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.