This week's Beano features a few new strips making their debut including the start of my new mini-strip Watch-Hog. This replaces the Rasher mini-strip but it still stars Dennis the Menace's pet pig and the humour is on the same lines. (Yes, turnips will make an appearance or two.)
Watch-Hog runs through the six weeks of the summer holiday gift issues. Check out the first one in The Beano, on sale Wednesday July 31st!
Thanks to the Funsize Funnies pages being redesigned to be similar to the Dandy's mini-strip pages, they didn't use that title panel you drew. Shame, because it's a clear parody of the Watchdog logo, and that joke is now lost.
ReplyDeleteAh well. That's comicbiz.
DeleteI've heard you only print comments that agree with you so I doubt you will publish this but the changes to the Beano have ruined it. After buying it every week for over 30 years I've put up with a lot of changes from PC intrusion to the childish fart jokes but all the blob art and scrawl in the Beano today is the last straw I'm afraid. The Bean had a fine pedigree of people like Ken Reid, Leo Baxendale, Dudley D. Watkins, Davy Law, but none of the modern scribblers even come close. Where are David Parkins, Nigel Dobbins, Ken H. Harrison and other people of remarkable ability? Sorry Mr.Stringer but you new artists are not a patch on any of them and I fear for the Beano's future with Jamie Smart, Alexander Matthews and all of you at the helm. Bring back the Beano of the 1980S before it's too late or I see the Beano ending this Christmas just as Dandy ended last Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you hear I only publish positive comments? It's simply not true. The only comments I block/delete on this blog are spam, abusive messages, or ones with illegal content. Don't believe all you hear.
DeleteYou're quite entitled to your opinion of the current Beano of course. No comic can appeal to everyone 100% of the time. After reading the comic for thirty years do you really expect it to cater for your age group? For example, children's TV and books no longer appeal to me so I don't watch/read them. I wouldn't dream of complaining to CiTV that their programmes didn't entertain me anymore, and yet I regularly see adults on the Internet complaining that they're no longer amused by childrens comics!
As for 'new artists' as you call us, Nigel Parkinson, Wayne Thompson and myself have worked in comics for 30 years or more, and even Jamie Smart has been around for quite a few years now.
Naturally, as adults, we all prefer The Beano of our childhood, but that's because it's aimed at children. You may not like the current version, but I have no doubt that in another thirty years there'll be adults on the Internet (or its future equivalent) saying how much The Beano of 2013 (that THEY grew up with) was the best and how children's entertainment ain't what it used to be. So it goes.
Even if the Beano was mainly aimed at kiddies it still appealed to adults. I defy anyone to say the work of Ken Reid and Leo Baxendale isn't funny for all ages. Where's todays Reid and Baxendale? Not in the blob art of Smart that's for sure. No the Beano has gone downhill and is heading for the same same fate as Dandy had last Christmas. They put the price up 25% too, for the rubbish in it now? Can't believe it. Bring back the Beano as it was in its 1980S peak with people who could draw properly.
DeleteThanks for your opinion.
DeleteIncidentally, Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid left The Beano in the early 1960s, so they weren't around for the 1980s 'peak' you refer to.
I never said Reid and Baxendale were drawing for the Beano in the 1980S. That's how you misinterpreted it because you can't fault my argument about the Beano being a far better comic back then compared to the state it finds itself in now.
DeleteAnon, the latest price increase was probably just to cover the cost of the Turbo Battlerz figures. I won't be surprised if it's back to £2.00 in five weeks time, after the Turbo Battlerz covermounts finish.
DeleteAnd the Dandy's sales were already pretty unhealthy at the time of the 2010 relaunch and never improved. The Beano is selling about 5 times as many copies. I've always believed that the damage to Dandy was already done during the Xtreme era.
Anon, your opinion on the 1980s Beano is just that. An opinion, not fact. I'm not arguing against it because it'd be pointless to try and change your opinion.
DeleteI couldn't beleive my eyes when I looked through the 75th anniversary issue. And it hardly improved when I settled down to actually read it. All I could think was "that's it, then".
DeleteOh well, there's always The Phoenix.
Good luck finding The Phoenix in a shop.
Delete1980's peak ?! Can I put a word in for the '70s Beano ! I switched to Marvel comics in 1974 but I continued to get the annuals until about 1978 and they were great fun !
ReplyDeleteExactly. The 'peak' of a comic is often when the reader was a child. It's just opinion. (Having said that, I think most collectors would agree that The Beano of the 1950s rates pretty high in anyone's opinion.)
Deletehey lew i still have a warm fondness for the art and scripts of 60s and 70s beano.can u download beano comics from this era onto a tablet? im sure that would be a great seller.make it so pls!
Delete1970s Beanos are not available to download yet Anon, and it's out of my hands anyway I'm afraid. Perhaps DC Thomson will do it one day!
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