Nigel Parkinson, Cartoonist

Nigel Parkinson, Cartoonist
Me at a Comic Con

Wednesday 13 October 2010

DANDY- Very Nice news

A few months ago I telephoned The Dandy office and couldn't get through. So I called the DC Thomson switchboard and asked to be put through to the Dandy office. "This is the Dundee office. Which department would you like?" "I'd like the Dandy Comic". "There is no 'Dundee comic'" said the nice lady at the other end. "No, not Dundee, Dandy" I persisted. A pause. "I think you must have the wrong number". She never did put me through.
Anyway, someone calling and speaking to the same operator from October 27th will not be faced with the same story, for that is the day that the new, weekly DANDY appears on the shelves of newsagents and supermarkets across the country. And not only the shelves, for this issue of the Dandy marks several BIG, important changes.
Firstly, it's the premiere issue at the new price, £1.50
Secondly, it's the first edition to be printed by the new printers
Thirdly, it's almost entirely comic strips. And the strips are mostly brand-new. There are pages by people new to the Dandy and by people new to comics.
Fourthly, big promotion. I guarantee even those who have never heard of the Dandy will have heard of it by October 28th! It'll even be in the newspapers!
Fifthly, as I've already indicated in earlier blog posts, I won't be drawing Marvo the Wonder Chicken or Cuddles and Dimples or Owen Goal or The Banana Bunch in the new Dandy.
To be honest, the new Dandy has been a dream of the editor's for a couple of years. All new strips, all funny. But making it happen was nigh-on impossible with the cautious nature of the economy and publishing these last two years.
Until the editor had an idea.
What was needed was something so unusual, so daring, so big, so appealing, that all the other components would slot into place naturally. So he asked me if I could help, by circumventing the usual red tape and long negotiations that would normally surround such a big step and often prove so daunting that proposed projects never see daylight. I was sceptical, but I made The Phone Call. And it took 5 seconds to make it happen!

So it gives me great pleasure to announce that the regular whining reports of the imminent demise of The Dandy, of it's soon-to-be-incorparated status, of it's impending monthly schedule, of it's conversion entirely to reprint, can all be consigned to history and hope you'll enjoy the new, 2010 Dandy every week from now on!

14 comments:

Kid said...

Let's hope it continues to sell past the first few issues of the launch. If it's too different, it may meet some resistance from the traditionalists. Fingers crossed for its success.

Peter Gray said...

Kid your so negative..;)

Its sounds really good and glad its weekly and new artists are on board..

Kid said...

Nope, I'm an optimistic realist. I'd be negative if I said it's doomed to failure, but that's not what I was saying. Incidentally, may I recommend "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Lynne Truss for your reading pleasure?

Lew Stringer said...

*Anyway*, exciting news Nigel! If that's the logo it's totally different to the one I was expecting! There's a good vibe about this revamp so far. Only two weeks to go before the mad dash to the corner shop!

Fanton said...

I'm ALWAYS excited when comics are revamped, let alone when I have work appearing in said comic!

Exciting times - thanks for the titbits of information, Nigel!

Lew Stringer said...

The icing on the cake would be if The Beano that week contained a four-page advert on pink paper to promote the new Dandy, like they did back in the Sixties.

But that was then. I get the impression the promos for this will be far more widespread than that. ;-)

Spencer said...

Thanks for the info Nigel. I'm really excited about this - really, really hope it goes well.From what I can gather so far, it looks like it will be even better than The Beano! Do you know when the advertising campaign will start?

James Spiring said...

Lew, you might be onto something there... Beano has five gifts next week - but they only revealed four of them. Could the mystery gift be Dandy related?

Andy Boal said...

James, the subscribers will find out over the next couple of days ;)

Nigel, you should have asked for the WWE office :)

NP said...

Sub copies tomorrow? Don't count on it, Andy!!

DandyEd said...

First issue off to the printers today! How are you doing, NP? Look out for something in the mail tomorrow. C

WLLilly said...

...Speaking from my American perspective of someone who's always been interested in the classic UK kid's titles from afar but has never seen any physical examples of 'em...I am , certainly , interested .
So , it was more than f1.50 immediately before ?
( NOTE: In American keyboards , a small letter " F " is - Actually , it looks pretty good , I must say !!!!! - about the closest one can concoct to a pound sign . Where does the " f " sign appear , on UK keyboards ? Over the number " 4 " ? )
Bi-weekly , lots of reprints , and a lot of non-comics/filler stuff then ???
I have always , when I've fanstasized about having a comics-publishing company , wondered wheth North American market-targeted reprints of the Dandy/Beano material could make any financial sense...
If you're no longer drawing ( & scripting ? ) the strips you mentioned , will you be getting any new assignments from them ?????
Perhaps , of course , that's Not To Be Answered at this point , nudge nudge , say no more , Missus , knowhatimsayin'...

James Spiring said...

WLLilly, on a UK keyboard, shift + 4 = $; shift + 3 = £. You can get £ by holding Alt and pressing 0163.

NP, Andy meant next week's Beano, in response to my suggestion about the Beano mystery gift being a Dandy promotional item, lol.

NP said...

WLLilly, I will be drawing something in the new weekly Dandy - previously 'bi weekly' and £1 more. Or $1.70 more. But more on that soon enough...
And DandyED, something in the post, eh, whatever could it be. . .?