Dandy Relaunch next month

[AndyB]

Advert in the new Dandy Xtreme says (albeit originally in all capitals):

The Dandy on sale October 27th Only £1.50 Don't miss it!

[Spencer]

Is that it...?

Surely they can at least 'trail' the new Dandy a little better than that inside ITSELF!!!!!

Build the suspense a little.... there's probably a few thousand little Billys or Johnnys (or even Katies) that had Dandy Xtreme bought for them by their unknowing parents who just thought the freegift looked good for their child...

At least try to tempt THEM to buy the next issue (or ask Mum or Dad for it)...

Peculiar...

[Digifiend]

Advert in the new Dandy Xtreme says (albeit originally in all capitals):

The Dandy on sale October 27th Only £1.50 Don't miss it!

That price sounds like it won't have any gifts - it's only 15p more than The Beano (unless it's price is about to go up), and if it's staying at 36 pages, the 4 extra pages (Beano has 32) explains that.

Maybe the new external printworks means that they can no longer include gifts at all?

About the distribution, yeah, not as bad as it was for Classics, but there are a few shops who seem to have stopped selling it.

[AndyB]

I reckon they'll keep the gifts going, possibly as cover-mounted (cheaper than bagging!), but more at the Beano rate.

As for publication date, it sounds like consolidation onto certain days of the week. Easier distribution as well as print runs.

[Peter Gray]

It did have Jamie's Desperate Dan a whiole page talking about the mystery and talking about the new Dandy..so not just written text..

Bought The Dandy and its nice there has been an increase in comic pages..liked Marvo and Lucy Grimm

Lew are you going to be drawing for The Dandy? old or new character?

[Digifiend]

Andy, you're right. This week's Dandy had two cover mounted gifts. No bag. It's not normal to be able to leaf through it in the shop. Might encourage sales though, since that means it can be previewed. Unfortunately, it seems WHSmith have stopped selling it, had to go to Tesco.

Confirmed information about the new Dandy:

• Marvo the Wonder Chicken will be dropped (I said it wouldn't be on the grounds the TV series hasn't turned up yet, but Nigel included it on his wrong speculation list on his blog - and he'd know, being Marvo's artist)
• Cuddles and Dimples will either be dropped, become reprints, or is getting a new artist.
• Base price is now £1.50.

Two Lucy Grimm strips this week - using them up because it won't appear in future? No Jak and Todd story this week. Are they gone too?

Nigel mentions drawing something for The Dandy but wouldn't name it. If he's no longer doing Cuddles and Dimples or Marvo the Wonder Chicken, then either Owen Goal is back or he's doing something new.

Incidentally, I've come across a very good reason to drop the Xtreme name. A new comic launched a few weeks ago called Turbo Xtreme.
http://www.signaturepl.co.uk/portfolio/TurboXtreme.html

I notice no Dandy logo on the advert. Bad move if it's a drastic change (people might not recognise it), maybe they're sticking to the logo used on the annuals and Fun-Sizes (i.e. the current one without the Xtreme text).

And while the advert for this week's Dandy in The Beano does have 6 OCT -19 OCT on the dummy cover, the real Dandy cover does say 6 OCT -26 OCT - the first new look issue is out on Wednesday 27th.

EDIT: I see Lew's blog has a bunch of old Dandy covers on the latest entry, "The Dandy regenrerates" - no new info though. His lips are sealed!
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/10 ... rates.html

[Jonny Whizz]

I wonder if the reason why the Marvo the Wonder Chicken TV episodes haven't aired is simply that it became clear that he was going to be dropped after the relaunch? After all, the new Dennis TV series was first shown over a year ago now.

[MikeC]

There's now way a TV show would be dropped because it wasn't appearing in a magazine any more. The levels of investment are on a different scale. The comic would be made to support it.

[Lew Stringer]

EDIT: I see Lew's blog has a bunch of old Dandy covers on the latest entry, "The Dandy regenrerates" - no new info though. His lips are sealed!
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2010/10 ... rates.html

I hope people like the cover gallery. It does prove that The Dandy has evolved gradually over the years and didn't go from "old style" to "Xtreme" in one fell swoop as the media etc may think.

[intune]

Ok. A question for those in the know.. Obviously you can't say anything until the official announcement, but....

- do the new Dandy plans excite you?
- is it something that's been tried before, or something totally new?
- will we recognise the comic as the Dandy?
- do DC Thomson plan to shout about the new look?

Thanks

[Lew Stringer]

"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue."

Only one of those is certain, and one of those is definitely not appropriate. The other two things... dunno.

One of the joys of reading comics as a child was the excitement of the unexpected. I miss that aspect. These days the internet and comic fanzines telegraph what's coming up months in advance and it's hard to resist reading the news. It's nice to know what to look forward to but the element of surprise is long gone by the time the comics appear.

I know a little bit of what's coming up with The Dandy and I know a couple of the artists who are working on it, but the majority of its content is still mainly a mystery. I'm hoping for a bit of that old Autumn excitement on October 27th to bring fresh surprises like the comics of old used to.

(Although I imagine we'll see more news revealed much sooner than that, and if I'm allowed to spill the beans I'll post it on my blog. )

[NP]

Ok. A question for those in the know.. Obviously you can't say anything until the official announcement, but....
- do the new Dandy plans excite you?

Have you not read Jamie Smart's, Nigel Auchterlounie's, Lew Stringer's, MMi's and my contributions to this thread?

- is it something that's been tried before, or something totally new?

What would excite the above names?

- will we recognise the comic as the Dandy?

It will have 'The Dandy' written on the cover in big letters.

- do DC Thomson plan to shout about the new look?

Prepare to be deafened.

[MikeC]

Digi, maybe they're dropping the dandy name and going Xtreme only! Less doubt then of any relationship with the new magazine, maybe asserting their absolute Xtremism? That would explain the lack of dandy logo. Maybe preparing readers for the change?

Alternatively, as someone suggested, Dandy Xtreme, Classics from the Comics and the Fun-sizes amalgamating into one new+old title, maybe free fun-size covermount?

Isn't speculation fun!!!! I hardly want to find out the truth!

Wise words from Lew - spoilers do spoil things. Waiting for something is no bad thing.

Although we'll all hate the new comic, whatever it is - won't we? It is The Dandy, after all.

[MikeC]

Dang! NP got in before me and rendered my post even more nonsensical than it was meant to be!!!

[Lew Stringer]

Digi, maybe they're dropping the dandy name and going Xtreme only!

Fear not.