THEME MONTH: CHILDHOOD ON PRINT: THE DANDY STORY

By Eamonn Bermingham
Winter
In Ireland, it seems to come earlier than other season and it's presence is felt by everyone.
The sweet scented wind? Replaced by bone-jarring screaming gusts. Brief rainfalls? Consolidated together into Stone splitting showers, And frost that malignant little offspring of water that can turn the smallest of inclines into Everest.
But with the threat of winter comes the promise of Christmas, Lights brightening darker nights, Tv Channels showing toy ads in the evening(Even non-Family friendly channels like Crime Network have toy ads!) and the shops in October has a being Christmas display towering over the little crappy Halloween display only for the shop had to move the Halloween display, on Halloween!,  to add to the mass of this display juggernaut.

The newsagent of a small town is perfect example of the approaching madness, Oranges and their ilk are shifted by box-fulls like mad, comic racks are filled with annuals and honestly, unless your German, who has eaten a croquette before December?

But Next year, the Christmas Tradition of the annual will have 1 casualty. This year on December 4th! the Dandy will close it's doors

But where did it all began?
Well, It all started 74 Christmases ago...
1937
I don't have to tell you why the comic became so popular so quickly, offering an escape back to childhood dreams at a time when Reality created a Monster. However, even the Dandy did their part on paper, Making Desperate Dan into a marine and sharing it's rota with its stable-mate the beano turning both comics from weekly to fortnightly during the war's paper shortage. They also had a strip called Hermy and Addy where Hitler and Himmler were turned into bumbling idiots. This shared rota went away in July 1949 as  the in-universe rivalry was resparked when the comics became weekly again. Usually if a character told an old joke or was unfunny, the phrase "did you read that in the beano" was the response.
these days we have a similar phrase "Did you hear that from Irate Gamer?"

A year after it's debut something was created that would change the comic game forever.
The Dandy monster.
It was the worlds first annual. Made entirely of reprints, today the annual is no longer reserved for comics. As licences such as cartoons, tv shows and wwe all have annuals. Anyone can get an annual it seems, One of the worst I've seen is an annual to glorified Bananarama/Bangles tribute band,Atomic Kitten.

In 1940 the dandy was entirely different to any other comic on the market, even its modern issues can't compare. While i grew up on its eclectic humour back then the stories themselves were varied, you had comedy, satire, sight gags, action,and (yes really, it seems so strange now!) TEXT Stories.

In 1954, The popular Desperate Dan character got his own annual. this lead from the former cover star Korky the Kat sharing the cover with Dan to finally in 1985, Dan became the sole cover star, Cuddles and Dimples became the stars in 2000, but complaints by long-term fans hated the change and by the Christmas double issue, Dan returned to the cover once more.

In 1982 the Fun-size Dandy, a smaller pocket book of one long story was released, Usually a strange cross-over with two characters that usually did not co-exist (Jonah and Puss 'n boots for example) as well as the on-going "Who's the strongest" between Dan and Bananaman, Funsize had Characters that didn't appear in the main comic, Such as Blinkenstein (where blinky is an UNDEAD rip-off of Mr Magoo!) and Barmy Army, As it was recalled when the licence to print a Dad's Army strip fell through. In 1999, Y2K was the storyline excuse why Some characters from fun-size appeared in the main comic. In time the funsize dissolved and the new character were left by the wayside.

In 1985, the ailing Nutty and Hoot! comics was merged bringing now loved Dandy alumni, Beryl the peril, Bananaman, Dimples,Bully beef and chips and Jocks vs Geordies.

Then in 2000, the champagne was uncorked in Dundee, with 3007 issues under its belt, the dandy became the 3rd oldest comic in the world and the second in the English language. For those asking, the order goes:

1. Il Giornalino (1/10/24)
2. Detective comics (March 1937)
3. The Dandy (4/12/37)

Then in 2004 the first coffin nail was hammered,

Feeling that the competition from America was heating up, The dandy went through a dramatic over haul. replacing the newsprint for a glossier paper, the free-laughs on the front and back was replaced by a splash-cover and adverts. and the price jacked from 70p/1 Punt/€1.20 to £1.20/€2 despite the beano, the more popular because of television, retaining its style and beating the others in sales, Then in 2007 yet another rehaul, this time changing the very foundation of the comic.

Issue 3426 saw the Dandy struggling to adapt to times, calling itself Dandy Xtreme, it's adaptions would see the comics downfall. Now priced at a ridiculous €3 And stuffed with a polybag along with cheap-ass poundLand toys (as free sweets with comics became outlawed in Britain's Child health laws, Thank you Jamie Oliver!) the cover stars were now licenced characters from tv games and movies. For the first time since war was declared, the dandy became fortnightly once more and now the Dandy originals under the thrall seemingly of advertising the cover star du jour, had their strips now themed to that character. Not even the Dandy's relaunch in 2010, redesigning the character to their original formats, and the acquisition of comedian Harry hill to has his own comic, strip becoming the new cover star demoting Dan to back page, could save the comic, for the last 2 years the main content has being reprints so now in December with 3609 issues, 75 years, 3 tv shows, 8000+ weekly sales, a Licenced desperate Dan wham bar! a computer game, a collection of stamps and a statue of desperate Dan in it's birthplace of Dundee. The Dandy will be gone.
...BUT NOT FORGOTTEN!

Plans to turn the comic into a web-show is in the works, this years annual has already being released for this christmas is said to be a tongue-in-cheek tribute to 75 years. with sales so great a 2013 annual has already being announced.

So this Christmas, as all Christmasses, are a time of remembrances, so this year, if looking  through your newsagents display, Look out for a comic annual for a child's present, it'll will like introducing it to an old friend!