Comics UK

Some spoilers below if you can call them that.....




Got the latest "BeanoMax/Megazine" through the door this morning and I can't say my son was very impressed.

This month we now have "Dennis the Menace and Gnasher's EPIC! Magazine". (maybe Rebellion got twitchy about another "megazine"?)

Yes, it has transmogrified into the Dandy Xtreme!! Or more honestly, Toxic/Mega.

My son already takes Toxic as an advertorial magazine - he wants the Dennis & Gnasher monthly to be a comic (and bah, just as we were going to write in to ask for some My Own Genie from Dennis's comic stash!).

Unfortunately it is now only 9 pages of strip out of 48 - the rest filled with the usual product placement advertising nonsense.

Not sure if we should be held to a minimum years subscription as this sure isn't what we signed up for.

Disappointing, but then seeing the latest ABCs perhaps Thomsons reckon they can double or triple the readership to Toxic or Mega levels with this tosh. A shame for comic lovers.

There may well be more going on than we know. As you know, the Beano has eliminated all reprints, so I wonder whether some of the budget that would have been (notionally) available for Beano Max and its two successors has been diverted into the weekly comic to make it better. If the Dennis and Gnasher mag gets cancelled and its budget lost, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the new content were lost from the weekly comic.

Beano Max itself before it became the Megazine (I doubt whether Rebellion was too worried) had depressingly low amounts of new comic strip, but not this bad. The Megazine at least had 30 pages of Dandy (or Gnasher) reprints to pad it out - I can only imagine they couldn't afford the separate insert any more and stay within budget for the two titles.

I stopped buying the 'Megazine' a while back because my kids had lost interest completely, and I was only reading the Dennis strip. I found this disappointing because I've always bought all the DCT comics, and the reprints, even back in my student days when money was tight, with the exception of Dandy Xtreme. And meherenow is right - the 'Epic Magazine' does have the same feel as that ill-fated title.

Yes, the BeanoMAX was absolutely awful in the last few years of it's existence. Honestly, I'm shocked it lasted so long.

Yeah, I only occasionally bought MAX, but bought all of the Megazines. This Epic Magazine though doesn't sound worth buying.

I wonder if they'll explain the changes: https://www.facebook.com/TheBeanoComic/ ... eam_ref=10

Digifiend wrote: I wonder if they'll explain the changes: https://www.facebook.com/TheBeanoComic/ ... eam_ref=10

Don't you think that it's simply sales-related and an attempt to attract more readers? That's why most publications change.

By the way, George Shiers' blog has a low-res cover image:
http://www.wackycomics.com/2014/03/mega ... -epic.html

It's a total backwards step, in my opinion. Dandy Xtreme and BeanoMAX both failed, why try to do the Toxic format again?

Digifiend wrote:It's a total backwards step, in my opinion. Dandy Xtreme and BeanoMAX both failed, why try to do the Toxic format again?

DCT don't currently have that sort of magazine in their stable and they've no doubt noticed the success of newcomer Mega! and the increase in Toxic's sales so they want a slice of that pie. It's publishing.

Personally I wouldn't say MAX was a failure as it lasted for around six years. As for Xtreme, agreed, it didn't last long, but Epic! has the Dennis name attached to it so that may help.

Naturally, as comic enthusiasts and creators, we're disappointed when comic content is reduced, but publishers have to try different things to stay in business. With rival mags doing well, it'd be foolish not to follow that trend. (Ideally, it'd be good to see a brand NEW style of kids mag produced, but that's easier said than done when trying to sell it to the trade.)

At the end of the day, comics are produced not (purely) out of love but for commercial reasons. If DCT had been happy with Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine then presumably they would have kept with the format.

I suggest we give Dennis the Menace and Gnasher's Epic Magazine (the name's get longer and longer) a chance.

Though I do wonder if it would be better if DCT went the full hog and brought out an entire new publication with new characters to try and rival the likes of Toxic and Mega.

Yes, I have heard the argument about how much it would cost to place it on the shelves but Toxic and Mega managed to do it.

Toxic was launched 10 years ago though, so the cost will have been lower then. As for Mega, it's still early days for that. The next ABCs in the summer will be interesting. Comics history is littered with titles that only lasted a year or two. Will it be one of those, or will it sustain it's current high sales. Time will tell.

Got a response to my Facebook post. They're basically saying that the readers asked for the changes. But I find that complainers are always louder than praisers - people who like the existing product will quietly buy it but not say anything. Call me cynical if you want, but I don't think they've learned anything from Dandy Xtreme, to be honest.

Digifiend wrote:Got a response to my Facebook post. They're basically saying that the readers asked for the changes. But I find that complainers are always louder than praisers - people who like the existing product will quietly buy it but not say anything. Call me cynical if you want, but I don't think they've learned anything from Dandy Xtreme, to be honest.

I read the reply from The Beano team, and I'm sure that the results of reader surveys influenced the changes. Contributors are asked to (at least) consider the results of focus groups when writing submissions..

I'm guessing that The Dennis The Menace brand is stronger than the Dandy brand among the target audience. But the success of a more generic approach to this kind of material - Toxic, Mega etc. - cannot be ignored. I know it's currently unthinkable, but I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped Dennis' name on the title, leaving just 'Epic Magazine.'

Well, I got the first of the all-new Dennis the Menace and Gnasher's Epic! Magazine. As other people have said, very Xtreme-like. I must admit I preferred the Megazine but did like the D&G strips.

Just one question: Is Epic! technically a new comic? In the same way the Megazine was new when it took over from BeanoMAX?

-MikeD- wrote:I know it's currently unthinkable, but I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped Dennis' name on the title, leaving just 'Epic Magazine.'

Could be a cunning plan to introduce a new brand. Then again, it did look like that with Dandy Xtreme for a while.

Personally, I would have simply called the comic/magazine Dennis the Menace and Gnasher. Surely his name is enough? He is easily as famous as The Beano no?

Oh, another thing: my local Sainsburys is finally no longer calling it BeanoMAX on the check-out any more. It is now simply called "Dennis and Gnasher".

Look at the barcode. Is it issue 1? If so, it's a new title. Newsstand says it's issue 88 (which would continue the numbering of MAX, as Megazine did) but does now call it Dennis and Gnasher Magazine instead of BeanoMAX.

Digifiend wrote:Look at the barcode. Is it issue 1? If so, it's a new title. Newsstand says it's issue 88 (which would continue the numbering of MAX, as Megazine did) but does now call it Dennis and Gnasher Magazine instead of BeanoMAX.

That's the thing, Digi. To me Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine was a complete new magazine despite the barcode saying differently. Dennis the Menace and Gnasher's Epic! Magazine is different yet again. So again, I have come to the same conclusion: It is a new magazine.