Now officially a majority-reprint comic

[swirlythingy]

I suppose this moment had to come sooner or later. Welcome, comic fans, to the point of no return.

This week's issue (#3623) contains:

3 pages Dennis + cover = 4 pages
1 page Ratz = 5
2 Minnie = 7
1 Ball Boy = 8
1 Meebo & Zuky = 9
2 BSK = 11
2 Fred's Bed = 13
1 Billy Whizz = 14
1 Gnasher's Bit(e) = 15 new comic pages.

And also:

1 page Retro Beano = 1page
2 pages Numskulls = 3
7.5 Roger = 10.5
1 Pup Parade = 11.5
1 Germs = 12.5
2 Bananaman = 14.5
1 Number 13 = 15.5 reprint pages.

What ratio had Buster achieved by the time it was cancelled...?

[Jonny Whizz]

The only issue of Buster I have is from April 1998 - by this time, all the strips were reprints (many of them former Whizzer and Chips strips) except for Buster himself, who took up the front and back covers, and a half page Crazy Maisie story. By the final issue, the only non-reprint strip was the 'How it all ended' page on the back cover - even Buster had gone reprint by this time.

I'm not sure whether this is the first time the Beano's had more reprinted comics than new material (I think there were 21 reprint pages in the 2007 Christmas issue, for instance). Hopefully, the Numskulls was only a fill-in and Barry Glennard will return soon, and the reprinting of annual stories in pull-out booklet form may not be a permanent feature. We don't want to see too much reprint material, but I'd personally rather have reprints than feature pages. At least this week we have a total of 30.5 comic pages - last April, I felt comic strips seemed a bit thin on the ground, when both new strips and reprints disappeared (IIRC in Mike's first issue, the 1 1/2 page Roger strip was the only reprint in the comic).

[swirlythingy]

I'm not sure whether this is the first time the Beano's had more reprinted comics than new material (I think there were 21 reprint pages in the 2007 Christmas issue, for instance).

In fact, I can top that - issue #3311 (2006-01-07) contained one new illustration on the cover, followed by twenty-seven and a half reprints. (Amusingly, the Roger reprint was later reprinted again shortly before the Nixon reprints started in early 2011!) All things considered, I should probably have thought about that statement a bit more.

I still don't think it's a good sign of the way the wind's blowing, especially when you bear in mind that the full roster hasn't been both present and unreprinted for five issues. The reprint figure ballooned when the page count increased to 36, and the further increase to 44 for this and last week made it much worse.

30.5 comics is one thing, but if you're happy with that, then why shouldn't the other 15 pages be reprinted as well? It's all comics, right?

[AndyB]

That's what you get when you put the price up by £1 and include a cover mount - you end up filling the extra pages with reprint.

[tony ingram]

I don't really see a problem. The majority of the readers are kids, and they've got over 70 years of material to reprint. I doubt if the majority of their current readership will notice or care, since it'll all be new to them, anyway.

[Jonny Whizz]

Erm, I have to say I can't fully agree with you there Tony - I don't think many children would want the Beano to be full of reprints of 1930s text stories, or dated characters like Lord Snooty. Anything that is being reprinted needs to be reasonably modern in style otherwise it will stick out like a sore thumb, but not so recent that there's a chance they'll have seen them before - I don't think the Beano has had any real problems in either respect.

These days the Beano seems to mainly reprint 1980s strips - the current Roger stories, Number 13 and The Germs are all from that time period, as is Bananaman (I'm not so sure about Pup Parade, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were from the 80s as well) - I'm not sure why this has changed, a few years ago most of the reprints were from the 1990s, with a few more recent reprints towards the end of Alan Digby's time as editor (Mike Pearse's The Three Bears and Hunt Emerson's Little Plum, for instance).

[AndyB]

Ignoring issues with extra pages, there are only 7.5 reprint pages in most editions of the Beano - Roger (1.5), Bananaman (2), Retro Beano, Number 13, the Germs and Pup Parade. Most Numskulls strips are still brand new.

[Lew Stringer]

I don't really see a problem. The majority of the readers are kids, and they've got over 70 years of material to reprint. I doubt if the majority of their current readership will notice or care, since it'll all be new to them, anyway.

What a depressing thought. If every comic thought like that it'd be the end of the UK comic industry and we might as well all reserve our park benches to sleep on.

But even on a practical level reprints can have a negative effect. See the demise of Buster, etc for that. Thing is, art is often "of its time" and even material as recent as 10 or 20 years old can seem old fashioned and off-putting to modern kids. At least The Beano is recolouring and re-dialoguing some strips and the Bob Nixon Roger strips look great. Bananaman doesn't really date too badly either.

Sadly, reprints are seen as a necessary evil to balance decreasing budgets, so over analyzing them isn't going to make any difference unfortunately.

[Gilly]

To be fair the reprints that are currently in The Beano don't really look out of place alongside the new strips to say they are roughly 25 years old. If you ask me that just shows what great artists the likes of Bob Nixon and John Geering were.

However I would like to see some fresh strips does anyone have an idea when Super School and the mystery other character will return in new strips.

[WizzKid97]

We all have our own personal opinion on reprints - here's mine.

Reprints are fine.

I think The Beano has actually made some excellent choices in reprints I believe - no one could ever beat John Geering for 'Number 13' and the colouring in looks fantastic.

I also love the Robert Nixon reprints running at the moment as I find his style inspiring - it's one of the styles which actually inspired me to draw and if it wasn't thanks to him and my copying of his drawings - I don't think my artwork would be the same as it is now. Besides, his Roger is the greatest.

Another reprint I'm more than happy with is 'Pup Parade' simply because I loved Pup Parade and Gordon Bell's artwork - his 'Pup Parade' artwork was in my opinion his best stuff he did for DC Thomson.

But of course, there are reprints I do not like. The main offender being "Totally Gross" (The) Germs. There's a simple reason why I hate them - I never liked 'The Germs'. I thought the stories were boring, didn't like the germs themselves and I found them incredibly unfunny. I also think the colouring in on this is poor - sure, they do a good job at his hair (sometimes) but bright yellow carpet plus pallet-colour blue equals "Ouch! My poor eyes!"...

'Bananaman' is easily the strangest reprint in the comic and I honestly do not understand why he's even there. Maybe it's because it makes it look like John Geering is a new artist if they have this and Number 13 in the comic? I don't know but in that case, instead of Bananaman - why didn't they use Smudge? He went on long enough, surely? Still, I'm a big fan of John Geering's artwork so it doesn't bother me too much.

One thing I really hate about reprints - with a passion - is those awful 8-16 page pull-out reprint comics... Why is this necessary? I find it acceptable to use the Roger the Dodger and Bananaman reprints in the last two 44 page specials because despite sticking out like a sore thumb - they're still drawn by the artists who "draw" them in the weekly. What I don't like is the ones in the BeanoMAX like John Geering's Bash Street Kids, Evi De Bono's Roger the Dodger and Barrie Appleby's old Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (renamed Dennis and Gnasher - because obviously no-one will suspect a thing).

Strangely, all the reprints fit in really well and if I was a new reader - I wouldn't know if it was reprinted material or not. They've done a good job at masking it - well, apart from those name changes. "Totally Gross (The) Germs"?! Come on, seriously?

But of course, I'd rather see the comic reprint free - or better yet - drop the Germs and Bananaman reprints to lower down the amount of reprints in one comic. Maybe then we could see some more of the much-missed Super School and the second series of Dangerous Dan - plus this possible return of a character... Let's be honest, we all prefer new stuff after all!

[Digifiend]

Bananaman is there so they can sell the merchandise on the Beano Shop.

[WizzKid97]

Actually, that's a fair point. So Bananaman is only there as a selling product - that's a bit selfish really...

Then again, Mark McIlmail did suggest introducing Bananaman to the Beano as Bananaman was always his favourite character - so maybe that could also be a reason - just something he wanted to do - that's acceptable really if he thought people would like reading them - but as a selling product - that's not fair to the readers who have to face another reprint.

[Jonny Whizz]

Some interesting comments there, Wizzkid97. I couldn't agree more about Roger, Bob's version is my favourite as well and it inspired me to start drawing Beano characters as a kid - I was fortunate enough to read the comic prior to his death in 2002 and the first Beano character I ever drew was Roger (as hard as it may be to believe now, he was originally my favourite character, not Billy Whizz).

I agree about Pup Parade and Number 13 as well, both are classic strips which still look good and I'm not sure whether anyone else could quite draw them like their original artists.

Regarding The Germs, I personally preferred the Vic Neill strips to those by David Sutherland, as the germs themselves became more anarchic and the artwork style seemed fuller, with the appearance of the germs being far more defined. I remember reading one in a 1999 Beano which made me laugh - it involved the germs fixing Will's legs in place and slackening his wrists, so that they spun round like a windmill. I don't like the strip's new title, as it seems to try too hard to be 'down with the kids' and the strips aren't really very gross (by contrast I barely notice the difference with Beano Street added to Number 13's title).

Overall, I think you are right, the current reprints do fit into the comic well, which not all of the reprints used in the Beano in recent years have - I felt that John Sherwood's Les Pretend, for instance, seemed rather out of place in the modern Beano. The return of another 'oldie' sounds interesting - I can't wait to see which character(s) will be coming back.

[Lew Stringer]

However I would like to see some fresh strips does anyone have an idea when Super School and the mystery other character will return in new strips.

I don't know of any mystery other character, but regarding Super School hopefully as soon as I can get far enough ahead with my commitments on other strips, and if Super School can still be scheduled into the comic, and if life in general runs smoothly. The absence of Super School is my fault I'm afraid and The Beano have been very patient. I'm currently doing several pages for The Dandy Book so once such extra work has been cleared I should be better positioned to sort out my schedules.

[WizzKid97]

Sorry for quoting all of this but I have bits to say about each bit.

Some interesting comments there, Wizzkid97. I couldn't agree more about Roger, Bob's version is my favourite as well and it inspired me to start drawing Beano characters as a kid - I was fortunate enough to read the comic prior to his death in 2002 and the first Beano character I ever drew was Roger (as hard as it may be to believe now, he was originally my favourite character, not Billy Whizz).

Robert Nixon is in my opinion - the greatest artist to work for DC Thomson - his artwork is breath-taking, full of life and he could draw anything beautifully!
Strangely, like you - my favourite strip when I first began reading the Beano was Roger the Dodger who I immediately warmed to (I also loved Ball Boy, Ivy the Terrible and The Numskulls) - there was something about Bob's style which I immediately fell in love with.

I agree about Pup Parade and Number 13 as well, both are classic strips which still look good and I'm not sure whether anyone else could quite draw them like their original artists.

Precisely - Gordon Bell wasn't an amazing artist in my opinion, but when he drew those dogs - I thought it was amazing. His style just fits and no one else can draw them in quite the same way.

Number 13 likewise - no other artist could master it - John Geering's artwork was something I could only marvel at. The only other artist who managed to pull off Number 13 was Robert Nixon but even then - his didn't stand a chance to John Geering's creations.

Regarding The Germs, I personally preferred the Vic Neill strips to those by David Sutherland, as the germs themselves became more anarchic and the artwork style seemed fuller, with the appearance of the germs being far more defined. I remember reading one in a 1999 Beano which made me laugh - it involved the germs fixing Will's legs in place and slackening his wrists, so that they spun round like a windmill. I don't like the strip's new title, as it seems to try too hard to be 'down with the kids' and the strips aren't really very gross (by contrast I barely notice the difference with Beano Street added to Number 13's title).

Whereas I preferred Dave Sutherland's artwork for The Germs - I too agree that The Germs got far better when Vic Neill took it over (yet another amazing artist gone...) - I don't know whether they'll reprint the Neill strips as I think they were painted if I'm correct?

The name is appalling -I actually quite like the "Beano Street" bit - it's a parody on Nightmare on Elm Street, at least, that's what I reckon. But "Totally Gross" just sounds totally awful.

Overall, I think you are right, the current reprints do fit into the comic well, which not all of the reprints used in the Beano in recent years have - I felt that John Sherwood's Les Pretend, for instance, seemed rather out of place in the modern Beano. The return of another 'oldie' sounds interesting - I can't wait to see which character(s) will be coming back.

I agree - John Sherwood's Les Pretend really did stand out like a sore thumb. As did Vic Neill's Billy Whizz. They did a nice job at masking the other reprints liked The Riot Squad, Fred's Bed, Adrian the Barbarian/Ollaf the Madlander and David Parkins' Billy Whizz - I thought they were new when I first began reading!