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Post by madhair60 on Aug 16, 2012 18:24:33 GMT
This is basically the worst thing that has ever happened.
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Post by Alex on Aug 16, 2012 19:26:20 GMT
However, I do think that the argument that 'kids have more to entertain them nowadays' is bogus. Back in the much-touted '50s, television would have been the hot new thing on the block, yet the Dandy still sold well. I disagree. Remembering back to when my childhood was spent reading the Dandy, the Beano and STC, there really wasn't half as much going on then as kids have going for them today. TV back then was some cartoons after school and Saturday morning and then news, ancient films and 'other boring stuff' taking up the rest of the time. If you had Sky, you were in cartoon heaven - but I knew about 3 people that had more than 4 channels back then, and I wasn't one of them. Videogames were even more expensive and much less frequent. You'd maybe get a couple of games at key periods of the year (birthday/Christmas) and they'd have to do you for a long time. You either played them over and over or got bored and never touched them again. We had no Internet to waste hours of our life over and no smart phones/tablets to keep us occupied the rest of the time. Thus, at a weekend, I'd get my comics for that week, spend the remainder of my pocket money on some sweets and my afternoon would be reading those. It'd be the thing I'd look forward to all week in school, with not very much to distract me from that thought the rest of the week. That really, simply, isn't the case any more. It wasn't even the case when my little brother was getting the Beano and Dandy. Half the time, they'd never even get read 'cos he was playing on the computer instead. Throw in a declining print industry either way, and the increase of costs as a direct result, and this really was an inevitable outcome sooner rather than later. They'd probably achieve more by going online exclusively. Easier to distribute and easier to monetise in the form of ads and/or special subscription packages.
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Post by madhair60 on Aug 16, 2012 20:50:07 GMT
Videogames were even more expensive and much less frequent. You'd maybe get a couple of games at key periods of the year (birthday/Christmas) and they'd have to do you for a long time. You either played them over and over or got bored and never touched them again. Yyyyyup. I am intimately familiar with [censored] SMS games like Running Battle and Tom and Jerry: The Movie, thanks to my childhood and its drip-feed of new games I had no choice over.
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Post by Moo on Aug 16, 2012 20:55:06 GMT
Dandy the Comic - Online!
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Post by RedDevilDazzy on Aug 16, 2012 22:15:15 GMT
I use to read The Dandy back in the day. Blinky was a cool character. Nice idea Moo about The Dandy going Online. Not surpised by what Mitch said about STCO, though he mostly thinks most things are rubbish anyway I guess.
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Post by Balls on Aug 17, 2012 1:22:58 GMT
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Post by RedDevilDazzy on Aug 17, 2012 9:17:44 GMT
Love the picture Mitch, but what I said is true.
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Post by Badly-Drawn Manchild on Aug 17, 2012 13:55:52 GMT
I was always a Beano or STC kid, myself, but it's sad to see an undeniable staple of British childhood fading.
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Post by Blizz on Aug 17, 2012 17:18:56 GMT
I was always a Beano or STC kid, myself, but it's sad to see an undeniable staple of British childhood fading. Chuck in Spider-Man too, and this is pretty much my view on the matter.
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Post by Charles on Aug 17, 2012 18:54:15 GMT
Dandy the Comic - Online! The new digital Dandy will probably come out more often than STC-O. Quite probably. Okay, damn it, YES IT WILL
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Post by L. T. Dangerous on Aug 17, 2012 19:53:25 GMT
But imagine if it didn't, right?
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Post by Charles on Aug 17, 2012 20:33:00 GMT
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Post by Alex on Aug 17, 2012 23:22:46 GMT
It really doesn't. Certainly not one that can be directly replaced with another print-only magazine released to a relatively small market with today's costs. People widely saying "It's really sad the Dandy is ending, I wish it wasn't" doesn't translate to "if another comic came out instead, I'd totally buy it, despite being not nearly young enough to be the actual audience for the comic". As much as I would really be happy if print comics managed to survive, the fact is that it's very clear that they won't. The juggernauts of publishing over in America, Marvel and DC, are openly embracing digital publishing because they recognise that print circulation is declining as steadily as the costs of such publishing is increasing. There is a happy middle ground in terms of well presented collected editions (providing more value for money all around, too). But while Dandy/Beano/Whatever annuals and special collected volumes are definitely viable, a weekly printed comic really isn't. Not any more. Markets change and evolve, and the comic book one - which hasn't significantly changed in nearly 50 years - is in the process of doing that right now. You either keep up and survive, or stubbornly fall behind and die off. I think the Dandy's making a good decision in going online and there's really a lot of potential for the brand to survive well into the future if they moved to embrace a new digital publishing scheme. Delusionally thinking that it somehow leaves a gap for another comic to fill - one that doesn't have three quarters of a century of history to back it up - is basically madness. It's even more madness to think that anyone would be stupid enough to invest in such an idea.
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Post by madhair60 on Aug 18, 2012 9:31:49 GMT
Who the [censored] are you quoting
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Pitt
Script Hume
Ungrateful Sonic Saxophonist
If Lando dies, I'll destroy your planet!
Posts: 7,007
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Post by Pitt on Aug 18, 2012 11:58:01 GMT
It's the James Smart article Charles linked.
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