Comics UK

Would be interesting to know if the Dandy Xtreme is currently under the axe or is DCT happy(ish) with its currently sales.

Digifiend wrote: Surely free gifts entice kids, not parents, who would know that the gift is likely to be played with once then get broken or just ignored (I'm referring to non-edible gifts obviously)?

Sometimes the gifts are already broken when you buy the comic, presumably due to heavier mags being on top of the pile in the warehouse. I'd be very disappointed if I was a kid looking forward to the free gift.

We live in strange times for British comics.

Lew

SID wrote:Would be interesting to know if the Dandy Xtreme is currently under the axe or is DCT happy(ish) with its currently sales.

Yes it would - anyone know how to find out? (or does anyone here work for Thomsons?)

Lew did a blog on sales figures (its from last august im sure sales figures will be different for better or worse since these figures were published) I was amazed to see comic titles I have never heard of above the Dandy, pre school stuff that proves that parents have incredible influence over sales

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2008/08 ... tions.html

Would they just merge The Dandy X-treme with BeanoMax rather than dump a load of established characters? It would be horrible to think of Desperate Dan in the Job centre

Merge with Beano Weekly is more likely. I reckon only three or four comic strips would carry over though - most likely Jak and Todd, Desperate Dan, Marvo the Wonder Chicken (at least until his TV show has aired) and Bananaman.

If THOMSON have started going down the dubious route of creating characters that are ideal for 'franchise' on TV and merchandising, it is a slippery, downwards slope that will likely mean the death-knell for traditional UK comics. DCT'S strength in their glory days came from the fact that they took no notice of cynical trends/fads in the 'outside world', but they have definately been complicent in okaying a sterile, gutless DENNIS TV animation, to cite one example.

THOMSON missed the boat regarding merchandising their original characters , which really only started in the very late 1980s.......now they seem reduced to following trends, rather than establishing them.......what they seem to pursuing today is contributing little more than creating a homegenous, clone-like entertainment world that is a watered-down, non-anarchic, seen-it-all-before non-event.


yours cynically......

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote: DCT'S strength in their glory days came from the fact that they took no notice of cynical trends/fads in the 'outside world', but they have definately been complicent in okaying a sterile, gutless DENNIS TV animation, to cite one example.

THOMSON missed the boat regarding merchandising their original characters , which really only started in the very late 1980s.......now they seem reduced to following trends, rather than establishing them.......what they seem to pursuing today is contributing little more than creating a homegenous, clone-like entertainment world that is a watered-down, non-anarchic, seen-it-all-before non-event.

People are just too obsessed with the ridiculous focus group-led marketing types now, whose thinking has infiltrated everything. I still find it bizarre when even fans themselves use phrases like "The Beano brand" which is marketing speak for 'product line.' Everything is now product, it's all in the hands of the marketers, and everyone's starting to speak their language!

It's a cowardly environment where people won't take risks, or trust the instincts of creative people - even though their former successes came from doing just that.

It's interesting how many children's characters are returning in anodyne new versions. Take Raggety from Rupert, for example, the stick creature who was rather creepy in the old strips and Rupert TV series. The new Raggety is like a cuddly cabbage patch doll; completely unrecognisable. Do a Google Image search for Raggety to compare the two.

And does trusting solely in the marketing people and their focus groups and all their blather about demographics actually work? Often, no, it doesn't.

I don't think you can overestimate the importance of trusting in the gut instincts and inspirations of the actual creative people, or in daring to take risks.

I'm no Marvo fan. The best properties (other than Dennis) to make for TV would be Bananaman (I know, like Dennis, it's been done before!), Billy the Cat (would probably need to introduce a regular villain though) and Desperate Dan (dunno why that wasn't attempted 10 or 15 years ago to be honest). Most of the other Thomson characters are either the type that just won't work in animation, or too expensive to make in live action. The adventure strips don't tend to have regular baddies like Marvel characters do, which can cause story problems for a half hour show. Although the BBC have made a version of Peter's Pocket Grandpa, albeit renamed and with no mention of The Dandy (Thomsons should sue for royalties, Cbeebies' Grandpa in My Pocket is a total copycat of PPG!).

BILLY WHIZZ has real potential for animation, but to do it properly would likely be too expensive for TV animation budgets.

Nah they could just pretend hes ran past so fast that you can't see him!

even if you can't SEE him in animated form, Steve, the 'G-force' aftermath he leaves behind him still has great potential for animation....at least, in my imagination.......


[WARNERS' ROAD RUNNER series often featured the title star depicted as a blur, but there were still opportunities for great animation.]

Other speedsters have appeared on TV...

The Flash has only ever had a live action series, not a cartoon. But Quicksilver appears in most of the X-Men cartoons: quote from Wikipedia

Quicksilver appeared as a part of the Avengers in select episodes of the Captain America portion of The Marvel Superheroes.
Quicksilver guest-stars in 4 episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series voiced by Paul Haddad.
Quicksilver is a recurring character in X-Men: Evolution voiced by Richard Ian Cox.
Quicksilver appears in Wolverine and the X-Men voiced by Mark Hildreth.

I just wish that the editors would learn to leave stuff alone. For me, the dandy was never the same since the departure of Bully Beef and Chips. Since then they began to get less traditional and more cartoony. No offence to people who liked him, or Wight himself, but Steven Wight's artwork gave me a lot of Bad memories. As a kid, I thought his style was crude, and rather unpleasant to lok at, but I can put up with it now.

So, The dandy Xtreme in my opinion stops the Dandy from being the longest running comic in britain because it's no longer a comic. (Come on, just because it has a comic section doesn't make it a comic. Newspapers have comic strips and they're not comics).

Then again, it's less of a reprintmania than it was originally, with none of the comic strips being reprints anymore. I haven't bought a dandy for a while now, but I think it's rather stupid that it's a bit expensive. Sigh. When I used to buy the Beano a lot it was about 60 odd pence.

I think well known comic strips are probably the ones with the best potential for animation. Most British adventure stories wouldn't work because a lack of consistent characters (other than the lead character(s)), and they tend not to be associated with comics like the Beano and Dandy anyway. One thing DCT appeared to have missed is that putting their characters on the small screen can be used to promote their comics!

I would absolutely love to see Billy Whizz on TV. I think it would be best if they based it on stories from the comic though. However, it would have to be traditional cartoon animation - live action would simply not work, for obvious reasons, and I don't think CGI would look enough like the character for the comic. Of course, there is also the issue of which version. I think a Trevor Metcalfe version with the original hair but the modern tracksuit would be best suited.

Anyone ever thought of making their own episodes of their favourite comic characters?

Actually, I disagree. Billy has never lent himself to long stories (specifically, to the standard 7-minute length), and I recall very few Comic Libraries or Funsize Beanos - he always did better with one-page strips. New material would have to be written.