Comics UK

Lew Stringer wrote:

Yes, Oink was packed with ideas and much more inspired overall. Worth noting that it seemed to come from creative individuals let loose and doing their 'thang' to the bemusement of their publishers, rather than from the results of focus groups and market researchers!

As you may know, Oink! was packaged outside of IPC by a bunch of guys in Manchester who were all cartoonists and writers in their own right. It was a great comic to work for and we freelancers were indeed "let loose" to do our own thing.



Lew[/quote]


Well, to me, this is what you do to get something good, Lew - you go to creative individuals and ask them "What are you absolutely BURNING to create?" rather than go to focus groups who presume that an audience automatically knows what it wants. You go to the creatives and you let them do the dream projects they've been bursting to do for years - and ideally there'll be such zest, gusto, energy and enthusiasm to the finished work that audiences will naturally follow and want to be a part of it.

PS - your blog is compulsive reading!

I must admit that when I made that comment before about creative people being brought in to do their stuff, I was half-joking with the craziness of it all. And yet, it's interesting to note that the new(ish) characters that have been really popular in the Dandy and Beano lately - things like Derek the Sheep and Space Raoul - were created exactly that way. Just cartoonists going "Hey, I wanna draw this! It'll be a larf!". Unfortunately, when there's a goodly amount of money at stake, the People in Charge tend to home in on concepts they see to be familiar, safe bets. It's the same in most media-based industries. I guess the ray of hope is that if you bring in people who really know their onions, they can take those old and familiar concepts and turn them into something fresh and exciting. Like the oft-mentioned Doctor Who, for instance.

(As an aside, I'd like to note that I haven't seen Dandy Xtreme in any of my local shops since I picked up issue 1. Meaning? I hesitate to speculate...)

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My stuffs:
http://www.laurahowell.co.uk

LauraH wrote:I must admit that when I made that comment before about creative people being brought in to do their stuff, I was half-joking with the craziness of it all. And yet, it's interesting to note that the new(ish) characters that have been really popular in the Dandy and Beano lately - things like Derek the Sheep and Space Raoul - were created exactly that way. Just cartoonists going "Hey, I wanna draw this! It'll be a larf!".

Those are the two strips I'd say instantly leap out at you as being done that way - they're fab and really stand out and are absolutely the way to go. I only recently discovered Derek the Sheep and it's a treat. Great to hear that they've been really popular. They're genuinely funny and clearly come from 'somewhere else.'

I don't think the creative people being brought in and trusted to do their stuff thing is crazy - it's how most great things have been done. But in a world increasingly ruled by branding/marketing types it's becoming less likely to happen.

(I've only just discovered your own work through your website, Laura.)

to follow on from previous threads, i was amazed when the Dandy took on my work, and they continued to be of an immense support all the way through MOG and Space Raoul. they never asked to see what i was coming up with(either writing or drawing) until i sent the finished pages to them, and never changed or edited what i did. that level of trust and encouragement is everything an artist needs to do their best work, to be allowed to run away with their imagination. i don't, personally, feel that there is enough of that spirit around, as often it is safer to keep an artist doing what's been done endlessly before, to keep regurgitating out the same stuff. and thats not interesting to an artist, who then won't do their best work. so why should anyone read that?

i grew up a HUGE fan of Oink, it was the right level of anarchy and disgustingly offensive humour but, and this is incredibly important, it was smart too. it never patronised, never spoke down, just remained gloriously irreverant, thundering along under its own steam.

i applaud the Dandy's attempts at revising themselves if that's what the market's asking for. but, and this applies to all comics, if you want to really get a response out of children, use the wealth of comic talent in this country and encourage them to come up with their own characters, stories, concepts. you'll get so many fascinating new avenues to go down, and spark up the imaginations of all the children who read them.

jamie

jamie wrote:to follow on from previous threads, i was amazed when the Dandy took on my work, and they continued to be of an immense support all the way through MOG and Space Raoul.

You're talking in the past tense there... does that mean you won't be returning? I hope not. As a fan of Bear it was quite a pleasant surprise when I found out you were working on the Dandy!

hey paul
i asked for some time off at the beginning of this year to work on tv shows, the Dandy were most gracious and allowed me all the time i needed. although taking 7 months off is probably taking the P**s by now :p
i don't know if i'll back in the Dandy soon, now they've revamped and are moving away from creator owned properties i might not fit so well. i should sort out the rest of my shambolic 'career' too... ^_^

Jamie what tv project is it...?

Also I bought every story you did in the Dandy and can't wait to read your work in the Dandy annual...the purple story looks interesting...
Hope you don't give up on comics

..Derek the sheep is going strong and the best original wacky story in The Beano...all the other stories are getting a bit tired...except Ratz and ironically the reprints Fred's Bed..Hoot Squad...

Maybe its time you worked for The Beano..

I would buy Dandy Extreem if you were in it...I've stopped buying since the revamp to rubbish mag/ comic

Just thought I'd revive this thread momentarily to say that the Dandy Xtreme has just come out here in Australia. I thought I'd buy the last regular Dandy and the first Xtreme just to have them (I don't buy it regularly).

I have to say it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. OK, so it's not my cup of tea and seems to be a bit light on with content, but maybe that's the way kids like it. Certainly the 'Comix' is my favourite bit, and very glad to see reprints of Smasher and the old Desperate Dans - Although I'd also love to see more new KHH Dan also.

Any idea how it is going? Is it selling better or worse than the old comic? Has it changed at all since this first issue? Considering the polls showed that Comix was most popular (unless that was just people from here voting 50 times each... has that expanded to more than 16 pages? Is the 'comix' selection still the same?

IMHO the non-comic content seems to be very shallow and doesn't really give more info than kids could probably get online. Not that I expect kids want it to be 'deep' anyway, so maybe it's just right. I dunno, I guess time will tell. If we're seeing a 'The Beano and The Dandy' comic this time next year I guess we'll know.

Ross

Hi all,

Just wanted to bring a little joy to this post!

Regular readers will know I buy Beano and Dandy for my 2 sons (age 9 and 7 respectively) and despite their initial trepidation with Dandy Extreme they have really enjoyed the last couple of issues. As well as all the strips they enjoy the 'Wacked' feature and they were rolling up at the Daleks Vs Cyberman photostrip!!!

Sad to say the 2 things that do cause issue are the number of strips (or lack of) and the frequency of pulbication - eldest gets Beano every week and youngest only gets Dandy every fortnight. I try to placate him with a Dandy comic library in between but doesn't really work.!!!

Anyway. glad it's finding it's feet a little now - hopefully other readers are settling in too...

Happy Birthday Dandy.....70 years young today...an amazing achievment...

I'm hoping Cuddles and Dimples mention it...

I think young people would want to know as they do read classic Desperate Dans so they are not blind to the amazing past...

The Dandy 70 year special (a bit like a summer special) hope this will come out...just an idea

Did the Dandy Xtreme have a Christmas issue this year?

Apart from the odd blob of snow(?) on one of the December front covers, I wasn't too sure. As far as the strips were concerned, Christmas was celebrated by some in both issues.

Not like the Beano's contribution which was really good.

Hopefully the kids loved them but surely they still like all things Christmas?

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone!

I notice that although many here complained about the reprints in Dandy no one has yet mentioned that the last few issues have featured less reprint.

So I thought I'd mention it.

Lew

one thing in the Dandy is a questionnaire -Have your say!

What would you like to see more of?

New comic strips

Would you like more comic pages in the mag?

YES!!!!!!

Why do you buy the Dandy?

......... COMIC STRIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

theres my answers......lets hope the young readers are of the same mind....bring back Steve Bright....Blinky artist...etc..

one extra gross poster page in the mag by Nigel....very hidden on the door knob and black board...

yuck! [/u]