Comics UK

Although I feel reader polls can useful for giving information about comic strips (for instance, if a strip becomes so universally unpopular with readers that it makes no sense for it to continue), I also think there's a danger of paying too much attention to the results. Often readers seem to like ...

I visited the Comics UK site but not the forum before I was in my teens. How would the mod know pre-teens have been on the site? You dont need to create an account to read the forum and anyway lying about your age on the internet is simple and fun. I was reading this forum well before I entered my ...

I remember the Freddie Fear strip you're talking about. I think it was in an issue where Derek the Sheep appeared - possibly the first one in February 2004 - and many of the early Derek strips were printed along the foot of the other pages of the comic, which meant that any strips that had title ban...

I think they'll get away with that one - not many of the comic's readers will know the significance of the name, and if they do recognise Morris's name then they'll probably also know that the strip is a reprint from the Dandy anyway. One thing which did jar this week, though, was the Germs title ba...

Yeah, I've never been much of a manga fan either. It has just never really appealed to me, for whatever reason - I don't particularly like the artwork style but I don't think the ideas or characters held much interest for me in any case. Personally I think there's a bit of a gap in the middle ground...

I didn't notice it (not being familiar with the 50th birthday issue), although it makes sense now you mention it. I think the Beano did a good job of disguising that reprint - the strip worked well without the 50 years reference, and the change wasn't jarring, as has sometimes been the case in the p...

Couldn't agree more with the last review you linked to - it's very funny! Did they really think it was the film they were after?

Although, personally, if you forced me to watch either of the two films I know which one I'd choose (suffice to say it doesn't feature vampires).

Yes, that's right - the first Beano special came out in February 2003, so effectively the last true Beano Summer Special was in 2002, and the last Beano Summer Special was in 2006. BeanoMAX started in February 2007, so the Summer Special was replaced by either the July or August issue (not sure whic...

One problem which I think has affected the Beano in recent years is how difficult it has become for newer comic strips to establish themselves in the comic - it's been five years since a character been introduced and become a firm part of the comic's line up (Fred's Bed), and even longer since a ful...

It's a shame Super School's being rested, although in truth I don't think it will make that much difference as it has only been appearing occasionally for the past eighteen months or so anyway. I can't remember seeing any Tom Paterson Super School strips in the Beano (or any by an artist other than ...

I'm not aware of D.C.T. having ever used comedy writers to write strips for their humour comics (apart from maybe a couple of one-offs). However, i think it's interesting how often strips written by the artist who draws them are better and funnier than those written in-house. If you think of the str...

I think toilet humour only really seemed to become commonplace in the Beano around about 2003 - I don't remember there being many fart jokes when I first started reading it in 2002. Certainly, I'd struggle to think of any Bea strips before 2003 that featured toilet humour - in fact, remarkably, in o...

Personally, I found the August 2009-February 2011 very dull for the most part. This was due to a combination of factors, which would have been a shame on their own but worse for being simultaneous - the change in his character from menace to fun-loving, broadly well-intentioned schoolboy, the faded ...

Regarding the various strips David has drawn, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned he did the second version of Jak in the early 2000s (not sure about dates in the comic, but his version did appear in the 2002-2005 Dandy Annuals - after that it was Wayne Thompson's version). He also drew The Nibblers ...

That signature's not a new thing at all, I've seen it in the Beano for several years. I used to think it read H.H., but it's actually N.N. It's the signature of one of his colourists, Nika (unlike most artists nowadays, Nigel's work is still coloured by hand rather than on computer). Nigel Parkinson...