Would love to see W&C again but alas our time has gone.

Nothing they do is ever going to recreate the excitement, expectation and whole process of spending ones hard earned pocket money on the weekly comics and reading them until you know them inside out!

That being said, I would be more than happy if they could recreate and re-release (not in the shops) some original comics. I'd even consider subscribing to such an option if the price was reasonable - though small print runs obviously are costly.

An ironic reprise of old characters, for old fans now grown up, like Keith Harris did with Orville, Rod Hull did with Emu and Timmy Mallett did with himself. Good idea!

Ahh this thread brings back memories. Used to read whizzer and chips, beano and dandy. Never really loved dandy as much as the other 2.

Would be a shame to see it go. I might not have been a regular reader for about 10 years, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be any sadder about its demise. Wednesdays and Saturdays were always exciting in my childhood, going over the shop to get my Beano or Dandy. Opening the annuals on Christmas Day was always a highlight.

Read a copy of both Beano & Dandy a few years back and the artwork looks awful and the decent strips just aren't there any more. Maybe it's because I've grown up and grew out of them, but even so it's a shame today's kids (I'm 23 and feel so old saying that!) just aren't into comics...the excitement of a new comic is something I'll always remember.

Well said, I couldn't agree more.

I grew up buying Beano, Topper, Whizzer & Chips, Oink, Buster, Beano minis, summer specials, annuals - you name it and they were all fun, entertaining reads for a kid.

Nowadays comics are terrible - adverts every other page, lightweight stories set out over as little as eight panels.

The standards compared to what I was reading in the early to mid eighties are awful; you can read a modern comic in about five minutes now - back in the day comics actually took a while to read and seemed to be a labour of love.

It’s no wonder my kids have little interest in the Dandy and they've only got themselves to blame - if you're gonna sleep-walk through producing a comic making as little effort as possible nobody's gonna want to buy it.

It's confirmed.

Thank you. It's a total cop out saying that kids have other things to spend money on. You're kidding me? I grew up spending all my paper round money on my favourite comics, reading them cover to cover. Yet I still found time for my love of the ZX Spectrum and the Mastertronic range. And look at today; kids literature is absolutely massive. Children are reading more now than ever before. You're seriously telling me there isn't room for the comics in this?

The truth is it was much easier to just rent the space out to adverts, and have as little actual content as possible. Now you have been eaten alive by the rabid advertisers, and there's not even any bones left to pick over.

Damn right I'm angry about it.

Comment added.

Read your comments guys. Very interesting. I will pick it up when I'm in Smiths next. When we gave up on it, it was hard to see how they could get out of the horrible mess they were in. I felt they'd accepted the inevitable demise, but there was no grace to be found in their pages.

Scoobie made another fair point about the shelf height of the comics too. I have definitely noticed in the supermarkets that they seemed to have pushed them higher up nearer the adult content, making it difficult to buy them.

I didn't know they relaunched after we stopped getting it, but I'm not surprised by that. When I used to buy it as a kid, it was about 28-32 pages usually iirc, and yes there were ads, but they didn't swamp the comic. JAS where do you get your info from? I'd love to read some more.

2 million copies a week at one time!! I used to get it for a bit.

Did anyone else have the annual from 1975, in which Korky's on the cover, with a top hat stuffed with Christmas food stolen from a feast? That was a cracker of an annual. It included a page full of fictional fathers and children, with funny names. That bit included a couple ethnic/national stereotypes: Mr Sabout and Dan Sabout, his energetic son, who is shown dancing, while his father plays bongo drums or kettle drums-or it might have been a banjo. He is Afro-Carribean, with a flowery shirt, bare feet and broad straw hat. Also, there was Mr Offalkof and his son, Ivan Offalkof-father and son were stated to be in Russian, and so were shown dressed in fur or sheepskin coats and stereotypical furry Russian hats, while both had colds, because, of course, it's cold in Russia, so the people there must get colds a lot! They'd just about get prosecuted for that, today.

they were more innocent times,when PC was just an abbreviated name for a copper

I was reading them in the 60's and 70's. I always preferred The Beano but sometimes bought the others as well. Shame I got rid of them now

I've still got a load stored in my Dads loft somewhere; I must have a look next time I'm over.

I know for a fact I've got all the Beano issues were Gnasher went missing, loads of old Annuals, Oor Wullies dating way back, first issue of TMNT with it's badge, a complete Beano sticker book from the 80's - god knows what else.

I wonder if they're worth anything?

Probably not tbh as they'd all been read so many times.

By the way Kal_El which were the Mastertronic games? I had a spectrum 128k back in the day but was more of a Jetset Willy, Dan Dare and Dizzy man myself

This thread is so nostalgic

How times have changed, I remember reading old Oor Wullie annuals where he'd get up to all sorts; skiving school, fighting, thieving apples, playing 'chicky melly'(remember that?) and by the end of each story he'd be back sitting cheerfully on his bucket.

Kids today don't know what they've missed

Saddened by the news!

I grew up reading The Dandy and its a real shame to see it go.

I cannot understand how kids nowadays do not have time for comics - every week I bought The Dandy, Beano, Topper, Beezer, Victor, Eagle, the minis, seasonsal specials and the annuals and I had loads of time to pursue other interests.

Recently I looked through the BEano or Max as it now called which my young nephew had bought and was appalled as to what it had become. Loads of ads, non- Beano characters and loads of characters from other media and brands...and ads! I don't think the comics carried ads that were not related tot he comic when I was a kid.

I wish Thomson would reconsider relaunching the Classics from the Comics title again! I would also support the idea that has been mentioned here and elsewhere about the possibility of launching an "adult version" of the comics - the new twist could work!

Also, maybe its time someone adapted some of the most popular characters to the big or small screen! Comic to TV / Film adapations are all the rage now - how about a weekly Dandy / Beano town TV series - or a Desperate Dan movie???

I'm guessing that was early 1980s or earlier. Nowadays, kids wouldn't find time from internet, Facebook, Twitter, computer games, DVDs and umpteen children's TV channels.

You're acting as if the change from the 'winning' formula was the cause of falling sales. If that were true, Beezer, Topper, Whizzer & Chips and Buster wouldn't have fallen by the wayside yonks ago. Kids would have just kept on buying the same comics.

It's probably more realistic to say that the drastic format change including reliance on alternative revenue streams (because they don't include adverts for fun) was instead a reaction to falling sales/revenue.

Maybe Top of the Pops would have stayed on the air if they hadn't changed the format? (Probably not, but maybe.) Maybe Woolworths would still be open if they had never opened their website and instead concentrated on selling overpriced sweets, toys and CDs through high street superstores? (Almost certainly not, but maybe.) Maybe the Dandy you remember from rose-tinted childhood would have been sustainable in the modern age...

Grew up with comics but was never interested in The Dandy or The Beano - bought (or got bought!) the action/war/adventure comics like Action, Hotspur, Tiger, Victor etc..

Sad to see it go though - had a look in one recently and it was an abomination! So no surprises there - they should have developed it more years ago when sales were strong, but that's the story of British industry - leave it until sales are declining until they're terminal, and then it's too late!

Thought myself kids today wouldn't be interested in reading comics, but as another poster said kids will read lots of books - maybe though they have been squeezed out in an ever increasing marketplace.

Dan should eat Aggie in the final edition.

Baked in a cow pie.

John Wagner, creator of Judge Dredd on the death of the Dandy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19293866

ta verence,sweet article:

Although its not died has it, just the print version isn't being printed anymore.

I bought the first Whizzer and chips, Sam. I only ever saw annuals of Buster..I never knew the comic itself;probably available in the sixties?
I think I remember " 2np" on the front of the Beano and Dandy, being the price at the time.

Whoopee and Krazy were great