Classics From the Comics

Bought the new issue yesterday, well p'ed off next issue is the last.

What with Crikey ending too, it's a miserable time to be a comics fan.

It's an even more miserable time to be working for DC Thomson, I suspect.

tony ingram wrote:Actually, I think they might be dropping the 'Xtreme' bit...

Blimey. I find that Xtremely surprising!

Spiff_B wrote:What with Crikey ending too, it's a miserable time to be a comics fan.

First Crikey, then Classics. I'm starting to feel like a jinx...

MLP* wrote:

tony ingram wrote:Actually, I think they might be dropping the 'Xtreme' bit...

Blimey. I find that Xtremely surprising!

Spiff_B wrote:What with Crikey ending too, it's a miserable time to be a comics fan.

First Crikey, then Classics. I'm starting to feel like a jinx...

Don't think we didn't know it was all your fault all along. You'll get what's coming to you, pal!

Maybe if they made the stories run longer (like a mini arc) kids would keep on buying to see what happens.

They've been running some serials for some months now, but the fact is, it's a reprint title, most of the stories they were reprinting were one off, one or two page strips, and there's nothing you can do about that. I don't think it was really being bought by kids anyway, it appealed to the nostalgia market. And I'm not entirely sure sales were the only issue. From what Garry said, the recent organizational changes at DCT have simply resulted in heavy cutbacks and classics was one of them-they're outsourcing their printing so they have to cut back on titles. Just another sign of the times.

Plenty of highly obscure strips in this month's issue :

Dick Turban
Billy Green and his sister Jean
Tommy's Tick Tock Twin (with his Uncle Professor Dick)
Sleepy Ed
Sir Laughalot (in verse !)
Spoofer
Slojak

Hourglass wrote:Maybe if they made the stories run longer (like a mini arc) kids would keep on buying to see what happens.

Well, I dunno about kids but I've been buying to see what happens to the Space Kids ! Don't suppose I'll ever find out if they got home now...

tony ingram wrote: I don't think it was really being bought by kids anyway, it appealed to the nostalgia market. And I'm not entirely sure sales were the only issue.

It always seemed a bit vague as to whether it was intended for kids or adults.
The recent revamp aimed it more firmly at the latter and it was much better for it.

Sadly it sounds like DCT decided to cull a percentage of their titles and Classics as one of the lower selling ones got the chop.

I'd guess that when they were running their own printing operation a lot of titles remained viable which probably aren't if they're paying an outside firm.

An interesting article here which gives an idea of DCT's thinking at the moment :

http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2010/09/will-beano-go-digital.html

Of major interest to comic fans are the company's plans for possible digital publication, which
Collins describes as "One of our big opportunities.

"We have access to five million pages of comic book material from the 1930s to current publications," he notes.

Suggests they are looking at merchandising and online activities rather than traditional publishing.

I guess in a few years time we could all be reading classic strips on our iPads or other mobile devices but it won't be the same somehow...

It certainly won't be for me. i don't have an iPad or other mobile device...

Classics From The Comics as a Kindle magazine, please DCT!

Picked up the latest issue.

I guess the axe must have fallen very abruptly as there's an ad at the back for issue # 176 and references to next months issue in the editorial and elsewhere.

There will be plenty of annoyed / confused readers on Nov 10th !

I'll drop them an e-mail later so that they know there are some of us out here who will miss the comic !

We never even got to see the end of The Space Kids.

A sad loss. Classics was one of the best British comics still running-Garry was doing a marvelous job.

tony ingram wrote:We never even got to see the end of The Space Kids.

I mentioned that to them in my e-mail.

And sadly the story is left on a cliffhanger.

MLP* wrote:Picked up the latest issue.

I guess the axe must have fallen very abruptly as there's an ad at the back for issue # 176 and references to next months issue in the editorial and elsewhere.

I was hoping that meant it'd last one more issue.

No-the issue was already finished when they got the news there wouldn't be another one.

The axe did indeed fall very abruptly. Shame, what with the recent introduction of adventure stories and then text stories i was hoping it'd go the other way and we'd start setting bigger issues of 2-300 pages. The format of Classics isn't a million miles away from that of Shonen Jump, which is a US edition of a Japanese comic (though the US one is monthly and the Japanese one, with about the same page count, is weekly... dunno how they work that one out).

When i was a kid i read Classics but stopped when i "grew out" of comics (well, reading them anyway). If you are born in 1984 a story from 1963 published in 1996 is just as "new" to you as one drawn in 1996. If you see what i mean. When i got back into comics the patchy distribution of Classics was making things difficult too. It would not be on sale at all for months on end in Lincoln! I have a load of early issues knocking about in my room but number 1 remains elusive.

There was a stall with a huge stack of issues at BICS at the weekend, for a pound each! Unfortunatley the bags i had (and the arms holding them) were showing the strain by then. I'd bought a bunch of issues of some rag called Crikey... whatever that is.

I've heard of that, somewhere...

Finished reading the final issue.

Some wonderfully obscure stuff as always ; First Ada, Moe and Joe and Daddy-O, Rah-Rah Randall, Dreamy Daniel and many more.

Highlight of the issue was Minnie The Minx. Baxendale's version was uncompromisingly aggressive compared to the more mischievous Minnie of Jim Petrie.

Oh well, so long Classics. It was fun while it lasted.

It was indeed. RIP Classics, you will be missed.
So, what did happen to the Space Kids?

After the cancellation of Classics, now the Fun Size line has been cancelled ;

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/11/fun-size-victims-of-downsize.html

Not that I ever actually saw them on sale anywhere...

Like a lot of Thomson's titles, they had limited distribution. Mostly, they were on sale at the larger branches of WH Smith. I can't say I'm surprised...

In the absence of Classics we now have "Beano Retro".

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2011/02/beano-goes-retro.html

Not sure how succesful this will be. Old timers like me won't want to read the modern Beano and I'm not sure how interested kids will be in vintage strips.

I have been missing my fix of Classics so I will keep an eye out for the following which might help fill the gap :

The Ultimate Beano Summer Special No.1

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2011/05/in-shops-now.html

I'm intending to pick this up as well! It's been too long since I've seen a Summer Special...

Picked up a copy today. The format is actually closer to one of the hardback collections that they publish for Christmas than it is to Classics.
68 colour glossy pages in a square bound format.
I guess the original artwork is long gone so it's been copied off the comic pages themselves, for that authentic aged "yellowed" feel.
What I miss about Classics was the way it had scope to bring you long forgotten strips or some obscure stuff you'd never heard of. This special sticks to the more familiar Beano strips.

Surprised that Pansy Potter was still appearing as late as 1990 !

As late as 1993, in fact. She was revived in 1989 after several years in limbo afollowing the demise of Sparky.

OK, well I've had a flick though and at least Calamity James, Karate Sid and The Mctickles offer something a bit more unusual than the just usual Beano characters.
Hopefully this special will be a success and the strips from the Dandy and Topper might make it into a future one.

The McTickles!!!?

tony ingram wrote:The McTickles!!!?

Indeed.

One other thing that strikes me about the special is that although they have an eye firmly on the kids audience, with a joke at the bottom of many of the pages, it would have been nice to use the space to have more context about the strips rather than just the year of publication.

No credits?

tony ingram wrote:No credits?

Sadly not.

Picked up the "Beano & Dandy Celebrate Dennis The Menace" book.
Would have preferred a bit more variety for the end of year nostalgia collection rather than a Dennis book.
The second half of the book looks like relatively recent stuff (late 90s on.)

Still, £2.99 in Waterstones sale and with a free reprint of Beano #1 and a Dennis DVD I guess I can't complain.

Is this a new Dennis DVD, or something previously released as part of the Beano Collection?

"Dennis The Menace Classic Animation. "Hair Today Gone Tomorrow" and "Bathnight Club" Running time 48 minutes."

I think I'll look out for it when I'm in town. I likes me a bit of Dennis.

Reading through the Dennis book. It's fascinating that Gnasher didn't turn up until 17 years after Dennis, given that the two characters are now synonymous.

The facsimile comic is the first Dennis issue from 1951. It's interesting just how dated The Beano of this era looks. Lots of text stories and adventure strips. Shows what a breath of fresh air Minnie The Minx, The Bash Street Kids and the like must have been when they arrived.

I have that first dennis strip on a plate-or rather, Deb does. Very strange to see, too, that Gnasher was not the first family dog!

tony ingram wrote:I have that first dennis strip on a plate-or rather, Deb does. Very strange to see, too, that Gnasher was not the first family dog!

Yeah. I'm up to the late 50s strips at the mo (although sadly there's no dates on them in the book) and in the early Dennis strips he is very much a solo character without the now familiar supporting cast. Consequently various dogs, pigs and even a character called Walter all make "one off" appearances.

He even lacks his trademark stripey jumper in the first one! When did he get that?

A black and white striped jersey after six weeks which becomes black and red after six months or so.

Interesting. Very much a gradual evolution. I'll hopefully be picking the book up on Tuesday myself.

Dennis's cousin Denise turns up for a couple of stories. I guess she wasn't popular with readers as she is featured heavily in a couple of stories and then vanishes !

The early Smasher strips are interesting. Printed in red rather than blue and Smasher is shown as a redhead !

I haven't seen a Smasher strip in years! I used to like him. Very much a Dennis clone though, I always thought.

Quite unexpectedly, spotted The Ultimate Beano Summer Special No.2 in Smiths today.
Billed as a "Diamond Jubilee Collectors Edition."

A positive sign as it suggests that last years edition sold well.

These are all reprints from previous Summer Specials, aren't they? I was quite impressed with the first one, I'll have to try and track this one down next week.

tony ingram wrote:These are all reprints from previous Summer Specials, aren't they?

Yes, mostly Beano with a bit of Numskulls and Bananaman.

Had no idea it was coming out so it was a pleasant surprise to see it.

I wish they'd reprint some more material from Topper and Sparky. There's a lot of good material that gets overlooked because it wasn't from the Beano, it seems to me.

Dandy reprint :

http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-dandy-75-years-special-collectors.html

If I get the chance, I'll pick this up next week. If I'd known it was out I'd have bought it when I was in town on Friday!