This week's issue Take 2

[NP]

Dennis's parents' new look could end up overridden by the next cartoon series - I wonder if Red Kite are aware of the redesigns?

They are

[Peter Gray]

issue numbers are back on cover...and great to see the paraolympics on the cover and inside...

[Digifiend]

Glad to hear that.

[Peter Gray]

Minnie's Dad has changed to having red hair..and younger.drawn by Ken H. H

[Digifiend]

That makes three Dads made younger and clean shaven (I assume) then. The Bash Street Teacher is the last moustachio (and since the kids are equally outdated, I think it'll remain that way until Dave Sutherland stops drawing BSK, and I can see him dying on the job). At least Minnie hasn't changed artist, I like Ken's version of her.

[-MikeD-]

I think it'll remain that way until Dave Sutherland stops drawing BSK, and I can see him dying on the job.

All this shaving of dads will make using reprints more difficult in the future...

[David Gerstein]

Dennis' new parents designs look like entirely different characters—even their body structures and head shapes are different. It's as if they'd suddenly replaced Dennis himself with the blonde American Dennis. It's beyond a revision, and simply too hard to accept as the same characters.
Wouldn't merely dropping a few mustaches and tweaking clothing styles would have made them younger and smarter enough?

Alternately, if this is a decision mandated by CBBC, then why should they be revising their already-successful series this radically?

[TwoHeadedBoy]

Agreed, Dennis's new parents can't be the REAL ones, surely? Maybe it's all an elaborate hoax? To get Dennis to appreciate his "normal" parents more, perhaps?

And what's going on with ditching Foo-Foo after so many years?

[Digifiend]

That did surprise me about Foo-Foo, especially since they only recently brought him back after he mysteriously vanished in the 2009 revamp, but to be fair, a poodle was right for an effeminate softy. But Walter isn't like that any more, he's a sneaky know-it-all now. And his new cat, Claudius, seems to match that new personality.

I think it'll remain that way until Dave Sutherland stops drawing BSK, and I can see him dying on the job.

What's so shocking about that comment? It happened to Dudley Watkins.

Alternately, if this is a decision mandated by CBBC, then why should they be revising their already-successful series this radically?

Can't be just a CBBC mandate, as if it was, Roger and Minnie's Dads wouldn't have been changed. This is an overall modernisation attempt.

[felneymike]

I'm not sure anybody fancies literally dying on the job, though, as Dudley Watkins, Tommy Cooper and of course Kenneth Horne did (only moments after plugging the fifth series of his radio show)

[Lew Stringer]

That did surprise me about Foo-Foo, especially since they only recently brought him back after he mysteriously vanished in the 2009 revamp, but to be fair, a poodle was right for an effeminate softy. But Walter isn't like that any more, he's a sneaky know-it-all now. And his new cat, Claudius, seems to match that new personality.

I think it'll remain that way until Dave Sutherland stops drawing BSK, and I can see him dying on the job.

What's so shocking about that comment? It happened to Dudley Watkins.

It's a bit blunt isn't it, and perhaps not very pleasant if Dave or his family read what you'd put. Do you think it might have been more tasteful if you'd said "Dave Sutherland shows no signs of retiring"?

[AndyB]

Dave definitely shows no sign of retiring. I've been very glad he has stayed well all these years.

If Foo-Foo had a fault it was that he could be one dimensional apart from the Fairy Tales came along. Claudius could be a far better match for Gnasher, and has the added dimension that he is quite probably too smart for Walter's own good.

Speaking of Walter, look back to old strips such as those in the Beano summer specials. Walter took years to become the simpering softy we knew and loved - some of the 1960s strips show a side to Walter just as sneaky or worse than the TV version. The cycle race example on page 36 of Ultimate Summer Special No.3 is a case in point.

Also worth mentioning - Minnie's dad has only appeared in so many strips fairly recently, basically since Ken started drawing the strip (I believe there was a change of writer at this stage too) - there are a great deal of old strips which can be used if Ken falls behind without disturbing the look and feel.

[David Gerstein]

Walter took years to become the simpering softy we knew and loved - some of the 1960s strips show a side to Walter just as sneaky or worse than the TV version.

That's why I don't mind Walter losing some "softness" and becoming sneaker again: there's quite a lot of precedent, and Dennis' real golden age writers seem to have preferred it.
I found the 1980s-90s Walter funny, and likeable too—but maybe the original was a better match for Dennis.

That said, are we sure Foo-Foo is gone for good?

[AndyB]

Foo-foo? I wouldn't bet on him being gone for good, even if it's just to give Walter an extra hard time.

[TwoHeadedBoy]

It's the whole "Foo-Foo's gone to live on a farm" thing which is a bit worrying. Isn't that what you tell kids if their pet has met with an unfortunate fate?