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

[PaulTwist]

Now that I think about it, now that WH Smith and Morrisons in Wigan have both stopped stocking The Dandy, I don't *think* there's anywhere in the actual town centre that one can buy it. Asda and Tesco are each ten minute walks away, and both stock The Dandy, but none of the town centre's newsagents or supermarkets sell it. And Wigan's not a tiny town. I know this is anecdotal, but if there's a similar situation in other similar towns then that's quite a worry. Incidentally, Wigan WHS stocked the Dandy Xtreme without fail.

[-MikeD-]

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.

Yeah...it's worrying that it isn't in the shops that most families visit at least once a day. The very shops that put the last nail in the coffin of the local newsagents...

[WizzKid97]

Maybe the reason for the loss of readers is because seeing as it's mostly parents who buy the Dandy for their kids, they may not recognise the comic as the Dandy, with no recognisable characters on the front (especially Summer Specials where Harry Hill wasn't even on there!)

I'm sure the Dandy will do better if they put Dan or Korky or a new strip which has done well (like Mr Meecher/George VS Dragon) on the front cover. Also bringing back the old front covers with the better (and bigger) title.

Maybe also improving the website. Make it like the Beano website. With a sneak peek of that week's issue. It seems no one knows what the front cover is going to look like for that week so they're wouldn't be on the lookout for a particular image.

Or maybe it's because of the celebrities, if you feel it is, why not join our Facebook Page made in order to stop celebrity stories in the Dandy:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Drop-Cele ... 21?sk=info

The Dandy in the last 6 months have lost a shocking 48% of their readers, with the percentage much higher than most other comics could we be saying goodbye to the beloved Dandy? Could we soon be seeing on the internet, the Dandy 1937-2011? Or can we make a difference? Can we help, can we get more interested?

One of the main problems with the Dandy is that even though the revamp was incredible and inspiring, their choice to add celebrities made two sides form. Those that LIKED the celebrities and the arguably higher side who DISLIKED the celebrities. Removing Desperate Dan as the main character and replacing him with Harry Hill was a BIG mistake. Why is it that celebrities aren't liked in comics? Because their real, they're not made from someone's imagination like all the PROPER stories.

This Facebook group has been made to see if we can show the Dandy that we readers want a 'No Celebrities Comic' instead of one riddled with so many celebrities that it seems to be pretending to be a gossip magazine.

If you care about the future of UK's longest running humour comic then please, make a difference by joining this page.

Thank you.

[starscape]

I don't believe dropping celebrities will make a difference. Also, Dandy's had more promotion than most comics in the form of the Sunday Post giveaway, as well as various bits'n'pieces of news-stories. Sure, people would like more but it's still more than most comics. Perhaps the frequency is too much but I do believe it's the lack of free gifts unfortunately.

As for shops now not stocking the Dandy - that's putting the horse before the cart. I saw more Dandy in the first few weeks of the relaunch compared with the previous Extreme. Shops will then adjust their stock to reflect actual sales once the promo has gone. If they are not now in your local shop, it's because it's not selling. Except for the places that wouldn't have sold the Extreme, it wouldn't be the other way around. If it will sell, it will be brought in at the right quantity. Pure business, no nostalgia or comic fanaticism.

[-MikeD-]

I don't believe dropping celebrities will make a difference. Also, Dandy's had more promotion than most comics in the form of the Sunday Post giveaway, as well as various bits'n'pieces of news-stories. Sure, people would like more but it's still more than most comics.

Really..? More than wall to wall repeats on The Cartoon Network and a multiple-million dollar film and toy range? A hit series every night on Channel 4? The all pervasive Disney Marketing machine? See Ben 10, The Simpsons' Comic and whatever turd Disney have dropped in a bag of tat this week.

It appears that most of what we still refer to as comics have far more marketing than is feasible for an all-original, well crafted title even with The Dandy's pedigree.

[Tin Can Tommy]

I think the BBC info was about 20 years out of date. Sounds right for the 1970s or early 1980s, not 2001.

This Daily Mail article from 2006 appears to be even more out of date at the end it says Weekly sales have dropped, however, from two million in the 1950s to over 400,000 today though its Christmas annuals remain especially popular among young and old. 400,000 in 2006 thats ridiculously high i doubt any british comic has sold that much weekly since the 1980s.

[STARBOY]

I agree that the Simpson's, Disney comics etc get a massive promotional boost from tv/films etc but that's because the cartoons , toys, films etc are the main areas/subject matter - in these cases the comic is the spin off based only on the cartoon , toy etc- the Dandy is just a comic it has no film, prime time cartoon or toy so it is limited in how much coverage it can get on TV and just can't compete with a daily cartoon at prime time or a multi dollar film on which a comic has been based - its apples and oranges - For a comic the Dandy has had some amazing coverage as previously noted and as a result I would have expected it to catch up with the Beano at least - I do agree though that the TV celebs is not the way to go and would use Dan, Korky etc on the cover ( but I base that on nothing other than a preference which means nothing in reality)

[Digifiend]

From the Dandy subforum:

Its mentioned in the news
http://www.deadlinenews.co.uk/2011/09/1 ... backfired/

As recent Dandy relaunches seemed to have lasted every 3 years. Will this Dandy stand up to 2013 with or without celebs?

[Tin Can Tommy]

It appears that The Beano's weekly sales have halved since 2007 which is when sales really started to go down after previously being stable at around 75,000 (for 2006 and 2007 my source said nothing before that) and The Beano sells only around the same that The Dandy did in 2006 and that was about when they thought the sales of The Dandy were too low and created Dandy Xtreme. http://www.downthetubes.net/resources/c ... sales.html

[yanobandy]

Apparently the advent of Commando's digital distribution and the publicity and "events" surrrounding it's 50th birthday have seen sales rise. The Dandy should take several leaves out of their book for the 75th birthday. Maybe each issue could reprint a strip from it's corresponding issue in the first year (the birthday issue have something from issue 1, next week something from issue 2 etc). Also give it the big coffee table book treatment, really "push" the annual and include a "You can read this every week!" advert in it. Also during that summer set up an exhibition of original artwork / workshop with "meet the artist" days and so on at some popular holiday destination... and so on.

It aint over til the fat cowboy sings!

He sung in the 1994 Dandy Annual, and it sure didnt end then!