THE DANDY TO CLOSE?

Image copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

So, the word on the street, Huggy, is that Dundee publisher D.C. THOMSON is considering The DANDY's future and may well even close the world's longest-running weekly comic.  DCT, however, have a habit of making announcements merely to generate interest and sales, so I wouldn't count out The BEANO's stablemate just yet.

Contrary to what some people are claiming, the last two years in particular have been anything but "an absolute triumph for British comics", and the only "phenomenal" aspect to the whole sad and sorry debacle of the 2010 relaunch was just how quickly circulation plummeted.  Readers voted with their feet, and though it's true to say that something needed to be done to kick-start sales, handing sections of the comic over to would-be cartoonists with little or no experience in the world of sequential storytelling was an experiment too far.

Overnight, the comic took on an amateurish, 'fanzine' appearance (albeit a professionally printed one), with poorly executed logos and diabolical, near-illegible lettering fonts.  Making a comic look like it was produced by children is hardly the way to sell it to children - of whatever age, and the editor responsible should have been sacked before his nightmare vision ever saw the light of day.  (Although, thankfully, there were still some strips by seasoned professionals.)

I haven't looked at The Dandy in some time, so perhaps it may have improved in recent months and my comments are out of date.  The comic is a national institution, so let's hope it's got plenty more years of life in it yet.  Personally, I won't believe it's dead until I see the lid nailed down - and that's not something I particularly want to witness.