Now edited by Thomson's boys' magazine group, along with Danger Mouse and Thunderbirds Are Go magazines, Epic! no longer has any Beano-related content. The new strips are…
Zombie Sports! The walking dead of the sporting world…
Eric Fail! Things always go wrong for him!
Terrible Movies! Spoofs of popular films. This month: Harry Snotter!
Those three strips are all mini-strips and appear on one page. I don't know who wrote them but I drew them all.
The other new strip is Overreaction Man, a funny superhero spoof written by Viz's Alex Collier and drawn by Steve Bright, running across three pages in the magazine.
...and there's a reprint of My Dad's A Doofus by Jamie Smart, that had previously appeared in The Dandy.
I can reveal that I'm also drawing another new strip that should start in Epic! sometime early next year. It's very interesting and encouraging that D.C. Thomson are investing in new comic strip material for their magazine line. Danger Mouse and Thunderbirds Are Go also feature new strip content. Let's hope this direction continues!
Epic! No.125 is out now in newsagents and supermarkets, bagged with free gifts, with 48 pages for £2.99. Check out the web page which features a handy search engine to find your nearest stockist:
https://www.dcthomson.co.uk/brands/epic-magazine/
All kids comics seem to have a toy/free gift attached these days. I can't help feeling these are a bit tame for the X-Box, I-pad generation. In the 60s it was a thrill to get a lucky bag with a cheap made in Hong Kong game/Yoy/puzzle inside. I always remember whenever we stopped at a petrol station asking my Dad to see if 'he (the garage attendant) had any badges?'. The Esso 'Put A Tiger In Your Tank' promotion had some great badge/key rings to give away. Simpler times!
ReplyDeleteIt was the retail giants who wanted comics to have gifts every issue. Sadly, most comics just wouldn't get stocked by Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco, etc if they didn't comply. Beano is an exception because it's been around so long. Publishers would be only too happy to drop the bagged gifts if it was down to them.
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