The BEANO: Is this the beginning of the end?

I just hope it pushes up its sales a bit. And at least Dennis has his 'The Menace' back.

I was always attracted more to the Dandy than the Beano! My Dandy faves were "The Smasher" "Corporal Clott" and "Big Head and Thick Head"

I just never took to "Bully Beef and Chips" when it replaced Big Head/Thick Head in mid 1967. I never knew who the Bully Beef artsist was till joining the Comics Uk forum. Afraid I am no fan of Jimmy Glenn's style- but its just my own personal opinion! If many enjoyed his work - fine by me!

Is the Dandy still going?

The Dandy is still limping along, though in my opinion it's a shadow of its former self. I miss the days of Corporal Clott, Brassneck, The Smasher and Black Bob. I have the Robert Harrop resin figurines of Clott and Brassneck in a display cabinet, and I intend to get Bob too, at some point.

Good to know the Dandy is still hanging in there. Interesting about those figurines Tony! Best of luck in your search for Black Bob!

Seems to be a bit of controversy about the "golden ticket" promotion on the Beano Facebook. The Beano website has been down and those who can get through have found that the "prize" their kids have won is a digital subscription to The Beano.

MLP* wrote:Seems to be a bit of controversy about the "golden ticket" promotion on the Beano Facebook. The Beano website has been down and those who can get through have found that the "prize" their kids have won is a digital subscription to The Beano.

That seems a little counterproductive. How do you increase sales (surely the whole point of the exercise) by giving away a digital subscription which, to some, makes buying a copy unnecessary?

tony ingram wrote:

MLP* wrote:Seems to be a bit of controversy about the "golden ticket" promotion on the Beano Facebook. The Beano website has been down and those who can get through have found that the "prize" their kids have won is a digital subscription to The Beano.

That seems a little counterproductive. How do you increase sales (surely the whole point of the exercise) by giving away a digital subscription which, to some, makes buying a copy unnecessary?

I guess they see the digital version as the future with the print edition as an endangered species. So a free three month trial subscription to the digital version helps give it a promotional push.

I suspect it may backfire though, as kids will no doubt have been anticipating a physical gift and consequently may well go back to buying a comic with a piece of plastic tat sellotaped to the front next week instead of buying the Beano.

I've never seen the appeal of digital comics. Surely, most comics readers are also collectors to a degree? It's a hobby that just goes hand in hand with the collector mentality. And you don't really own anything with a digital comic. You're just renting something with no physical existence.

tony ingram wrote:I've never seen the appeal of digital comics. Surely, most comics readers are also collectors to a degree? It's a hobby that just goes hand in hand with the collector mentality. And you don't really own anything with a digital comic. You're just renting something with no physical existence.

True. But with my house overrun with physical comics and more arriving all the time, the idea of reading them on an ipad starts to become more appealing.

2000ad has just gone to same release date for its digital and physical editions.

I see your point. But I still prefer to have my 2000AD the 1977 way...

Well, the Beano may be safe, but it's now looking like Dandy is definitely on the way out...

tony ingram wrote:Well, the Beano may be safe, but it's now looking like Dandy is definitely on the way out...

Oh dear. Would be a real shame if it shut up shop during the 75th anniversary year.

The writing has been on the wall since that last revamp though.

I wonder if it will be outright cancellation or a shift to "digital only" publishing ?

I suspect the latter. Sales are reportedly below 8, 000 so I guess it's now unsustainable for DCT as a print comic, but they are saying the characters will continue to appear. Nothing official announced yet though, just a lot of rumours after the Guardian article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/13/oldest-comic-the-dandy-faces-closure?CMP=twt_fd

tony ingram wrote:I suspect the latter. Sales are reportedly below 8, 000 so I guess it's now unsustainable for DCT as a print comic, but they are saying the characters will continue to appear. Nothing official announced yet though, just a lot of rumours after the Guardian article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/13/oldest-comic-the-dandy-faces-closure?CMP=twt_fd

Looks like the Guardian article is DCT softening the blow for when the axe officially drops.

Seems like they were down to 8,000 copies when they stopped reporting the sales at the start of the year. I daresay it's less than that now.
And it's not just going to be DCT making a loss on it. Retailers won't want to stock it if it's not selling. I'm surprised that my local Smiths and supermarkets are still giving it such prominence.

Mine aren't, sadly. It's not easy to find a copy these days. Commando is more widespread than the Dandy, around here.

Some good news amongst all the gloom.
Popped into Smiths and they have the "Beano Summer Special Number Three".

Given that it's only a few months since number two came out, I guess they must be selling well.

Must be the first time that two Beano Summer Specials have come out in the same year !

Even more oddly, two Beano Summer Specials have come out in a year in which we basically haven't (yet) had a Summer...

tony ingram wrote:Even more oddly, two Beano Summer Specials have come out in a year in which we basically haven't (yet) had a Summer...

Yes, the irony was not lost on me as I walked back from the shop with it in the pissing rain.

tony ingram wrote:I suspect the latter. Sales are reportedly below 8, 000 so I guess it's now unsustainable for DCT as a print comic, but they are saying the characters will continue to appear. Nothing official announced yet though, just a lot of rumours after the Guardian article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/aug/13/oldest-comic-the-dandy-faces-closure?CMP=twt_fd

Don't forget artists have to be paid. And considering the infrequent updates on the (not very good) Dandy website, I think a digital-only version just wouldn't be a success at all.

I can't see it working, either. The fans on other sites who scream the loudest about digital being the salvation of comics never seem to remember that they still cost money to produce or to notice how small a market share digital actually has.