This week's issue Take 2

Discuss or comment on anything relating to D.C.Thomson's second longest running comic. The home of Dennis the Menace. Has been running since 1938.

Moderator: AndyB

Locked
User avatar
Digifiend
Posts: 7315
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 11:43
Location: Hull, UK

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by Digifiend »

Not where I come from. It's usually "gone to doggy heaven".

User avatar
Jonny Whizz
Posts: 1079
Joined: 03 May 2009, 14:17

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by Jonny Whizz »

AndyB wrote:Dave definitely shows no sign of retiring. I've been very glad he has stayed well all these years.

If Foo-Foo had a fault it was that he could be one dimensional apart from the Fairy Tales came along. Claudius could be a far better match for Gnasher, and has the added dimension that he is quite probably too smart for Walter's own good.

Speaking of Walter, look back to old strips such as those in the Beano summer specials. Walter took years to become the simpering softy we knew and loved - some of the 1960s strips show a side to Walter just as sneaky or worse than the TV version. The cycle race example on page 36 of Ultimate Summer Special No.3 is a case in point.

Also worth mentioning - Minnie's dad has only appeared in so many strips fairly recently, basically since Ken started drawing the strip (I believe there was a change of writer at this stage too) - there are a great deal of old strips which can be used if Ken falls behind without disturbing the look and feel.
I agree about Walter - I don't think he truly became a softy until Pie-Face, Bertie and Spotty appeared in the 1970s and the 'menaces' and 'softies' became clearly defined. In most of the Davy Law strips I've seen, Walter is definitely more of a sneaky swot with few obvious hints of 'softness'. Personally I think the change to Walter's character in the 2009 TV series was less drastic than made out, as I felt for a couple of years that Walter in the comic (in Tom Paterson's Dennis strips, in particular) had been becoming more sneaky and less softy.

I'm not keen on this sudden move towards younger parents - why dramatically change the designs of so many characters to make them unrecognisable? I find the case with Minnie's dad the oddest, given that the strip hasn't been given a revamp of any kind and is still drawn by the same artist.

Fair point about Minnie's dad not appearing in many of the pre-Ken Harrison strips, though I would say that he was a very important character in the Jim Petrie strips as well. If they were reprinting the Tom Paterson strips I don't think there would much of a problem as he was less important around that time. I wouldn't want it to go back to that though as I think the loss of the relationship between Minnie and her Dad was a major factor in the strip's relative decline until 2008 (Minnie's Mum, by contrast, was a more prominent character with a more clearly defined personality in the Paterson strips, whereas she hasn't really been a major character in the Harrison era).
'Michael Owen isn't the tallest of players, but his height more than makes up for it' - Mark Lawrenson

AndyB
Throgmorton
Posts: 2322
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 20:00
Contact:

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by AndyB »

When you think about it, Dennis and Roger haven't changed artist either really - Barrie has been the regular Roger artist since Bob Nixon died, apart from the period when he was drawing Dennis in Jimmy Hansen's absence. Nigel has never given up drawing Dennis.

I imagine the point is that even with kids being had later in life, kids are more likely to relate to parents in comic strips who are a bit closer in age to the ones they have. All three dads looked in their 50s until the relaunch, although Dennis's dad had already been made younger to a certain extent.

User avatar
Digifiend
Posts: 7315
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 11:43
Location: Hull, UK

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by Digifiend »

New issue preview is up: http://www.beano.com/beano-comic/issue-3650

Looking at where they placed the issue number, there was nothing stopping them doing that on the previous three issues. Tsk.

steven
Posts: 51
Joined: 14 Nov 2006, 20:35

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by steven »

Peter Gray wrote:Minnie's Dad has changed to having red hair..and younger.drawn by Ken H. H
Does he still have his long nose?

User avatar
Digifiend
Posts: 7315
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 11:43
Location: Hull, UK

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by Digifiend »

Yeah, basically they swapped his combover for a full head of ginger hair, and he no longer has a moustache.

NP
Posts: 664
Joined: 22 Mar 2006, 23:03
Contact:

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by NP »

You could look at it positively and say that with so many elements being changed it will make reprints more unlikely.

User avatar
Digifiend
Posts: 7315
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 11:43
Location: Hull, UK

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by Digifiend »

There's plenty of reprints they can use in which the parents don't feature (I assume her Mum will be changing as well?)

dandy mad
Posts: 769
Joined: 19 Jun 2008, 00:28
Location: Leigh lancashire
Contact:

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by dandy mad »

This weeks effort is free on the iPad so I downloaded it and it's still :censored: And why have Dennis the menace,Minnie the minx dads suddenly sprouted hair and look completely different? Plastic surgery? As it doesn't say..

User avatar
Digifiend
Posts: 7315
Joined: 15 Aug 2007, 11:43
Location: Hull, UK

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by Digifiend »

Dennis's parents were explained - they got a makeover from Gok Wan. But it does seem more like 10 Years Younger than Gok's show How To Look Good Naked.

User avatar
TwoHeadedBoy
Posts: 636
Joined: 16 Feb 2012, 00:41
Location: Liverpool

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by TwoHeadedBoy »

Now THAT would be an interesting direction to take the Beano in :lol:
http://twoheadedthingies.blogspot.co.uk/ - My comics blog, mostly lesser-known UK stuff from the 1980s and 1990s

dandy mad
Posts: 769
Joined: 19 Jun 2008, 00:28
Location: Leigh lancashire
Contact:

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by dandy mad »

Digifiend wrote:Dennis's parents were explained - they got a makeover from Gok Wan. But it does seem more like 10 Years Younger than Gok's show How To Look Good Naked.
Why he made them wear wigs? The ginger one on Minnie's dad is just cruel.... :lol:

AndyB
Throgmorton
Posts: 2322
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 20:00
Contact:

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by AndyB »

They have had a Wayne Rooney job done on their hair. I don't think there is any suggestion that they are wearing wigs, and I would anticipate that neither Dennis nor Minnie will be doing the wig test (or if they do, it will fail!)

Keep remembering, they have not done this to keep people in their 20s, 30s or even older happy. All three fathers in particular looked far too old for their children, and I'm thinning rightly at 39.

User avatar
Tin Can Tommy
Posts: 623
Joined: 20 Aug 2011, 10:05

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by Tin Can Tommy »

Im starting to quite like the new Fred's bed's artist. Still dont know the artist's name but the artist packs in a lot of nice background gags.

One thing that did annoy me though is that in this week's Beano (issue 3650) there are 2 pages devoted entirely to jokes. They could easily fit all the jokes onto one page and leave more room for a comic strip. Compared to say the first issue of the Beano they now fit alot less jokes onto one page. Fortunately in issue 3651 less than half a page is a joke page.

AndyB
Throgmorton
Posts: 2322
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 20:00
Contact:

Re: This week's issue Take 2

Post by AndyB »

They could have more room for a comic strip. Which reprint would you like? (That's a whole other thread...)

It could very well be that one of the pages with jokes in 3650 was slated for advertising which wasn't sold in time and editorial was asked to do some filler.

Locked