Comics UK

Jonny Whizz wrote:The other thing is that the Beano and Dandy are the only traditional humour comics still with us - indeed, when the Dandy was Xtreme, the Beano was the sole representative of the genre.

You seem to be forgetting the Phoenix. I know it's not just a humour comic but the humour parts are a large chunk of the comic.

Good point about the Phoenix, Tin Can - I didn't mention it because I'm not really that familiar with its contents (I have some idea of what it contains, but not an in-depth knowledge) and I didn't want to blindly lump it in with the Beano and Dandy. In truth, its format is probably more similar to the Beano and Dandy of the 1960s, which featured adventure strips alongside the humour strips, than their current incarnations, which have been virtually exclusively humour since the 1980s, save for the odd run of classic adventure strips (such as Billy the Cat's series in 2003 and 2005).

Jonny Whizz wrote:Good point about the Phoenix, Tin Can - I didn't mention it because I'm not really that familiar with its contents.

I recomend you go to Waitrose pick up a copy and become familiar with its contents it's very good. Although I have only got two issues.

Lew, it's precisely because you're making such a spirited effort to defend this dodgy marketing tactic that makes it seem like it's because of your vested interest.
I can't imagine why else you'd want to defend it, I really can't.

Lucky Bags were different, I used to love them myself as a kid; But you're missing the point again: The point here is that it's obvious to anyone of even mediocre intelligence that the reason the gifts were billed as 'Mystery Gifts' was to conceal the fact that they are repeat gifts. And recent repeats, as well. Normally they advertise what the gifts are, don't they?

Oh and I'm only knocking the Dandy because this is the Dandy section of the forum! I'm not singling it out. I'm a fan. (Of some of it, anyway) It's the only decent kids humour comic around these days. (Haven't seen much of the Phoenix, but if it's anything like The DFC (and I gather it's a lot like it) there'll be far too much non-humour content for my kids' and my tastes)

Ginger wrote:Lew, it's precisely because you're making such a spirited effort to defend this dodgy marketing tactic that makes it seem like it's because of your vested interest.
I can't imagine why else you'd want to defend it, I really can't.

I've already explained, twice, that I wasn't defending it and that I was simply explaining that repeated/hidden gifts are not unique to The Dandy. But as you persist in ignoring that I can only presume you either don't believe me or you're deliberately trying to provoke me so there's no more I shall add.

I hope the discussion will soon get back to the comic, rather than about the toys that were packaged with it or Al might have to rename the group Tat UK.

Lew Stringer wrote: I've already explained, twice, that I wasn't defending it and that I was simply explaining that repeated/hidden gifts are not unique to The Dandy. But as you persist in ignoring that I can only presume you either don't believe me or you're deliberately trying to provoke me so there's no more I shall add.

I did note you were claiming to be 'explaining' rather than 'defending', but I wasn't really buying that, I'm afraid.
The fact that other comics do it too doesn't make it right, in my book.
I'm certainly not deliberately trying to provoke you, Lew, but I've said my piece, and I agree we should draw a line under the discussion.

Sooooo... I'm better off getting it online then! I get the content for half the regular physical issue cover price as opposed to paying double for the physical issue just to get the gifts and no actual extra comic.

Cool- so what's the content like this week?

Ross

No Celeb School, and double Jamie Smart!

I think Celeb School's absence is probably Dennis and Gnasher's fault. The Beano job must've been higher priority.

In response to Lew's earlier request about whether the kids actually feel ripped off about the 'Mystery Gifts'..... My youngest's (11) response was "great, I'd used my other jokeberry", he ate his Haribos in a flash and fired his 'duplicate' bananagun at me for about 10 minutes! I don't think he felt 'conned' but then, we are subscribers so it didn't coat me any extra than a normal issue.

Ginger wrote:

Lew Stringer wrote: I've already explained, twice, that I wasn't defending it and that I was simply explaining that repeated/hidden gifts are not unique to The Dandy. But as you persist in ignoring that I can only presume you either don't believe me or you're deliberately trying to provoke me so there's no more I shall add.

I did note you were claiming to be 'explaining' rather than 'defending', but I wasn't really buying that, I'm afraid.
The fact that other comics do it too doesn't make it right, in my book.

Your repeated attempts at creating a straw man argument (claiming I'm "defending" something "dodgy") are a bit transparent although I'm sure it'll fool some people. I can't be bothered to rise to it any more. Besides, with the alias you're hiding behind I feel like I'm being goaded by a tomcat.

Crikey, I've really ruffled some feathers here! Really never my intention. Lew, you've lost me now with all this stuff about aliases and straw men and fooling people... You seem to have written yourself into some kind of sci-fi adventure or something. Have fun with that!
You're painting me like some kind of internet troll, and I'm not at all. Look, it's heartening to hear Spencer's report about how his kids received the gifts, that truly delights me (I'm not an enemy of the Dandy), and on that evidence I'm prepared to concede maybe I was wrong.

Okay? Can we be friends now?

Sorry if I shouldn't be continuing this conversation on and if so, by all means remove it.

I found this week's issue to be the biggest rip-off ever in comic history - despite being a brilliant comic with plenty of laughter plus with having the best front cover since the revamp, I found the comic was let down by 3 things:

- the price
- the page amount
- the gifts

Now, forgive me if I'm wrong but £3.99 was ridiculous - there were no extra pages plus the gifts weren't even specific! I got two packets of Haribos, a Bananaman whoopee cushion and squirty glasses - all of which were immediately binned (apart from the Haribos obviously) - my point being that this comic was a rip-off.

The joke about it all is that this Holiday Special is meant to last us three whole weeks! Now forgive me if I'm wrong but I fail to see how a standard 36 page comic is going to last us three weeks - plus why it was £3.99. The worrying thing is, kids actually don't mind this - they actually like the cheap tat mounted to the cover or stuffed into a bag!

I honestly was considering not being this week's issue. If it was 44 pages, yeah, that I could accept. But 36?! For £3.99?! It's not even like the gifts added on to the price as they're all already been used before! So where is the price rise from? This is purely the reason why I stopped buying the Toxic Magazine early on - £3.99 was proving difficult to pay for every fortnight and the content was dull anyway - well, except for the comic strips.

Sorry to go on, I thought I'd just get my point out there.

Rant over. Sorry!

I got the Squirty Specs too, along with a packet of Haribo Starmix (just one, consider yourself lucky to have got two, as it was probably a mistake, the bag specifically said 3 gifts, you got 4) and a Cactusville Water-Cannon.

WizzKid97 wrote:If it was 44 pages, yeah, that I could accept.

Before anyone considers an increase in the page count as some sort of magic wand, don't forget that paper is cheap, but comic strips are not. It's been months since one of the Dandy's 44-page specials contained a single extra comic. Last time round there were nine pages of reprints and six mostly space-wasting pages of Arena of Awesome stock art supplement. The 2011 Christmas special also had eight extra pages, five of which were reprints and three of which were advertisements.

Sure, you're paying more, but you're not actually getting any less.

This doesn't mean I consider the price to be any less of a rip-off, particularly given that it was nominally to pay for what were effectively the toy factory's unwanted cast-offs being cheaply disposed of (and they couldn't even be honest about that - and no, neither "other comics do it too" nor "it's been done many times in the past" are acceptable excuses for anything, let alone that).

If you slice it up in value-for-money terms, then you're paying (4 pounds / 3 weeks = £1.33) for (23 non-reprint/advert pages / 3 weeks = 7.66 pages) per week, or 17p per page. This compares unfavourably with the Beano, publishing weekly at £2.50 (assuming it maintains that price for three weeks in a row - traditionally, it only did two outside the summer) with 17 pages in each issue (assuming it does actually have 17 pages in each issue, which, for the last eleven weeks, it didn't), or 15p per page. And, of course, you get 51 real comic pages instead of just 23.

It's no secret why they're doing this, of course, and it has absolutely nothing to do with attempts to please the comic's fans at all (Spencer's experience notwithstanding) - instead, they are inadvisedly attempting to please the newsagents, whose interests, as a rule, are more or less diametrically opposed to those of the readers, and mainly revolve around how much money they can get away with making said readers pay. If there is a circulation boost as a result of this practice, it is solely down to more newsagents stocking it and attempting to sell it, and hence treats the symptoms, not the cause, of the Dandy's sales slide.

Meanwhile, the fans who are actually paying money to the comic and keeping it afloat get crosser and crosser.

Another brilliant idea from DC Thomson, moving boldly forward into the 20th century.