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Oh dear, just what has happened to The Beano? It's gone all woke and preachy, seemingly more interested in 'educating' and 'inspiring' readers than in entertaining them. Major mistake. I bought the Minnie The Minx 60th Anniversary issue of the comic yesterday and could hardly find anything worth a laugh throughout the entire issue. The only good thing I saw was the representation of a statue of Leo Baxendale in The Bash Street Kids being referred to as 'our founder' - a nice touch.
However, the comic's adopted mantra with which to bash (npi) readers over the head this week was 'don't be afraid to fail', which despite any good intentions, makes it sound that failure is something you should aspire to. In trying to be all-inclusive and diverse, the comic has lost sight of its purpose in life - to be funny! The stories feel contrived, with no real cohesion in their construction. In some strips, it almost seems like the writers came up with the first and last panels to start with, then wrote what was happening between them as an afterthought.
And although the comic contains some nice art, the characters are all too unrelentingly 'cutesy' for my liking. As good an artist as Nigel Parkinson undoubtedly is, his Dennis (likely drawn according to editorial direction) isn't a patch on Davey Law's original version. Remember when The Beano was rebellious, anarchic, funny and had an 'edge' to it? Well, not any more. Just how much longer the comic will survive if it goes on like this, I shudder to think.
Any thoughts, you know where to let loose. Oh, I almost forgot - Happy Birthday Minnie.
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15 comments:
How sad that the Beano I first read just weeks after Dennis the Menace first appeared could even be associated with the term 'woke'.
From what I've read, T47, the editor has boasted that the comic is now 'woke', though he obviously doesn't see that as a negative thing.
Is it really so bad to tell children not to be afraid of failure? Failing is a part of life and children should be told it's not the end of the world if they fail at something.
I'd say it's unnecessarily condescending, CJ. Kids learn from experience that failure is inevitable at various points in their lives and that it's something they just have to learn to accept. To 'preach' it at them as if it's some kind of revelation in the way that The Beano does in this issue is almost insulting, especially as the 'guest editor' says her piece and then it's repeated practically word for word in the next four-page strip. It's labouring the point in a needless, 'virtue-signalling' way. "Hey, kids - look at the good advice we're giving you here!"
And as I said, the way the 'message' is worded makes it sound like failure is something to be aspired to, rather than success being the result to aim for. It's just so completely unnecessary. The Beano should concern itself with trying to be funny, not attempt to be a 'map for life' in order to make the comic seem relevant and the editors feel virtuous that they're doing something meaningful and worthwhile.
They had a similar issue last year with Man U and England player Marcus Rashford. The Beano is now a shadow of it's former self. Sure it has decent art, but the entire former anarchic spirit of the comic has now been subverted with the woke agenda.
Dennis is no longer a menace, cos it's un pc, yet they still have those awful "make me a menace" strips on back pages. They sometimes allow him to have a catapult on the front cover or ad page, but never in the actual strips.
All the "diverse" new characters are boring, little plum never to be seen again.
It's now £33 per quarter subscription. I ended mine last year before the increase from £18.75 to £27.50. Recently I was offered £1 for a a month then £11 there after cancel any time. I can't even be bothered to do that.
I'll be surprised if "BEANO" not "the beano" lasts till the end of the decade to be honest, but it continues on somehow or other.
Something I could never quite understand is why Little Plum is no longer seen as acceptable, yet they're introducing 'ethnically-diverse' characters for no other reason than being ethnically diverse. Little Plum was surely the forerunner in that department as far as The Beano is concerned.
I saw some of The Beano staff at a comics event around 6 years or so ago and they were mostly young folk under 40 by the look of them - certainly not much older. Having being indoctrinated by the woke agenda, they seem more concerned with what's 'acceptable' than what's funny. The comic is a shadow of its former self.
There's also a feminist agenda running through it, as Minnie is now being forcibly promoted as being at least the equal of Dennis in every way when it comes to being a 'menace' (a watered-down and diminished menace to be sure), as if that's a good thing. What was wrong with her being a 'Minx' in her own individual way?
Every time the price goes up, you can legitimately wonder if circulation is probably going down.
In fact, mascot Peanut was the actual forerunner in the ethnically diverse category (though he never had a strip), but he's another one who's out-of-favour these days.
Sadly The Beano is a changed institution for me. It just just doesn't represent the comic that I grew up with. Maybe it's moved with the times and maybe today's kids will dislike it in the future. If it lasts that long. I've been waiting for the ABC.org circulation figures to update to see if they have fallen. I reckon the figures are only half decent due to free issues and subscription offers. I think it's very telling now that the annuals are reduced BEFORE Christmas. You could pick it up in Lidl for £2.99 in recent years. Another way to get sales figures up, I suppose. Sadly, nothing lasts forever and nothing stays the same. Best to enjoy what we do have, the memories and the knowledge that we had the best of everything, TV, comics, toys, music.
And ain't that the truth. M! I suspect that, like most comics, they're only kept going to keep the merchandise potential alive, as there's probably more money to be made from that than the comics themselves. And you're right - we did have the best of everything. Maybe today's kids will think the same thing when they're older and looking back, but you and me both know that they'll be fooling themselves. Sad but true!
Didn't know where else to post this, so I've revisited this post about The Beano. Did you get the latest Beano/Dandy joint book, Kid? I was severely disappointed with this latest effort. Very modern reprints which I am not interested in. I prefer the old 30s - 70s reprints. There is only one Desperate Dan story which would be classed as this era. I guess they only had stories left which they thought someone, somewhere might find offensive! Glad I only paid £2.99 for it in the Waterstones sale but wish I'd looked inside it first. I was horrified when I saw the £15.99 RRP. Surely no-one ever pays that!
I don't think I bothered with it this year, M - not even sure when I'd have last bought one. I got The Broons/Oor Wullie book and The Beano Annual, but that was about it, aside from the Treasury Of British Comics Annual. I'm sure the combined Broons/Oor Wullie must be repeating stuff from previous books in the series by now, but I like having the full set, though I'll have to consider calling a halt to it before too long as I buy them and then never read them. I think the only place you'll pay the full £15.99 is from the DCT online store - they're usually 'discounted' everywhere else. I suspect the 'full' price is merely there to make you think you're getting a bargain when you get it cheaper. DCT must know that very few shops, if any, charge full price for it.
My friend usually buys me 2 annuals for Christmas in the 2 for £12 offer from WHS but they rarely have the joint books so he gets me Beano and Dandy. I haven't the heart to tell him I no longer like them. I was delighted on Saturday though when he texted me to say he'd got The Broons/Wullie book for me in the sale. Looking forward to getting it.
They sometimes include strips by other artists, but I'd prefer them to stick to ones by Dudley D. Watkins and Ken H. Harrison, who's the only Broons and Wullie artist to match D.D.W.
I'm revisiting this post, Kid because the new weekly circulation figures are 46,295, down from 54,876. I expected this to be honest. Go woke, go broke. Maybe 8000 kids grew up but they haven't been replaced. Worrying times for DCT.
Back in the day, M, if an IPC comic (and I don't imagine it would be much different with DCT) had a circulation figure of 3 or 4 times that, it would be merged with another title. And at one time, in the '50s and '60s, I seem to remember reading somewhere that comics with even higher circulation figures would be considered to be getting past their best and becoming due for a merger. Changed days, eh? I suspect the comics today are kept going because they cost so much more than they did when I was a kid, and lower numbers perhaps still draw in sufficient revenues. Also, they're probably kept going because of the merchandise potential they generate.
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