https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/our-brands.html
As in recent years, the Summer Specials are now in the 68 page 'Bookazine' format as opposed to the big 32 page glossy tabloids they used to be decades ago. This makes sense. The weekly Beano is a 36 page glossy these days, so a 'Special' in the same format would hardly be significantly special. There's also the problem of retailers wanting a more uniform size of course. A bigger footprint on the stands would demand a separate display space, and we know how retail giants like to charge for those!
As far as I know, The Dandy Summer Special will contain reprint again, but The Beano Summer Activity Special will feature new material. I don't have any material in either so your guess is as good as mine at this point. Both feature new covers by Nigel Parkinson.
Anyway, summer's here so make it special with these two comics!
Hm. Is this right? Correct me if I'm wrong but... didn't the Dandy close a few years ago?
ReplyDeleteThe weekly ended. The summer special and the annual continued.
ReplyDeleteI've just shown this to my eleven year old son. The sight of a new Dandy Special has him jumping up and down fist-punching and shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!"
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say this news has made a little boy very happy.
Thanks Lew
That's good to hear. Hopefully the reprints will be from before he read The Dandy so they'll be new to him.
ReplyDeleteI had a look in WH Smith yesterday. No sign of the specials yet unfortunately. What a shame. I remember when I was a kid that shops would put the specials out on the day they were supposed to, or even before in some cases.
Lew - The specials should be in shops by the 17th of June (judging from DC Thomson's tweet https://twitter.com/DC_Thomson/status/737645692060110848)
ReplyDeleteThis blog is fascinating and marvellous. I love every bit of it, keep up the good work!
As for this update, I was so pleased to see this, as the Summer Specials are one of the best things to get. I'm looking forward to The Beano Annual 2016 more though haha.
Thanks Andrew. Let's hope Smiths put them out then.
ReplyDeleteMy local WHSmiths usually do but on occasions I have to ask if they have them in stock when they're due but not on the shelf. And sometimes they don't even bother checking & say they've not had a delivery yet... only for me to see a special section for it on the newspaper stand on the way out! :S
DeleteBought them today from WHSmith. The Dandy one is reprint from the mid 1990s through to no later than 2007. Beano's is the usual mix of new comics and activity pages.
ReplyDeleteThanks, James. I saw them in my local branch today too. I'd have been interested in the Dandy one if it had featured pre-1980 material but no doubt the 1990s material will appeal to many.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to buying the Summer Specials for 6 year old grandson today for our camping trip. Happy memories of the excitement of getting mine every summer 50 odd years ago. Guessing his reading skills will have come on massively by the end of the holidays and he won't even realise that he has been doing homework as well as having fun !
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