Wednesday, 25 July 2018

BEANO'S 80th BIRTHDAY BASH...


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

Got back from the shops a little while ago with the 44 page Birthday Special of The BEANO (though we're not supposed to use the definite article nowadays), and my first thought upon browsing through it was "Just what the heck were they thinking?"  I haven't read it yet, but I don't feel inclined to because of the super-oily, smug countenance of so-called comedian DAVID WALLIAMS grinning inanely from far too many pages.  I'd thought (and hoped) that DCT had abandoned the use of second-rate celebrities from their comics after the debacle that was The DANDY, but no - they're still at it, trying to bathe in the reflected 'glory' of just about anybody who's ever been on the telly.  Hasn't it ever occurred to them that 'celebrities' probably scare off as many readers as they might attract?  Which makes it all a bit pointless really.

NIGEL PARKINSON, whose art I generally like, has far too many pages in the comic even for my tastes, giving the entire issue a 'samey' feel to it, though presumably that's because he's seemingly the only cartoonist capable of catching a consistently recognisable likeness of Walliams.  However, I'd have liked to see a bit more variety of art-styles in the comic.  At least we're spared the usual collection of cheap tat that comes with 'special' issues, but only because they went down that route the week before.  Apart from the good news that the DENNIS The MENACE Fan Club (now the Dennis and GNASHER Fan Club) is back, there's really nothing about this issue - apart from the date - that suggests anything special about it.  And the shame of it - Dennis and Minnie relegated to 'support acts' to Walliams on the cover of their own comic


One other thing: I thought that the relentless use of full colour on every page was quite overwhelming (the only thing that was), and found myself wishing that it had a few black and white pages with a bit of spot colour interspersed throughout, just for a bit of eye-relief.  (Variety is the spice of life they say.)  All in all, an unimpressive and underwhelming 'special' issue that really had nothing special about it.  I recently acquired a 1966 Dandy Annual and a 1967 Beano Annual, which were vastly more diverse and entertaining.  The Dandy Annual in particular had a good selection of artists whose styles were different, but mostly of the same professionally high standard.  Perhaps the publishers should give me a go at being the guest editor next time - I'm sure I could improve on whoever oversaw this unremarkable effort.

However, regular readers will probably enjoy the issue, but it wouldn't surprise me if many of them were left wondering whether it really needed 44 pages to mark the comic's 80th Anniversary.  Got to squeeze those extra pennies out of them somehow though, eh, DCT?

Anyway, for all that, Happy Birthday Beano - nice to see that you're still around.

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8 comments:

  1. Christopher Nevell26 July 2018 at 19:07

    Now if they’d got the Queen to edit it, I could understand it but personally I would have saved Walliams for the next issue. I think they missed a trick there and could have had 2 big sellers in successive weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kid26 July 2018 at 20:08

    I only bought it because it was the Birthday issue, CN. I'd never have bought it otherwise based on Walliams inclusion alone.

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  3. Anonymous27 July 2018 at 13:57

    Another anniversary coming up - next Tuesday (July 31st) is the 50th anniversary of Dad's Army. Don't panic, they don't like it up 'em.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kid27 July 2018 at 14:05

    Sadly, CJ, in relation to the last part of your comment, the number of those who do seems to be growing. I hope the BBC repeats the very first episode.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous27 July 2018 at 14:39

    Kid, the BBC repeated the entire first series last year or thereabouts. Next week BBC Radio 4-Extra is broadcasting episodes of the Dad's Army radio series to celebrate the anniversary.

    And when the Queen dies the Beeb intends to throw out the TV schedule and broadcast a specially-prepared schedule including episodes of Dad's Army (so I've read).

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  6. Kid27 July 2018 at 15:14

    I'll maybe pick up the DVD boxed set, CJ - it's not too expensive. I can't seem to get Radio 4-Extra on my wee radio anymore - I can on my TV's radio station though, so if I remember, I might listen to the episodes on that.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous2 August 2018 at 08:03

    Hello Kid,

    I just came across this on You Tube.

    Has the Internet killed British Comics? (The Beano and The Dandy) | The Luke Vlog #10

    the link is here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua1K82kZWpU

    One of the comments intrigued me because a Guy named Sam Backhurst explained exactly why the Dandy failed and I have to say I kind of agree with him.

    The Beano should be careful with what they do because sometimes too much hange is bad.

    I kind of agree with his views.

    Regards, An anonymous fan

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kid2 August 2018 at 10:24

    If that's the really long comment then I suspect he may have read my own posts on The Dandy, because just about everything he said about it is what I said myself in various posts leading up to the comic's demise. Even if he hasn't, it just proves that I'm not the only one who holds these views. Thanks for the link.

    ReplyDelete

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