Journalists who write about British comics often claim that Desperate Dan has stopped eating Cow Pies because of "political correctness". Indeed this recent article for thisislondon.co.uk even went as far as to garner such an opinion from the daughter of Albert Barnes, The Dandy's original editor and creator of Desperate Dan.
"It's completely ridiculous," said 69-year old Dr Jennifer Barnes in an interview following the rebranding of the comic recently when it was relaunched as Dandy Xtreme. "It does make me sad to see the changes."
"Desperately Dull" screams the headline. "The politically correct Desperate Dan for the 21st Century" continues the tale, bemoaning the lack of Cow Pie in modern Dandy, illustrated with modern artwork by Ken Harrison showing Dan tucking into, er, ...one of those Cow Pies that the article claims he doesn't eat now. Oops! Thwarted by the facts!
Furthermore, if the journalist who had interviewed Dr Barnes had done his research properly, he'd have known that all the Desperate Dan strips that have been running in Dandy Xtreme are reprints from the 1940s, - the period when Albert Barnes was the editor! These classic gems drawn by its original artist Dudley Watkins have no "political correctness" whatsoever. Indeed, this week's edition (reprinting a strip from April 17th 1943) shows Dan about to eat a Cow Sandwich, - a dead calf sandwiched between two huge slices of bread!
The article also claims "Dan disappeared from the comic in 1997 but was reinstated three years later following a fierce backlash" - complete nonsense! Dan has appeared in practically every issue of The Dandy since 1937.
Seems that journalists never let the facts get in the way of a lame story to froth up the anti-PC brigade.
The laziness of journalists never fails to dismay me.
ReplyDelete