Beano Website

[AndyB]

1995 - Vic Volcano didn't last a very long time, possibly because at the time both Bob Nixon and Trevor Metcalfe were busy with other strips.

1999-2000 The Three Bears ultimately fell victim to Mike Pearse being far too busy with other projects.

2004 - Joe Jitsu was a victim of the Dandy relaunch - I can't remember if Wayne Thompson drew it from the beginning, but by the time that it came round, he was too busy for the Dandy. I suspect Colin the Vet just ran out of ideas.

The real successes were Tim Traveller, Crazy for Daisy and Freddie Fear, all of which lasted years in the Beano, and Freddie is still running (much improved - Dave's new style is a lot more comfortable on the eyes than the original style).

It's worth remembering though that other new strips were added between Comic Idol runs - for example Robbie Rebel, Big Brad Wolf and of course Derek the Sheep! I'm still sure a second series of Big Brad Wolf was to be commissioned, but the "in year" additions seem to have been more successful in general.

[Jonny Whizz]

2004 - Joe Jitsu was a victim of the Dandy relaunch - I can't remember if Wayne Thompson drew it from the beginning, but by the time that it came round, he was too busy for the Dandy. I suspect Colin the Vet just ran out of ideas.

Wayne Thompson did draw Joe Jitsu from the beginning, indeed he was the only artist who ever drew him. The Comic Idol vote was in January (with the winner confirmed in March), and the Dandy relaunch was in October, so I'm sure you're right there. A few strips appeared in late 2005 and 2006, but these were clearly stockpiled. However, Joe Jitsu is infamous for one strip which was reprinted two weeks after it originally appeared in the comic (issues 3229 and 3231 if anyone is interested - from June 2004, so before the Dandy relaunch).

I'm not sure as to whether Colin the Vet ran out of ideas though - I personally thought he had a lot more potential than Joe Jitsu, especially when you remember that Keyhole Kate ran for years.

Elsewhere, you're almost certainly right for Vic Volcano, although I think Chris McGhie (current Bananaman artist) actually took over The Three Bears in 2002, but this will have been due to his workload as you said.

[Digifiend]

I think Robbie Rebel's success put paid to any second series of Big Brad Wolf. Ken Harrison was still drawing Desperate Dan at the time as well, so probably didn't have time to do both Beano strips. I wonder why Robbie stopped? It can't be because Ken was too busy, he stopped doing Dan at around the same time, and now only does Minnie the Minx.

[AndyB]

I'd love to see more of both. The problem is we don't know Ken's schedule, but all we see of his work is seven-nine pages a month for the Beano and Classics and that's it.

[skyromie]

Noticed that the BeanoMAX has a permanent presence on the Beanotown website now. Actually looks quite good, further evidence of the closer relationship of the two titles under new editor?

[Digifiend]

Yeah, seems they decided not to launch a seperate Beanomax website in the end. The banner which used to link to http://beanomax.beanotown.com (which is now 403 forbidden) now goes to http://www.dcthomson.co.uk, which has got a new look (DC Thomson has a proper logo now!) with Dennis on some of the pages in different poses.

[skyromie]

Not really an original logo, looping pages icon for a publishing firm? Urm, fair enough. If you want to play 'safe'.

Noticed in that line of front covers that there isn't one for BeanoMAX!!!

[Digifiend]

There isn't one for the Fun-Size comics and Classics From the Comics either.

[felneymike]

*initiates cancellation rumour/panic*

[skyromie]

There isn't one for the Fun-Size comics and Classics From the Comics either.

I think the fun-sized would odd in that rolling style. You have the Courier being a broadsheet and then the Beano much less - both being displayed at the same size. Fun-size would be massive compared to that lot!!

Now, Classics, yes. Good shout.

[Digifiend]

I think the reason they aren't shown is because a lot of retailers don't stock them. Seems pretty dumb if that's the case though, as I'd expect them to want to promote the titles. More demand ought to mean more shops buying the stock, right?

[skyromie]

Right. Plus there's always a chance they could be led to the subscription section.....

[Jonny Whizz]

I think that's a good point, as neither Classics nor the Fun-Sizes seem to be well distributed. I think that if they were more heavily promoted, the distribution (and as a result circulation) would probably be better, but I could be wrong, and DCT know better than me anyway.

[Digifiend]

DC Thomson's websites are all down.
http://www.dcthomson.co.uk, http://www.beanotown.com and http://www.dandy.com are all saying "Oops, Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage", as though they don't exist.

EDIT: 10.30am - it seems they're back up. I wonder what happened?

[Classic Comics]

DC Thomson's websites are all down.
http://www.dcthomson.co.uk, http://www.beanotown.com and http://www.dandy.com are all saying "Oops, Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage", as though they don't exist.

EDIT: 10.30am - it seems they're back up. I wonder what happened?

To be honest, I haven't a clue but it did cause us a few headaches. Thankfully it seems to be fixed now. Touch wood.