SPACEWARP - New Venture from Pat Mills

[maryanddavid]

Great to see Jamie Smarts success. His take on Desperate Dan and Korky were really fresh, but not enough to save the Dandy. All the local book shops here in a small town have loads of his books and others like Dog Man, and are now stocking a small amount of Manga and DC collections as well.

[IndigoPrime]

Looking online, there was quite a backlash against his Roger the Dodger, which I think says more about the sensibilities of old fart parents than children. Lots of "this isn't the Roger I knew". Well, yes. It was much funnier and sillier, but still smart and mischievous. By comparison, the current Roger feels very safe and a bit dull. (Mind you, that in itself might not be the worst thing. The Beano has its own voice and feel, and that's neatly countered by The Phoenix, which to some degree fills the IPC/Fleetway equivalent from when I was a kid – more anarchic.)

As for The Dandy, perhaps that in the long run was a good thing, in giving DCT some razor-sharp focus. The Beano seems to be on reasonably firm ground these days, and The Dandy survives to some degree with the annuals. (I don't really count the specials, which are mostly reprint and staggeringly expensive for what they are.) They also just started flirting with Zoom, presumably following on from The Phoenix doing the same. Although the first Beano session was weirdly long and weirdly late in the day. I'm not sure how many of the target audience would be fully attentive during a 75-minute(!) video that didn't start until 7pm. Maybe Scottish kids have later bedtimes or something.

[maryanddavid]

Yeah, the old 'it was better in my day'. No it was just different. The humour comics form the forties were vastly different to the sixties, etc etc. Still, while my youngest has left the Beano and Monster Fun behind ( he did get the Phoenix, but never loved it) he is now coming home with a manga from Eason's every other week.

[IndigoPrime]

I witnessed possibly the first shift here when the latest Phoenix lay unopened and unread for two days. That said, mini-G is now part of the Beano fan club and loves her Gnasher badge. She never clicked with Monster Fun, though. Those early issues felt very "lots of boys and naff-all girls" and it for her never really recovered from that.

It'll be interesting to see where things head next. Although I suspect she may well continue to pick up Jamie Smart books for some time, even when The Phoenix is but a memory.