This week's issue

[swirlythingy]

I agree that the Beano covers between 2008 and 2010 were often not good - they were too cluttered in my opinion, and often the cover had nothing to do with the story inside. The recent covers are an improvement because at least Dennis is the main focus on the cover again. However, I wouldn't say the covers in 2007 were poor. After the changes made in April, the cover designs didn't change that much apart from the logo, and I actually quite liked the changes made in October - having an actual comic strip was a positive move in my view. I think it was the following spring when the covers started to get worse.

I was referring to October onwards - the spring changes were, as you say, quite minor, and in any case farcicially inconsistent, with half the intervening issues reverting to the old design.

Don't know what you meant by "having an actual comic strip"... there always had been an introductory panel, and sometimes several, to the first Dennis strip. The main change was that, whereas this formerly occupied the entire cover, it now occupied barely half, and the rest was filled with complete trash. Later on, even this disappeared and was replaced by a manipulated panel from the main story.

But let's not get hung up on the past... the main thing is that those dark days are gone, and while the introductory panel isn't back, at least the covers are newly drawn again and all the pointless marginal junk has been swept away.

[swirlythingy]

It's not necromancy if it's still an active thread, is it?

The 3 Bears strips appear to be computer coloured this time, whereas they would have been watercoloured by Mike the first time round. I noticed this with the Halloween reprint last year too.
So how did he used to deliver his art? As line art and as coloured art? Seems a bit unnecessary.

I asked Mike and he said he hand-coloured all the long stories (except the football one) and everything for about 2 years, then supplied black and white only. He's busy on an exciting new project.

What happened to this?

[Digifiend]

Green Lantern pushed The Bash Street Kids off the centre pages. Therefore, the Bash Street joke page and pictures page... have been combined onto one page! Shows that the other page isn't really needed...

Retro Beano this week is Pup Parade, which appears immediately after Bash Street's strip. Smiffy thinks he's Little Monkey this week!

[Jonny Whizz]

I really enjoyed Retro Beano this week. I thought it was great seeing Gordon's Pup Parade strips, I've always liked his drawing style.

[Peter Gray]

I agree very pleasing to the eye he is great at drawing dogs and animals in general..loved that rabbit...they are just full of smiles and character...
I also liked retro Beano in Beano Max wiith Biffo the bear...also some nice Roger the Dodger booklet by Robert..
the Beano has sure had some great artists..
I think my cartoon style was inspired by Gordon..loved trying to copy the Bash Street pups especially the title panel of them with there food bowls with each letter of Pup Parade on it...
Gordon's Pup Parade was part of my Beano reading in the 80's..great stuff...

I also love the way he draws characters laughing so much they are rolling on the floor with real joy...lovely..

I agree Digi the Bash street letter page and fan drawn pictures should be all on one page make more sense...

[swirlythingy]

You'd have thought the designers of the 30s would have thought a bit harder about putting an offensive racist stereotype in a prominent place on the cover of every issue, wouldn't you? It's caused the present-day Beano no end of headaches in the past, and oh look, there's another one on page 2. Do you suppose the Imperial War Museum really vandalised a priceless 40s comic, or did Photoshop have a say in that picture?

I agree Digi the Bash street letter page and fan drawn pictures should be all on one page make more sense...

The only reason they were this week was because of the high number of adverts, which overwrote some of the filler slots.

Sometimes I wonder if the Beano wouldn't be a happier comic if it went back to being only 20 pages. At present only 17 of 32 pages are allocated to new comics (with an extra 3.5 for reprints, two of which are Retro Beano), and this represents the entire character roster. There aren't even enough regular characters for some of them to be dropped occasionally due to insufficient space any more...

But one piece of good news - it wasn't a TV episode after all. (Well, I assume it wasn't - I've never seen the episode in question.) Still a bit worrying how they casually dropped in the cartoon reference at the end, though - seems we still have a way to go yet, although I did notice that the "As Seen on CBBC" isn't given front cover billing, for I think the first time since 2009. (In one of Mike Stirling's many Dennis 60th TV interviews - I forget which one - he described Dennis, with the straightest of faces, as a fun-loving kid "who thinks rules are highly over-rated". Aaargh!)

[Lew Stringer]

You'd have thought the designers of the 30s would have thought a bit harder about putting an offensive racist stereotype in a prominent place on the cover of every issue, wouldn't you?

Why? They weren't prescient. You have to consider it within the context of the times. It wasn't offensive in 1938, and in fact Peanut was very mild compared to the grotesque racial caricatures seen in other comics of the period. (Not to mention movies, radio, and other sources.)

[Digifiend]

You'd have thought the designers of the 30s would have thought a bit harder about putting an offensive racist stereotype in a prominent place on the cover of every issue, wouldn't you? It's caused the present-day Beano no end of headaches in the past, and oh look, there's another one on page 2. Do you suppose the Imperial War Museum really vandalised a priceless 40s comic, or did Photoshop have a say in that picture?

It's a wartime issue. Wouldn't be surprising if it really was already damaged before they separated the pages and hung it up.

I agree Digi the Bash street letter page and fan drawn pictures should be all on one page make more sense...

The only reason they were this week was because of the high number of adverts, which overwrote some of the filler slots.

Yeah, I did point out an advert was to blame. I like that they combined them, but I agree, it'll probably be back to normal next week. Regrettably. They could do much better with that other page.

Sometimes I wonder if the Beano wouldn't be a happier comic if it went back to being only 20 pages. At present only 17 of 32 pages are allocated to new comics (with an extra 3.5 for reprints, two of which are Retro Beano), and this represents the entire character roster. There aren't even enough regular characters for some of them to be dropped occasionally due to insufficient space any more...

But one piece of good news - it wasn't a TV episode after all. (Well, I assume it wasn't - I've never seen the episode in question.) Still a bit worrying how they casually dropped in the cartoon reference at the end, though - seems we still have a way to go yet, although I did notice that the "As Seen on CBBC" isn't given front cover billing, for I think the first time since 2009. (In one of Mike Stirling's many Dennis 60th TV interviews - I forget which one - he described Dennis, with the straightest of faces, as a fun-loving kid "who thinks rules are highly over-rated". Aaargh!)

Not seen it eh? Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA9L7q1b77w The Way of Den Do was actually the first episode of the 2009 TV series.

[Lew Stringer]

Sometimes I wonder if the Beano wouldn't be a happier comic if it went back to being only 20 pages.

How would that make things any better? The price would remain the same, as would the amount of new pages. In fact, there'd sometimes be less than 17 pages of strips in a 20 page comic once adverts and readers pages were taken into consideration. They can't drop the ads, and the readers pages have been included in the comic for a long time, giving readers a chance to feel they're part of The Beano.

[swirlythingy]

How would that make things any better? The price would remain the same, as would the amount of new pages. In fact, there'd sometimes be less than 17 pages of strips in a 20 page comic once adverts and readers pages were taken into consideration. They can't drop the ads, and the readers pages have been included in the comic for a long time, giving readers a chance to feel they're part of The Beano.

Reader pages in the plural is a relatively modern change - before the Beano Club's first revamp in the early 2000s there was only one. Additionally, the Beano never had a contents page before 2006. If you assume that 17 pages would still be comics, and one of the remaining 3 would be a reader page, that leaves you 2 pages for adverts (which is about today's average), with no reprints or filler. You don't even have to fill ad space with subscription details or stuff like that - just bring back Gnasher's Gnews Bites, which was a perfect example of how to advertise company wares without chewing into either comic or ad pages.

I'd also question your statement that the price would remain the same. The Dandy got cheaper, didn't it?

[Lew Stringer]

If you assume that 17 pages would still be comics, and one of the remaining 3 would be a reader page, that leaves you 2 pages for adverts (which is about today's average), with no reprints or filler. You don't even have to fill ad space with subscription details or stuff like that - just bring back Gnasher's Gnews Bites, which was a perfect example of how to advertise company wares without chewing into either comic or ad pages.

But that still only leaves you with 17 pages of comics. (Less when you get a three or four page promo like the one for the Green Lantern movie.) How is that better than the current situation?

I'd also question your statement that the price would remain the same. The Dandy got cheaper, didn't it?

I think £1.50 is about as cheap as it can get, unless you know of some that are cheaper? Even cutting pages, distribution costs would be the same and retailers would still want the same percentage. Retail giants would still charge the same huge sums just to stock the titles.

[swirlythingy]

But that still only leaves you with 17 pages of comics. (Less when you get a three or four page promo like the one for the Green Lantern movie.) How is that better than the current situation?

It isn't. My point was that if more than 17 pages is a budgetary impossibility, then the extra 12 pages are effectively surplus. At present they're just carrying in-house filler, reprints, and giant full-page adverts for company products and subscriptions - in short, anything they can think of to make up the numbers.

I think £1.50 is about as cheap as it can get, unless you know of some that are cheaper? Even cutting pages, distribution costs would be the same and retailers would still want the same percentage. Retail giants would still charge the same huge sums just to stock the titles.

The price went up when the paper changed to glossy in 2008, and the same happened again a few months ago, so paper evidently isn't all that trivial a cost. (Unless, of course, the price was pushed up by other factors, and those times just seemed like opportune moments to do it.)

I don't know of any cheaper publications (other than the trashy glossies, which are presumably dirt cheap to produce), but now I come to think of it, I don't think I know of any publications with fewer than 32 pages either.

A 20 page comic would be significantly lighter than a 32 page one - wouldn't that impact on some distribution costs? (Postal delivery to subscribers, for example?)

I certainly can't think of any way they could sell it to the readers other than, "The same comics, now cheaper!" An ideal target would be exactly one quid, but that's probably pushing it.

[Lew Stringer]

My point was that if more than 17 pages is a budgetary impossibility, then the extra 12 pages are effectively surplus. At present they're just carrying in-house filler, reprints, and giant full-page adverts for company products and subscriptions - in short, anything they can think of to make up the numbers.

True, but a) some people like features like Beano Retro, and b) a 32 page comic looks better value for money than a 20 page comic.

A 20 page comic would be significantly lighter than a 32 page one - wouldn't that impact on some distribution costs? (Postal delivery to subscribers, for example?)

No. When we talk about distribution we mean getting it to the shops. The costs wouldn't decrease for a thinner comic. You're on a hiding to nothing with this one I'm afraid.

[swirlythingy]

My point was that if more than 17 pages is a budgetary impossibility, then the extra 12 pages are effectively surplus. At present they're just carrying in-house filler, reprints, and giant full-page adverts for company products and subscriptions - in short, anything they can think of to make up the numbers.

True, but a) some people like features like Beano Retro, and b) a 32 page comic looks better value for money than a 20 page comic.

All right, then, let's turn the argument on its head: why haven't they claimed a publicity coup by extending the page count to, say, 40, with no price increase, but not increasing the number of comic pages, with the extra being made up of the current filler?

[Lew Stringer]

My point was that if more than 17 pages is a budgetary impossibility, then the extra 12 pages are effectively surplus. At present they're just carrying in-house filler, reprints, and giant full-page adverts for company products and subscriptions - in short, anything they can think of to make up the numbers.

True, but a) some people like features like Beano Retro, and b) a 32 page comic looks better value for money than a 20 page comic.

All right, then, let's turn the argument on its head: why haven't they claimed a publicity coup by extending the page count to, say, 40, with no price increase, but not increasing the number of comic pages, with the extra being made up of the current filler?

Probably because a 40 page comic would cost more to print? (I think you've noticed that the 44 page issues are £2.50 and that BeanoMAX costs more than the weekly?) And, seriously, if you're not happy with the current 17/32 ratio just how many posts would you use to complain about a 17/40 ratio?