Comics UK

As for Biffo, I think DS stopped drawing him in the late 1970s. In my opinion, his days were numbered once Dennis had 'scared him off the cover' (Dennis's own words from 1972, two years before he first appeared on the cover!)

I've just got this week's Beano. Really good Bash Street Kids story, and a great way for Dave to celebrate his impressive milestone, though I won't spoil it any further for those of you who haven't read the comic yet. I'm pretty sure it's not a reprint. Don't forget that Nigel Parkinson has drawn the kids quite a bit as well, particularly between 1999 and 2001.

Also, I might add that page 24 has nothing to do with Calamity James, and sadly there's no Beano Manga this week (although Laura's Ratz does appear, and Fred's Bed returns as well). All I can say about that page is that you won't want to complain about reprints in quite the same way again...

I just looked through the current BEANO/DANDY annuals-----and, although the pages aren't numbered, the page-count seems down from the old days...is this a new development? The most recent annuals of these two titles I bought [ 2 years back] seemed to have the old 124 pages......now, it seems scaled down to 96 [these are estimates , I must stress....I'm not so sad as to actually count the pages any more!]

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:I just looked through the current BEANO/DANDY annuals-----and, although the pages aren't numbered, the page-count seems down from the old days...is this a new development? The most recent annuals of these two titles I bought [ 2 years back] seemed to have the old 124 pages......now, it seems scaled down to 96 [these are estimates , I must stress....I'm not so sad as to actually count the pages any more!]

The paper's thinner than it used to be.

Lew

So the new annual has the same pages as around 3 normal weekly Beanos? I have yet to buy the new annuals but I have has a crafty look in the shops, will get hold of it though!

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:I just looked through the current BEANO/DANDY annuals-----and, although the pages aren't numbered, the page-count seems down from the old days...is this a new development? The most recent annuals of these two titles I bought [ 2 years back] seemed to have the old 124 pages......now, it seems scaled down to 96 [these are estimates , I must stress....I'm not so sad as to actually count the pages any more!]

Your estimates are a touch out, there are still 124 pages.

Steve Henderson wrote:So the new annual has the same pages as around 3 normal weekly Beanos? I have yet to buy the new annuals but I have has a crafty look in the shops, will get hold of it though!

No, as I said, it's simply because the paper is thinner.

Therefore it LOOKS like there's less pages because the thinner paper makes the books look less chunky.

Lew

The 2009 annuals were all reduced by 16 pages. Beano and Dandy from 144 to 128 pages, and Dennis and Kids from 96 to 80 pages.

I'm pretty sure the 2008 annuals were the traditional length.

Jonny Whizz wrote:Also, I might add that page 24 has nothing to do with Calamity James, and sadly there's no Beano Manga this week (although Laura's Ratz does appear, and Fred's Bed returns as well). All I can say about that page is that you won't want to complain about reprints in quite the same way again...

I know what you mean. Recently several of you named a particular artist as not your favourite on that strip (the one on page 24)... and then they go and use his work.

Fred was drawn by Tom Paterson again, is Hunt too busy these days?

Well done David Sutherland.

Now I've seen that version of Billy again, I have to honestly say it's not that bad. The main problem is that he was trying to clone Vic Neill's style.

Still, it's only a matter of time at this rate that we get right through to Wayne Thompson's retro version of Billy

I didnt count the pages myself would have got kicked out of the shops! will let someone get me it for chrimbo, cheers for clearing it up guys.

Well done indeed to Mr Sutherland, lovely little story around it aswell. I doubt if there is anyone else close to 2000 strips and a guest slot in their own comic, am I wrong? Superschool should have around 1960 before Lew turns up in it!

Speaking of which although its missing again (bah!) is it nearly 1 year since Superschool first appeared? Its clearly popular as the kids are sending in pictures of stinkbomb and the rest of the gang, clear sign of approval!

It's exactly one year this week. Issue dated October 18th 2008.
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2008/10 ... strip.html

Nice guess work from me then! I knew it was mid october. One full year of glossy Beanos aswell then.

I think Graeme Hall got worse with Billy Whizz. If you look at the reprint in this week's Beano (I assume it's safe to mention this now), in some of the frames (particularly frame 5), they look like he's inked over some of Vic's drawings - they look quite similar to Vic' style. In fact, the reprint doesn't actually look bad. Later, his work was pretty slapdash, and it didn't look much like Vic Neill. Interestingly, I noticed that Graeme's being selling some of his Billy Whizz drawings on ebay. To be fair on him, I think Vic was a hard act to follow; I will openly admit that Vic's version of Billy was my personal favourite.

However, I admit that I was never much of a fan of Wayne Thompson's version of Billy. His 'retro' version was undoubtedly good, but I felt that it only worked because it was like Mal Judge's style - taken on their own merits, I didn't think his strips were anything special. Then later, Thompson's work deteriorated (does anyone remember when he forgot to draw in the pupils in Billy's eyes?), and his last few strips in 2005 were, to my eyes, a mess. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think his strips would work well as reprints. I want to make it clear that I do not want to offend Wayne Thompson - indeed I believe he's a member on here - and I don't think he's a bad artist, I just want to share my opinion, and I realise that not everyone will agree with me about this.

Moving on, last year's Beano Annual certainly felt thinner. I was sure that the number of pages had dropped, even though it appears that it didn't. Anyone else think the same?

I was 'sort of' right....the page count is down slightly.......definately less impressive bulk than the old days, though.....I repeat, I am not pedantic enough to stand counting the pages in the shop!!!!

this is the non-pen-a-dantic so-ci-ety..............

this posting has been presented in NON-PEDANT-O-SCOPE [TM].......'coz life's too bleedin' short!!!! [many other sites are far worse than on here, however....]