The weekly Dandy ended in 2012 after an impressive 75 year run but The Dandy Annual is still going strong every year. The latest edition, cover dated 2020 as annuals are always dated a year ahead, is out now and the copy I ordered arrived today.
The book has 112 pages and once again is all-new material with no reprint. Full colour throughout, it contains many of the Dandy favourites including Cuddles and Dimples, Corporal Clott, Beryl the Peril, Blinky, and many more. Here are a few snippets...
Desperate Dan, drawn by Ken H. Harrison...
Korky the Cat drawn by Hunt Emerson...
Winker Watson drawn by Alan Ryan...
Keyhole Kate written, drawn (and lettered) by Lew Stringer (hey, that's me!)...
The Dandy Annual 2020 is available now from the D.C. Thomson shop as is the Beano Annual 2020 and will be in bookstores soon!
Will there be a Dandy Annual 2021 as well? You bet! I'm working on it now!
D.C.Thomson have revealed the covers to their new annuals for the year 2020, (although they'll be published later this summer because annuals are always dated a year ahead).
The Dandy Annual 2020 features a really nice cover by Ken Harrison, who has superbly captured the styles of the artists associated with each character. The logo is a nice variation of the one used in the comic in the 1970s (and on some previous annuals). The content is all-new, featuring classic Dandy stars. I've written/drawn three full page Keyhole Kate strips for the book.
The Beano Annual 2020 has a cover by Nigel Parkinson. The logo is the new Beano design that started being used on the weekly a few years ago. Again, the content will be all-new.
The regular reprint collection this time is called Beano and Dandy: Chortle With Chums. At this small size I can't recognise who drew the cover (update: it's by Nigel Parkinson) but it's amusing to see it takes place at a comics convention! You may notice that Ginger is part of the gang too, so presumably the book reprints strips from The Beezer as well as the two titled comics.
You can pre-order the Dandy and Beano Annuals as a "Double Trouble Pack" from the D.C. Thomson shop here:
https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/books/annuals?brand=74
