The Death of The Dandy

SmallBlueThing · 29 November, 2012, 07:06:24 PM

I know we have a thread about this around here somewhere, but given the circumstances and my inability to locate it, i didnt think anyone would mind. Next Tuesday, Dec 4th, marks the death of the Dandy as the final issue- #3610- goes on sale.

I know ive been pretty scathing of the newer Dandys in the past, but this is still a ridiculously sad event that deserves being marked here in some way.

This week's, #3609, which i bought for the boys, is marked improvement on the ones ive seen recently- 31 pages of strip for £1.99 (as opposed to far less in The Beano) and pleasingly dense in places too. Not all of it is angular shapes either, with several strips being quite well-drawn.

One thing though: where is the cross-advertising between this and the The Beano? Id've thought with one dead, they'd be trying to make sure any readers at least knew there's another comic out there! And in all my time buying The Beano, i cant remember a single advert for The Dandy either.

I actually had to check the indicia to (cont)

SmallBlueThing · 29 November, 2012, 07:13:24 PM

(cont) make sure they were still both published by DC Thomson.

I dont know what lessons are to be learned- but i hope The Beano learns them, gets a rise in sales, and stays with us for a loooong time. Both my boys seemed genuinely upset to hear that The Dandy was ending next week- and Bram seems much better-inclined towards it now bloody Harry Hill and Simon Cowell dont feature- although i see Hill's back next week.

It's a hundred pages next Tuesday, and there's a free copy of the first Dandy from 1937. We'll be buying it, and i sincerely hope it wont be too long before it's back on the shelves in some form. Good luck to all employed by the title, and here's to 75 years, if 75 years cruelly curtailed in the end.

SBT

Professor Bear · 29 November, 2012, 11:28:43 PM

Let's have a Scottish wake for it in the chatroom. It maybe wasn't relevant to any of us, but it was one of the gateway titles in our youths before finding 2000ad, and a UK comics institution.

maryanddavid · 29 November, 2012, 11:46:47 PM

Real shame, and I really think the relaunch was such a brave move for DCT, It brought on board a wealth of talent and some great inventive stories, Dan under Jaime Smarts run is genuinely funny, and Lew Stringer always brings a smile, snowman in a box indeed!

I dont know about the move to digital, my oldest two love comics, Kate won a digital sub to the Beano, shes not bothered with it, any time she goes on the computer she wants to go on Club Penguin or Moshi Monsters etc.

Brendan is gutted that is ending, he only started getting it a few week before it was announced to end, although it id getting him to read more comics, he now want to read where some of the characters originally came from, he has a bundle of Nuttys and Hoots under his bed.
They did advertise the Dandy in the Beano over the last year, occasionally the last strip in the Beano was a Dandy strip and under it read something like, 'Like this story the pick up the Dandy'

Wouldnt it be great if it was all just a big publicity stunt!!

Andy Smart · 30 November, 2012, 10:33:53 AM

It does seem a huge shame. The oldest running comic in the UK (and possibly the world at this point). I hope the online version does well and they at least get to bring out an annual or other occasional print specials. I have fond memories of reading it when I was a nipper.

Flags will be at half mast on Tuesday.

Buttonman · 30 November, 2012, 11:56:42 PM

It is a shame, but not really. 8,000 sales doesn't translate into a viable business. For every person lamenting its demise how many have bought an issue in the last 20 years? My local newsagent had a story in the Paisley Express as he's sold 400 copies at £3.99 on pre-order after a leaflet campaign to his regulars. The recognition is there but not the desire to buy a regular issue. Nostalgia ain't what it used to be!

Frank · 01 December, 2012, 10:58:17 AM

Quote from: maryanddavid on 29 November, 2012, 11:46:47 PM
Wouldnt it be great if it was all just a big publicity stunt!!

Like the stories, which have popped up every few years, suggesting that Dan would be dropped or that Dennis would be reinvented as a shell suit wearing asbo teen, which were effective at garnering countless column inches of free publicity in the mainstream press. The publishers have shown themselves to be fairly adept at getting the attention of adult former readers over the years, but I suppose that doesn't really translate into getting kids into the comics.

M.I.K. · 04 December, 2012, 03:23:00 AM

Free 'issue zero' of the new digital Dandy is now on their website... http://www.dandy.com/

SmallBlueThing · 04 December, 2012, 11:22:05 AM

Just a reminder that the last ever Dandy is on sale now.

SBT

vzzbux · 04 December, 2012, 12:10:14 PM

Bought mine today and may go for the 2013 annual as well.

Desparate Dan is back to the image we all know and love (us old cunts anyway).

V

IndigoPrime · 04 December, 2012, 12:53:13 PM

Quote from: M.I.K. on 04 December, 2012, 03:23:00 AM
Free 'issue zero' of the new digital Dandy is now on their website... http://www.dandy.com/

On the basis of the Bananaman strip, I only hope this appeals to kids more than it did to me. The general experience reminds me of comic apps on the iPhone—that frame-by-frame thing that sucks the energy out of mainstream fare, let alone more frantic cartoon-oriented comics. Also, the site's performance was dreadful here (on a powerful iMac and also an iPad), as was the performance of the shoddily animated sections. I hope it'll improve, but it strikes me that once you plonk a kid in front of a screen, they'll have more interesting things to do than poke a horribly cut out arrow every few sections, to get another frame of a comic strip.

sheldipez · 04 December, 2012, 01:00:07 PM

They had the final Dandy in the newsagents this morning; I'll pick it up with tomorrow's prog. RIP indeed.

IndigoPrime · 04 December, 2012, 01:41:19 PM

A friend of mine (with three young kids) just noted that the site's not even mobile-optimised, and yet the core audience will in part probably be the kind who's read it on a mobile device. It'll be interesting to hear what people here with kids end up finding out about how well this transition goes.

Andy Smart · 05 December, 2012, 01:56:32 PM

I had a go at reading the digital issue 0. It's a lot like the early flash story-telling that used to be everywhere on the web in the late 90s. There are plenty of better examples of digital comics that they could have looked at. This feels like a real throwback and not the sort of thing that will get today's kids interested. I hope they up the quality for the first paid-for issue or this is going to tank badly.

Worst of all, partway through the Desperate Dan strip, I got to a frame were there was no link to continue the story. Maybe the site isn't optimised for Firefox.

IndigoPrime · 05 December, 2012, 02:06:41 PM

As a friend of mine said, they've republished, not reimagined. The lack of mobile optimisation is baffling, and even on a low-res screen, things like the arrows are poorly cut-out, showing a lack of attention to detail.

As for not being optimised for Firefox, that's utterly inexcusable in this day and age. It's not like the web standards movement is new, and so any new site aiming at the mainstream should work on the most recent two major revisions of Firefox, IE, Chrome and Safari, the most recent Opera, and also mobile Safari and the Android browser as a minimum.