Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Discuss or comment on anything relating to Britain's longest running comic. The home of Korky the Cat and Desperate Dan. Has been running since 1937.

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Peter Gray
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Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by Peter Gray »

I was a Beano fan But my parents felt my sister should also get a comic as I was...so she got The Dandy...
I joined the Dennis the Menace fan club she joined Desperate Dan pie eater club...
I often read her Dandy it was about when The Dandy was 10p 1981...so a good time to start as I got to see the reprint and the last work of retiring artists Desperate Dan and Black Bob..Korky the cat.Winker Watson..and others before new artists came in or were dropped..My dog Waggy...Brassneck..Jack Silver..
I liked the summer specials with the memorable centre pages of all the characters interaction..like the one where you see them all in different parts of the ship trying to out do each other..
new characters like Harry and his hippo..The Byrrd..Jolly Roger..Bertie Buncle and his chemical Uncle..Micky the mouth were all great to see...
loved the glow in the dark Korky mask...thinking about it I did take over my sisters Dandy..she later got Hi! magazine for girls..
The Dandy had a very different flavour to The Beano..
the rough and tumble of the Jock and Geordies and bully Beef and Chips were very different and tough..

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booksandcomics
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by booksandcomics »

I started reading the Dandy in 1994, after a swimming lesson my Dad took me to the shops and asked if I wanted a comic and I clearly remember the Dandy and Beano being side by side. I picked Dandy. The cover had Desperate Dan playing darts and throwing it against a wall, not realising he was actually pinning Aunt Aggie against the kicthen wall!

My sister got the Twinkle but I never read any of those being a boy!

Each christmas was great too as they had a 10 plus page panto Christmas special which always increased my eagerness for Santa to arrive! Without digging it out, I can't recall the exact issue number, but, I recall one weeks issue with Desperate Dan holding too women up to his waist in mud due to heavy rain. The news inside promised, free gifts of, what I thought, was going to be crips, cereals, tazoo slammers etc. For the whole week I kept asking my Mum if she would be in so she could accept it from the newspaper boy as surely, I thought, with all those free gifts, it couldn't possibly fit through the letter box!

To my slight disappointment, all I got was a free tazzo slammer, what the advert actually said was you could get more in packets of walkers crips etc!

Another random thought too, I swear that all my comics were delivered very early morning before I went to school, I could read about half before I had to leave. This might have been due to living on a RAF base that comics and post came so early?

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Gilly
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by Gilly »

I was originally just a reader of The Beano in 1993 but in early 1994 I asked my Mum if she'd buy me The Dandy which she did. I seem to remember Desperate Dan having his head in a crocodile on the cover.

For the rest of 1994 and early 1995 I got the odd issue of The Dandy becoming a permanent reader in August 1995. By then I was hooked especially with Desperate Dan and I remember my Grandad reading me Dan everytime my Grandma and Grandad came to babysit me and my sister on Saturday evenings. Unlike a couple of people on here I actually like the 90s Dandy. I appreciate it's probably when things started going slowly downhill but it's my era and as well as Dan I also enjoyed reading Winker Watson, Korky the Cat, Bananaman and Cuddles and Dimples.

Another big memory of mine is in 1997 when Dan struck oil and left The Dandy. I remember going mad and the time as my favourite character was missing and also remember me and my Grandad ringing the phone protests in the papers to get Dan back in The Dandy. The relief when I saw Dan on the cover of the 60th Birthday at the time was unbelievable for my 10 year old self.

I kept buying The Dandy right through until 2007 originally when it changed to Dandy Xtreme. The first revamp I could just about stand but the Xtreme made me stop buying out of disgust, although I did buy the odd issue to check how it was doing.

The 2010 revamp brought me back with a vengance though and I was hooked again. I actually believe that if this revamp had been done sooner and with two or three more classic characters we would have not been looking at the final issue. 4th December is not just The Dandy's 75th Birthday and last issue but also my 25th Birthday. The Dandy ending is making the day a weird omen for me as if someone up there is saying grow up you big kid.

Still though The Dandy will always have a special place in my heart and I would like to thank it for all the great memories over the years. I really hope it finds the success it deserves online.

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Tin Can Tommy
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by Tin Can Tommy »

booksandcomics wrote: My sister got the Twinkle but I never read any of those being a boy!
I didnt realise the Twinkle survived until the early 90s.

I dont have many memories of the Dandy. I never regularly read it but I did get the odd comic, special and annual. The only strip I can remember enjoying was Puss and Boots (this was back in the early 2000s). I got one issue after the 2004 revamp but I can remember disliking Jak. I also read a lot of classic Dandy strips in Classics from the Comics and The Beano Dandy book with the Jocks and the Geordies and Whacko! being particular favourites.

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Dunder Ed
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by Dunder Ed »

I myself never got a Dandy every week but At the age of around 8 or 9 my dad gave me some of his old annuals 1 Beano and some Dandys. At that time I really liked the Beano annual and read it from cover to cover many times as well as the Dennis the Menace book. Yet I had these old Dandys on my bookshelf, i was attracted to simplicity to the Beano and the more memerable characters and the Dandy somewhat seemed old and boring with all the adventure stories and long winded stories. I took the leap and read the Dandys what a treat they were! Full of funny stories and riveting adventures. Why had i not read these before! I really think these annuals are the reason I started collecting comics and now these Dandys are some of the most treasured in my collection. When I heard about the Dandy and its closure I decided to bite the bullet and start buying the last few issues, i was a bit skeptical as in my opinion the Dandy went downhill in the late 80s but to my surprise the recent Dandys have been real crackers and I am glad that i have been buying them.

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stevezodiac
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by stevezodiac »

I became a TV Century 21 fan in 1965 which took all my pocket money until 1969. I do remember reading the Beano and Dandy but it was probably at school - when it was raining we spent our playtime in the hall and a cardboard box of comics was brought out.

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booksandcomics
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by booksandcomics »

Thats fantastic! I think I was in year 6 and our maths teacher brought out a box of Beanos and Dandys from the early 1990s (at the time, my oldest comic issue was only from 1992!) during an actual lesson!

We had to work out the value of the printed page and costs of ink, i.e. look at the cover price and divide by the number of pages etc. I got told off as I was reading them avidly as I didn't have any of them in my own collection!

Thinking back to school, sadly I don't have any memories of swapping comics at school. Was this just me or had this died a death by the 1990s? Did people swap comics in the 1980s?
Unlike a couple of people on here I actually like the 90s Dandy.
Although heavily biased, I have to agree Gilly. I loved the artwork of Desperate Dan, Blinky, Korky the Cat and Herb's History during this period. For me it really captured my imagination. When I started picking up the 1980s issues I had trouble reading them to start with.

When I moved to Stafford at the age of 10 I found an old record shop that sold old books etc on the side. I used to walk past it on the way into town and got extatic when I the owner placed old annuals in the window. One week after he got to know me he said he had an "old comic" arrived and went out the back to fetch it. My jaw dropped when it was from 1943! I paid £15 for it, but, only after saving up three weeks worth of pocket money.

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SID
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by SID »

I just started going to primary school when my dad started bringing home the Dandy and the Beano.

I can still remember every Saturday, I would be watching the Generation Game with one eye on the clock/watching the door as I waited impatiently for Dad to come home with the latest instalment of Black Bob. I was still reading them (the Dandy first) when Dixon of Dock Green's finishing credits came up.

And how I can forget that christmas when my parents bought me my first annuals including the 1972 Dandy book? There I was in bed in the middle of the night (Santa had put it in my pillowcase at the bottom of my bed), torch on (I got that for Christmas too) reading it. Since then I haven't miss a year and my Dandy annual collection now spans from 1964 (I bought a few from e-Bay) to this year.

The Dandy was always my favourite comic through-out my childhood until 2000AD and even then, I came back to it in the 80s, then the 90s and finally after the 2004 revamp.

For me, the comic was at its best in the 70s with the likes of Black Bob, Jack Silver, Brassneck, Whacko, Bully Beef, the Tricks of Screwy Driver, Dirty Dick, Winker Watson (and the list goes on...). But I also liked the all the years up to the 2004 revamp. From then, I felt it had lost its magic and when it went Xtreme, oh well... I did really think that the last revamp would have been the saviour. How wrong I was.

A brilliant comic and my childhood friend.
Reading comics since 1970. My Current Regulars are: 2000 AD (1977-), Judge Dredd Megazine (1990-), Spaceship Away (2003-), Commando (2013-), Monster Fun (2022-), Deadpool and Wolverine (2023-), Quantum (2023-).

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booksandcomics
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by booksandcomics »

Ooh, although I only discovered the 1970s Dandy characaters in later years and sadly not from childhood, I utterly love reading Whacko! I've not found it yet and already asked the question on here, but, do we ever get to see teachers face?

On my 18th birthday, my family chipped in and bought me a huge bust of Desperate Dan by a company called, I think, Magnum Opus http://bit.ly/Uey7Qp. It went to University with me and is still the pride and joy of my home!

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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by SID »

Brilliant! I wish I had one. :D
Reading comics since 1970. My Current Regulars are: 2000 AD (1977-), Judge Dredd Megazine (1990-), Spaceship Away (2003-), Commando (2013-), Monster Fun (2022-), Deadpool and Wolverine (2023-), Quantum (2023-).

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dishes
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by dishes »

My first exposure to the Dandy (and comics in general, really), was a second hand copy of the 1977 annual.

Then in 1986, at the age of eight, I found out that it was still going as a weekly comic and that my schoolfriend read it. I started getting it every week, my first regular comic (though The Beano joined it only a few months later). I also collected every back issue I could find at jumble sales, none of which were older than a year or two.

I'm not sure which the first issue I had was, but I think it was from August, 1986. At any rate the lineup of it was:
front and back cover Desperate Dan (art Ken Harrison)- (didn't like it at all)
page 2 Dimples (the solo period) drawn by Barrie Appleby. Great fun.
page 3 The Smasher, drawn by David Gudgeon by the looks of it. Brian Walker soon to take over.
4-5 Dinah Mo drawn by the excellent Ron Spencer. Liked.
6. The Burrd- not a big favourite.
7. Strange Hill School- David Mostyn. Liked.
8. Peter Pest (refugee from "Nutty")- Tom Williams. Liked a lot.
9. Korky the Kat, although I know Charles Grigg was officially retired, I can tell you he was nonetheless drawing Korky the Cat during this period. Liked. EDIT: Actually it was probably altered reprints of old front cover strips, as there's signs of panels being lengthened.
10-11 Bananaman drawn by favourite artist of the day, John Geering. Loved this.
12. Desperate Dan's pie-eater's club. No thanks!
13-14 Jocks and the Geordies drawn by Jimmy Hughes. As an 8 year old I naturally loved this strip, I think it may even have been my favourite.
15. top half: Ham and Egghead from the nib of Steve Bright, bottom half: in-house adverts
16-17 Winker Watson (and the circus) drawn by Paul White (a reprint of the 1984 series mentioned in Ray Moore's index?)
18. Snobbs and the Slobbs- "Nutty" refugees drawn hilariously by J Geering. Loved this.
19. Bully Beef and Chips drawn by J. Hughes- liked it but a strip about Bullying cut quite close to the bone for me even though Chips always won.

It wasn't long before Hoot! climbed aboard, bringing with it Spotted Dick, Polar Blair (very briefly), Comic Cuts and Cuddles.

late 1987 there was the big noise about the 50th anniversary, which was an extremely exciting time for me as a historically-minded comics lover. I remember the "Arena" special, and the first "Fifty golden years" book (and the second!) which introduced me to the wonders of the D C Thomson past.

I was always seeking out the older material, whether as annuals in second hand shops or reprints in the Best of Beezer/Best of Topper series. My favourite artists (and I could identify artists by sight, though I didn't always know their names) were a mixture of current and past masters. I liked it all. I read other comics, including IPC, Egmont and Marvel ones, but Dandy was my favourite. (Or Beano!)

In 1988 there was the change of paper quality, the increase in colour pages, then soon afterwards the increase in page count to 24, the introduction of outside ads, and the end of the regime of the settled line-up of characters in the same order every week. I regarded these changes with distrust though I enjoyed lots of the newer characters such as "James, the world's worst schoolboy", "George and the Dragon" and "Tumba and Rumba (The Mimicking Elephants)". There seemed an increase in zaniness,. i don't know if it was better or worse, but I knew I was growing out of it, (and somewhat late, some might have said). I stopped getting it regularly in 1990, switching to "Victor" and "Roy of the Rovers monthly"

I picked it up occasionally afterwards through to the mid-1990s, it didn't seem to change much in this period. Then a big gap before I got a copy in 2004 and was quite shocked and distressed(even pre-xtreme!)

I didn't get one again until the 2010 relaunch, when I was inspired to investigate based on the excitement on this forum. I was so impressed, it made me so happy that The Dandy could still be so great in 2010. I was impressed by the sheer size, dedication to comic strips, new material, humour, consistency of style and also the fact that there were so many panels per page, in contrast to the 2004 version where seemingly it took three pages to tell what should have been a one page story. I thought it really stood a chance of being a word-of-mouth success. And I was delighted by the adverts in Newsagents' windows, and prominent displays.
Unfortunately I didn't have any young relatives to buy it for, so I only bought a handful of issues of the last incarnation of the Dandy (I tried to read them myself, but... y'know, I'm in my thirties). So though I was very sad to hear of the end, I couldn't legitimately complain.

In comics terms, the Dandy had one hell of a good innings. Most people's reaction to the news I think has been "blimey, I thought it folded years ago". Nothing lasts forever, It's just a pity it has to end at a time when so much great work is being done on it, and that such efforts weren't rewarded with the increase in sales they deserved.

Let's hope the Digital Dandy is a roaring success!

Ian
Last edited by dishes on 30 Nov 2012, 20:15, edited 2 times in total.
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Digifiend
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by Digifiend »

I think my first Dandy annual was the 1991 edition. My brother got some issues of the Beano around 1993 (we had a few annuals by then), and in 1995, I started buying it. I'd buy the occasional Dandy too (I have the 60th birthday issue and the two preceding it, for instance) but only started getting it every week beginning with the final issue of Xtreme.

I definitely agree about the current revamp and how it didn't deserve to fail. The contents aren't what killed it. It lost readers with the Xtreme revamp though, and never recovered from that. Perhaps if they'd gone with that style in 2007, it might have arrested the slide. They were already losing readers at that point, so they had to relaunch, but in my opinion they chose the wrong format. If kids wanted a Toxic style comic, they would and do buy Toxic. There were also major marketing failures with the 2010 relaunch. They had loads of copies in the shops, with prominent displays. But they didn't advertise it, not even in the Beano. So people didn't go looking for it. It was quite telling when Newsround reported on the Dandy ceasing publication - kids were saying that they hadn't even heard of it. And also, the website just wasn't that great, I wish they'd made it more like the Beano's (in terms of features, not graphics). Distribution has been patchy as well, partly thanks to suppliers sending less copies when some are unsold, and not sending extra if it sells out.

One thing the 2010 revamp did achieve, is giving a chance to new artists who write their own material, which gave the comic a new brand of humour. Editor Craig Graham should be commended for that. I'm pleased to see this starting to rub off on the Beano, which has been quite static for the last few years. For the last couple of years, the Beano has been over-reliant on it's tried and tested formula and cast (which it paid for with a drop of readership, although not nearly enough to put it in danger), while the Dandy was innovative but neglected it's back catalogue of characters. Hopefully from now on, the Beano and the digital Dandy will offer the best of both. A mix of the new and innovative, and the established famous characters. But that's something to discuss in another topic.

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suebutcher
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by suebutcher »

In 1968 my parents started buying Dandy for my brother, so even though I'd seen it before, I'm most familiar with the strips from that era. I liked Desperate Dan and Greedy Pigg (I loved George Martin's slapstick comedy style), but compared to the daft insolence of the Beano, the Dandy seemed a bit stale. I also didn't like the comic's emphasis on bullying and revenge; I can see the appeal of nasty characters getting just desserts, but at that age I didn't want to be reminded of bad-tempered teachers and cruel children. But that was then. Nowadays I'm very pleased to own a copy of the 1968 Summer Special.

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philcom55
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Re: Your memories of The Dandy reading as a child...

Post by philcom55 »

I thought Beano had a definite edge over Dandy when it came to anarchic humour. Where Dandy won out for me was in it's adventure serials like the Purple Cloud, the Crimson Ball, the Red Wrecker, the Umbrella Men and the Island of Monsters (and not forgetting Black Bob of course!).

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