The Dandy and The Beano - Classic Christmas Comic Covers

[booksandcomics]

As for Christmas issues post 1969, I do think that the "panto" style extra long Desperate Dan stories in the early 90s are worth a mention.

Again I have some bias here as the early 90s issues are my childhood memories. Getting the 10 page long Desperate Dan christmas issues really were a fantastic treat even if the front coveres weren't always snow covered.

Here's the 1994 issue which just so happens to be my first ever Dandy Christmas issue! Without digging it out, I think it involved Aunt Aggie trying to find a new home for the Dandy characters and they ultimately lived in a giant pumpkin inhabbited by Blinky?



That said, my all time favourite Christmas Dandy cover is from 2002. My jaw dropped when it was delivered as I didn't like the cover alterations made to the rest of the 2002 issues. A whole full page with all the characters, snow, and Dickensian setting, what more could you ask for?

[dandy mad]

Shouldn't this topic be moved to the general comics section as both comics are covered not just the Beano

[Peter Gray]

quote recieved this email from Phil

Dear Collector,

We’re excited to say there has been a lot of interest in our new book:

The Dandy and The Beano - Classic Christmas Comic Covers 1937-1969

Since we last wrote to you offering the book on pre-order, we took possession of the full print run of 1,000 books one week ago and are delighted with the result - indeed the book has exceeded our own expectations!

Thanks again to all those who have already bought a copy. Initial feedback from early buyers has been very promising and we’re glad we went the extra mile with the vintage style matt paper, which has been highly praised. Here is an independent review of the book by comic artist Lew Stringer - http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/ ... early.html

You can buy the book direct from our website (link below) or find the item on eBay - it is eBay item #271305125911.
http://www.phil-comics.com/christmas.php



So very good news...;0)

Heres my post on this..
http://www.petergraycartoonsandcomics.b ... assic.html

[dandy mad]

Over half sold then.... On a serious note though it is one of the best books that's been released for a good few years related to The Dandy and The Beano and by a collector who has used his own collection for the book so hopefully some more of the good stuff will appear

[big bad bri]

Maybe DCT are wishing they thought of releasing the book themselves.And hopefully its back to the drawing board for them re next years dandy/beano effort.

[dandy mad]

If DCT where serious about releasing a book like this they'd have to get loose copies of both comics and I believe all their back issues are bound in yearly volumes so that'd pose a problem scanning wise unless they have kept some loose ones? And I wouldn't hold my breath on DCT releasing anything that comes close to this superb book...

[Digifiend]

^It's not that they don't have loose ones. It's that their HQ is under renovations, so a lot of their stuff is in storage and inaccessible at present. So right now, they can only access the bound volumes, but this isn't usually the case. Relatively recent issues (probably 1998 onwards, when editorial pages started being computer created instead of hand drawn and the speech bubbles started using new fonts) would also be stored digitally. The intention is to eventually have the entire archive digitised.

[Lew Stringer]

Maybe DCT are wishing they thought of releasing the book themselves.And hopefully its back to the drawing board for them re next years dandy/beano effort.

A large company such as DC Thomson would need to know they'd shift thousands of copies though Brian. I'm sure they're happy enough with Phil doing an independent version for the collectors market. Also, if you read the indica it mentions that Thomsons were involved to an extent.

The Dandy / Beano collections that DCT do themselves are aimed at a wider market, - parents, kids, long-lapsed readers, as well as collectors, - so the layouts are a bit livelier and the contents cover more decades.

[PaulTwist]

Right. If this hasn't sold out by the time I get paid on Friday, it's getting ordered.

[dandy mad]

One thing is for sure the Dandy Xmas number for 1941 will never appear in any official Thomson book with that Korky rhyme....

[Phoenix]

One thing is for sure the Dandy Xmas number for 1941 will never appear in any official Thomson book with that Korky rhyme....

Maybe not, dandy mad, but you can't change history, and you mustn't even try. You only have to read stories from the story papers, and strips from the comics, of the Twenties and Thirties, from all publishing companies as far as I'm aware, to find countless examples of what today is quite properly considered racist language. For the people of the time it was standard usage. We must take great care to ensure that history is not rewritten, especially if the purpose is merely to remove language usages that offend now but didn't have such a great impact, if any, then. I'm still furious that Agatha Christie was forced to change the title of her novel Ten Little Ni**ers, to Ten Little Indians sometime after 1953.

[dandy mad]

One thing is for sure the Dandy Xmas number for 1941 will never appear in any official Thomson book with that Korky rhyme....

Maybe not, dandy mad, but you can't change history, and you mustn't even try. You only have to read stories from the story papers, and strips from the comics, of the Twenties and Thirties, from all publishing companies as far as I'm aware, to find countless examples of what today is quite properly considered racist language. For the people of the time it was standard usage. We must take great care to ensure that history is not rewritten, especially if the purpose is merely to remove language usages that offend now but didn't have such a great impact, if any, then. I'm still furious that Agatha Christie was forced to change the title of her novel Ten Little Ni**ers, to Ten Little Indians sometime after 1953.

The Dandy was still using racist images and words well into the 1960s and Dandy #1279 from 1966 is one of the most brazen racist covers I've ever seen on a British comic

[philcom55]

Interesting to see that Phil S. had a table at this weekend's Memorabilia in Birmingham especially to promote the new book. Hope he managed to sell lots of them (though it could mean the print run will be used up that much sooner!).

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

Interesting to see that Phil S. had a table at this weekend's Memorabilia in Birmingham especially to promote the new book. Hope he managed to sell lots of them (though it could mean the print run will be used up that much sooner!).

He'll no doubt have another, for the same purpose, at the big London comic fair at the Royal National next Sunday. I hope he has other items as well, like he usually does, as I've already got the book.

[stevezodiac]

Has Ten Little Indians since been changed to Ten Vertically Challenged Native Americans?