The Dandy to close?

Bill_Stumps

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/13/oldest-comic-the-dandy-faces-closure

I don't know how comics like the Dandy and Beano (are they the only ones?) have survived this long. They surely belong to a lost era of school caps and short trousers, Biggles, airfix kits, carts made out of pram wheels, jamboree bags, Sunday afternoon classic serials, 2 way family favourites, brylcreem, Colin Cowdrey, football rattles and Charlton winning the FA Cup when the FA Cup was a competition which mattered. Still, sad to see.

Oakster

My dad was an artist for The Dandy (& The Beano) for years, drew all the famous characters at some stage - but unfortunately as you say the writing has been on the wall for kids comics for years. Amazed it has lasted this long. In the early - mid 70s when he drew for the likes of Whizzer & Chips, Cor!, Monster Fun etc - it was big business....

seth plum

Does anyone remember those miniture soldiers, my brother and i called 'titchies'? You could buy a whole set of say, Confederate or Union soldiers, or Brits and Germans, you'd get about twenty or so in a pack. We used to build the lego fort and off we'd go!

Half Nelson

Oakster I used to know an artist for the same comics I think his first name was Peter I don`t suppose he was your dad was he?

madadd

seth plum said:

Does anyone remember those miniture soldiers, my brother and i called 'titchies'? You could buy a whole set of say, Confederate or Union soldiers, or Brits and Germans, you'd get about twenty or so in a pack. We used to build the lego fort and off we'd go!

these were brilliant I rtemember these, weren't they airfix sets of something, simply twist of the plastic stalk and battle commence

Saga Lout

I was more of a Beano boy myself and managed to pass that on to my boys who were avid readers. Nevertheless, sad news.

Ross

Sad news. However the quality of both the Beano and Dandy has fallen dramatically in the last 10 years. Awful drawing, poor characters. And the price is horrific! I still get the Beano annual every year, but that's more to do with keeping my collection going. Bring back the classic story's like Winker Watson! (and I'm only 24!)

Hastingsaddick

Was Billy Buff (or was it Billy Biff) and chips in the Dandy?.....remember the little toy soldiers as well....and the slightly bigger ones that you could paint.

Danny Addick

Far preferred the beano and roger the dodger. Problem perhaps is, I never see a dandy these days. How can kids buy it?

Bangkokaddick

Always a Beano fan. Sold most of my collection of comics and annuals on ebay a couple of years ago. Not a lot of use for them in Thailand. Got nearly 100 quid for the first Dennis the Menace annual. Beano and Dandy never the same since they went glossy and accepted advertisements. Really cannot see the appeal to the current generation of kids. How long will Beano last now?

ken from bexley

How sad.
One of the reasons I became a graphic designer was because of these comics and the tintin books.
There was an awful lot of tosh by educationalists who took a very dim view of comics in the 50s -60s.
But they were great tools in developing a child to have an interest in reading, albeit a rather dated and almost reactionary account of the world as it was.
Of course as kids we just looked at it as if it was a good read, exciting, and something you could relate to. I used to love the Valiant, but the Christmas annuals were great companions, and I used to read them when I had flu.
I tried to do a feature once on the scottish comics, and they were very guarded about there use of illustrations, for a magazine called school leaver about illustration and commercial art as it was then , to soon be called graphic design. Hopefully it will be recreated as an app, or transferred to the electronic age.
To me they will always be more than mere comics, perhaps if teachers had appreciated them years ago, they could have used them to engage with children and use them as a platform for a world of literacy, instead of the reading ages we have these days which people like my wife have to deal with as a senior SEN teacher.

Oggy Red

I taught my son to read, using the the Dandy (and Beano).

When my son came to live with me at the age of 8, he couldn't read or write.
His mother was convinced he was dyslexic, the school said he wasn't.

Armed with copies of the Beano and Dandy, each night I made it his bedtime stories.

With the cartoon stories, using very simple word recognition and lots of laughter, he started to make progress.

He's at University now.

lordromford

Hastingsaddick said:

Was Billy Buff (or was it Billy Biff) and chips in the Dandy?.....remember the little toy soldiers as well....and the slightly bigger ones that you could paint.

"Bully Beef and Chips"

Viz parodied this with "Biffa Bacon and Cedric Soft" which later morphed into just Biffa and then the Bacon family.

March51

Bill_Stumps said:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/13/oldest-comic-the-dandy-faces-closure

I don't know how comics like the Dandy and Beano (are they the only ones?) have survived this long. They surely belong to a lost era of school caps and short trousers, Biggles, airfix kits, carts made out of pram wheels, jamboree bags, Sunday afternoon classic serials, 2 way family favourites, brylcreem, Colin Cowdrey, football rattles and Charlton winning the FA Cup when the FA Cup was a competition which mattered. Still, sad to see.

Oh dear, all those have happened within my time except for the Dandy and Beano: my mum wouldn't have them in the house as she didn't think they were 'proper reading'. I had to have something called The Children's Newspaper which was the most boring thing I've ever had to read. Fortunately my older brother was allowed the Eagle which was editrd by a clergyman which made it OK . We still have the first 150 issues bound in volumes. Oggy's story shows how wrong my mum was! Would be sad to see another British institution go.

DamoNorthStand

The Beano must have been bigger by far - as with lots of people on here, I was always a Beano kid.

I remember:

Dennis the Menace
Ivy the Terrible
Minnie the Minx
Bash Street Kids
Ball Boy
Billy Whizz
Roger the Dodger
Lord Snooty

Bill_Stumps

Not forgetting the Three Bears, Corporal Clott and Jimmy and his Magic Patch!

Does anyone remember the Black Sapper (who I think might have been in The Beezer) and the Purple Cloud which disintegrated metal and Jet Ace Logan in Tiger?

ken from bexley

Found........ the illustration that I got a fellow illustrator to recreate a bbc programme a few years back.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7514362.stm
The illustrator was Kate Charlesworth

Friend Or Defoe

Was a big fan of both as kid. When I started doing a paper round in the mid nineties there were stacks of both each week a few years later there were only a few, I'm surprised that they're still going.

I have a beano in my parents attic which still has the free refresher attached to it. It's sell by date was in 93 or something. If anyone's hungry let me know!

DPFC

I used to read both beano and dandy when I was a kid in the late 50's & early 60's.
as well as the eagle, (Dan Dare and all that)

My kids also read them.

One of the reasons I think they have declined is the stories are so tame, all so PC . Bought one a couple of years ago for my grandson and could not believe how poor it was

If you read my old annuals all the the kids got up to proper capers and were regually thrashed as a result and the adventure stories were really exciting. Well I thought so anyway

richie8

DPFC said:

I used to read both beano and dandy when I was a kid in the late 50's & early 60's.
as well as the eagle, (Dan Dare and all that)

My kids also read them.

One of the reasons I think they have declined is the stories are so tame, all so PC . Bought one a couple of years ago for my grandson and could not believe how poor it was

If you read my old annuals all the the kids got up to proper capers and were regually thrashed as a result and the adventure stories were really exciting. Well I thought so anyway

I remember reading Secret Seven and Famous Five books when I was about 8 to 11 ish and enjoyed them.Looked at the redone modern version for my 9 y/o son and put it back on the shelf for the same reasons!!

Hastingsaddick

lordromford said:

Hastingsaddick said:

Was Billy Buff (or was it Billy Biff) and chips in the Dandy?.....remember the little toy soldiers as well....and the slightly bigger ones that you could paint.

"Bully Beef and Chips"

Viz parodied this with "Biffa Bacon and Cedric Soft" which later morphed into just Biffa and then the Bacon family.

Thats it 'Bully Beef and Chips'...my fav in The Dandy.

McBobbin

Used to get both from about 1986... I was a memeber of the Dennis the Menace fan club, and had the badges and everything! they were worn to school with pride. Always thought the Beano was better

seth plum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns2hxFobW6k

1.40 to 1.50

PL54

I have a load of Beano and Dandy Annuals in the garage from late 60s through to 80s/90s. Doesn't seem to be much of a market for selling them - unless anyone knows otherwise. Also Andy Capp from the same period - now the are really non-PC !

Bangkokaddick

PL54 said:

I have a load of Beano and Dandy Annuals in the garage from late 60s through to 80s/90s. Doesn't seem to be much of a market for selling them - unless anyone knows otherwise. Also Andy Capp from the same period - now the are really non-PC !

The money is in the annuals before they started dating them, i.e. 1964 and prior.