Comics UK

Quite a lot of new strips appeared in the Beano in the year or so after Alan became Beano editor - Ratz started in August 2006 and Pirates of the Caribeano began a few weeks later. In April 2007 Fred's Bed and The Riot Squad both made their Beano debuts, though both were reprints, with two all-new strips appearing in October that year, Johnny Bean and London B412.

The rate at which new characters were added did slow down slightly after then - I think Super School was the sole new strip in 2008, though Billy the Cat did make a return. Beano Manga followed a year later, with Meebo and Zuky winning last year's Comic Idol contest. I'm not totally sure whether Gnasher's Bite started under Alan Digby or Mike Stirling, but I'm inclined to think that it was Alan, as it started before the issue which introduced Fred's Foul Facts, Roger's Dodge Diary and the BSK Pullout, which I think was Mike's first issue.

I've not counted Sixty Second Dennis, which was effectively a rebranded version of Tom Paterson's second Dennis strip which had been going for some time anyway, or strips such as Calamity James and The Three Bears which returned to the comic as reprints.

Gnasher's Bite was certainly during Mike's editorship. 60 second Dennis rolled on for several weeks after Alan left.

The post-Alan changes have been gradual, just as the post-Euan changes were even slower!

Yeah, they were clearly using up stockpile, because we had the first Gnasher's Bite, then the last 60 Second Dennis, then Gnasher's Bite every week since.

Nigel has said on his blog that Dangerous Dan has come to an end.unless readers vote for it to come back..also the conclusion looks good..

Gnasher's bite was really a continuation of Gnasher and Gnipper minus the Gnipper. Just like Gnasher's tale which was Gnasher and Gnipper before they introduced Gnipper in '86.

Gnasher's Tale was not Gnasher without Gnipper. From its inception, except when Foo-Foo took over with his fairy tales, Gnasher's Tale was him looking back to when he was a puppy, and Dennis was about three or four. If memory serves correctly, there may have been a couple of Gnasher's Tales after Gnipper was born and before he was included in the strip.

This of course led to all sorts of continuity problems, as Gnasher was fully grown when he came on the scene in 1968, and Dennis had been 10 for a long time!

I just looked at the Gnasher's tale strip from the Beano book 1988. Apart from the bit at the top implying that its Gnasher telling a tale it appears to be just a Gnasher and Gnipper tale without Gnipper.

But i can recall Gnasher's tale involving Gnasher being a puppy and Dennis being younger in the Gnasher's tale strips but maybe they just changed it along the way or I could be mistaken.

In the 2007 Beano Annual, the Gnasher and Gnipper strip was simply titled 'Gnasher' - Gnipper made appearances in a couple of frames, but otherwise the story centred mainly on Gnasher. It was drawn by Barry Glennard, the strip's usual artist at that time.

I'm surprised to hear that the last episode of Dangerous Dan (for now at least) has come so quickly. I hope the readers vote to keep him in, as I think he's got quite a lot of potential as a character, he's got better each week so far and the number of comic strips in the Beano lately has been too low for my liking.

AndyB wrote:This of course led to all sorts of continuity problems, as Gnasher was fully grown when he came on the scene in 1968, and Dennis had been 10 for a long time!

Nah, it's just Gnasher telling lies. The flashbacks simply never happened. And the present day bits where he's talking to the reader? Retroactively can be explained as Gnasher talking to Gnipper, trying to impress him, perhaps.

The only thing I really disliked about Dangerous Dan was the old fashioned and generic name. Maybe this was deliberate?

In an ideal world, I'd also like the writing to be a bit sharper...NP mentioned the Man From BUNGLE earlier, which was much more imaginative (and fun!) than exploding teachbots.

Still, the strip had potential. I hope the readers liked it...

swirlythingy wrote:"Respect other people’s views and respond constructively, not insultingly or antagonistically."

We are all most eager to hear anything you may be able to contribute to this discussion.

I can also bring to your attention this line:

4: Make use of the Report this post button (red exclamation mark button) if you feel that any of the above 3 points are being breached.

You've broken the rules yourself, as you've quoted a remark you're not happy with by quoting the rules insteading of dealing with the action by pressing the Report button. You went further to make a remark that's clearly unconstructive, mildly insulting and quite antagonistic.

Is there a button for contradiction?

-MikeD- wrote:The only thing I really disliked about Dangerous Dan was the old fashioned and generic name. Maybe this was deliberate?

Worse, it was recycled. Remember Dangerous Dan McGrew, from 80s Desperate Dan?

It turns out NP has got himself mixed up - tomorrow's Dangerous Dan is not the last. It has one more week to go!

AndyB wrote:It turns out NP has got himself mixed up - tomorrow's Dangerous Dan is not the last. It has one more week to go!

Now play fair, Andy I didn't say it's tomorrow's that's the last one, I said the last one was going to press this week. it's out NEXT week.

Digifiend wrote:Remember Dangerous Dan McGrew, from 80s Desperate Dan?

Could you please give me a description of this character, Digi, and tell me something about his habits and general lifestyle, including all the ways in which he was different from Desperate Dan.