Beano summer special number 1 out now WHSmiths

[swirlythingy]

The words "Collector's Limited Edition" are creeping slowly up my extensive list of the most abused words and phrases in the English language.

(Still got some way to go before it beats "empowerment", though. And as for "dynamic"...)

[dishes]

The words "Collector's Limited Edition" are creeping slowly up my extensive list of the most abused words and phrases in the English language.

(Still got some way to go before it beats "empowerment", though. And as for "dynamic"...)

or "Iconic".

[AndyB]

As long as it's still in the shops in August when I'm in England!

[swirlythingy]

(Still got some way to go before it beats "empowerment", though. And as for "dynamic"...)

or "Iconic".

"Heritage" and "vintage" are two more serial offenders. The Beano prefers use of the not-quite-so-ghastly "retro" for these purposes.

Sorry, I'm dragging us ...

[Raven]

There's a lot of nice old stuff in no. 3 but, for the first time - except for, I think, one strip and the handful of front covers, none of the dates or sources of the material are given in this one, giving the material - from a range of decades - no context. I wonder why they've dropped giving the years: a bad decision, I think, which, for now at least, stopped me buying it.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, I wasn't pleased when I noticed that. I can identify where some stuff came from - the spread with 12 Dennis's was taken from Beano and Dandy: Side By Side for 60 Years (there's a telltale 60 logo on the left) so the 35 years ago mentioned is actually more like 50 years ago - it's from a Dennis annual of the early 1960s. The Biffo strip with a massive title panel is almost certainly from the joint Dandy-Beano Summer Special from 1963, as it's a reprint from the weekly Beano, probably from the 50s. The other summer specials used new material, but that first joint one was all reprints. The Mad Moments in Sport features are from a 90s Bash Street Kids Book.

[TwoHeadedBoy]

Hold on, two Summer Specials in one year? Not that I'm complaining, just seems a bit odd is all...

[Digifiend]

Yeah, I wasn't expecting it, just stumbled across it when picking up the weeklies. Apparently nobody here knew until I mentioned it either, I see Peter Gray credited me on his blog for the heads-up.

[dishes]

Yeah, I wasn't pleased when I noticed that. I can identify where some stuff came from - the spread with 12 Dennis's was taken from Beano and Dandy: Side By Side for 60 Years (there's a telltale 60 logo on the left) so the 35 years ago mentioned is actually more like 50 years ago - it's from a Dennis annual of the early 1960s.

Does anyone knows who drew this? Looks almost like Graham Allen, but did he ever do anything for D C Thomson?

[Digifiend]

I assumed it was David Law, Dennis's artist at the time.

[dishes]

I assumed it was David Law, Dennis's artist at the time.

Dennis himself is pretty "on-model" but there's not the slightest attempt to ghost Law's style when it comes to the spectators, look:

[AndyB]

Working from the two snippets, early Ron Spencer?

[swirlythingy]

I've finally got hold of a copy. It definitely looks to me as if the reprints were sourced on the cheap - some of it is in the edited form used for Dennis and Bash Street annuals, and some (like the aforementioned football match) has even been lifted from the 'retro' annuals.

Most bizarre is the "Summer Sizzlers" puzzle on page 50, which comes from last year's Beano 3D Summer Annual! And that was thrown together using some of the art from a completely different puzzle in the 2000 summer special!

[Tin Can Tommy]

Just read through the Summer Special no.3, the only one of the three I have, there were a few small flaws.
Such as the Minnie the Minx strip on page 47 which has an advert for a Beano Superstars from the original strip still left on it which could confuse younger readers.

Yeah, I wasn't pleased when I noticed that. I can identify where some stuff came from - the spread with 12 Dennis's was taken from Beano and Dandy: Side By Side for 60 Years (there's a telltale 60 logo on the left) so the 35 years ago mentioned is actually more like 50 years ago - it's from a Dennis annual of the early 1960s. The Biffo strip with a massive title panel is almost certainly from the joint Dandy-Beano Summer Special from 1963, as it's a reprint from the weekly Beano, probably from the 50s.

They could easily have sorted out the text and the 60 years logo in Photoshop or a similiar program. Also I would imagine the Roger strip on page 9 the only other strip with text above it was also a reprint sourced from one of the annual Beano Dandy reprint books.
By the Biffo strip with the huge title panel do you mean the one on page 16?
If so then that strip has quite the queer looking picture of Biffo in the title panel. I woul imagine the picture in question was not drawn by Biffo's regular artist.

There's a lot of nice old stuff in no. 3 but, for the first time - except for, I think, one strip and the handful of front covers, none of the dates or sources of the material are given in this one, giving the material - from a range of decades - no context. I wonder why they've dropped giving the years: a bad decision, I think, which, for now at least, stopped me buying it.

They could do with a little bibliography at the back telling the reader why they sourced the reprints from and possibly who the artist was. I doubt this would cost much but artist details may be difficult in some cases.

Despite these flaws and the fact that some strips are sourced from places where they were already reprinted (so 2nd generation reprints) it's a good comic and I am glad they still make stuff like this especially since Classics from the Comics has gone.

[Digifiend]

I agree about the Superstars advert, could've easily put a Stripz there instead.

Yes, that's the Biffo I meant. His regular artist was Dudley Watkins, can't tell who drew that header image.