary, as the poor grammar of most internet comments would prove. (This forum being an exception 'cos we grew up reading.)

That's why it's important that The new Dandy succeeds, to prove that there are still kids who want a comic without free toys. If that works, then it'll inspire publishers to do more comics. Can we save the future or is it too late?

[Raven]

Reading seems secondary, as the poor grammar of most internet comments would prove. (This forum being an exception 'cos we grew up reading.)

Actually, this forum has its fair share of poor grammar!

[Lew Stringer]

Reading seems secondary, as the poor grammar of most internet comments would prove. (This forum being an exception 'cos we grew up reading.)

Actually, this forum has its fair share of poor grammar!

Not compared to the text-speak illiteracy of some other forums.

[Kashgar]

Nice to see all those Odhams free gifts in the flesh Lew. I was particularly impressed with the fact that most of them were yours originally and kept for over forty years. I was much too heavy-handed a child for that to have been true of me.
A couple of points on the Thomson free gifts. Jeff Bevan, who got a mention for his work in the New Hotspur free gift booklet on this forum a couple of weeks ago, was also the artist whose work is displayed on 'Badges of the Brave' and 'For Valour' in the selection shown. With regard to the Skipper free gift booklet 'Grins and Groans' the back cover artwork isn't by Dudley Watkins though but Chick Gordon.

[Digifiend]

Reading seems secondary, as the poor grammar of most internet comments would prove. (This forum being an exception 'cos we grew up reading.)

Actually, this forum has its fair share of poor grammar!

Not compared to the text-speak illiteracy of some other forums.

Yeah, I've come across people who can't speak English properly. One Portuguese guy on one forum I visit always uses future tense (will be) instead of past tense (was) which always confuses people. I've never seen such problems here. And most members are old enough not to use text speak here. I'm only aware of two members who are still teenagers. And going back to your earlier post...

Unfortunately we now have parents who grew up on comics with cover mounts, so most of them expect comics to have a gift. The situation will only get worse as the current generation grow up, expecting to see bagged comics and toys for their kids. Reading seems secondary, as the poor grammar of most internet comments would prove. (This forum being an exception 'cos we grew up reading.)

That's why it's important that The new Dandy succeeds, to prove that there are still kids who want a comic without free toys. If that works, then it'll inspire publishers to do more comics. Can we save the future or is it too late?

Agreed. One thing that puts me off BeanoMax, and did for Dandy Xtreme, was high prices (this month's BeanoMax is £3.99!) because of not-free cover mounted gifts. Bring back stable pricing (hopefully, they already did, but Beano weekly hasn't had any free gifts since the week of the Dandy's revamp, so I guess we'll see after Christmas).

[Phoenix]

Yeah, I've come across people who can't speak English properly. One Portuguese guy on one forum I visit always uses future tense (will be) instead of past tense (was) which always confuses people. I've never seen such problems here.

What a curious example you have chosen to prove your point, Digi. The Portuguese guy uses Portuguese in his day-to-day activities. The point at issue here relates to English speakers who are unable to express themselves in accurate English which, to my way of thinking, does not just mean that it should be grammatically correct but that it should be presented in complete sentences without any spelling mistakes. Raven is quite right, such errors are frequent on this forum. Furthermore, I'm not sure I can agree that the Portuguese guy always confuses people, because if he always uses a future tense when he should use a past tense, his readers will make an automatic mental adjustment before starting to read a new post from him as they will know exactly what to expect.

[Lew Stringer]

Yeah, I've come across people who can't speak English properly. One Portuguese guy on one forum I visit always uses future tense (will be) instead of past tense (was) which always confuses people.

To be fair to him, English is his second language. I was just making a quick swipe at English people who display poor grammar/spelling on other forums.

[Lew Stringer]

Nice to see all those Odhams free gifts in the flesh Lew. I was particularly impressed with the fact that most of them were yours originally and kept for over forty years. I was much too heavy-handed a child for that to have been true of me.

Some were tested to destruction but I always tried to look after my stuff.

A couple of points on the Thomson free gifts. Jeff Bevan, who got a mention for his work in the New Hotspur free gift booklet on this forum a couple of weeks ago, was also the artist whose work is displayed on 'Badges of the Brave' and 'For Valour' in the selection shown. With regard to the Skipper free gift booklet 'Grins and Groans' the back cover artwork isn't by Dudley Watkins though but Chick Gordon.

Thanks for that Ray. I didn't think it looked like the work of D. Watkins but as it was seven years before The Dandy I wasn't sure if his style was different then. I made the mistake of believing a source on another website. I should have known better, especially considering I compared the internet to the knowledge of a bloke in a pub in the latest Viz.

[Digifiend]

Reliable as ever Ray. I didn't think that looked like DDW's work either, but I wasn't about to dispute it when I didn't recognise who it actually was.