Hot and in the past

Hot, hot, hot!

People through up comparisons, like I lived through 1976 and while that was hot, the felt temperature today is more than what that was then as much as I recall getting burnt legs getting in car after a train trip to Manchester in my so 70's short short trousers that to be honest I was glad of rather than the Jeans of teens back then.

Mum got a right telling off at the start of the 60's for walking to the ambulance to go to maternity but given then we were a bit out of town and to use a modern expression - off grid - what else could you do?

I was on the way as it were when this classic annual came out as annuals are always published the year before as after all you had them for Christmas.

A lot of the mainstays of the classic 60's, 70's and early 80's Dandy were in here such as Winker Watson the best wrangler ever, Korky the Kat, Desperate Dan and Keyhole Kate living very much in the world those of us around during the 60's and 70's recall when adult authority figures roamed and any trangressions dealt with.

Crosswords and quizes complete the collection of comic strips drawn specially for this annual.

Note how the comic strips begin on the covers echoing the comics we bought whereas later on the covers were eye catching themed pieces of art.

It's great to see what the characters were up to and be transported back in that world.

More thoughts on Dandy Summer Special

It's been a challenging week physically and for that matter emotionally but as remarked on Monday reading this years Dandy Summer Special it was a bit underpar because for some reason D C Thomson effectively made it a compilation of Jamie Smarts take on Desperate Dan exclusively.

That may of been in the mistaken belief that actual children would sooner read those mid to late 2000's versions because they enjoy Jamie's newer work for The Pheonix but with those there's no long established backstory when it comes the story or set style guide in the way that D C Thomson have had for all their comics.

Thus you see them as a all new thing where handling legacy series brings conflicts from those who used to older styles and those who are coming in cold.

The other thing was there were no other comic series in it where the Dandy has a big legacy of the including of course Bananaman who when the Dandy folded as a weekly, got transferred to the Beano and just two three page strips of him would of helped.

Plus it does link to the modern Beano.

But the other thing was we lacked the iconic Korky The Cat and Keyhole Kate that I'm sure today's children could relate to and really that's where they got it wrong I feel although I do have high hopes for the upcoming Annual.

The Beano and Dandy Summer Specials 2022

Summer is very much before us as I heard a familar thud through the letter box as the pre-ordered Summer Specials arrived.

See the thing is we're off into Summer not that on Friday you'd of know it with the heavy rain we had in this part of the midlands and for some of us it means only one thing.

This week is an important week in that it is the one which D C Thomson publish what was for many of us a highlight of the year.

As regulars know we no longer have the Dandy as a regular 52 week comic since the end of the print run in 2012 and the demise of the digital edition in 2013 so we have an annual in time for Christmas and interestingly enough, a Summer Special each year.

What that amounts to is unlike its stablemate, the Beano, it inhabits the same world we remember, more or less as any comic does with those characters we grew up with and a few newer ones and to a larger extent, it keeps the feel and theme.

This years cover pays homage to a classic 1957 beano book cover by James Crighton as they were called back then and not annuals like today by design drawn by Steve Bright and runs with a football focused theme throughout that makes for a refreshing change from the "at the beach" covers we usually see.

Like last years edition this carefully treads a path of reprints from summer specials of the past, in this years instance mainly football based ones, and new carefully drawn and conceived new stories featuring our favourites with Lew Stringer doing some new Keyhole Kate, that gives an idea of how a regular Dandy might of been by the top comic artists of our time.

Equally we have a new Dreadlock Holmes story by Wayne Thompson while amongst the reprints is the very first Brassneck story, very much an iconic series in the Dandy from 1964.

This is this years Beano Summer Special looking very much like a regular edition but themed as a " Summer Activity Special" so it will have quizzes, find the missing words and things to colour alongside the totally themed storyline that features all the current inhabitants of Beanotown in one great summer time travel adventure that runs seamlessly through separate comic strips per page.

Unlike The Dandy this is very much in the present recognizable to today's ten year old readers very much in the style of the regular weekly comic

It has within it the ever popular stickers and jokes too which usually have me in stitches whenever I read them as a regular reader of the normal weekly edition.

This should be available from the middle of this week in the usual outlets although you can order via D C Thomson's own online shop 

The Dandy and Beano Summer Specials 2021

This week is an important week in that it is the one which D C Thomson publish what was the one of the highlights of the year for many of us.

As regulars know we no longer have the Dandy as a regular 52 week comic since the end of the print run in 2012 and the demise of the digital edition in 2013 so we have an annual in time for Christmas and interestingly enough, a Summer Special.

That means unlike it's stablemate, the Beano it inhabits the same world we remember, more or less as any comic does with those characters we grew up with and a few newer ones added for newcomers and to a larger extent, it keeps the same feel and theme.

Like last years edition this carefully treads a path of reprints from summer specials of the past and new carefully drawn and conceived new stories featuring our favourites, that gives an idea of how a regular dandy might of been drawn by the top comic artists of our time.

They were the things we looked forward to reading across our summer hols, from cover to cover which helped keep us entertained during what seems like a long time playing with our mates.

For the age dysphoric ten your old me this is just great because it's not some much a step back in time as stepping in your time with the new stories being a little more in tune with today but still the same world which the Beano Summer Special this year isn't because it's very of today's world for children who've only know that world.

This is this years Beano Summer Special looking very much like a regular edition but themed as a " Summer Activity Special" so it will have quizzes, find the missing words and things to colour alongside the totally themed storyline that features all the current inhabitants of Beanotown in one great summer adventure that runs seamlessly rather than separate comic strips per page.

It will have the ever popular stickers and jokes too which usually have me in stitches whenever I read them as a regular reader of the normal weekly edition.

If you can't find both in the shops which it should be from May 19th, you can order online via D C Thomson's shop 

Nostalgia

Nostalgia. Don't you just love it, not that today can be exactly like yesterday but rather you carry chunks of it about with you and everything on today entry is connected somewhere down the line to it.

This, one of many compilation albums by the Beach Boys, a famous Californian group, was by design designed in 1974 to appeal to a sense of nostalgia for past times in the United States by invoking imagery from the 1960's and a set of songs that spanned 1962 through to 1965 while using their early 70's appearances as if to say "You can have past and we're still here".

In its original form it suffered from trying to make mono recording stereo and famously getting Help Me Rhonda confused with an earlier version but this lp recut in 2009 corrects that with better sound too. I got a new sealed copy cheap.

I remember buying the 1981 UK budget re-issue lp at the time so having it back in this form brings back memories for me when I first started regressing.

You all know I loved the Dandy and looked forward to the Summer Specials and this was one I had back in 1972 which I recently bought a new copy in pretty decent condition given we ready them cover to cover several times over that featured many of my favourite characters and cartoon strip series.

The essential Winker Watson featured wrangling out of things and as befitted that era Form Master Creepy had his cane out at Greytowers awaiting Boodle and in another strip no less than three canings are featured in one story!

That was so relatable to our generation.

Every year D C Thomson do a compilation of past strips from the Beano and Dandy and this one from 2007 was all from the 1970's where they like Tiger were essential boy comic reading.

Re-reading this brought back a lot of memories not least where they tied into the current affairs of the day such as space missions and the advent of Punk. 

The Dandy Summer Special 2020

While travelling in to the city centre remains off due to hotspots of a certain virus and most of the shops being shut, time continues on.

It is that time of year some of us look forward, the recreation of a ritual we observed as boys religiously and don't tell me rituals don't play a part on LB life as I haven't met one that didn't try to recreate a few.

The Dandy Summer Special is special for different reasons than we had as boys in that it is the only print edition of the comic we get since closure in December 2012  where as for most of us before then it was the bigger more colourful edition that had quizzes and the like counterpart to the weekly edition.

The Summer Special is aimed more at those of us who remember it as it was rather than being more like its stablemate The Beano very much in the present and so for most of the current period we've been treated to reprints from the older Summer Specials, albeit those we loved to revisit. 

This years is a bit different in that the compilers have gone to pick a selection over a set of twenty years starting from 1940's making their way through 1960's, 1980's and the 2000's in chronological order.

This means we start to see such legends as Keyhole Kate, Korky the cat, Desperate Dan and Corporal Clott which was discontinued in the comic July 25, 1970 plus Owen Goal from the 80's as they emerged which compared with the Beano makes for a more retro, regressive, reliving the past feel when you read it as inevitably you recall those days.

For that feeling I would say the Dandy Summer Special is better.

What is great about this years is we have some newly drawn strips of Postman Prat originally drawn by Lew Stringer from October 30, 2010 by the man himself that survived the misstep that was DandyXtreme in 2007 to October 2010 when they tried to add Viz style "attitude" to push sales in a fortnightly form plus new Winker Watson for 2020.

The new strips are funny, not departing from the world those characters come from but showing where they would of been in a regular comic so Winker Watson remains in Greytowers in the third form but he can use a computer and printer while being the Blazer and Shorts clad boy whose wanglers we loved in much the same way the modern prep school mixes modern technology and the old (and true) ways.

Do yourself a favour and get a copy!