ABCs for Jan-Jun 2011 - disappointing results...

[Little Squelchy Thing]

I draw cartoons myself, Little Squelchy, and I personally enjoy drawing over-the-top extreme stuff. But I don't want to draw it all the time.......I'd rather try and put over other aspects as well as the 'in-yer-face' stuff.

And so does The Dandy, mixing as it does more 'traditional' fare with the 'modern' stuff (I use inverted commas there, because I hate labelling them so...comics is comics, in all their weird and wonderful forms).

[AndyB]

How much of the problem is atrocious distribution getting worse in a vicious circle?

[Digifiend]

Poor distribution, so people can't find it, so it sells less, so shops stock less copies or stop selling it altogether, so people can't find it... yep, vicious circle alright. Good theory.

[STARBOY]

Would be really interesting to know how bad distribution really is - I honestly find the Dandy (Beano, and Commando comics) everywhere I go (2000ad in most Smiths as well but that seems to be the only place its available up here) - I'm in London pretty regularly and see DCTs big 2 at least in Smiths and other shops. In central Scotland it's available in most large newsagents and some small ones as well as Smiths. Is this the exception and the distribution is patchy outside Central Scotland, Glasgow, Lanarkshire and London? I see the latest Dandy has a free gift is that new?

[Raven]

Dandy's distribution seems fine to me, too.

[PaulTwist]

I know it's only one shop, but the Wigan branch of WH Smith has stopped taking The Dandy, even though they sell pretty much every other kids' comic, 2000 AD, Megazine, all the Panini Marvel reprints and Titan DC reprints, Clint etc. Presumably many other WHS branches have done likewise?

[starscape]

Plenty of Dandy in Nottingham. Unfortunately, seems to be plenty left each week. I doubt there's a huge difference between one month and the next. Can't see it being to blame for such a big drop.

[big bad bri]

when dandy relaunched a few months back it seemed to be in most newsagents and supermarkets in my area of london now those same newsagents dont stock it anymore some even stopping the beano and my local morrissons,tesco,sainsburys & asda have stopped dandy as well only selling the beano,i can only get dandy in Whs.perhaps dandy is only well stocked up north & scotland.i think they may try one more revamp before or around its 75th birthday and if that fails either go monthly or merge with beano or beanomax

[Digifiend]

Out of four shops which sell comics in my local shopping centre (those shops being Morrisons, Supernews and two branches of the Londis-owned News Plus), only one (one of the News Plus branches) sells the Dandy. Elsewhere in Hull I can also buy it from Asda, Tesco and WHSmith, but there's a lot of shops that don't have it. The distribution is better than Classics from the Comics (which I could only find in WHSmith) and the Fun-Sizes (WHSmith and Tesco only), but there's plenty of room for improvement.

[Tin Can Tommy]

I know it's only one shop, but the Wigan branch of WH Smith has stopped taking The Dandy, even though they sell pretty much every other kids' comic, 2000 AD, Megazine, all the Panini Marvel reprints and Titan DC reprints, Clint etc. Presumably many other WHS branches have done likewise?

i dont think i've ever actually seen 2000 AD on sale anywhere. I think i saw commando in a shop once but i dont particularly trust my memory. Also pretty much every shop which sells comics, at least ones ive been to, nearly always stocks the Beano, the Dandy, Beanomax, Simpsons comics and toxic.

[tony ingram]

I know it's only one shop, but the Wigan branch of WH Smith has stopped taking The Dandy, even though they sell pretty much every other kids' comic, 2000 AD, Megazine, all the Panini Marvel reprints and Titan DC reprints, Clint etc. Presumably many other WHS branches have done likewise?

i dont think i've ever actually seen 2000 AD on sale anywhere. I think i saw commando in a shop once but i dont particularly trust my memory. Also pretty much every shop which sells comics, at least ones ive been to, nearly always stocks the Beano, the Dandy, Beanomax, Simpsons comics and toxic.

I doubt that there's a branch of WH Smith anywhere that doesn't sell 2000AD. It's often stocked with the SF and cult TV mags rather than alongside the Beano, though.

[Tin Can Tommy]

I know it's only one shop, but the Wigan branch of WH Smith has stopped taking The Dandy, even though they sell pretty much every other kids' comic, 2000 AD, Megazine, all the Panini Marvel reprints and Titan DC reprints, Clint etc. Presumably many other WHS branches have done likewise?

i dont think i've ever actually seen 2000 AD on sale anywhere. I think i saw commando in a shop once but i dont particularly trust my memory. Also pretty much every shop which sells comics, at least ones ive been to, nearly always stocks the Beano, the Dandy, Beanomax, Simpsons comics and toxic.

I doubt that there's a branch of WH Smith anywhere that doesn't sell 2000AD. It's often stocked with the SF and cult TV mags rather than alongside the Beano, though.

i've never seen it but then i dont think i've ever properly looked for it.

[-MikeD-]

As mentioned earlier; distribution in Hull is patchy. And the comic isn't where it should be...in the Tesco Local and Sainsbury's Local stores...because of problems getting the large distributors (such as WHSmiths) to handle and promote old fashioned, honest to goodness comics.

There's some truth in the fact that if you throw enough money at something and get it into every store it will probably be a success, whatever the quality of your product, even if it's fairly poor (Ben %@&*ing 10).

But I also believe, maybe with the naivety of a fan and not the more rounded and pragmatic view of an industry watcher, that quality will sell itself. Create something that kids really want and word of mouth will spread and they'll find it. At least, enough of them will to make it worthwhile.

Clearly, this isn't happening. So either the product is flawed in some way (see many of the posts on the last umpteen pages) or the medium isn't relevant to kids anymore and it's time to invest heavily in digital distribution....

[Tin Can Tommy]

i cant see digital distribution being the way forward unless you have a lot of advertising no one is gonna know the comic exists. There are a lot of free web comics out there so thats gonna be a big problem as well because there is so much competition.

[Digifiend]

Mike, so true, there are dozens of Sainsbury's Local and Tesco Express stores in Hull. But the only Tesco I've seen the Dandy in recently is the big one at the St Stephen's centre in town, and Sainsbury's seem to have discontinued it not long after the revamp, it having been understocked since it was still Jackson's.