[essexpete]

,gutted,used to love it as a kid

[NickVaughan]

What? This is awful news! Mind you it doesn't suprise me, the new character designs were awful, the humour was dumbed down and since Harry Hill stopped his strip there's been nothing worth skim reading.

[essexpete]

Originally Posted by NickVaughan

What? This is awful news! Mind you it doesn't suprise me, the new character designs were awful, the humour was dumbed down and since Harry Hill stopped his strip there's been nothing worth skim reading.

not even Dan and Korky?

[SteelEdge]

Not read it for a good 20 years, but sad news nonetheless. I remember going to stay with my Nan and Pa in the summer holidays and they used to have old Dandy and Beano Annuals from the late 70's and early 80's I used to read over and over.

Farewell Desperate Dan, I'll have a cow pie in your honour next time I go shopping

[mred2000]

Hasn't actually been confirmed yet.

The publisher is reviewing their titles and, considering the numbers have dropped to around 8k readers, it looks likely:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk...lisher-1260182

[jjesso123]

Correction 'may' close, however not looking good

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/c...-75-years.html

"The major difficulty comics have is their distribution, kids have other things to spend their time and money on these days like playing computer games and things like that,” she said.

A spokesman for the Dundee-based publisher confirmed it was considering closing the £1.99 magazine but said the most popular characters would continue to exist online.
"We are carrying out a review of our magazines business to meet the challenges of the rapidly changing publishing industry,” he said.
"There are many challenges within the industry at present, but we're excited that the digital revolution has also given us an opportunity to innovate and develop.

[essexpete]

Originally Posted by SteelEdge

Not read it for a good 20 years, but sad news nonetheless. I remember going to stay with my Nan and Pa in the summer holidays and they used to have old Dandy and Beano Annuals from the late 70's and early 80's I used to read over and over.

Farewell Desperate Dan, I'll have a cow pie in your honour next time I go shopping

washed down with owl-hoot juice?:

[SJ_Mental]

£1.99 blimey the last time I read it I think it was 25p.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

I find it a bit weird people would be saddened by the demise of a comic when, as adults, they have not really read it for years, as I hadn't since the 1970s (I'm not including anyone here who was still regularly reading and enjoying it in the present).

[essexpete]

Originally Posted by Phoenix Lazarus

I find it a bit weird people would be saddened by the demise of a comic when, as adults, they have not really read it for years, as I hadn't since the 1970s (I'm not including anyone here who was still regularly reading and enjoying it in the present).

just a sentimental fool I suppose,hate links with the past being cut

[be more pacific]

Originally Posted by Phoenix Lazarus

I find it a bit weird people would be saddened by the demise of a comic when, as adults, they have not really read it for years, as I hadn't since the 1970s (I'm not including anyone here who was still regularly reading and enjoying it in the present).

It's Woolworths all over again. Misty-eyed nostalgia for a business which hasn't seen a penny of their money for many years.

[SamMcK]

I'm guessing it will merge with the Beano then, they could make it two comics in one ala Whizzer and Chips. I haven't read it in years but it's quite sad to hear this particularly after being an icon of British culture for 3/4's of a century.

[JAS84]

A merger with the Beano is unlikely, the Beano just this week had a revamp itself. Bananaman is already in the Beano as reprints (while new episodes still run in the Dandy) so the most likely scenario is that Desperate Dan gets transferred over and the Dandy name disappears completely. The same thing happened in 1993 when the Beezer and Topper folded. The Numskulls joined the Beano, Blinky and Beryl the Peril joined the Dandy, and the Beezer and Topper brands were axed.

Related content from Digital Spy:

The Dandy: Britain's oldest comic faces closure

[JAS84]

Originally Posted by essexpete

not even Dan and Korky?

Korky no longer appears.

[essexpete]

Originally Posted by JAS84

Korky no longer appears.

thats sacrilege,DD and Korky are the Dandy's cornerstones

[Martin Phillp]

A sign of the times sadly. I seem to recall getting into the Dandy after sweets were used as a free gift. The Dandy was great when I was a kid, but the Beano was so much better and naughtier.

[thejel]

there's no doubt in my mind Desperate Dan and anyone still about who is popular will appear in the Beano. A company with any nous won't bury their best known characters if there are possibilities to extend their lives

[Nailz]

Many years ago I joined the Desperate Dan Pie Eaters club and had a badge and another gift I can't remember.

[InMyArms]

I know I shouldn't be - but i'm surprised.

[scruffpot]

harrrumph....

[SamMcK]

Does anyone else think they should bring back Whizzer and Chips and Buster ?

[Kal_El]

Originally Posted by be more pacific

It's Woolworths all over again. Misty-eyed nostalgia for a business which hasn't seen a penny of their money for many years.

That's not only bloody unfair, it's judgemental, and simply not true for a lot of us. Many of us have children and still bought the Beano and Dandy for them because it was something we grew up with and wanted to pass on. I only stopped buying a couple of years ago because the push towards more "advertorial" rubbish started taking more space, the prices were going up regularly, while the comics themselves were getting more and more spartan.

It's easy to say, "oh kids don't care about comics any more", but my genuine feeling is they helped kill them off. Not all kids are interested solely in computer games. Many kids love to read, books and comics, as well as play the occasional video game. The Dandy had turned into a sad little advertising kids "magazine", and was a total disaster. I stopped it as soon as they were telling kids to rush out and buy Nintendo DS's. Sod that. Enough selling goes on to kids imho.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Originally Posted by SamMcK

Does anyone else think they should bring back Whizzer and Chips and Buster ?

It's not so important what we think (presumably being mostly adults, or at least teens, who don't buy current childrens' comics on our own account), but whether children would enjoy something like them. Presumably, they would be revised and upgraded for modern children, and so would only in name of the comic and one or two reprised (and probably almost unrecognisably changed) characters, would resemble comics of that name that the OP, I, and others recall from, say, the 1970s.

[John Malkovich]

i think the secret to making The Dandy successful is to make it a comic for adults.

[thejel]

Originally Posted by John Malkovich

i think the secret to making The Dandy successful is to make it a comic for adults.

i agree, though 'Classics from the Comics' which was a nostalgic monthly comic aimed at adults (Beano, Dandy, Topper, Beezer etc) also ceased its publication so the appeal coudn't have been there.