FABULOUS FLASHBACK - THE DANDY #2000 (INCLUDING THE VERY FIRST DESPERATE DAN STRIP)...

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

Do you remember when The DANDY was good - before the awful abomination it became in the last few years of its existence?  Can you recall when well-drawn comic strips were the norm and not the exception, and the artwork was clear and didn't induce a headache while trying to discern what you were looking at?  When the lettering was legible and not an ugly scrawl that made your eyes hurt?  Then you'd have loved the 2000th issue that hit the shops in 1980, and which was typical of the high-standard to which the periodical was produced week after week for many years.

And now, due to the fact that I took possession of the issue today, you can now peruse perfect examples of strip art at its finest, when The Dandy was still a name to be reckoned with in the days when Britain had a comics industry to speak of; before the title became a shadow of itself that drove readers away in their many thousands and those responsible for hastening its demise denied any culpability and behaved like prima-donnas who deserved sainthood rather than the blame which was so rightly theirs.

Of course, we're all trying to forget that dreadful period of the comic's history - some folk for different reasons than others.  So enjoy these humorous, well-drawn pages from a time when talented and experienced cartoonists who knew what they were doing regularly entertained their readers, and The Dandy was held in high esteem by kids and parents alike.

Wanna argue?  The comments section awaits.