This week's issue

[Raven]

Anyway, in the interests of balance, I think there should be a free Sticklebrick the week after.

What on earth can you do, Raven, with just the one sticklebrick?

They're good back scratchers. But if they all have to buy another copy to get a second Sticklebrick, you've doubled the sales of Beano that week.

By that point they'll be really primed for their free Meccano part the week after, and their free piece of Fuzzy-Felt the week after that.

[Digifiend]

The "awesome" mini-mag (filled with puzzles) is one of the old school cut out, trim and fold numbers of the sort that ruined my old IPC comics from the 80s!

Just a moment... does that mean there's actually no extra pages, because that 16 page mini-comic would account for 8 of the 40 advertised pages in the main comic...

Yes, The Beano itself has 32 numbered pages PLUS there's the 8 page pull out in the middle.

BIG splash on the front says "40 PAGE MEGA ISSUE!"

Oh, and the bar code box is back to "normal" this week and the issue is dated for the next Saturday, April 16th 2011.

Well, the whole extra pages thing was just a lie then. What a con. I wonder why the barcode box reverted?

[Lew Stringer]

Well, the whole extra pages thing was just a lie then. What a con.

How is that a lie when the comic actually has 40 pages? You're still getting 8 pages extra, even if it's a pull-out. (Admittedly I haven't seen last week's issue yet as I've been ill and haven't been into town to buy it. What exactly did the advert promise?)

[Phoenix]

I wonder why the barcode box reverted?

Obviously some executive at Thomsons read my April 2nd post and was reminded that the week ending system that had served the company well for the best part of a century was in danger of being abandoned quite unnecessarily in this second decade of the new century, and shamefacedly changed his mind.

[swirlythingy]

Well, the whole extra pages thing was just a lie then. What a con.

How is that a lie when the comic actually has 40 pages? You're still getting 8 pages extra, even if it's a pull-out.

It's a lie because the advert says you're getting 40 plus 16 pages, when in fact the comic itself is only 32, and the extra 8 are the same as the other 16!

(Admittedly I haven't seen last week's issue yet as I've been ill and haven't been into town to buy it. What exactly did the advert promise?)

Here you go! (Gosh, I do love this new A4 sized paper.)

[swirlythingy]

I wonder why the barcode box reverted?

Obviously some executive at Thomsons read my April 2nd post and was reminded that the week ending system that had served the company well for the best part of a century was in danger of being abandoned quite unnecessarily in this second decade of the new century, and shamefacedly changed his mind.

More likely it's going to randomly flip-flop between the new and old version for the next six months before they finally settle on a permanent compromise design at the point of the next revamp, as happened when they tried to change the logo in 2007.

On which note, did anyone else notice that the shading on the logo on issue 3577(b)* was different to every other one produced before or since, with the 3D effect continuing right to the edge of the red area instead of stopping halfway to give a 'ridged' effect?

*No, I am never going to let them live that down.

[-MikeD-]

Well, the whole extra pages thing was just a lie then. What a con.

How is that a lie when the comic actually has 40 pages? You're still getting 8 pages extra, even if it's a pull-out.

It's a lie because the advert says you're getting 40 plus 16 pages, when in fact the comic itself is only 32, and the extra 8 are the same as the other 16!

(Admittedly I haven't seen last week's issue yet as I've been ill and haven't been into town to buy it. What exactly did the advert promise?)

Here you go! (Gosh, I do love this new A4 sized paper.)

AND...the 8 'extra' pages are just an extended advert for Lego with no Beano-related material! A Lego Dennis would have been nice...

[Lew Stringer]

Here you go! (Gosh, I do love this new A4 sized paper.)

Thanks for the scan.

I suppose it's how one reads it. I see what you mean, although it doesn't say 40 pages plus 16.

In the end you're getting a pull-out booklet, a Lego figure, and stickers, for the extra pound, so it's not too bad. Seems the age of the "Free Gift" is a thing of the past now. Such are the economics of modern publishing I guess.

[STARBOY]

Well to be fair the BEANO from the cover it only say "40 pages mega issue" in a red box, below that it says (in a seperate but joined box/area) what the "pack" contains (the comics in a pack so to me thats fair enough) maybe not the clearest thing but I think its a bit overkill to say they are "fibbing" there are 40 pafges in the pack - possibly being err a tad economical with the facts and depends how you read it I suppose. I do agree that adding a toy and hiking the price up is not good for everyone (Im talking about the target audience here ) kids with pocket money might not want to put down £1.99 for the toy , some might love it (ditto the parents) and a shame for those that can't afford it and do want to read it and play with the toy (parents and kids) but sadly thats the way UK childrens comics seem to be going and most kids comics must have a toy/sweet strapped to the front cover - oh for the old days when the gifts were free (and imho more fun) and a "whizbanger" (!!?) was a source of joy for days on end

[Peter Gray]

I got the footballer..I've put him next to my caveman one I got free with Beano last time:)

[Phoenix]

When I went to Martin McColl's this morning for The Guardian, the shop assistant was pulling last week's issue of The Beano and putting this week's in its place. I picked it up to have a look at the Lego figure, and at first I thought they hadn't included it. Then I saw the little packet. Fascinated by the prospect of discovering that the inside of the packet was like the Tardis, despite its external dimensions suggesting that it wouldn't even hold a full measure of M and Ms, I bought it and brought it home to investigate. I discovered seven pieces to join together to create an ice skater (No. 15). However, none of these pieces looked anything like any Lego I remember. On the contrary, the last time I saw anything like them I had just extracted them from a Kinder egg I had bought for Lois. There was one further piece included, which I took to be the base and, to be fair, the word Lego appears on all four studs, but it doesn't seem to be much use because in order to stand the figure up on it you have to remove its ice skates first, which does seem to negate somewhat the image of an ice skater, given that now she looks like an overdressed table cleaner in McDonald's. I realise from earlier comments on this thread that mini figures have been bundled with the comic before so no doubt many forum members knew what to expect. On the plus side, I do like the presentation of the comic itself, especially the paper used, the colours and the line drawings. Gnasher's Bite was the most humorous strip in my opinion, with Roger The Dodger as runner-up. One query, which relates to pages 20 and 21. Assuming that the golden ticket that Charlie is holding doesn't count, if only because it is much bigger than the ''hidden'' ones, where is the fifth one? I can only see the four obvious ones. Do I need my eyes testing?

[Digifiend]

Yeah, they switched to a better quality paper stock last week... the same stuff The Dandy uses. A good improvement.

[Digifiend]

Damn that toxic slime! The plastic casing broke and it leaked on the way home from the shop! Left a wet patch on the bottom of the comic.

[Digifiend]

Sorry for the triple post, but it seems that the new editor has made some changes this week.

• Dennis and Gnasher is now drawn exclusively by Barrie Appleby (took effect a few weeks ago, last week's 60 Second Dennis presumably being the last Dennis by anyone else for now). Now has jokes banner at bottom.
• Page numbers are now on a stylised graphic for each different story (tomato splat for Dennis, beret for Minnie, etc). Fred's Bed and Minnie now have coloured borders.
• Britain's Funniest Gag and Beano VIP pages dropped.
• Roger the Dodger is now RT Nixon 1.5 page reprints.
• New features: Bash Street pullout, Fred's Foul Facts, Roger's Dodge Diary.
• Year of the Menace page added (this and one of the Bash Street pages accounts for the former Beano VIP content)
• New logo for Retro Beano, based on the 1971 logo.
• Issue number added to logo because it no longer appears on the barcode box.

[Peter Gray]

Its a shame the pages are being filled with magazine stuff..prefer comic pages myself..