Comics UK

'Three gross free gifts and a poster of Wayne Rooney!'. So ran the headline, crying out for the response 'That makes four then!' on the cover of the latest issue of Beano Max (20).
The gifts in question were 'A Bouncin' Bogey', 'A Bin o' Barf' and 'A Dollop of Dung' with the 'Barf' being a vomitous 'twin' for the tub of 'Genuine Alien Puke' given away with Dandy Xtreme the previous week and the 'Bogey', in case it should feel lonely and left out, being joined by this weeks Dandy Xtreme's 'Luminous snot'.
My only gripe with these gifts, which I now find have an hilarity bourne out of sheer persistence, is that they, at least in the dollop of dung's case, indulge in a kind of coy politeness when it comes to calling a spade a spade. If a comic wants to and, by the social mores of the day, is allowed to give away a fake turd it should be able to do so without the need to call it some silly, obfuscating name like dung. 'A Dollop of Shite' or even 'A Pile of Crap' would surely have tapped into the scatalogical consciousness of today's youth much more readily. ( I also think that their is some genuine amusement to be had in these two words, they have a definite comic value, whereas 'puke', an appararently allowable word, is both unpleasant and unfunny)
Still enough of this I'm off to eagerly await the arrival of the next Beano Max in which we are promised a bag of winnits from Gnasher's bumhole!

have to admit it put me off buying Beanomax that free gifts...and the dodgy bogey cover..

now a nice Gnasher snapper.....or a dennis and gnasher glove puppet...would be much nicer..

Kashgar's outpourings on these vulgar give-aways has cracked me up for the time being.

I was about to post a reply suggesting the snapper and glove puppet and then read Peter's reply. Was delighted when I got those in the eighties and still have them tucked away somewhere.

Whilst they are admittedly far removed from the "Thunder Bangers" and "Red Rackety" free gifts of the 1970s the fake poo / vomit pranks have been the sort of thing sold in seaside joke shops for decades, and therefore part of traditional British culture.

The surprising thing it's taken so long for them to be featured in comics. However I suppose they used to be part of an "underground" kids' culture, but now that "gross humour" is out in the open publishers feel safe to reflect it in their comics.

As for avoiding calling a lump of shite a lump of shite, well, even joke shops only called it "fake doggy poo". I realize Ray's comments were tongue in cheek but publishers still have to be careful of the reaction of retailers and parents of course. It's a fine line, - I suppose you could say you have to be careful where you step.

It's taken comics until now to give away gifts that were sold in joke shops 40 years ago. I think it's harmless fun, but I just hope that in another 40 years comics aren't giving away the sort of stuff that's in joke shops today! (Love dolls and plastic willies!)

Lew

Must just be where I'm from but "Shite" is as bad as saying %$%#% you! my four year old
had fun with the shite until my wife ordered her to bin it.

SH wrote:Must just be where I'm from but "Shite" is as bad as saying %$%#% you!

Really? How bizarre. Around where I live it's considered a polite way of saying sh*t. (Well, not THAT polite obviously, but you see what I mean. )

Lew

Last month's BeanoMAX gave me a really good impression of the near future. It seemed so mature, heading for a higher age audience than the Beano, so that when people maybe grew out of the Beano they would go on to BeanoMAX.


THEN I turned to pg 43. And thought to myself, oh "poo".

In quite the traditional manner the three gross gifts in the current BeanoMax are accompanied by a fine Nigel P Dennis strip in which our hero explores what fun can be had with said freebies and it did set me wondering what Biffo would have done with them in years gone by. 'What's that in your beret, Buster?' Ugh!

Lew I just realised why. its because I'm from near Liverpool , thats how they pronounce it
and it carried over to Southport I guess. We always got clip if we said it lol!. ( non thread related) Also wanted to say good look with your new strip for the Beano .

Steve