The Dandy’s dead – But Don’t write off Children’s comics

So, last week was a very strange week, a week when the spotlight fell onto British comics with the news of the demise of The Dandy, the weekly children’s comic which has been part of the fabric of British culture for 75 years.

In a slightly surreal and thoroughly unexpected twist, I was asked to offer my opinions on the matter on Sky News, alongside journalist, curator and all-encompassing comics expert, Paul Gravett.

Now, I haven’t worked for DC Thomson, home of the Dandy and it’s sister comic, The Beano, for little over a year now. My comic creation, Derek the Sheep, ran in the Beano and BeanoMax for 7 years and I drew Pinky’s Crackpot Circus for The Dandy for a few months back in 2008. But, I have been creating kids comics professionally for nearly 10 years now and currently I write and draw comics for the brilliant new children’s weekly comic, The Phoenix, as well as a monthly strip for National Geographic Kids AND I’ve just finished writing and drawing an epic 80 page book of children’s comics for Walker Children’s books, called Teenytinysaurs. So I was very keen to take part and champion what I see as a very crucial time for Children’s comics in this country, bigging up the success story of The Phoenix and kids books in general and try to dispel any myths about children rejecting reading in favour of video games; a tired argument trotted out any time there’s a slight seismic shift in comic plate tectonics.

The Phoenix – weekly comics in safe hands!

For the two or three hours before I went on air, I wrote down many notes listing what I viewed to be the problems, the solutions, the misconceptions and the past, present and future of British comics. I memorised them as best I could, and blustered my way through what was essentially not enough time to blurt out everything I wanted to say.

Check out the video link here.

Serious discussion, lovely shirts. Photo © Sarah McIntyre

On the back of this TV interview, Radio 5Live invited me to chat about the subject in the evening, then Radio 2 and Vanessa Feltz beckoned the next day, where I was given a little more time to evangelise my opinions on the state of children’s comics, the public’s awareness and perception of comics and their future. And live draw a very bad cartoon of Vanessa being held aloft by a cheeky squirrel. Eep! no pressure…

I think I was happier with the results than Vanessa was. Photo © Lauren O’Farrell

I was also asked to write 300 words on the subject for a National newspaper, which unfortunately, I don’t think made the cut, but it sums up my views on the state of comics and kids reading as I see it in this country, and so I’ll post them here (slightly tweaked):

After 75 years, perhaps The Dandy is dead, but does it ring the death knell of British comics? Are Xboxes and the internet killing off print comics? Have kids really given up reading for good?

A resounding “NO” I say! Kids love reading! Just see how excited they get when a new Diary of A Wimpy Kid, or Captain Underpants book hits the shelves. And just try to prise their Harry Potter books out of their vice-like grips. No time for reading? Not likely! Give them a comic to read and you won’t see or hear them for a good half an hour.

The Dandy may be faltering, but other fantastic comics, like The Phoenix are keeping the flame alive, enthralling young readers with wild and crazy adventures and loopy new cartoon creations for the next generation. Where big stores like WHSmith are pricing children’s comics off the crowded and messy shelves, with their big cut of the comic’s profits, The Phoenix is navigating it’s own path through subscription and by selling through independent bookshops and comics champion Waitrose, who cultivate and love the product, giving it pride of place near the till for all to see.

Likewise, Walker Children’s books see the value in beautifully told children’s comics alongside their famous catalogue of picture books, encouraging creators like Andi Watson and Viviane Schwarz to run wild with their imaginations, thus getting comics onto the prominent shelves of retail bookshops across the country.

Even outside children’s comics, into the realms of teenage and mature comics, with SelfMadeHero and Blank Slate printing Graphic Novels of international renown, British comics have rarely witnessed such a burgeoning, explosive scene. Are British Comic dead? Far from it. They’re evolving into something very exciting for a new generation.

Will Andi Watson’s Gum Girl save British comics?

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During this crazy 24 hour period, other cartoonists, including Anita O’Brien curator of the Cartoon Museum in London and the estimable Jamie Smart, writer and artist on The Dandy and at the vanguard of it’s recent valiant re-launch, were proffering their own well thought out opinions on the future of British children’s comics on TV and radio and in the National Press, some more optimistic than others, all hoping that the Dandy would live to fight another day (ably summed up on the Fleece Station Blog by Lauren O’Farrell).

Jamie Smart’s Desperate Dan; always guaranteed genuine lols.

Unfortunately, it was all for nothing, as DC Thomson announced the end of the printed version of the Dandy and it’s release as a digital comic, come its 75th birthday. Sadly, there’s no word on whether this means continuing work for the current Dandy creators, or if it will just showcase old material from it’s very large archive.

The fascinating result of seeing and hearing all the various opinions in the news and elsewhere, is how it has stoked up the fires and passions of comic creators and observers all over the internet, from blog posts figuring out the next big step for British comics by fellow studio mates Sarah McIntyre and Jamie Smart, to debates right across twitter and facebook. To the point where I think in a few months down the road I truly believe something exciting and tangible will burst forth into the great chasm left by the Dandy, to fight the good children’s comics fight alongside the likes of The Phoenix, The Beano and Walker Children’s books.

Derek the Sheep finally put out to pasture…

Well, it had to happen one day, and today is unfortunately that sad day.

This month sees Derek’s final appearance in a Beano mag for the foreseeable future.

After 7 long, mad, crazy years, 70-odd stories, including 5 Beano annual appearances, his own book published by Bloomsbury, a Booked Up Booktrust selection shifting 24000 copies of said Bloomsbury book, a French edition under the moniker Norbert Le Mouton, and everso nearly his own cartoon series; Derek The Sheep has chomped his last blade of grass for the BeanoMax (or The Beano for that matter).

A new editor = a new direction = a kick up the bum for Derek the Sheep out the back door.

It’s been a brilliant, fairly surreal experience writing and drawing for such an esteemed comic as The Beano the last few years. Hats off to my original editor Euan Kerr for taking the chance on me and Derek and for his childlike glee and enthusiasm for the stories I produced. Thanks also to Alan Digby for keeping me in sheep stories (he also asked me to draw some Bash Street Kids Singled Out strips a couple of years ago, but my marriage blew up that very same week and I never found time (or perhaps inclination) to draw it. Life, eh?). And to John Anderson on the BeanoMax for asking me to be a regular contributor 18 months ago cos he was such a fan. Sir, you have been a great support and editor.

Derek wasn’t exactly like anything else in the Beano (still isn’t), so it was quite a risk for Euan to stick Derek in back in the day. But the risk paid off thanks to overwhelming support from young fans and parents alike. Well I say overwhelming, for all the fans giving Derek 10/10 in the  polls, there were just as many giving my stories 1/10 with very little in between; but the sheer fanaticism of those who loved him helped keep Derek a regular fixture in the Beano.

And that, for me, has been the best part about working on the Beano – the fans.

Whenever I was feeling down, or lacking in confidence over my work, I’d get an email in my inbox from a fan telling me how much Derek and his crazy antics would mean to them. One dad told me how he and his son would recite Derek’s adventures in the car on the way to school; another lad would carry Derek’s book around school all day, every day and all his mates would take the mickey, but he didn’t care. I’d even get emails from teachers telling me how a whole classroom would regularly fight over who gets to read Derek’s book at reading time.

Emails like these would instantly blow the cobwebs from my brain and I would triumphantly knock out another crazy adventure.

Fans, I salute you!

So what’s next for Derek?

Well, there’s a theatrical version of his nonsense from Legend Theatre, coming to a school or children’s theatre near you for one thing. And there was talk of maybe another French edition of Norbert Le Mouton. I’ve even been tinkering with the idea of bringing out a Quarterly Derek magazine to sell with the play…

Whatever happens, I’m sure Derek will be back in some form or another before you know it. Watch this space 😉

Undercrackers!

Hooray! This week sees the release of a new issue of the monthly mag Beanomax, which, as we all know, means another stupid DEREK THE SHEEP story! “Woohoo!” the nation cries.

This month features Derek looking after idiot savant Bernard the Goat whose shed has blown away. Bernard likes to eat underpants, so it’s all about the pants for two whole pages. I even get to use the word “undercrackers” (I love that word).

Here’s an hilarious panel:

Ho ho. And what japes are had!

I did have a scene where Rodney the Bull and Dave Goose were flushing loo paper down the toilet, but there just wasn’t room to fit it all in. The shame.

Here’s Rodney looking all innocent, DVD-extra-stylee:

And here he is in the strip all dressed up in loo paper:

So please rush out and buy the Beanomax, cos it’s brill and I’m in there every issue. Oh yes.

New Derek!

Hooray! It’s another month, which means there’s another Derek in the Beanomax!!!

This month Derek and his sheepy pals are woken from their woolly lazy world and are subjected to the raving loony that is Clarence the keep-fit sheepdog.

Here’s a marvelous sequence:

So sprawling was this story, that it’s a TWO-PARTER!!! Yep, so you have to wait a whole month to see how it finishes. And its totally nuts, I tell ya.

And while you’re busy buying the Beanomax, pick up the exciting new Dandy featuring loads of brand new strips! Shamefully I didn’t have time to contribute a strip due to my over-burgeoning schedule (including work on my BRAND NEW graphic novel coming out from Walker in about a year’s time. Woohoo!!! More on this soon. It contains dinosaurs is all I’m saying at the mo’…).

Anyway, good luck to the Dandy and all its contributors!

Ta ra!!

Independent on Sunday update

Got sent a jpeg of the print copy of Sunday’s interview for the Irish Sunday Independent!

Here it be…Ain’t I handsome.

I might publish the full unabridged version one day, which includes my fantastic beans on toast joke. I told it on twitter and it really made Jamie Smart laugh, so it must be funny.

Run for the hills, Derek is here!

Woohoo! It’s that time of the month again i.e. a new issue of Beanomax hits the shops. And a new issue of Beanomax = a brand new Derek the Sheep story!! Yay!!!

That’s 9 Dereks in a row now. I totally OWN that mag! And I’ve just sent off the 10th, which is a two-parter and everything. W00t.

Here’s a panel from this month’s mad Derek strip:

Hahaha!!! Chaos ensues etc.

Please buy the Beanomax and support little ol’ Derek and the rest of the Beanomax crew. Sales have gone up 5%, halting a dramatic slide since he’s been in there (not that I’m saying it’s down to Derek or anything, just pointing out a jolly coincidence… or am I…?), so what are you waiting for? Buy the thing!!!

Ta!