Greetings!

[booksandcomics]

Hello all!

Just thought I would introduce myself! I am a 24 year old avid Dandy fan and collector. My favourite issues are the early 1990s for nostalgic reasons mainly (I also like looking back in horror at some of the adverts, i.e. an original Gameboy with Tetris was £89!!!!!!).

Although I ditched the Dandy in 2005 during the "Extreme" years, I am tempted to start things up again. I am working my way backwards in terms of comics and have nearly a fully set of weekly issues from January 1970 onwards (approx 1,720 issues).

I really enjoy reading them despite them not being before the magic 1970 date! Hoping to finish off the missing gaps I have in the 1970s then work my way into the 1960s.

I have a good set of annuals, 1950 to current plus 1940, 1943, 1947 and 1948. Also have some cool free gifts that I am really eager to try but scared I might damage them!

Looking forward to blogging and reading!

Adam

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Hello, good evening and welcome, booksandcomics!

That sure is one impressive run of Dandy comics you describe there and I envy your collection...


----do enjoy your stay aboard this saucy ship!

[booksandcomics]

Thanks Baby Boomer! At times I do think to myself that I must be crazy! On the other hand though, I want to hit the next milestone of 2,000 comics!!!

[Digifiend]

Welcome to the forum.... but the Xtreme era was 2007-2010, lol. 2004-2007 was the TV style era.

That sounds like a sizable Dandy collection you have... I don't suppose you have any comic libraries that aren't on my index (link below)?

[booksandcomics]

Sadly not! I never quite got on with those to be honest. Had a few in the past but sold them on.

[Gilly]

Welcome to Comics UK!!!!

I can't fault you for your collection particularly as The Dandy is a big favourite of mine as well. Keep supporting it as it needs as much as it can get.

[booksandcomics]

I am debating buying copies from 2005 onwards plus the new ones, despite my dislike of the extreme years, it's all part of its history I guess!

[Peter Gray]

I'd skip the extreem years and start when Harry Hill started..

I have some complete 70's and 80's years in The Beano But not The Dandy..though I like The Dandy from the past more and more..

[booksandcomics]

Please do give me a invisible slap for even suggesting it, but, I might actually try and get the (shocks himself from even saying it), the Dandy Extreme!

My reason being, assuming the Dandy does survive as well as the Beano, it is part of the Dandy comic history. I occassionally see them on the market in my home town for very cheap, 20p / 50p.

On the negative side again though, I can barely bring myself to open the cover as its filled with fart gags, Bart simpson etc!

What are your thoughts, forgetting money values as they will probably remain forever utterly worthless, is it better to get a set of these Dandy Extremes and be glad that its over? Save them from the rubbish bin and the passage of time?

[Digifiend]

I agree with you, unfortunately, a lot of the Xtreme (starts with an X) issues had less than 50% comic strip material, with the rest being standard kids magazine filler, which would indeed have no historical interest. The reason I didn't usually buy Dandy Xtreme was because it just wasn't good value for money compared to The Beano (I had no interest in those feature pages) - of course, value for money is clearly less of an issue when buying second hand at less than the cover price (50p? Fine, buy it). That changed in 2010's revamp, which changed the format to almost cover to cover comics like it used to be and got rid of the stupid Xtreme branding, and I haven't missed an issue since.

[booksandcomics]

Fair comments there, I think I will for 50p etc. Mind you, in view of historical interest, I was reading some of my early 1990s issues the other week and my jaw dropped in astonishment at one of the adverts.

It was a full page Nintendo ad for the first gameboy. You could buy it new with a free game of tetris for £89.99!!!!!!

I'm also sure that in one of the 1980s issues, in the letters / post section, there was the first computer drawing of a dandy character submitted. Will dry and dig it out!

[swirlythingy]

I agree with you, unfortunately, a lot of the Xtreme (starts with an X) issues had less than 50% comic strip material, with the rest being standard kids magazine filler, which would indeed have no historical interest.

What an extraordinary statement. If anything, all of the filler is going to have much greater historical interest than any comic material. Comic strips only include period detail by accident, since they are usually set in what was then the present day and nobody was consciously trying to keep them timeless (although this is a perennial headache when trying to pretend reprints are new), but Dandy Xtreme's filler material is very different indeed.

The very fact that it tried so hard, indeed too hard, to stay relevant and shovel in as much contemporary pop culture as possible will make it a fascinating cultural archive in the far future, right down to the last ever-so-slightly off-key slang phrase giving the unflattering impression that youth patois was the writer's second language. Sure, it still seems trashy and worthless now, but that kind of content has been around as long as the printing press and it all becomes fondly remembered, and subsequently academically studied, after a few decades.

You won't sell many Xtremes to comics fans, but wait long enough and they'll become lusted after in the general nostalgia markets. What does Jackie go for these days...?

[booksandcomics]

I like your comments Swirly Thing. As stated in my previous posts, I find it intersting looking at some of the adverts from the 1980s and 1990s. At times yes there was a bit too many and I would rather have more comics, however, looking back they do show off culture and what was popular at the time!

[philcom55]

I've always thought it was a bit odd that the US-based 'Grand Comics Database', which aims to index every comic ever published anywhere in the world, have a rule-of-thumb that something only qualifies as a real comic if it contains over 50% strip material. By that reckoning I'm afraid there'd be an awful lot of British titles excluded, with some of them dropping in and out from week to week.

- Phil R.

[Digifiend]

Hmmm... Comic Vine is better in that regard - one mini-strip or cover illustration is enough to qualify.
Best demonstrated by the American video game review magazine Nintendo Power: http://www.comicvine.com/nintendo-power/49-28947/

That technically means newspapers would be eligible!