What comics did you buy today?

[Raven]

Need I remind you of why Classics from the Comics ended? They didn't have the print capacity any more when they outsourced the printing of their other titles! It's not always down to sales figures alone.

Classics was cancelled because of low sales, making it unprofitable. Distribution was terrible and hardly anywhere stocked it. If it was a storming sales success, they'd simply have used new printers. Why would Beanomax be any more difficult to print than a Dennis "megazine"?

[Digifiend]

Low sales wasn't the only reason though, that was my point. There were other factors. And like I said print capacity is one such factor... that's one reason D&G Megazine replaces MAX rather than running alongside it. When they outsourced the printing, it suddenly became more expensive, which made Classics economically unviable. Another reason could simply be cost... if both MAX and D&GM run together, that means paying more for artwork.

[AndyB]

Specifically, my understanding is that Classics kicked the bucket because sales were too low to justify doing the special run of newsprint inside and shiny card outside. Same reason as the Fun Size Beano and Dandy (whereas Commando changed paper and kept going!)

In terms of printing, Beano Max is just one more magazine to a standard format. The marginal cost of printing one more magazine to that standard format is not going to be very great.

Almost certainly the main reason why Beano Max is being replaced rather than continuing alongside DtM&G Megazine, besides direct production costs and staffing capacity, is that they simply don't believe that the market could sustain three full Beano titles.

[stevezodiac]

Braved the heat and went to Greenwich (my main reason for going to Greenwich was to get some Monkey Nuts as my local Tesco has stopped selling them and I like to snack on them at work - but Sainsburys didn't have any either). Anyway I went into the Junk Shop and picked up 33 Hotspurs from 1958, 8 Wizards from 1958 and 18 Rovers from 1970. £30 the lot. They had hundreds of 7 inch singles but as I have hundreds I am trying to get rid of I didn't bother with them. The discount book shop opposite Greenwich Cinema had dozens of Marvel graphic novels as well as Picture Library/Commando collections.

[babington]

Received a copy of the facsimile of the 1940 Beano Book today, with slipcase and certificate. But surprise! It's much smaller than I thought it would be - so is it really the same size as the first Beano Book, or is the facsimile smaller than the original? Also, does it reproduce the contents of the original exactly or did anything get taken out?

[felneymike]

At the weekend I finally got another Dan Dare hardback, Safari in Space. I have quite a gap in the collection still, from Marooned on Mercury to, well, Safari in Space! I was going to a meeting for manga fans, and wanted to show them some British quality! I also went to the downstairs section of the Vintage Magazine Emporium, and got one Victor for £5, just to show those same manga fans a more "typical" old British comic. I once got a bag of several immaculate-condition Victors with the free gifts for £2.50... but needs must!
Also got Viz, and a few issues of The Phoenix I was missing. I got the Pheonixes from Gosh, and also picked up The Comix Reader issue 2, it's a tabloid-sized newsprint anthology with many different strips, of pretty variable quality.
Made a brief stop at LFCC, where I got Cosplay Shenanigans, and a sampler from a small press collective.

[Digifiend]

Received a copy of the facsimile of the 1940 Beano Book today, with slipcase and certificate. But surprise! It's much smaller than I thought it would be - so is it really the same size as the first Beano Book, or is the facsimile smaller than the original? Also, does it reproduce the contents of the original exactly or did anything get taken out?

Printed on thinner paper, I think.

[Phoenix]

Received a copy of the facsimile of the 1940 Beano Book today, with slipcase and certificate. But surprise! It's much smaller than I thought it would be - so is it really the same size as the first Beano Book, or is the facsimile smaller than the original? Also, does it reproduce the contents of the original exactly or did anything get taken out?

This question of babington's is well worth asking. I was equally surprised when I got mine some years ago. For the benefit of anyone who has a copy of the original but not the reprint as well, and so that they might be able to answer the question, the internal pages of the reprint measure 9.2'' x 6.4'', the text, including the page number, 7.9'' x 5.7''. I don't have any Beano annuals, or even any Beanos from that period, so the only help I can offer is to point out that copies of Adventure and The Rover, the narrower members of The Big Five, measured 11.8'' x 7.4''. The Wizard and The Hotspur were the same height but an inch wider. All four lost pages of course and indeed The Skipper lost its life, as Thomsons responded to the paper shortage, but there wasn't a paper shortage in the autumn of 1939 when the 1940 Beano annual was printed. Furthermore, wouldn't the company have had to make changes to their printing presses and the positioning of the cutters? For what it's worth, I suspect that somewhere in their agreement with Portfolio Editions, Thomsons have insisted on the across-the-board reduction in size. I'm not sure what clarity can be gleaned from a comparison with Aurum Press's reprint of the first Dandy annual from 1939, but that looks more like a proper annual. The cover measures 10.6'' x 7.9'', and the internal pages are 10.4'' x 7.5''. However, the printed text area is only ever so slightly bigger than the Beano's at 8.1'' x 5.8''. There are just unusually large areas of surrounding empty space, particularly noticeable at the top of the pages. It looks as though Aurum Press have worked to the same restrictions as Portfolio Editions, but have made the pragmatic decision to make the resulting volume look more like a standard annual, perhaps making it more attractive as a result to potential purchasers and the Christmas market.

[SID]

I got the following thru the post the last couple of days and read in the garden with my dog while basking in the sun and drinking my Red Bull.

Commandos 4619-4622 - Another great set of reads with Ian Kennedy even drawing a new cover for one of his classic stories.

Spaceship Away 30 - This celebrates the fact that is has been around 10 years (where has the time gone?). People who love Dan Dare should take an opportunity to read a copy.

Judge Dredd Megazine 338 - If you like artist Boo Cook, then you will like this Meg's Dredd and Tales from the Cursed Earth.

Judge Dredd Classics 1 - Latest IDW offering which features the start of the classic Block Mania saga. Brilliant and in colour.

No 2000AD today but will get it later on in the week.

[colcool007]

Five Commandos, Two Starblazers, a Gary Erskine print and the Cam Kennedy sketchbook. By the way, I got two of the Commandos, the print and the sketchbook autographed.

[SID]

A nice result, colcool.

[Mr McScotty]

Picked up some new comics for the first time in many a month yesterday, "Sergio Aragones Funnies"Number 8 ( back on schedule after Mr Aragones recent illness), "HeroBear and the Kid" special No 1 (from Kaboom) "Captain Universe" one shot (reprints Steve Ditko's old Marvel Spotlight strips and a few others bits) and "Alter Ego" 118 an Avengers special with lots of copies of UK Marvel Avengers covers etc (and a nice Don Heck cover).

[r3tr0_gam3r]

Today I remembered to bid on a copy of the Dandy Annual 1960 and won it! Makes up for my silly mistake the other day.

[Digifiend]

OK, you complained that the one you missed out on would've been cheap because there was no bids. Was there any competition this time and what did you pay?

[r3tr0_gam3r]

OK, you complained that the one you missed out on would've been cheap because there was no bids. Was there any competition this time and what did you pay?

No competition this time either, but I did end up paying a fair amount more. With postage, it was a little over £8, whereas the last time it was (if I remember correctly) only about £4. Still, this one's in slightly better condition too