It's been 11 years this week since Postman Prat made his debut in The Dandy as part of the big revamp of 2010. Sadly that attempt to turn back declining sales (which had been falling for many years) only gave it a short reprieve and the weekly Dandy was cancelled at the end of 2012 after 75 years. Even so, a 75 year run is a phenominal feat considering many comics never even reached 12 months. The Dandy was the longest running comic, until The Beano took that crown a few years back.
BUT The Dandy Annual has continued, and Postman Prat has appeared there from time to time. There'll be several all new Postman Prat mini-strips in The Dandy Annual 2023, out next August!
Great to see the famous(if now defunct as a weekly) Dandy comic still kicking with annuals every year a decade after the original weekly comic closed. It's great to have such a famous name in comics still being kept alive by DC Thompson (and I'm glad Rebellion are now doing the same with the classic IPC/Fleetway humour comic characters).
ReplyDeleteAs always, I look forward to reading these annuals every late summer of every year with these classic characters in all-new modern escapades and I look forward to seeing the work of you and other talented artists of the present day bringing these characters to life.
It may not be until next year, but I'm excited as always to see your Biffo and Postman Prat mini-strips in next year's Beano and Dandy annuals. Stay safe!
I know I've said it before but I'll say it again, I loved the final revamp. The fact that it saved the comic from cancellation as long as it did is testament to the work you all put in.
ReplyDeleteThanks Callum and Phil. It's good to read those comments. Thomsons seem dedicated to keeping the Dandy brand alive in the annual and summer special at least. What I'd like to see is for it to come back as four seasonal specials but the market may not be strong enough to support it. Still, we have 112 pages of new material every year in the annual, and a smattering of new bits in the summer special so that's something to be grateful for.
ReplyDeleteThey could at least add a winter special, so that Beano and Dandy have two specials each per year (alongside the annuals and Beano's 50 regular issues of course).
ReplyDeleteIdeally, they'd revive Classics from the Comics too... but that folded for a reason unfortunately.
The market that's booming is graphic novels for kids, and Thomsons are dabbling with that now with their new Dennis books. I hope that expands to include other characters but, as ever, time will tell.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a dandy revival. I Was really gutted to hear it was canceled. It would indeed be awesome if they introduced seasonal specials. Would be even better if they did a monthly comic or something. I remain in hope and it would be awesome to see more of Postman Pratt! Your versions of Keyhole Kate and The Smasher are fantastic too. :D
ReplyDeleteThere'll be four Keyhole Kate pages in next year's Dandy Annual and eight Prat mini strips so I suppose that's kind of the equivalent to a quarterly. I seriously don't think The Dandy is likely to return as a periodical any more than Topper, Sparky, Victor, etc. I'd like to be wrong but I can't see any good business argument that would convince the publishers to do it.
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