Dandy packages

File under care packages, things that help you get through no fun matters like this 'ere lock down that we're living with presently where school is out and you can't go anywhere much either, just a bit of local exercise.

December 8th 2012 was for a good number of us a rather sad day as that was the last regular print issue of the Dandy comic, something I'd (allegedly) grown up with but it went out with a bang.

There were some great new stories featuring the likes of Korky the cat and Desperate Dan of Cow Pie fame Winker Watson who I loved, the schoolboy who always try to get the better hand against the staff and the like and a reprint of the very first issue that for those interested in comic art shows how the they moved from an illustrated story to the modern cartoon strip.
My copy got lost so I was able track down a copy in great condition for posterity.

What we didn't anticipate was that the Summer Specials would continue (this years is available to order at D.C. Thomson's site coming out Mid May) as would the annuals.

 In 1982 D C Thomson, the publisher of the Beano and of course Dandy started a short lived series of A6 sized books based on popular cartoon strips in each that came out two per month at pocket money prices.

Initially at twenty pence, the 'new' soon went from our decimal currency, each had 68 pages and run until 1997 and 340 issues.

I got this of early issue from 1983 of my beloved Winker Watson of Greytowers, the fictional public school he and his friends attend being forever in the third form which featured extended stories of wanglering we loved.

Korky the cankerous cat was also a favourite who got that extended treatment in an edition that also came out in the same year

Talking of annuals, to help me cope, I got a good condition copy of the 1976 Annual which you'd of had in 1975 for Crimbo and which I'm sure we had at one point as I used to buy annuals from school fairs and the like when I was younger full of stories of my favourite Dandy characters.

I just love the idea of Korky playing with his train set as I used to play with mine, filling up the goods wagons as the mice remove bits of the track!

Of course modern train sets unlike my dads use digital controllers and sound  effect modules so the engines and that from Bachman tend to be expensive.