Fine and Dandy
This week saw the first issue of the Brand Spanking new Dandy comic. Overall I think it’s very, very good and fingers crossed this could be the shot in the arm UK humor comics needed. Here’s my Top Ten of what I liked about it:
10. It reminds me of Oink! In that it’s funny and a little bit cheeky in places.
9. The £1.50 price is affordable and great value for money. Let’s hope the sales are enough to keep it at this price.
8. There is no Toy lazily taped to the front cover - Hooray!
7. The celebrity strips and Pop Culture references make it fresh and breathe new life into it and make it current. The inclusion of Harry Hill has got to be a good move.
6. The inclusion of some new up and coming UK artists is good to see. I particularly like George vs. Dragon, having seen Andy Fanton’s previous online comics. ‘Robot on the Run’ and ‘Pepperoni Pig’ both look to have some potential.
5. Desperate Dan, Banana Man and Korky the Cat are all in there. Korky is only a three panel strip but he’s in there none the less. It’s nice to see them sticking with some of the old favorites and trying something new with them. Nigel Parkinson mentions in a recent Blog post that Dan very nearly missed out, which would have been a great shame.
4. As promised it’s absolutely rammed with comics, just like the comics from when I was a lad.
3. The comic is, quite rightly, aimed at kids while having enough for any ‘child at heart’ adult to enjoy.
2. Lew Stringer finally gets his chance to have a go at a Dandy Strip, in fact he gets two! Postman Prat is not the most original Character name but sometimes the simplest of ideas work the best. Kids will love it I’m sure.
1. All truly good football teams are built around an exceptional player, and the New Dandy is wisely built around Jamie Smart, who is their very own Lionel Messi (Yes, I'm using a football analogy about a comic, bear with me!). From the wonderful newly designed logo to the smattering of little characters dotted around, Jamie Smart's imprint is all over the comic, including the titles and borders for the majority of the other strips. I’ve always been a huge fan of Smart’s clever and immeasurably funny take on Desperate Dan, which is unfortunately reduced to one page here rather than the two pages, which was Dandy Xtremes only saving grace. However, this has given room for Smart to create another two page strip - Pre-School Prime Minister. PSPM is full of the usual madness and laugh out loud moments that I have come to expect from a Jamie Smart comic and is, for me, far and away the best thing about this first issue. For me, this alone is worth the cover price - Brilliant!
And because I don't like to post anything without a bit of artwork, here's a little Dandy Fan art.
