This blog wasn't around when the Dandy Xtreme changed back into The Dandy, a revamp that partly inspired the launch of this blog. I've never taken a proper look at this revamp on Wacky Comics, so I will today, starting with the last issue of The Dandy Xtreme. Dated 6th October - 26th October the Dandy Xtreme was on sale for a whopping 20 days giving it plenty of time to reach maximum sales. One thing you may notice is that the last Dandy Xtreme was presented with a free gift of a "light sword" whereas the revamped Dandy was presented with no free gift at all, which is strange as I'd have thought a free gift could have helped with the re-launch.
I'm not going to spend too long on the last Dandy Xtreme as there isn't much of interest regarding the revamp itself, but I don't want to skip it either so I'll show this one-page Marvo the Wonder Chicken strip illustrated wonderfully by Nigel Parkinson.
Just inside the back cover was a comic strip advertising the revamped Dandy on sale the following week. I'm not too sure that this was the best way to advertise the revamp as readers would be looking for the Xtreme title and probably overlook the Dandy itself. A better way to advertise (I'd have thought) was to show the cover so that people know what they're looking for. But that's just my thoughts and I've never studied advertisement strategies in much depth.
It was clear that D.C Thomson weren't very proud of the Xtreme years as they dismissed it with only single page in the 280+ page book The Art and History of The Dandy.
And thus entered the new look Dandy - an exciting and bright revamp that easily put the shabby, and absolutely awful, dearer Dandy Xtreme to shame. Reception to the new-look Dandy was mixed, with some very negative comments towards it but also a lot of enthusiasm as well. I personally loved it, and it's up there with my top three comics: 1) Whizzer and Chips, 2) Wham, 3) New Look Dandy.
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| At £1.50 the new Dandy was 50p cheaper than the Dandy Xtreme - the pocket money equivalent of a bag of sweets. |
It was a highly promising start with the comic being printed on nice heavy, high quality paper and (in my opinion) content that was just as good. I personally loved the Harry Hill strip and when it was cancelled I was gutted, and the lowering of the paper quality later on through the run was a blow, but the standard of the strips remained high right until the end.
Other than Harry Hill the comic introduced a number of new characters and strips, highlights included Lew Stringer's Postman Prat...
...Robot on the Run by Alexander Matthews...
... and Andy Fanton's George Vs. Dragon. Andy improved considerably throughout the two years he was drawing for The Dandy, just compare the first episode below to a later one.
That just about sums up the 2010 Dandy revamp. It seems that the new look Dandy was a bit like marmite in the way that people either loved it or hated it and, just like marmite, I loved it. However, the only way to determine whether you love it or loathe it is to try it out for yourself. Back issues can easily be found on ebay at reasonable prices.
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