Comics UK

i see next week dandy are resorting to giveing away cheap plastic tat again and making it 44 pages will no doubt double its price,at least this weeks beano warned us that there tat will push the price up to £2.50 next week.I assume the sales aren't that much better than dandy extreme maybe even down due to the lack of the free crap they gave away.

big bad bri wrote:i see next week dandy are resorting to giveing away cheap plastic tat again and making it 44 pages will no doubt double its price,at least this weeks beano warned us that there tat will push the price up to £2.50 next week.I assume the sales aren't that much better than dandy extreme maybe even down due to the lack of the free crap they gave away.

So basically you don't think they should have free gifts but you also think the lack of free gifts might affect its sales?

Unfortunately the way comics were marketed in the 20th Century doesn't apply now. No one likes the price going up for "free" gifts but it encourages retailers to order more copies. The Dandy boost issues will be 44 pages for £2.50. At least you'll be getting 8 extra pages as well.

I just hope that those 12 extra pages (Dandy is normally 32 pages same as Beano now, not 36 like it was as Dandy Xtreme) aren't just adverts, like when the Beano had 40 pages a couple of months ago.

Yowch! bri. They don't call you bad for nothin' do they.
Lew's right, you're saying there's no right way to do it, yes?

The Dandy has always used free "tat" every now and again. Since it started way back in 1832 (I need to check that date)

They're just going back to that. The every now and again thing.

Is that alright?

Even the free gift in No.1 must have seemed like plastic tat (or was it tin tat?) compared to Film Fun's photo of Fatty Arbuckle.

To be fair, I think Brian's more annoyed at the price increase, but it's just a way to get retailers to order more copies. Yes, it's not fair that the consumer has to pay extra, but they are getting 12 extra pages. (Thanks for the correction Digi. I never woz very good at maffs. )

i just dont want Dandy to rely on gifts( i wont call them free as they charge extra for the tat)like they did in the dark days of extreme.when i was a kid a free gift was an event usually the first few issues and maybe a milestone issue or big movie like return of the jedi so a sticker book was given away free so we could try to find more money to try and complete themor pester parents. i am a little annoyed at the price increase as well as i have to budget these days until i find a job and i know to save £2.85 son i can get the following weeks beano & Dandy.the extra pages next week seem to be reserved for harry hill and there seems to be the return of thingummyblob which i think used to be in sparky but i cant be sure as i dont have any sparkys.roll on that lotto win.

Yes, Thingummyblob is a Sparky strip. Jamie Smart's updating it for the 21st century. Seems to be replacing Pre-Skool Prime Minister, which was absent this week.

Wow! I'd like to see his take on that.

(heads over to the Dandy website to subscribe.)

Nigel Auchterlounie wrote:The Dandy has always used free "tat" every now and again. Since it started way back in 1832. They're just going back to that. The every now and again thing. Is that alright?

Bri is of course concerned about the price rise, he says so in his later post. However, given that in his first post he used the expressions cheap plastic tat, tat and free crap, it is not unreasonable to accept that he is still making a sensible point. It is, of course, perfectly alright, Nigel, for the comic to offer a giveaway to its prospective purchasers every now and again, but why do they have to be such rubbishy items, especially when the price of the comic is hiked up quite significantly on those occasions, mainly to cover the outlay on the gift? Bri mentions an alternative of informative booklets in his second post, perhaps linked to the idea of collecting stickers over the next few weeks to maintain the child's interest. When I was a lad I loved collecting sets of cards and I refuse to believe that children are that different now in that respect. I believe that if comic publishers thought more about what children might just like them to provide, rather than simply looking at profit margins, they might even make greater profits and, into the bargain, acquire and retain the loyalty of their young consumers, sorry, I mean enthusiasts. Let's have imaginative gifts, please. Down with cheap tat! I'm with Bri on this.

Is there any reason to assume that not-free tat with price hike will actually boost sales at all, seeing as it didn't for Dandy Xtreme?

Raven wrote:Is there any reason to assume that not-free tat with price hike will actually boost sales at all, seeing as it didn't for Dandy Xtreme?

It boosts the circulation, therefore boosting the chances of more kids/parents buying it. Worth trying, yes?

Lew Stringer wrote: It boosts the circulation, therefore boosting the chances of more kids/parents buying it. Worth trying, yes?

I don't know - I think raising the price by two-thirds might counteract that. I feel comics are likely to do better the closer they stick to pocket money prices. It'll be interesting to see if retailers do order more copies.

Thingummyblob - also interesting. One of my all time least favourite strips, as - as well as being dull - it was by one of my all-time least favourite artists, whose work I found quite depressing. It'll be good to see Jamie's version though. If you're going to revamp strips it makes sense to choose one where you can greatly improve on the original.

From the picture it looks more like the film The Blob..
A huge green blob sucking up people..

Phoenix wrote:

Nigel Auchterlounie wrote:The Dandy has always used free "tat" every now and again. Since it started way back in 1832. They're just going back to that. The every now and again thing. Is that alright?

Bri is of course concerned about the price rise, he says so in his later post. However, given that in his first post he used the expressions cheap plastic tat, tat and free crap, it is not unreasonable to accept that he is still making a sensible point. It is, of course, perfectly alright, Nigel, for the comic to offer a giveaway to its prospective purchasers every now and again, but why do they have to be such rubbishy items, especially when the price of the comic is hiked up quite significantly on those occasions, mainly to cover the outlay on the gift? Bri mentions an alternative of informative booklets in his second post, perhaps linked to the idea of collecting stickers over the next few weeks to maintain the child's interest. When I was a lad I loved collecting sets of cards and I refuse to believe that children are that different now in that respect. I believe that if comic publishers thought more about what children might just like them to provide, rather than simply looking at profit margins, they might even make greater profits and, into the bargain, acquire and retain the loyalty of their young consumers, sorry, I mean enthusiasts. Let's have imaginative gifts, please. Down with cheap tat! I'm with Bri on this.

Quite right. I don't mind paying extra if it's worth the money. But when the only extra thing you get is a cheap plastic toy, it's just a big con. Quality gifts, such as sticker albums or those mini-comics they've done a few times, and extra pages in the comic, would justify the higher price. These cheap tat gifts don't. Dandy's slime and eyeballs and Beano's "bopper" (whatever that is - the advert just shows a drawing of a fist) don't sound like quality products. Dandy's extra pages and Beano's other gifts next week (sweets, stickers, and a "how to draw Minnie the Minx" booklet) do justify a price increase. The Beano has football stickers next week... but IMHO, they should've given away the album too, as they have a few times in previous years. That's a quality gift. But I reckon, retailers don't like that, because it hurts sales of the sticker albums - people won't buy it if they already got it with a comic or newspaper, after all. Whereas the cards the comics used to give away were exclusive, not sold separately. Bringing those back might be a good experiment for them to try.

To be fair, as an 8-year-old Beano reader, I'd be inordinately excited if a free gift issue was in the offing, regardless of how bobbins it turned out to be in reality. I assume kids today are no different.

Of course, gifts with comics were the exception rather than the norm back then. And the gifts were genuinely free, and the comics cost a tenth of what they cost now, and round here it was all fields etc etc