Quality of the Beano

Simon Rodgers · 30/05/11 - 01:21

What has happened with this comic recently?

I remember when it was good in the 90s, a little corny but readable, now its just seems very silly and some of the artwork is awful.

Has it got worse or have I just got older?

[Deleted User] · 30/05/11 - 02:08

Political correctness has a lot to do with it i think, regarding Dennis the Menace and Walter the Softie as an example, I last read a copy i the late 80s but did look through a copy in the shop not long back and it seemed very poor, I'll give it a few more years and think it'll disapear, shame really.

cnbcwatcher · 30/05/11 - 07:53

Last time I read it was 2006 and IIRC it was alright, I didn't really notice the political correctness. Maybe it has changed a lot in recent years though. Are Dennis the Menace and Walter the Softie still in it or is that character watered down a bit?

[Deleted User] · 30/05/11 - 10:39

I think you got a bit older. I used to think it was good in the early eighties when I used to read it but then I thought it got dreadful in the early nineties, when Gnatasha and Gnipper and Gnasher's puppies were introduced - I thought it went waaaayyyyy downhill then.

_radioamerica · 30/05/11 - 10:44

I've got every annual from 1970 to 2011 (my mum still buys me one ever xmas since 1993 and i collected the rest when I was little) and I must say I think it was the best in the 70s and 80s. I don't like the more modern ones.

Simon Rodgers · 30/05/11 - 13:37

Sometimes I wonder why can't they ever reprint past comica and annuals, with everything the same?

That way people of today can see what was in the past and make proper comparisons

Simon Rodgers · 30/05/11 - 13:43

eng123 wrote: »

I think you got a bit older. I used to think it was good in the early eighties when I used to read it but then I thought it got dreadful in the early nineties, when Gnatasha and Gnipper and Gnasher's puppies were introduced - I thought it went waaaayyyyy downhill then.

I remember that, it was in a Beano annual in a psecial story called "Who's Gnicked Gnasher?"

He turned up with Gnipper and his five daughters, Gnatasha, Gnancy, Gnaomi, Gnorma and Gnanette

Gnipper went on to feature in additional storylines but the others just disappered, so why feature them at all then?

Shaiya · 30/05/11 - 13:58

It has also become obsessed with celebrity, like the rest of the UK.

Artwork is awful, truly awful.

I just have a look every now and then to see what Roger the Dodger is up to. He was my fave from growing up in the '80s. Even his stories are lame now.

Simon Rodgers · 30/05/11 - 14:16

Judging from what I have said and everyone else here, maybe we should ask "Should the Beano be axed?"

JAS84 · 01/06/11 - 19:59

eng123 wrote: »

I think you got a bit older. I used to think it was good in the early eighties when I used to read it but then I thought it got dreadful in the early nineties, when Gnatasha and Gnipper and Gnasher's puppies were introduced - I thought it went waaaayyyyy downhill then.

That was in 1986! Simon, it was Dennis the Menace annual that reprinted it, not a Beano Book. And Gnatasha did get her own story, in the Beezer and Topper in 1991.

Shaiya, have another look. They're reprinting Roger stories from 1986-88 at the moment. They should be the ones you remember, except in colour.

cnbcwatcher, Dennis and Walter's personalities got altered significantly in 2009 when a new CBBC cartoon started. Dennis has started to go back to his old menacing ways, but Walter is now a cunning know-it-all (who sometimes spies on Dennis then grasses him up) instead of a gentle, wimpy goody-two-shoes. He's not even referred to as a Softy any more.

cnbcwatcher · 07/06/11 - 21:28

JAS84 wrote: »

cnbcwatcher, Dennis and Walter's personalities got altered significantly in 2009 when a new CBBC cartoon started. Dennis has started to go back to his old menacing ways, but Walter is now a cunning know-it-all (who sometimes spies on Dennis then grasses him up) instead of a gentle, wimpy goody-two-shoes. He's not even referred to as a Softy any more.

I saw a bit of the cartoon a day or two ago. I think the older episodes were better though.

[Deleted User] · 07/06/11 - 23:00

I used to love it in the 90s and some of the old comics I've got saved from the 80s are even better. IIRC it's so bloody expensive these days. It also lacks the charm of the 80s/90s comics too in my opinion. I miss the days of calling people 'rotter' or 'cad'!

kiviraat · 07/06/11 - 23:51

I think the Beano really has went downhill since the mid-late 90s but Holy Hell, the Dandy is even worse. I almost shed a tear when I seen what they've done to it...

ajman · 08/06/11 - 07:35

I can't comment on the quality of the Beano today as I haven't read a copy since about 1989. At the time I remember not liking the new full colour, "glossy" format they introduced in the summer of 1988 (I think) which was accompanied by the introduction of third party advertisements and a general decline in the quality of stories so I stopped reading in disgust. I find it very sad to hear that things have got even worse since then.

Simon Rodgers · 08/06/11 - 09:08

I remember in the mid ninties they brought out the all-colour Beano, which as it says all the strips in colour. I didn't mind the blank and white strips though.

Glawster2002 · 08/06/11 - 09:28

_radioamerica wrote: »

I've got every annual from 1970 to 2011 (my mum still buys me one ever xmas since 1993 and i collected the rest when I was little) and I must say I think it was the best in the 70s and 80s. I don't like the more modern ones.

That made me smile as my mum does the same!!

My collection probably goes back to the 1970s when I used to read it as well, you certainly couldn't see Dennis getting the slipper these days!!

As an aside, I went to school with Leo Baxendale's son, Mark. Leo was the original creator of Little Plum, Minnie the Minx, and The Bash Street Kids so Mark was, by default, very cool at our school! :cool:

be more pacific · 08/06/11 - 12:07

Strange how people can be sad about the decline of something they haven't bothered with for years. I'm sure some people want to live in a nostalgic fantasyland where Woolworths never closed (even though they couldn't be bothered to shop there in recent years) and Top of the Pops was never cancelled (even though they couldn't be bothered to watch it in recent years). It's as if these things should, inexplicably, always remain available and always remain the same, regardless of public apathy.

Simon Rodgers · 08/06/11 - 13:32

be more pacific wrote: »

Strange how people can be sad about the decline of something they haven't bothered with for years. I'm sure some people want to live in a nostalgic fantasyland where Woolworths never closed (even though they couldn't be bothered to shop there in recent years) and Top of the Pops was never cancelled (even though they couldn't be bothered to watch it in recent years). It's as if these things should, inexplicably, always remain available and always remain the same, regardless of public apathy.

Well in this case we are talking about the Beano comic as you know. It was good before but just not so much nowadays. That's all the thread is about, nothing else really.

cnbcwatcher · 08/06/11 - 16:19

Simon Rodgers wrote: »

I remember in the mid ninties they brought out the all-colour Beano, which as it says all the strips in colour. I didn't mind the blank and white strips though.

I bought a 1985 Beano annual from a car boot sale once and they had some colour in the comic strips but not a great lot. I think the all-colour ones weren't bad though.

ajman · 08/06/11 - 17:00

be more pacific wrote: »

Strange how people can be sad about the decline of something they haven't bothered with for years. I'm sure some people want to live in a nostalgic fantasyland where Woolworths never closed (even though they couldn't be bothered to shop there in recent years) and Top of the Pops was never cancelled (even though they couldn't be bothered to watch it in recent years). It's as if these things should, inexplicably, always remain available and always remain the same, regardless of public apathy.

Why? Just because someone has moved on in their life doen't mean that they don't want standards to be maintained for future generations. Thankfully most people aren't so self-absorbed that they care only about things that only directly impact on their everyday lives.

be more pacific · 08/06/11 - 18:24

ajman wrote: »

Why? Just because someone has moved on in their life doen't mean that they don't want standards to be maintained for future generations. Thankfully most people aren't so self-absorbed that they care only about things that only directly impact on their everyday lives.

Whether you like it or not, Beano and Dandy have been forced to evolve in a desperate (Dan) attempt to attract young readers. Both titles would probably have folded years ago if they had remained exactly as they were in 1985 or whatever rose-tinted era you recall.

elnombre · 08/06/11 - 19:39

I used to still pick up one or two copies a year for nostalgias sake. Yes, it's definitely declined in quality, big time. The stories, such as they are, are flimsy and the slapstick and humor of the 90s/80s is gone.

Simon Rodgers · 08/06/11 - 23:09

be more pacific wrote: »

Whether you like it or not, Beano and Dandy have been forced to evolve in a desperate (Dan) attempt to attract young readers. Both titles would probably have folded years ago if they had remained exactly as they were in 1985 or whatever rose-tinted era you recall.

Well it worked well for so long the way it was, why wouldn't that work now?

November_Rain · 09/06/11 - 00:48

I haven't read it for years but I've noticed it's gone very expensive as of late. Isn't it around the £1.50 mark now? :eek:

ajman · 09/06/11 - 07:32

November_Rain wrote: »

I haven't read it for years but I've noticed it's gone very expensive as of late. Isn't it around the £1.50 mark now? :eek:

That does seem excessive. I remember it costing 14p in the mid 80s but even taking inflation into account would only put it at 33p today. OK so it now has more pages, uses better quality paper and better printing technology but that is still a price hike of almost x5 which seems unjustified when in my opinion these "improvements" seem to have happened to the detriment of the quality of the stories and artwork.

[Deleted User] · 09/06/11 - 08:42

I used to love The Beano when I was younger, but I do remember preferring a few of my Dad’s older copies of it (we also had an annual from the 80’s that I used to read over and over!). I just seem to remember them being funnier than the modern day issues (I think it helped that they weren’t packed with advertisements). I still loved them though – my favourite was Calamity James, because the drawings for it were hilarious and there were loads of background jokes that used to crack me up. Like a lot of others I liked Roger the Dodger too.

But yeah, as lovely as it is that the comic’s still going, it’s not the same reading it now – the humour is intended for kids and it’s always been cringe worthy, we just never noticed before!

I’m inclined to agree with the PC thing – Dennis the Menace’s parents, for example, used to have very stereotypical gender roles and appearances – the Dad in a pinstriped suit, and the Mum in the 50’s skirt and slippers

I think it's a great way to see how things have changed over the years

Hey there!

Quick Links

Quality of the Beano

Comments