Beanotown comes to life on the South Bank, London

The Beano is celebrating 75 wonderful years of rebellious fun, farts and laughter at Southbank Centre’s Festival of Neighbourhood in London – and you can join in the party at Beanotown, a recreation of the fictional home of the comic’s superstars.

The project is  part of a collaborative project from Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson, iconic design agency HemingwayDesign and Southbank Centre’s creative team.

“It’s a dream come true to see Beanotown coming to life at Southbank Centre," says The Beano Editor-in-Chief Mike Stirling. "For me, the coolest thing is that, along with the depths of the oceans and some parts of the rainforest, Beanotown was the last great uncharted territory on earth – I feel like Christopher Columbus!  If you think you know The Beano then think again… this exhibition provides all the anarchic fun of The Beano but with lots of added extras.”



Previously unseen artwork will be unveiled at the exhibition that features pieces by The Beano illustrator David Sutherland; a legendary artist who has the unique claim of having worked with all six editors since the comic’s birth in 1938. Further laughs and jokes-a-plenty will be provided by clips from the hugely successful TV show Dennis and Gnasher and The Beano’s hilarious iPrank App that will be available to download free in Beanotown – perfect for mega-menacing in the home of prank!

Other highlights include The Beano Social Club, where you can play Table Dennis (of course), The Beano Breville Bar, where you can munch on comic-themed food and drink (anyone for a Splat-a-Pult?), and The Beano Studio where you can have a go at creating your own comic masterpieces (if you dare).

Mike added, “Boris Johnson must be overjoyed that we’ve brought a bit of the old Beanotown magic to his ‘hood!  What will really bring things to life is the laughter and mischief of the hundreds of thousands of children who’ll visit, so I’m really happy that entry is free for everyone.  The reason The Beano is so fondly thought of is because we always put kids first and I’m so glad we’ve maintained that aim with this special celebration.”

In July 2013, elements of Beanotown will appear at the Vintage Festival, part of the Merchant City Festival, in Glasgow.

“The Beano is a true British institution," enthuses HemingwayDesign’s Wayne Hemingway MBE, who has also recently designed a new style guide for Beano licensors, "and the whole team at HemingwayDesign have had a blast looking through the archive and helping to put Beanotown together.  The artwork and stories are wonderful and show how British humour and irreverence can help us get through the toughest of times.

"There are always wonderful things to see and do at Southbank Centre and Beanotown brings a true multi-generational visitor attraction that has history, politics, subversion, art, design, laughter and sheer devilment running through it.”

The attraction has already gained acclaim from fans. ”Within an hour of opening, it was overrun with children reading the comics," The Guardian reported, "looking with bewildered concern at the man dressed as Dennis, or trying to work out where the fart noise comes from when you walk through the main door.”

• Visit Beanotown at Southbank Centre and celebrate 75 years of the country's favourite comic. Beanotown is free and is located in the Festival Village, underneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and runs until 8th September 2013, open from 11.00am – 7.00pm

• Hemmingway Design Beano Project Notes: www.hemingwaydesign.co.uk/projects/exhibitions/beanotown

• Click here to download The Beano Breville Bar menu from the Hemmingway Design site (PDF Link)

• Design Week: Wayne Hemingway creates Beano brand guidelines
The Beano, Beanotown, Dennis the Menace © 2013 DC Thomson Ltd

Gromit gets "Beano-fied" in a good cause!

The Beano is letting loose Dennis the Menace’s trusty sidekick Gnasher, to raise funds for the Bristol Children’s Hospital this summer, as the famous cartoon dog joins forces with Aardman’s triple Oscar-winning character Gromit, for charity initiative Gromit Unleashed.

Extracts of original Beano artwork featuring Dennis and Gnasher have transformed a giant five foot high Gromit sculpture that will feature as part of a high profile public arts trail, hitting the streets of Bristol and beyond for ten weeks from Monday 1st July.

The Beano’s ‘Gnashional Gromit’ is one of 80 giant Gromit sculptures to be featured in the ground-breaking Gromit Unleashed event, organised by Aardman and the children’s hospital charity, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal. The cartoon design has been created by the team behind The Beano, led by Editor-in-Chief Mike Stirling and legendary artist David Sutherland.

David was the Dennis the Menace artist from 1969-1998 and it was he who gave Gnasher his trademark look. In his career, he has also drawn other legendary Beano characters, including Biffo the Bear and The Bash Street Kids, for whom he has now drawn a whopping 2180 weekly comic strips – a unique achievement in the cartoon world. He has also worked with all six editors of The Beano.

The Beano editor Craig Graham said: “The whole Beano team has had an absolute blast working with David on this project. David is truly one of The Beano greats and ‘Gnashional Gromit’ is testament to this. We hope the public enjoy our Gromit.”

Gromit’s creator Nick Park grew up an avid reader of The Beano and is a massive fan of David’s work, attributing him as a major influence at Aardman and an early inspiration for himself. At 10 years old, smitten by the characters in the comic, Nick Park started drawing his own cartoon strip, which led to the creation of Wallace & Gromit.



Nick Park said: “As a life-long fan of The Beano, I am thrilled that Gromit and Gnasher, two of the world’s most iconic canine characters, are getting together. To have Gromit receive a Gnasher makeover from the comic which inspired Gromit’s creation is pretty amazing!

“I am sure that Gnasher will get his teeth into the project in the nicest possible way and help raise lots of money for this fantastic cause!”

Nick Park guest-edited the 70th anniversary issue of The Beano, which this year celebrates 75 years in production.

The Beano joins a prestigious line-up of famous names including Nick Park, Sir Quentin Blake, Raymond Briggs, Cath Kidston, Sir Paul Smith and Harry Hill, each transforming the five foot statues with their individual designs, alongside local artists from the Bristol area.

Organisers will be revealing further famous names and unveiling more finished designs in the lead up to the public arts trail.

After the public arts trail, the Gromit Unleashed sculptures, which have been individually sponsored by businesses, will be auctioned to raise funds towards Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal’s campaign to support the expansion of Bristol Children’s Hospital, one of the leading multi-disciplinary children’s hospitals in the UK. The Grand Appeal has pledged to raise an initial £3.5 million for state-of-the-art equipment, including an intraoperative MRI scanner, family facilities and child-friendly artwork to enhance the £30 million investment by the NHS.

The Grand Appeal is working with Wild in Art, a leading arts and education company that produces mass participation events in cities, to deliver Gromit Unleashed.

Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal has already raised over £22 million for Bristol Children's Hospital, one of only a few specialist children's hospitals in the UK providing life-saving surgery, care and treatment to children on a local, national and international scale.

With the support of tourism agencies VisitEngland and Destination Bristol, Gromit Unleashed will help raise the profile of the city to tourists across the UK and beyond.

• For more information and the latest news on the project, visit www.gromitunleashed.org.uk. To register your interest in bidding, please email auction@gromitunleashed.org.uk.

• For information on events and activities taking place in Bristol during Gromit Unleashed, plus details on accommodation options in the city, visit www.visitbristol.co.uk.

Fight My Monster joins BeanoMax - Beano strip to follow in August

DC Thomson has announced that a strip based on digital trading card game Fight My Monster will appear in The Beano for the first time in its Saturday 3rd August issue, alongside Dennis and Gnasher, The Bash Street Kids and Roger the Dodger.

DC Thomson agreed a promotional programme with Lisle International recently and a Fight My Monster strip features in the current issues of BeanoMax (starting in Issue 78) joining other licensed strips such as Wallace & Gromit alongside DCT's own brands.

“We’re delighted to be working with Fight My Monster," commented Editor-in-Chief Mike Stirling. "The Beano is the quintessential British children’s comic and it makes hundreds of thousands of children laugh every week. Now in its 75th year, The Beano is the longest running and one of the most successful comics in the world. That’s because we continue to move with the times and represent what’s going on in kids’ lives today.

“Fight My Monster will bring a fantastic extra dimension to The Beano and we can’t wait to discover the feedback from our readers.”

Fight My Monster is the fastest growing digital trading card game in the UK, say the publishers. The site, where users battle each other to collect and trade monster cards, is revolutionising the on-line trading card genre by letting children create their own monsters on-demand to send into battle on-line. It has grown into a community of over two million players, with over eight million unique monsters created since its New Year 2011 launch.

“Fight My Monster has always blended humour with competition, and that makes The Beano an ideal partner," enthuses Dominic Williams, CEO of Fight My Monster. "They have done a fantastic job bringing our characters to the comic format and are brilliant partners.”

“The Beano is the perfect audience for Fight My Monster with a reach of over 420,000 readers in each of the 13 scheduled issues," says Lisle International spokeswoman Francesca Lisle. "We are therefore delighted to see the property take a regular presence in the comic.

"With this promotion, we hope to introduce even more users to the game each month and in so doing add further weight to the licensing programme.”

Beano 3681 On Sale Now

Don't miss your weekly helping of comics, jokes, puzzles and pranks! The Beano no. 3681 is on sale today in all good UK newsagents and supermarkets.

Web: www.beano.com

Dennis the Menace, Daleks and Darth in Cover of the Century poll

Dennis the Menace, Daleks and Darth Vader rub shoulders with other memorable magazine covers in a new poll celebrating 100 years of the Professional Publishers Association - Britain's trade organisation representing more than 200 publishing-related companies.

The PPA Cover of the Century Poll is part of the organization's 100th birthday extravaganza, looking back at some of the greatest covers ever made.

The 10 covers span different decades and genres and include covers of Time Out, Mac User and Harpers Bazaar - and three covers in particular will surely appeal to most of our readers.

Star Wars Darth Vader features on Empire's 'Breathing Vader' cover published in 2005, which "breathed" when you opened it. Vader's famous rasping drew in people of all ages and still the biggest-selling issue of all time.

A Dalek threatens readers on a 2005 Radio Times cover that celebrated the Daleks’ return after two decades away from Doctor Who, coinciding with the 2005 General Election.

The publisher neatly brought these two events together by recreating a famous 1964 scene of Daleks crossing Westminster Bridge – and had to clear coachloads of tourists to get the shot. A memorable image, topped off with the cheeky coverline: “Vote Dalek!”.

The 1999 Beano cover selected is the issue that first featured Dennis The Menace in non-comic-strip style. The editor faced strong internal opposition to choosing this bold child-like graphic, but his innovation delivered a sale of 202,528 copies, the highest of that entire year.

The Professional Publishers Association represents more than 200 companies, covering everything from consumer magazine publishers to business-to-business data and information providers and smaller independents.

They promote the industry in all its forms, protect members through lobbying activities, and advise the industry through communications and training work.

• Vote Here: www.ppa.co.uk/coverofthecentury. Voting closes in December.

Dundee's plan for real Bash Street to go ahead

The BBC reports that Dundee's plans for a real Bash Street are to go ahead

The city council has approved the plans proposed by The Beano publisher DC Thomson to honour The Bash Street Kids which were being considered for a location the city's west end, which Jeremy Briggs reported here early last month.

First appearing in The Beano under its original title of When The Bell Rings in the issue dated 13 February 1954, editor George Moonie was inspired by the antics of the children of the High School Of Dundee, the playground of which could be seen from the windows of the Beano office, and he passed the idea to artist Leo Baxendale whose imagination did the rest.

Major redevelopment work in the city prompted a proposal to name a new street Bash Street and a soft play area for children that will utilise Beano characters under license from DC Thomson, in part to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the comic in 2013.

The Bash Street Kids will feature heavily in the new centre alongside Dennis the Menace, Gnasher, Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger and The Beano logo. Dundee City Council has now approved a request from DCThomson to allocate the name Bash Street to the street adjacent to 142/144 WestMarketgait which currently has no name.

The street is beside a Travelodge hotel off West Marketgait and between the West Port Roundabout and Guthrie Street where DC Thomson used to have their printing works - and only a short walk from DC Thomson's Courier Building and the High School Of Dundee itself.

• There are more details of the High School Of Dundee's connection with The Bash Street Kids over on Bear Alley.

• The BBC report is at: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-20672645

Free Beanos for Scottish school kids

Bet English school kids will be gnashing their teeth... over on the Wacky Comics blog, George Shiers reports DC Thomson is working with Scottish Business in the Community and will be giving away 370,000 free Beano comics to every single primary school pupil in Scotland.

The Daily Record reports it's intended as a new way to engage with youngsters, with popular characters Dennis the Menace and Gnasher teaching pupils the benefits of time management and motivation to help improve their school work. Minnie the Minx will give advice on money and savings, while the Bash Street Kids will promote healthy eating and better lifestyle choices.

While it's perhaps not something you'd not normally associate with the Bash Street gang, children will be encouraged to eat five portions of fruit every day by Danny, Smiffy, Spotty, Plug and Fatty.

“Making learning fun as well as engaging and relevant, and setting it in a format that makes our young people want to learn, is not an easy thing to do," noted Scottish Learning Minister Alasdair Allan, who welcomed the initiative.

"Experience shows that enterprising approaches help young people develop essential skills."

The free comic will be given away at the end of August,and hopefully it will also increase sales of The Beano.

The Dandy: What Just Happened?

British comics haven't had so much media coverage in years, if not decades, in print and on radio and television than in the last few days since The Guardian broke the news that DC Thomson were considering cancelling The Dandy. But just how much of the publicity over The Dandy's print cancellation and rebirth as an e-comic was stage-managed to gain publicity for the title?

Why Tuesday 14 August?
The story began with a piece about the possible closure of the comic on The Guardian website at 8:04pm on Monday 13 August. Having had just over two weeks of solid Olympics coverage across the British media when other stories were squeezed for space and time by the achievements of British athletes and the British public becoming intrigued with sports they had never watched before, Monday 13 August was the day after the closing ceremony in London with news outlets reviewing the ceremony and the games in general.

That meant that the first day of the news cycle that would not have major new Olympics coverage was Tuesday 14 August, the day The Guardian went to print with the story and by which time the rest of the papers and media outlets had picked up on the on-line story as well. As we know, the potential cancellation got massive media coverage on Tuesday.

Why The Guardian?
In September 2009 The Guardian published "free" reprints of DC Thomson comics for their readers to enjoy over the course of a week and, as well as the behind the scenes commercial contacts that this would have provided between the two organisations, The Guardian sent a reporter to write a piece on the comics side of the DC Thomson business.

In addition to this something else happened on Monday 13 August that went unnoticed by most. At 5pm at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the largest literary festival in the world, The Heart And History Of The Dandy talk took place with author Andy Stanton chairing a talk from DC Thomson archivist, and 20 year veteran of The Dandy editor's chair, Morris Heggie ably helped on sketching duties by artist Gordon Tait. The talk was filmed by the camera crew that are currently filming a television documentary about The Dandy for broadcast around the comic's 75th birthday in December.


The BookFest always has a signing session after each talk and The Dandy one was attended not just by Morris and Gordon but also by Craig Graham, the current Dandy editor. They weren't the only DC Thomson staff members in attendance that evening with management in evidence from both the main company and their book publishing subsidiary Waverley Books, who published The Art And History Of The Dandy history book that the talk was based on. The Guardian article went live on the newspaper's website less than two hours after the signing session concluded at the Edinburgh BookFest. Who is the headline sponsor of the Edinburgh International Book Festival this year? Yes, it's The Guardian.

How to keep the publicity going?
As the Tuesday media storm subsided on Wednesday, the next step to keep the publicity going after the initial tease of the possible cancellation was to make an announcement of what was actually going to happen. On Thursday 16 August DC Thomson confirmed via Twitter that the print Dandy will reach its 75th birthday in December before regenerating into an as yet unknown entity, the e-Dandy. After the build-up over the previous couple of days, that announcement was widely reported in print, on the internet and on television. It even made it on to the BBC News at 6pm that evening.

Is there a bigger picture?
Perhaps. Travelling from Cactusville to Beanotown, The Beano is running a major Golden Ticket competition promotion during August with a grand prize of a family trip to the Universal theme park in Florida, hundreds of smaller prizes and, in addition, consolation prizes of a three month free subscription to the electronic version of The Beano for every reader who doesn't win something else.

While not all will take up that offer, and social media has already thrown up a number of persistent complainers who think that such an e-subscription is of no value, with weekly sales of around 38,000, that is a lot of readers that will potentially get the e-Beano during September, October and November. Indeed so many people tried to log in to The Beano website to register their prizes that it crashed under the server load.

Come December when the publicity push about the print Dandy celebrating its anniversary and the e-Dandy launch is in full swing, all those e-Beano subscriptions will run out but the title will be able to feed off that Dandy publicity to try to get those subscribers to pay to continue their e-Beano subscription.

Do we want an e-Dandy rather than a print Dandy?
So what we have all feared for the last year or so is now official, The Dandy went down on our watch, and those of us that grew up with paper comics will mourn its demise whether we read it or not. However e-publishing is here, and here to stay. We may not remember a time without televisions, but today's young readers of the Dandy do not remember a time without i-Phones or i-Pads.

Critics who say that e-comics will not work because children don't own i-Phones or i-Pads have apparently never been in a household that has both children and modern portable technology. The children may not own the devices but they know how to use them and they do use them, often just as much and with more knowledge about their operation than the adults.

In a family home an i-Pad is often treated as a item for all the family just as the then new video recorder was 30 years ago. Indeed as videos helped television watching became a bigger part of children's lives then, DC Thomson were able to get their characters on to television screens. As it made commercial sense for the company to get its characters into the other media that children used in the 1980s, so it makes commercial sense to bring their characters to today's portable electronic devices and, when it comes down to it, a revamp of The Dandy into an e-comic is better than no Dandy at all.

How do we sum this all up?
downthetubes is written by British comics fans for British comics fans and we do our best to promote British comics and their creators wherever they and their work appears, in comics, magazines, newspapers, books, apps or on the internet, whether that work is decades old or brand new. With The Dandy we are about to lose an old friend that we will mourn, but we look forward to seeing its future offspring.

Let's hope that we are not the only ones.

The official Dandy website with its countdown clock to the aniversary changeover is at www.dandy.com.

Dandy and Beano are copyright DC Thomson and Co Ltd.

The Dandy's digital move: media reaction

Desperate Dan
© DC Thomson

The news of The Dandy's move to digital publication has prompted a huge flurry of news stories across various news media outlets.

While most simply parrotted the official announcement made by DC Thomson about their plans (some playing up claims from the company that they have locked down the title's official web site for fear of it being hacked, which frankly, sounds like complete cobblers), some newspapers chose to do a bit more research into the state of the British comic industry, and their stories make for interesting reading.

The Daily Mail not only reported that the title would be going online but also went to the effort of getting a video interview with the Cartoon Museum's Anita O' Brien, who talked about the general malaise for comics on the UK News stand - but also had an chance to promote The Phoenix, reportedly enjoying news stand sales of 9,000 despite limited high street and supermarket distribution

 

The Economist, in a feature titled "Not So Dandy" notes most children's magazines are taking a hit because of the recession. "It seems when parents' incomes are squeezed, less money is spent on them. But the decline in British comics goes back farther than the present downturn. The Beano's circulation was a 'six-figure' number in 2003.

"The reason might have something to do with social media and TV," the magazine suggestes, "which kids spend more of their leisure time attached to these days. TV tie-in magazines like Simpsons Comics, with a circulation of 52,000, are proving more popular than antiquated comics like the Beano. Moshi Monsters, a magazine based on the eponymous social network where youngsters can raise virtual pets, has a circulation of 228,000."

Moreover, the magazine points out, there are more rivals now than there were a decade ago, citing examples such as Doctor Who Adventures magazine (which at its height had a circulation of 155,000), Moshi Monsters and Pokemon World.

"... To their credit, both comics have the same number of pages dedicated to cartoons as they had a decade ago," says the Economist. "They have retained some of the same artists. But the tone is noticeably different. The Dandy talks of farts, toilets, and "doofus" parents, and has two strips whose central characters are chavs and bogeys respectively. But the comic still raises a good chuckle or two. The quality of the cartoons has not declined, in this writer's opinion."

The Financial Times chose to run a more general piece on the problems facing comics publishers on both sides of the Atlantic in": A Serious Turn for Comics"
"Behind The Dandy’s decline... lie broader lessons about the challenges of keeping up with children’s fickle tastes," the newspaper suggests, "the speed at which new digital choices are changing consumer behaviour and the need to manage brands across different platforms."

As rumours about the comic's fate continued, some papers conjectured a transfer for the titrle's main character to rival comic The Beano.  The Daily Record claims today that Dandy favourite Desperate Dan is in transfer talks with Beano, and "looks set to take new direction.

"The end of the printed version of the Dandy means the end of an era for generations of children," the paper notes. "Its loss was summed up last night by Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond. He said: “I have fond childhood memories of reading the Dandy and it’s a shame future generations won’t be able to enjoy the printed edition.

“But I’m pleased that the publishers have confirmed the Dandy will live on online.”


The last print Dandy will be published on 4th December 4th - an 75th anniversary edition, which will include a facsimile of the very first issue.

"I can confirm that this will be our last print edition," said DC Thomson's Chief Executive Ellis Watson. "It's what comes online then that will set the tone for the next 75 years. Dan has certainly not eaten his last cow pie.

"All of The Dandy's characters are just 110 days away from a new lease of life."

The Dandy Annual will continue to be printed, and that branded products such as mugs will continue to be produced.

The last officially audited circulation for the Dandy was 7,489 weekly sales on average in the last six months of 2011. It is priced at £1.99. DC Thomson launched a Dandy iPhone and iPad app in November last year, priced at £1.49.




 

Is it all over for The Dandy?

Desperate Dan by Jamie Smart, who comments on the title's possible demise on his blog here

National newspaper The Guardian has reported that DC Thomson may be considering an end to The Dandy, with its sales slipping away despite numerous attempts to save the title in the face of changing tastes, distribution issues and competition from other media.

Fans have already rallied online with a #SavetheDandy campaign on Twitter, urging comic readers to get out and buy the comic. Commenting on its 75-plus year history, comic creator Neill Cameron, a contributor to The Phoenix, urged support and others quickly took up the cause.

A full official statement on the title's future has yet to be made - the editors of both The Beano and The Dandy are on holiday this week - but The Guardian notes the 75-year old comic's circulation has declined as children have grown out of the habit of reading weekly comics, with their free time given over instead to watching TV and more recently playing video games and surfing the internet.

Various artists on the title have begun to comment on the possible demise of the title, including Jamie Smart, who was a key part of the title's most recent revamp in 2010. That saw the arrival of a Harry Hill comic strip (drawn by Nigel Parkinson) and many changes to the look of the title in an impressive effort to both appeal to potential new readers and continue to appeal to existing ones.

The relaunch was backed by a decision to print around a quarter of a million copies of the revamp issue, in-store dump bins to highlight it on shelves among the many other more magazine-oriented childrens' titles and other promotion. Sadly, for whatever reason, actual sales of the title were not reflected by these herculean efforts to breathe new life into the title, and slowly dropped back to the declining figures The Dandy was selling at pre-revamp.

The Dandy has outlasted DC Thomson's other titles such as the Beezer and the Topper by 20 years or more, but circulation decline has continued and by the second half of 2011, circulation had dipped below 8,000, according to the most recent official figures.

Despite the potentially bad news, creators who have worked on the title are adamant the brave decision to transform its look in 2010 was something worth trying in the face of declining sales.

"When The Dandy relaunched a couple of years ago, what it did was phenomenal," notes Jamie Smart. "It had previously tried to go a bit more ‘magaziney’, but now it was turning full circle and defiantly stating no, we are a comic, and we are proud of it.

"The last two years of The Dandy have been an absolute triumph for British comics," he argues, "a confident love of sillyness, slapstick and mess. A great wave of ridiculous characters and stories, an unashamed love of all things absurd.

"It also ushered in a host of new artists, fresh talent, being given their first break in the industry. It wanted to try new ideas, new things, giving us free reign to be as silly as we wanted. It was a playground.

"... To see this news emerging, it’s pretty crushing," he adds, urging comic fans to get out and buy the comic. "It’s no exaggeration to say The Dandy is a British institution, and a pillar for British comics. It has been essential to our culture. As the artists involved towards what may be its final days, we are incredibly proud and honoured to work on such a comic, to be given the opportunity to entertain children.

"We believe we have delivered real quality comics, and that The Dandy has been a shining light in what is a shrinking industry."

The Dandy first went on sale in 1937 costing 2p, with a free whistle and now costs £1.99. If it was priced on a par with a bar of chocolate - a common frame of price comparison used by publishers in the past - then a cover price of 65 or 70p might help, but quite aside from editorial, print and paper costs, distributors today tend to demand and favour higher-priced titles on their shelves in order to maximise their profits, rather than support a pricing change which might benefit potential consumers and publishers.


A spokeswoman for DC Thomson told The Guardian that the closure of the print title was being considered as part of a review of the company's magazine business, but indicated that characters such as Desperate Dan would continue to exist online. (This is something former editor Morris Heggie seemed to be hinting at in comments he made in an interview about the future of comics earlier this month).

The Guardian also notes characters such as Desperate Dan could also continue in print by switching to DC Thomson's sister title The Beano, although if cancellation is on the cards in the very near future, we'd argue that an old-style comics merger is unlikely given that title's recent revamp.

"We are carrying out a review of our magazines business to meet the challenges of the rapidly changing publishing industry," the spokeswoman told the Guardian.

"There are many challenges within the industry at present, but we're excited that the digital revolution has also given us an opportunity to innovate and develop. We're confident that future generations will continue to enjoy our much-loved products and characters."

• The Cartoon Museum in London is preparing an exhibition celebrating The Dandy's 75th anniversary, which will open in October.

Morris Heggie talks digital future for Beano, Dandy?

Phil Shrimpton, Beano and Dandy collector - as featured by BBC News

Phil-Comics Auctions (www.phil-comics.com) is the brainchild of Brighton-based Phil Shrimpton who has a large collection of Beano and Dandy comics and started trading them through the website.

The site was recently given a plug by BBC News, with Phil talking enthusiastically about the DC Thomson titles past and present.

Intriguingly, former Dandy editor Morris Heggie also talked positively about the title's digital push, but his comments suggest the company may, sadly, be considering a time when there is no longer a paper edition of the comics. He seemed upbeat about this possibility, however.

"You mustn't look to the future and think, 'Oh it's dreadful, there won't be a paper version," he said, "you look to the future and think, 'Oh this is going to be so exciting, we can do so many things, using what we've learned over the years about artwork and funny storylines'."

Since its launch in 2001, phil-comics auctions has built an enviable eBay trading reputation in vintage British comics, annuals, artwork and related items.

Changing times: Morris Heggie told the BBC the digital editions of The Beano and The Dandy
gave DC Thomson to the opportunity to employ what it knows about making comics in the online world

To satisfy his customers’ demands, Phil says he constantly seeks single items and entire collections to offer at auction.

In August 2006, following discussions with DC Thomson, they proudly launched The Beano & Dandy Collectors' Club, dedicated to vintage Beano and Dandy comics, annuals and related items.

Although the club has now closed, they have provided PDF links to all of the newsletters.

• Visit the site at:  www.phil-comics.com

British Comic Stamps: The Beano

Here's the second of our ten posts to mark the release of the Royal Mail's Comic Collection, celebrating 75 years of British comics. The Royal Mail have kindly sent us large versions of each stamp, so we thought we'd show them off in all their glory, in the order of first comic publication.

The Beano first appeared on 30th July 1938. The Dennis the Menace strip (now known as Dennis and Gnasher) first appeared in 1951 and is the longest running strip in the comic. Other iconic strips include the Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger and Minnie the Minx.

Still Britain's best-selling weekly comic, the title is also available for iPad and the app had over 72,000 downloads within days of launch earlier this year. There's more about The Beano online at www.beano.com

• Stamps and stamp products are available at all Post Office branches, online at www.royalmail.com/personal/comic-stamps-and-collectibles, the Royal Mail eBay shop: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Royal-Mail-Stamp-Collections and from Royal Mail Tallents House (tel. 08457 641 641), 21 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9PB.

Classic images captured in new jigsaws

Children of the late 1950s and early 60s who eagerly awaited birthdays and Christmas in the hope of receiving a fast paced Scalextric or iconic Corgi James Bond Aston Martin DB5 are in for a real treat with the launch of Gibsons latest 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles depicting the ultimate toys of that time.

These new releases join a number of puzzles featuring art from classic toys - and comics.
First hitting the shop shelves in 1957, Scalextric was an immediate winner and initial demand was so strong that that the original manufacturers were barely able to keep up. Just as popular today, Scalextric is synonymous with the term 'slot racing' and apart from moulded plastic replacing the tin plate cars and a few other technical refinements, remains the much loved racing game we're all familiar with today.

Likewise, there are few boys who didn't own a collection of coveted Corgi die-cast cars and Gibsons' new jigsaw puzzle shows all of the features pioneered by Corgi including clear windows, opening doors, detailed interiors and removable wheels.

Also in Gibsons catalogue are these fun Beano and Dandy jigsaws - just two of many from the company's catalogue utilising art from classic products of yesteryer such as model kit company Airfix and train company Hornby.

Established in 1919, Gibsons is a British icon in its own right, with a plethora of awards for many of its jigsaw puzzles and games.

With both IPC and Egmont licensing their comic art, wouldn't it be great to see some other classic comics covers as jigsaws? Which would you choose?

• More info at: www.gibsonsgames.co.uk

Post Office celebrates British Comics

Britain's Post Office is celebrating what it's defined as "75 Years of British Comics" with a special issue of stamps featuring the covers of various much-loved comics, including 2000AD and The Beano.

Set to be released on 20th March 2012, the offer also includes two First Fay Covers featuring Boys Own and Girls Own - with a special 'Eagle' postmark.

The stamps comprise The Dandy (featuring Desperate Dan), The Beano (Dennis the Menace), Eagle (Dan Dare), Topper (Beryl the Peril), Tiger (Roy of the Rovers), Bunty (The Four Marys), Buster (Buster), Valiant (The Steel Claw), Twinkle (Twinkle), and 2000AD (Judge Dredd).

The stanps serve to indicate not just comics still going strong but just how many are no longer around, but it's great to see the Post Office promoting our industry in this way, even if British comics have been published for much longer than 75 years.

This release follows on the heels of  commeorative issues such as one celebrating the work of author Roald Dahl on 10th January and Classic Locomotives on 8th February.

• There's more details about the release on the British First Day Covers web site here: www.bfdc.co.uk/2012/comics

• The full Special Stamp Programme for 2012 is as follows:

5t January - Olympic and Paralympic Definitives
10th January - Roald Dahl

2nd February - House of Windsor
6th February - Diamond Jubilee Definitives
23rd February - Britons of Distinction

8th March - Classic Locomotives of Scotland
20th March - Comics

10th April - A-Z of Britain Part 2

15th May - Great British Fashion
31st May - Diamond Jubilee

19th June - Charles Dickens

27th July - Welcome to the London 2012 Olympic Games

29th August - Welcome to the London 2012 Paralympic Games

27th September - Memories of the London 2012

16th October - Dinosaurs
30th October - Space Science

6th November - Christmas

• For more on British Stamps visit the British Postal Museum and Archive

Art © Royal Mail

In Review: The Beano and Dandy Apps

(Cross-posted with permission from Bring Back Bunty): The Beano and The Dandy have recently become available as iPad/iPhone apps (see news story) and these have the potential to be a great format for children’s comics -- so we just had to check them out.

We downloaded them both through the Newsstand on an iPad and as you'd expect, the comics looked great. The format displays the strips really well, the navigation is simple and each comic is very easy to access through an iTunes account.

The two apps are virtually identical but we weren't entirely sure of the pricing system; The Beano is clearly priced at £1.49 per issue but a couple of issues of The Dandy are priced at 69p with the rest at £1.49 – there are also a few free copies of each available to get you started.

I handed them over to my 9-year-old daughter and here's what she had to say:

"They were slightly hard to read. I had to zoom in and the zoom sometimes is hard to move around.

"I would say it wasn’t as good as it could have been. It’s not as good as actually reading and holding a comic!" 

Overall, the digital versions are handy to have but we had hoped there would be some reduction for the digital issues compared to the paper ones. In newsagents, The Beano costs £1.50 and The Dandy £1.99 (prices accurate 7th December 2011) so there is very little difference. Pricing the iPad versions at just one penny (or 50p) less than the paper comic doesn’t seem enough of a saving, or a reason to buy, the digital version over the real in-your-hand, under-the-bed, read-anywhere, traditional paper version.

We think it’s brilliant that such great comics are available to buy online, but ultimately as Niamh says, it’s “not as good as actually reading and holding a comic!”

• Check out The Beano app on iTunes here
 
• Check out The Dandy app here

Beano, Dandy go digital via Apple's 'Newsstand'

DC Thomson have announced The Dandy and The Beano have just gone digital through Apple's recently-launched Newsstand service, with The Beano currently in the Top Ten in the service's charts

First published in 1937 and 1938 respectively, the two national comic institutions join Commando in the App store, all delivering digital, enhanced versions of the comics, enabling fans to read their favourite strips and characters on iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. 

Demonstrating the enduring  popularity of the comic brands is the fact that Apple are  promoting the free Beano app on the front page of iTunes and it is already sitting in the Top 10 downloads – only hours after the apps’ release.

DC Thomson says that even though comics are for children of all ages, the move into digital publishing underlines the company’s commitment to children’s literacy, "ensuring that our famous comics can be read by kids as widely as possible on all kinds of formats.

"Teachers, parents and educational experts all acknowledge the role comics have in providing the bridge between picture books and chapter books and with the increasing use of apps by children, we hope even more of them can now access our weekly, original and not-to-mention hilarious content."

“This is app-solutely fantastic! We’re all very app-y!" enthused Mike Stirling, Editor-in-chief of The Beano.

"Sorry, that’s app-alling!" he added. "The great thing about the new app on Newsstand is that it guarantees our fans can enjoy The Beano 24-7.  I used to read it snuggled up under the covers with a torch at night – nowadays, I’ll just cuddle up to my iPhone!”

Editor-in-chief of The Dandy, Craig Graham added:  “We’re incredibly excited about being available as a digital download. Now people can have the unique School of Mock that is The Dandy at their fingertips, wherever they are and whatever they’re doing.”

The Beano and Dandy apps are free to download via iTunes and, like the Commando app, also come with free issues of the comics (five issues of The Beano, but just two of The Dandy)  so that users can sample the kind of content they’ll get in advance, along with simple instructions of how to subscribe or download.

Payment is via the user’s iTunes account and digital copies are enhanced with interactive advertising, video and links to the existing Beano and Dandy websites – www.beano.com and  www.dandy.com

The downloaded issues - which did take a while to download - look great: navigation is very simple and you can zoom in on individua panels easily using the ipad or iphone's tap feature, then tap to zoom out. It seems a bit strange that there's a disparity between the number of free issues of The Beano and The Dandy but the former is definitely DC Thomson's flagship comic title, so it's understandable that it's getting the major promotion (and higher number of downloads, refelcting the popularity, perhaps, of the print titles). 

DC Thomson have developed both apps in association with Yudu Media – www.yudu.com – and are planning to bring a range of existing titles to Apple’s Newsstand in the coming months.

DC Thomson tell us there are no plans for archive titles just yet as they’re concentrating on all our existing titles. However, after we suggested it, they're going to look at the possibility of releasing single issues of older comics, which I'd suggest would be a good way to test the market for a wider re-issue of some of the company's much-loved but no longer published titles such as Warlord, Sparky and Starblazer.

The Beano and The Dandy are published every week by D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd., based in Dundee. Other DC Thomson magazine titles include Commando, Shout, The People’s Friend, The Scots Magazine and My Weekly.  2011 sees the 60th Anniversary of the first appearance of Dennis the Menace – 17th March 1951 – The Beano have been celebrating this as “The Year of the Menace”.

• Check out The Beano app on iTunes here
 
• Check out The Dandy app here
 

How it Works...

• A Beano or Dandy digital subscription lets you read every issue of each comic on your iPhone and iPad as they come out. Each comic has a separate app.


• You can buy each individual issue of the Beano or The Dandy digitally for just £1.49

• The apps will remind you every week when the new Beano or Dandy is ready to give your chuckle muscles a workout, but if you buy a digital subscription to the Beano or Dandy, every issue will be delivered straight to your iPhone or Ipad each week. A 6 month subscription costs just £24.49 and a 12-month subscription costs £47.99.

• Once your subscription starts, you can't cancel until it ends, so make sure you choose the right one for you.Unless you tell DC Thomson otherwise, your subscription will auto-renew.

• The apps are free to download for iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running on iOS 3.2 or later and include read free issues right away!

• Users of The Beano and Dandy apps can choose to subscribe and receive every issue automatically - £24.49 for 6 months and £47.99 for 1 year. Or they can download the apps for free and pay £1.49 for individual issues.

The Beano and The Dandy © 2011 DC Thomson

Cartoonist Steve English wins first 'Tartan Bucket' prize

Steve English with his
'Tartan Bucket'

Steve English has just been awarded the first Tartan Bucket Prize (named in honour of famous Scottish comics character Oor Wullie) organised by Dundee University in conjunction with D C Thomson.

The aim of the competition was to design a cartoon character and story that would be suitable for the likes of weekly print comics Beano and Dandy.

Steve's winning entry, Belle's Magic Mobile, will feature in the Beano in January 2012.

"It's about a girl with a magic mobile phone that she gets from her grandad who looks suspiciously like Alexander Graham Bell," Steve tells us. "I'm hoping there's lots of scope for follow up stories. I'm madly inking some new stories to show the Beano, but time will only tell if they see it that way too.

"They're going to publish it in January," he reveals. "Chris Murray, the guy who organised the Dundee Comic Day, has said he would probably put an exhibition together for that time too."

Some readers may recall Steve also won the ROK Comics cartoon competition back in 2007, which had the then editor of The Beano as its external judge.

In addition to his competition success, Steve's football humour strip Football Earth now features in two more publications, She Kicks published by Baltic Publications and Farnborough OBG matchday programme.

His crazy Madd Science is one of three creator-owned iPhone apps available from ROK Comics.

The tartan on that 'Tartan Bucket', by the way, is the officially registered Oor Wullie tartan . The Broons tartan, strangely enough, is more brown.

Enjoy 'Gnashional Trust' fun as The Beano invades stately homes

Britain's National Trust has opened its doors to the nation's best-loved cartoon characters this summer - letting The Beano's mischief-makers run riot across the country.

This week's issue of The Beano is the first ever time the National Trust has given fictional characters keys to all of its 300 homes and access to the 617,500 acres of land it cares for. The comic's creative team have had full creative control as characters from Dennis the Menace to Billy Whizz conquer castles and race ponies across grand estates.

The hope is that by letting Beano characters invade their properties, it will help the National Trust bring its places to life and prove that its doors (and copious amounts of fresh air) are open to all - breaking down preconceptions of the organisation.

Dennis the Menace and Gnasher kick off the chaos as they conquer Powis Castle in Wales, fooling National Trust staff with dozens of "hedge menaces" disguising the real rascal and his companion and becoming King for the day.

The Numskulls, who live inside Edd's nostrils (of course), are sneezed out at Edwardian Surrey estate Polesden Lacey into a game of croquet - and a planned bug hunt - to enjoy the buzz of bumblebee racing. Meanwhile, Minnie The Minx takes her dad on a manic trip to Northern Ireland to discover the iconic Giant's Causeway - and find the giant Finn McCool himself.



The Bash Street Kids take over Devon family manor Arlington Court as they enjoy the great outdoors - bat watching and pony racing with a less than happy teacher to calm them down. Fellow mischief-maker Billy Whizz - the fastest boy in The Beano - explores the country in less than a day. Fooled by Attingham Park's false doors, to completing Cragside's 8 foot high rhododendron maze in seconds and experiencing life as an Anglo Saxon at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, Billy has a fast-paced day topped off by a good night's sleep in Lyme Park's Edwardian Nursery.

"We're delighted to open our doors to The Beano and all of its mischievous characters," says Tony Berry, Visitor Experience Director of the National Trust. "The Trust and The Beano are both British institutions and we are hoping the news that we have opened our doors to them all will encourage families to take a leaf out of Dennis' book and organise a trip to one of our places.

"As our black and red stripy friend says; 'a menace always has a plan' and this summer should be no exception.

"Wherever we can we have tried to take away ropes and show the fun side of our places with everything from mazes to talking portraits. We are certain that real-life Dennises will find that it is not all 'please don't touch' anymore - in some places you can even have a go on the snooker table."

"We couldn't think of a better way to prove what fun kids can have at 'Gnashional Trust' properties by letting the world's most famous menace and his friends from Beanotown loose on them," added John-Paul Murphy, Head of Brand Marketing of The Beano publishers, D.C. Thomson. "Dennis hasn't let his own 60th anniversary affect his ability to cause his own brand of havoc and it is a fitting birthday treat for him to become 'King of the Castle' at Powis.

"We're sure Beano readers will have just as much fun as the characters have when they visit the venues featured in our comic this summer."

- The Gnashional Trust issue of The Beano goes on sale Wednesday 27th July. For a behind-the-scenes look at the takeover visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/thebeano.

- National Trust sites taken over by The Beano:

Powis Castle, Powys (Dennis the Menace & Gnasher)
Polesden Lacey, Surrey (The Numskulls)
Giant's Causeway, County Antrim (Minnie The Minx)
Arlington Court, Devon (The Bash Street Kids)
Attingham Park, Shropshire (Billy Whizz)
Cragside, Northumberland (Billy Whizz)
Sutton Hoo, Suffolk (Billy Whizz)
Lyme Park, Cheshire (Billy Whizz)

The National Trust is including a Kids Go Free offer over the whole of August. This nationwide offer excludes the Bank Holiday Weekend only (27th-29th). To download your voucher or find out more, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/augkidsfree

Art You Grew Up With offers limited edition X-Men prints

British art store Art You Grew Up With is offering some limited edition X-Men prints for sale, to tie in with the launch of X-Men: First Class in UK cinemas.

The selection of limited editions on paper and canvas by some of the hottest talent in illustration and comics today includes 'Visionaries', right, along with other images by Jim Lee, plus an 'Astonishing X-Men' piece by Simone Bianchi, and more.

Beautifully printed, they're superb editions and comic representations although they don't come cheap - the signed 'Visionaries' print will set you back £565 unframed and £655 framed. (Other items aren't as pricey, though).

Art You Grew Up With, which sells a wide range of art featuring children's favourites ranging from 2000AD and The Beano to Paddington Bear and was recently featured in the Express, is also offering Father's Day gifts of Harold's Planet cartoons and Simpsons art. Its prints are sold in a variety of stores across the UK as well as online.

They will also try to track down art for individual prints. “If you want the original art used in the 1970s Spider-Man cartoon, we will find it,” owner  Russell Singler told the Express. “Then again it will be no problem if you suddenly recall a limited edition that you first saw on a trip to Disney World in the 1990s.”

• Art You Grew Up With is based at Catalyst House, Centennial Park, Elstree Village Herts WD6 3SY. Tel: 0800 098 8743 (International: +0044 208 736 5868). Web: www.artyougrewupwith.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ArtYouGrewUpWith

Beano Club to be revamped into online community

BBC News reports that The Beano Club, launched in 1976 as the Dennis the Menace Fan Club, is to be replaced with a website in a bid to attract more members.

The official web site for the Club - probably the last officially-run comic-inspired club in the UK - announces "There are big changes going on behind the scenes here, and we mean big..." and promises "Exciting news for The Beano's biggest fans".

Longtime comic readers may shudder at the use of the phrase "exciting news", often trailed on the covers of comics that were about to cease publication and merge with another. For the Club, which had 1.25 million members at its peak and today costs members £12.99 a year - a far cry from the original 75p membership levy when it launched - it means it will be replaced soon with a new website known simply as Beano.com.

The Club stopped accepting new members in August, although publishers DC Thomson told the BBC it would honour existing subscriptions.

A spokesman for the DC Thomson said they had not yet decided whether Beano.com would be free or be run as a subscription model with different levels of access.

"It's not closing down," Mike Stirling told the BBC. "What we're going to be doing is we're going to be running it in a different format which will enable more people to join."

Mr Stirling said anyone who signed up before the cut-off point at the end of August would still receive their newsletters and a birthday card. All 10,000 members would be informed of the changes by post and DC Thomson is hoping to launch the new website in October.

Clubs based on comic titles have a long and distinguished history in the UK and the Beano Club is probably the last of these.

The Pip, Squeak and Wilfred club began in 1927, inspired by the hugely popular strip of the same name in the Daily Mirror created by Austin B. Payne. Named the Wilfredian League of Gugnuncs (WLOG) it organised many competitions and events for the thousands of members, especially at South Coast seaside resorts. (Gugnuncs is a combination of two baby-talk words used by Wilfred, who as a toddler-aged child cannot speak yet. Nunc being his version of Uncle). There was a WLOG member's badge in blue enamelled metal, featuring the long ears of Wilfred. Among the WLOG rules was one to never eat rabbit.

Mary Cadogan notes in an article for Books Monthly that the Gugnuncs soon numbered 100,000 members, "who filled the Royal Albert Hall at their annual rallies there, and whose meetings, parties and fêtes raised money for several children’s hospitals and charities."

(Such was the popularity of this early newspaper strip, it even inspired First World War medals).

The Eagle had a members club, which cost a shilling (5 pence) to join. In his foreword for The Best of Eagle, published in 1977, the comic's founder, Marcus Morris, said they had applications from 60,000 readers "after our first two issues. Two noble ladies were in charge of this department: Mrs Stark and Miss Mincher."

For their shilling, apart from the book of rules, Eagle club members would receive a charter of membership and the Eagle badge made in gilt.

ComicsUK notes readers were invited to join the Lion Birthday Club (the Lion being Eagle's main rival), where they filled out a form with their name, address and date of birth. Then, if their birth date was selected by the Editor (it had to be the exact date, inclusive of year), they would win one of the birthday presents of a Blow Football game, Replica Pistol, Pocket Telescope, Compass, Penknife, Stamp Album or Conjuring Tricks. If you also sent in one shilling you would receive the Lion Club Badge, made in gilt, which also allowed members to enter the competions within the comic.

The cost of joining the Beano Club is seen as expensive and current and past members have been critical of its benefits, which included a newsletter and birthday card. DC Thomson say they want to make it easier to join, to get more members and give them more of a sense of a Beano community - but for longtime members, the move to a web-based service has not been universally well received.

"I wonder if the fall in members has anything to do with the increase in subscription fees to three times that caused by inflation," pondered Jalanie Crue in a comment on the BBC news story.

"I lost interest in the club when they changed how they manufactured the Gnasher badges and started to make them out of a more "plasticy" material," said James Francis from Stratford Upon Avon. "Plus I spent years wandering around saying 'Ding!' to random people, in the hope of getting a 'Dong!' back. Nothing. I'm easily disappointed."

"Sounds like the usual corporate cost cutting, and very poor show," suggests Justin Stringfellow. "Why not have the website and the club. I was a member of the Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Fang Club in the 70s/80s. After that it must have turned into The Beano Club, at which point it stopped being cool anyway.

"Do kids really read the Beano any more, or just spend the days shooting zombies in the face on their PS3s? I suspect the latter."

"That would be a great pity, as my son [a member] really looks for the mail delivered," feels one parent. "Looking at things on a computer screen lacks the personal touch for a child. It's the tangible that appeals to children - 'my membership card', 'Newsletter addressed to Me'. An email has to playground value - but an exclusive badge has! After all how many 9 year olds have exclusive Internet access? None of my three children do."

• Official Beano Club web site: www.beanotown.com/index.php?s=club