Dandy’s no joke

Published on 15/08/2012 00:00

So THE Dandy looks increasingly set to fold after circulation fell to 8,000. DC Thompson has been taking its customers for granted, and cutting corners to boost profits. When circulations collapsed, the decision-makers foolishly thought the problem was that they needed to modernise their characters (as if somehow characters being in tune with the zeitgeist had 
supposedly escaped them the previous 75 years they’d seen off all their rivals) and the Dennis the Menace in a shellsuit fiasco made them a laughing stock.

One of the greatest ironies of what’s left of the comic industry is that the adult comic Viz does far better than the children’s comics it parodies because it stuck to a traditional format that respected customers’ demand for value for money.

The likes of Dandy and Beano may be all colour, but who is going to waste spare change on three or four 12-panel stories elongated over several pages of blatant padding?

Viz, meanwhile, may be black and white, but has 13 different characters in storylines averaging more than 18 panels each.

More to the point, it employs talented traditional comic
artists who know their craft, such as Scottish children’s 
author John Fardell of the brilliant Modern Parents.

Mark Boyle

Linn Park Gardens

Johnstone