Dandy on the brink?

[Jim_Campbell]

A couple of interesting things that have I come across on Facebook today arising from, or relevant to, the Dandy issue.

First, Laura Sneddon posted these figures from the UK booksellers' industry for the first half of 2012:



Which segues rather neatly into Kev Sutherland's blog post on the Dandy's potential demise...

All of which feeds into my unshakeable certainty that the lack of a decent juvenile/teen comic market is a failure of supply, rather than one of demand.

Cheers

Jim

[Taryn Tailz]

It would be a sad day when The Dandy ceases publication. I used to love getting my copy of The Dandy every week, as a kid in the mid 90s. One of the highlights of every Christmas was getting The Dandy annual from my eldest brother, an annual which would be read over and over again throughout the year.

When I happen to notice The Dandy on the shelves now, it just doesn't look even remotely like the comic I enjoyed so much during my childhood. Obviously I'm probably looking at the period that I read the comic through rosetinted glasses, but it's a real shame to see what The Dandy has now become.

Still, I sincerly hope that The Dandy manages to pull through this and continue publication. It may be a good 15 years since I last read it, but it would be a crying shame to see it go.

[Dandontdare]

Even in the 70s I sensed (perhaps incorrectly) that many of the funnies – whether from DC Thomson or IPC were produced by creators from a different era. DC Thomson comics more so. They felt rather old fashioned to me even at the time.

weirdly, that was part of the appeal when I was younger. It was a world I didn't recognise - slipperings, teachers in mortar boards, a 'slap-up feed' as the pinnnacle of human desire - but to me that was just the world of comics. Kids can easilly accept and adapt if they're getting the entertainment, they don't need everything to be cutting-edge relevant.

I ws never a Dandy fan (I was a Beano Boy), and the latest versions do look terrible, but still sad to see a legend pass, not to mention all the people behind it.

[James Stacey]

weirdly, that was part of the appeal when I was younger. It was a world I didn't recognise - slipperings, teachers in mortar boards, a 'slap-up feed' as the pinnnacle of human desire - but to me that was just the world of comics. Kids can easilly accept and adapt if they're getting the entertainment, they don't need everything to be cutting-edge relevant

Same here. I never really understood the term 'fish supper' and 'pie supper' until I visited a chip shop in Oban and realised 'supper' in that context is a Scots colloquialism for 'with chips'.

My favourite is still 'Pansy Potter the Strongman's Daughter' which only scans in a Scottish accent.

[Daveycandlish]

I don't think the 'living in the past or different world' comment is a fair one re teachers in mortar boards,etc when you consider how children embraced Harry Potter and teachers in gowns in that boarding school. I think the rot set in from a different direction for The Dandy unfortunately

[Fisticuffs]

Must admit I stared agog at that picture on the previous page of what the Dandy has become. What a travesty of a national treasure. Needs to be put out of its misery.

[Colin YNWA]

But whats meeting that increased demand? From a position of complete ignorance I wonder if those sales are actually accounted for by the market in nostalgia collections, like those giant books collecting Commando stories and the like. Rather than kids wanting to read comics?

As I say that's speculation from a position of ignorance and happy to be shot down...

Also the growth is impressive but its still a very low (??? more ignorance) figure overall, tied with books about energy and electrical engineering. Which I'm guessing is a pretty small specialist market and ten times smaller than romance novels, which I imagine is a decent size market.

[Proudhuff]

There will be pieces on this on both bbc scotland and STV tonight, I know this as I just signed both in to talk to that nice Dr Murray from Dundee Uni...

[stevewaller]

Speaking as a fan, and an occasional contributor, I feel pretty gutted by this news. The Dandy was the first publication to offer me a chance of professional work. Something i'll always be beyond grateful for...

Childhood dream fulfilling stuff. I salute the good-ship Dandy, and hope it's not completely the end.

[SuperSurfer]

It was a world I didn't recognise - slipperings, teachers in mortar boards, a 'slap-up feed' as the pinnnacle of human desire - but to me that was just the world of comics.

Yes, and constant run-ins with the 'parky', fizzy pop etc. None of that was the language we used as kids. But yes, there was something quite appealing about it and dare I say it quite quaint. At least in comparison to the hip and zany writing of Stan Lee.

Nevertheless, I will be saddened to see such a long running title disappear from newsagents shelves.

[TordelBack]

weirdly, that was part of the appeal when I was younger. It was a world I didn't recognise - slipperings, teachers in mortar boards, a 'slap-up feed' as the pinnnacle of human desire - but to me that was just the world of comics. Kids can easilly accept and adapt if they're getting the entertainment, they don't need everything to be cutting-edge relevant

Same here. I never really understood the term 'fish supper' and 'pie supper' until I visited a chip shop in Oban and realised 'supper' in that context is a Scots colloquialism for 'with chips'.

My favourite is still 'Pansy Potter the Strongman's Daughter' which only scans in a Scottish accent.

All true.  All this stuff was outside of my experience as a kid, but then so was pretty much everything.  The world of The Famous Five was as fantastic and arcane as that of Biggles or Narnia, so slipperings and suppers and Sir in the Beano and the Dandy were just absorbed in the same way - the unique texture of that fiction. 

[Jim_Campbell]

Which I'm guessing is a pretty small specialist market and ten times smaller than romance novels, which I imagine is a decent size market.

Worth noting that the "Romance & Sagas" category is actually the statistical outlier in that table, being an order of magnitude larger than almost all the other categories (in fact, it's almost as much as all the others added together).

So... I would suggest comparing the figures for either the Superhero category or the Children's Comic Strip categories to it doesn't yield much useful (other than suggesting that someone ought to be reprinting romance comics) when we could productively be asking how to capitalise on this, assuming it is a trend.

(And, historically, comics have always done well in economically trying times.)

Cheers

Jim

[Colin YNWA]

So... I would suggest comparing the figures for either the Superhero category or the Children's Comic Strip categories to it doesn't yield much useful (other than suggesting that someone ought to be reprinting romance comics)

For all their perceived faults DC seems to agree...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Showcase-Presents-Young-Love-Vol/dp/1781160600/ref=sr_1_22?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344956060&sr=1-22

[Proudhuff]

I'm assuming Judge Dredd comes uder Law General and Reference?

[Al_Ewing]

I really hope 2000AD never becomes a 'national treasure'.

Colin Smith's glowing review of the modern Dandy: http://toobusythinkingboutcomics.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/on-dandy-readers-roulette-25.html

I hope the Dandy survives. But if it does die, it'll die proud.