Friday, May 18, 2012

Classic characters return to The Dandy

Cover by Jamie Smart. Good innit?
This week's issue of The Dandy (out now) sees the return of two classic strips given a modern makeover. Heralded with a topline on the cover, Beryl the Peril makes her triumphant comeback drawn by the brilliant Steve Bright. 

Beryl was originally a star of The Topper of course, but joined The Dandy after The Topper folded years ago. Now she's back again, with a redesign to her outfit (no outdated gymslip anymore) but retaining the familiar Peril face. Steve Bright even applies a style to the strip similar to that of the great Davy Law (Beryl's original artist) which should please even the grumpiest critics. 

Printed off-register in my copy but STILL looks great!
Another old Dandy strip making its return this week is Bully Beef and Chips. The original debuted on the back page of the comic in 1967 drawn by James Hughes, and the new version is by Wayne Thompson who has given the characters a modern revamp. Beefy's fringe and their outfits remain the same but the characters are more exaggerated. It works for me, and hopefully today's readers will take to it too. 

You know he's gonna pay for that. It's comic Karma.
What this proves I think is that The Dandy has such a rich history of characters that most of them could be revamped to some extent or other for a modern audience. However it's good to see the comic still generates brand new characters as well, and strips such as Jamie Smart's Mega-Lo Maniacs (seen on the cover of this week's issue) and Alexander Matthews' Nuke Noodle are excellent. I'm currently drawing a brand new character too, who will hopefully debut in the summer. More on that at a later date.

The Dandy No.3582, £1.99 from newsagents, supermarkets, airports etc.  

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7 comments:

  1. 1000MBFriday, 18 May 2012 at 16:13:00 BST

    Hi Lew

    Do you think they are putting the characters in a t this stage to promote the 75th Anniversary and the 2013 Annual? Do you think that many of the other characters in the annuals will start appearing the The Dandy and Beano?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lew StringerFriday, 18 May 2012 at 16:20:00 BST

    I don't know what the plans are but I'd guess they're just seeing what reaction they receive at present.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1000MBFriday, 18 May 2012 at 17:00:00 BST

    Do you think you will be asked to recreate the Smasher any time soon for the weekly comic?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lew StringerFriday, 18 May 2012 at 17:33:00 BST

    I don't know. Again, it probably depends on what reaction it receives from the Annual. I'm quite happy doing my new strip at present although I'm hoping Postman Prat will return at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  5. DavidSaturday, 19 May 2012 at 13:29:00 BST

    The kids subscription copy of issue 3583 has just arrived.

    The 'Next Week' page says that 'The Banana Bunch' return next week. (though these could be reprints).

    We are hoping Postman Pratt returns soon too.
    Mr Meecher and Bad Grandad are the kids current favourites

    ReplyDelete
  6. James SpiringSunday, 20 May 2012 at 00:09:00 BST

    David, the Bunch aren't reprints. It's by Nigel Parkinson, and he only ever drew them for the Beezer and Dandy annuals in the past.
    http://nigelparkinsoncartoons.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/further-developments.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Harry RickardSunday, 20 May 2012 at 09:01:00 BST

    @David

    Great news - also, not reprints!

    ReplyDelete

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