Guess who's back...

[Phoenix]

How come the Beanos budget cannot stretch to original artwork every week? If DC Thomson can pay millions for the friends reunited website why can't they give Alan Digby a few hundred quid more per week to fund an extra few artists and writers per week? I'm ready for the obvious answer that I haven't thought of!

I doubt whether those people in charge of funding are too bothered about complaints such as this one, Steve. There has been a tightening of the purse strings there for over a year now, as there has been in most areas of production elsewhere. The company has shed staff, even in senior positions. When things get easier, no doubt The Beano will get an increase in its funding, but it will surely have to take its turn along with all the other titles Thomsons produce. In the light of this, it is important to remember that a few hundred quid more per week spent on The Beano, when multiplied by the number of their other titles, would very soon reach the kind of figures that cannot be sustained in the current financial climate. Cutbacks, rationalisation, thinking outside the box, survival techniques are the norm everywhere. Why should Thomsons be any different? Presumably, the reason they bought Friends Reunited, which they got for a song anyway, is because they believe it will make a healthy profit for them.

[Steve Henderson]

Well if the friends reunited deal goes tits up then maybe they would have been better investing in their publications rather than a website that was only worth a fraction of what ITV paid for it a few years ago and now comes with an almighty pain in the arse.

DC Thomson can have any other advice they want from me free of charge!

[RamblingSid]

Well if the friends reunited deal goes tits up then maybe they would have been better investing in their publications rather than a website that was only worth a fraction of what ITV paid for it a few years ago and now comes with an almighty pain in the arse.

DC Thomson can have any other advice they want from me free of charge!

There was an article in one of the papers a few months ago (it might have been the Scotsman or the Herald but I honestly can't remember) which discussed the purchase of Friends Reunited. It seems that the real purpose for the purchase was for Genes Reunited, which will be part of the biggest genealogy site in the UK. Apparently Thomsons are already active in that line and making a profit but this will make it much bigger. Nothing to do with comics - just what I remember from the paper.

[Peter Gray]

Reading the Beano website it say Calamity James will be in tomorrows Beano...