Stuff!

Saturday 9 July 2011

The Dandy - Issue 3542

Sorry for no recent updates, this happens a lot now doesn't it...
Anyway, back on track now and we've got the latest Dandy review, read on to find out:

SUMMARY: This week's issue brings us not only a new one page story namely Tiny's Temper by Stu Munro, but we also see the return of Mr Meecher in this issue, a new quest beginning in Yore, the last of Hysterical History and more in new-ish strips like Fat Cat and Bear Behind. Also there's new mini strips Doctor, Doctor and Dino Vet. As well as your usual favourites like Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat, George VS Dragon, Harry and his Hippo, Pre-Skool Prime Minister, Saint Evils, Sea Dogs and Bananaman.

PG 1: Front Cover: (Harry Hill - Nigel Parkinson)
PG 2: Jokes (with Mr Meecher) - Will Dawbarn
PG 3: What's Inside? (Featuring Desperate Dan) - Jamie Smart
PG 4: Pre-Skool Prime Minister - Jamie Smart
PG 6: Harry and his Hippo - Andy Fanton
PG 7: Madvertisement: Celebrity Phew-Fumes - Andy Fanton
PG 8: Little Cheryl - Nigel Parkinson
PG 9: Shorts: Doctor, Doctor! - Karl Dixon NEW!, Freddy the Fearless Fly - Phil Corbett, Not the Greatest Juggler - David Mostyn, Old MacDonald's Facebook Farm - Karl Dixon
PG 10: Yore - The Etherington Brothers
PG 11: Hysterical History - Karl Dixon
PG 12: Bananaman - Wayne Thompson
PG 14: Mr Meecher, the Uncool Teacher - Will Dawbarn THE RETURN!
PG 15: Sea Dogs - Steve Beckett
PG 16: Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land - Nigel Parkinson
PG 18: Celebrity Shopping (The Doctor) - Mark Bennington
PG 19: Shorts: Doctor, Doctor! - Karl Dixon, Bear Behind - Stu Munro, Twit-ter - Nigel Auchterlounie, Dino Vet - Phil Corbett NEW!
PG 20: Tiny's Temper - Stu Munro NEW!
PG 21: Fu Schnicken, The Kung Fu Chicken - Wayne Thompson
PG 22: Desperate Dan - Jamie Smart
PG 23: The Bogies - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 24: Activity: Pin the Wig on Harry - Nigel Parkinson
PG 25: Clown Wars - Nik Holmes
PG 26: The Dandy's Subscription Page
PG 27: Korky the Cat - Phil Corbett
PG 28: Mailbag
PG 29: Shorts: Doctor, Doctor! - Karl Dixon, Jibber & Steve - Nigel Auchterlounie, Saint Evils - Stephen Waller, Fat Cat - Percy Palmer
PG 30: George VS Dragon - Andy Fanton
PG 31: Next Week (Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land, Little Richard Hammond, The Bogies, Yore, Pre-Skool Prime Minister)
PG 32: Advert

NOTABLE ABSENCES:
- Bone-O
- Terror Byte
- Knock, Knock!
- The Gleeks

ORDERING:

ONE PAGE OR MORE:
16) Fu Schnicken, The Kung Fu Chicken
15) Little Celebs
14) Bananaman
13) Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land
12) The Bogies
11) Madvertisement
10) Yore
9) Clown Wars
8) Korky the Cat
7) Mr Meecher, the Uncool Teacher
6) Hysterical History
5) Sea Dogs
4) Harry and his Hippo
3) Desperate Dan
2) George VS Dragon
1) Pre-Skool Prime Minister

SHORTS:

12) Freddy the Fearless Fly
11) Bear Behind
10) Not the Greatest Juggler
9) Doctor, Doctor! (Strip 1)
8) Twit-ter
7) Dino Vet
6) Doctor, Doctor! (Strip 3)
5) Doctor, Doctor! (Strip 2)
4) Fat Cat
3) Old MacDonald's Facebook Farm
2) Jibber & Steve
1) Saint Evils

Comic Football - Issue 0

There's a new comic out, and boy do I like it! After the failure of their first comic 'Rammie' they in the end made Comic Football which is brilliant. So what's inside?

PG 1: Front Cover
(Nice mixture of characters all in different styles, looks great. :))
PG 2: Welcome to Comic Football
(yet another brilliant mixture of characters which I think looks brilliant)
PG 3: The Team Sheet (Contents), a picture joke done on some computer graphic high tech program, and a football story by Duncan Scott
PG 4: Young Guns - Unknown
PG 6: Fred Stalker, Comic Football's Ace Club Reporter
PG 7: On the Bench - Nick Brennan
PG 8: Football Mad Dad - Unknown
PG 9: Ask Fibbs
PG 10: Acer & Kaos - Karl Dixon
PG 11: It's a Funny Ol' Game - Karl Dixon
PG 12: Advert
PG 13: The Quiz Page
PG 14: Pele the Parrot - Unknown
PG 15: The Notice Board
(One of the most crowded pages I have ever seen, not good...)
PG 16: The Fanshaws - Josh Alves
PG 19: Competition
PG 20: Head to Head
PG 22: Advert
PG 23: Captain Soccer - Unknown
PG 24: Junior Ref Julie - Nick Brennan
PG 26: 50,000 Years F.C. - Lew Stringer
PG 27: One Day... - Unknown
PG 28: Team Europa 2501!! - Unknown
(Beautiful artwork though!)
PG 30: Ask the Ref (Mini Strips) - Unknown
PG 31: You're not Singing Anymore - Unknown
PG 32: Back Page: Subscription Page

RATINGS:
Young Guns - 8/10
(Nice artwork and looks to be a good story)
On the Bench - 10/10
(Some lovely artwork by Nick Brennan and a strong, funny storyline makes this comic strip one of the best!)
Football Mad Dad - 8/10
(Not too funny but some nice artwork all the same)
Acer & Kaos - 6/10
(What on earth was this about, two chavs who play football, probably one of the worst in the comic. The 'slang' is awful and doesn't work and choosing Comic Sans as the font was not a wise move, no offence Karl, you're a great artist and a great guy, but I've seen better stuff by you...)
It's a Funny Ol' Game - 9/10
(Don't like the look of the footballer/main character in this strip but I imagine this was deliberate, however on the whole this strip was good, funny, nice artwork by Karl as well.)
Pele the Parrot - 5/10
(Oh dear, worse than 'Acer and Kaos', why? Because of all the puns! The artwork itself wasn't bad, certainly not good either but not bad, but the puns ruined this strip... WHY SO MANY PUNS?!)
The Fanshaws - 9/10
(I like it a lot, sure the artwork isn't fantastic, but this strip feels classic, good fun and entertaining)
Captain Soccer - 6/10
(Bad artwork, bad storyline, not good.)
Junior Ref Julie - 10/10
(I love this strip, it feels classic, it's funny and the artwork is AMAZING!)
50,000 Years F.C. - 9/10
(Nice artwork and funny gags, a good page!)
One Day... - 2/10
(What the what?! What on earth is this ABOUT?! I didn't get this so it sucked.)
Team Europa 2501!! - 10/10
(The artwork is fantastic, really interesting storyline as well. Very promising!)
Ask the Ref - 10/10
(Ha ha! I love Ref Jokes, always make me laugh!)
You're not Singing Anymore - 5/10
(The artwork is ugly, the storyline is boring. Not good.)

Check out their website for more info: comicfootball.co.uk

Tuesday 7 June 2011

The Beano Summer Annual 2011

Finally got it today after a long struggle, thank goodness!

Okay, first quick scan through and I can sadly confirm that about 90% of it is reprints annoyingly, luckily I have never read any of them!

Contents:

PG 1: Front Cover
PG 2: Whiteness...
PG 3: Beano Stickers
PG 4: More whiteness...
PG 5: Dennis telling you about 'Magic 3D'
PG 6: Introduction...
FINALLY! ONTO THE...
PG 8: Puzzle: Search and Colour - Barrie Appleby? REPRINT
PG 10: Puzzle: Great Dino Search - David Parkins REPRINT
PG 12: Puzzle: The Lost Beano World - Nigel Parkinson REPRINT
PG 14: Puzzle: Bite-Size Puzzles - Mixture
AND NOW FINALLY THE COMIC STRIPS!
PG 16: Minnie the Minx - Nigel Parkinson REPRINT
PG 18: The 3 Bears - Unknown REPRINT
PG 20: Board Game: Rumble in the Jungle - Jimmy Glen REPRINT
PG 22: Puzzle: The Beano Spooky Castle - Mixture
PG 24: The Bash Street Kids - Barrie Appleby REPRINT
PG 29: Puzzle: Wordsquare REPRINT
PG 30: Puzzle: Summer Sizzlers - Robert Nixon REPRINT
PG 32: Puzzle: Sea Search - Mixture REPRINT
PG 33: Puzzle: Summer Fun - Mixture REPRINT
PG 34: 'Bizarre' (In other words, boring page-waster)
PG 35: Dennis the Menace and Gnasher ('Apparently' Retro Beano, more like...) REPRINT!
PG 41: Roger the Dodger and Tricky Dicky - Barrie Appleby REPRINT
PG 42: Board Game: Meet Nessie - Jimmy Glen REPRINT
PG 44: Poem: Summer Time Rhymes - Gordon Bell REPRINT
PG 46: The Numskulls - Nigel Parkinson REPRINT
PG 48: Billy Whizz - Wayne Thompson/Stripz - Duncan Scott REPRINTS
PG 50: Crazy for Daisy - Nick Brennan REPRINT
PG 52: Ivy the Terrible - Tony O'Donnell REPRINT
PG 53: How to Draw Ivy - Bob Dewar
PG 54: Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (Not Dennis and Gnasher, silly title...) - Nigel Parkinson REPRINT
PG 56: Puzzle: What a Pair!
PG 57: Les Pretend - John Sherwood REPRINT
PG 58: Freddie Fear - Dave Eastbury REPRINT
PG 59: Robbie Rebel - Ken Harrison REPRINT
PG 60: Billy Whizz - Nick Brennan (possibly a reprint, looks like his older style...)
PG 61: Joke Page: Mad Jokes - Duncan Scott REPRINT
PG 62: Jack Flash - Nigel Parkinson REPRINT
PG 63: Puzzle: Funfair Wordsearch - Mixture REPRINT
PG 64: Puzzle: Spot the Difference
PG 65: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland NEW!
PG 73: Puzzle: Awkwardly placed Spot the Difference
PG 74: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland NEW!
PG 77: Puzzle: Spot the Difference
PG 78: Minnie the Minx - Tom Paterson REPRINT
PG 80: The Numskulls - Unknown/Stripz - Duncan Scott REPRINT
PG 82: Roger the Dodger - Barrie Appleby REPRINT
PG 84: Casino Beano - Nigel Parkinson REPRINT
PG 85: Ivy the Terrible - Diego Jourdan NEW!
PG 89: Board Game: Bubble Game - Jimmy Glen REPRINT
PG 90: Joke Page: Jokes with the Beano Gang in space for some reason. - Unknown REPRINT
PG 92: Photo Laffs: Fun and Highland Games - Trevor Metcalfe REPRINT
PG 94: Little Plum - Hunt Emerson REPRINT
PG 96: The Numskulls - Barry Glennard NEW!
PG 100: Bicycle Repair Kids - David Sutherland REPRINT?
PG 102: Puzzle: Tricky History REPRINT?
PG 104: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland NEW!
PG 108: Bea - Nigel Parkinson REPRINT
PG 109: Picture: Rascals' Regatta - Unknown REPRINT
PG 111: Tongue Twisters - Mixture
PG 112: Minnie the Minx - Steve Bright REPRINT
PG 114: Roger the Dodger - Barrie Appleby REPRINT
PG 116: Minnie the Minx goes under Fred's Bed - Tom Paterson NEW!
PG 120: Puzzle: The Ancient Egypt Quest
PG 122: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland REPRINT
PG 124: Roger the Dodger - Barrie Appleby NEW!
PG 128: Ball Boy - Dave Eastbury REPRINT
PG 130: Puzzle: Batty Maze
PG 131: Whiteness...
PG 132: More whiteness...
PG 133: Guess what? That's right, more whiteness...
PG 134: Back Page: Synopsis

Okay, I hate reprints but there are a few good things about this, e.g. I haven't read ANY of them! And there are quite a lot of new stories...
- The Bash Street Kids x2 (11 pages/4 pages)
- Ivy the Terrible (4 pages)
- The Numskulls (4 pages)
- Minnie the Minx goes under Fred's Bed (4 pages)
- Roger the Dodger (4 pages)

My only problems with this annual are...
1) The white pages, in total there are 5 pages of it, they could easily of added at least two more comic strips then!
2) The quality of the reprints, some are terrible. The colours look awful.
3) The 'magical 3D effect' A.K.A. A load of rubbish. You don't even need the 3D as 1) It doesn't work and 2) It hurts my eyes.
4) The front cover. It's terrible. Really bad. Couldn't they at least make a decent front cover like the Broons/Oor Wullie Summer Annual front cover? No, obviously not.
5) It's paperback, not hardback. It feels more like an activity book than an annual.
6) The fact it claims: 'and all your favourite Beano pals' when it doesn't, where's Super School, Ratz, Lord Snooty the Third, Biffo and Calamity James? The awkward thing is the stickers have pictures of all the 'current' characters yet only half of these actually feature in a comic strip!
7) The choices of comic strips. Why? Why did they think this was a good idea, no Calamity James, Biffo or Ratz to name a few, yet they used Jack Flash, I ask once again, WHY?!

Anyway, is it worth buying? Yes, it is, the comic strips are mostly decent, Diego's 4 pager Ivy is fantastic as is Minnie the Minx goes under Fred's Bed. However others like Jack Flash and Robbie Rebel are just terrible. All in all it's a good buy, has it's few faults but overall is a brilliant book which any comic collector should have on their shelf.

The Dandy - Issue 3537

What a brilliant week for comics this week, we had the 44 page Beano and Dandy and the Beano Summer Comic No.1, yippee!

Anyway, on with the review and this week was yet another brilliant week for the Dandy, let's see why...

PG 1: Front Cover: Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in  TV Land - Nigel Parkinson
(Groan! Just when I thought would escaped celeb front covers)
PG 2: Jokes (Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in  TV Land - Nigel Parkinson)
PG 3: What's Inside? (Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in  TV Land - Nigel Parkinson)
PG 4: Pre-Skool Prime Minister - Jamie Smart
PG 6: Harry and his Hippo - Andy Fanton
PG 7: Madvertisement: Zzz $aver$! - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 8: Little Little Richard Hammond - Nigel Parkinson
(What, Jeremy Clarkson is Richard's DAD?! My mind is blown...)
PG 9: Shorts: Rubbish Superheroes (The Flush) - Garry Davies NEW!, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 91) - Wayne Thompson, Freddy the Fearless Fly - Phil Corbett, Old MacDonald's Facebook Farm - Karl Dixon
PG 10: Hysterical History: William Wallace - Karl Dixon NEW!
PG 11: Where's Harry? - Nigel Parkinson
PG 12: Justin Beaver - Stu Munro
PG 13: Yore - The Etherington Brothers
PG 14: Bone-O - Mike Donaldson
PG 15: Sea Dogs - Steve Beckett
PG 16: Bananaman - Wayne Thompson
PG 18: Puzzle: Gaz of the Titans - Nik Holmes
PG 19: Shorts: Rubbish Superheroes (Captain Wonder) - Garry Davies, Terror Byte - David Banks (So glad it's back!), Knock! Knock! - Garry Davies, The Grown-up Way VS The Right Way: Organisation - Karl Dixon
PG 20: Desperate Dan's Cowboy Talk! - Jamie Smart (sort of)
PG 22: The Arena of Awesome - Jamie Smart
(Pullout: The Bogies Stickers)
PG 24: Prank: Dandy Fake Report Cards
PG 25: Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land - Nigel Parkinson
PG 29: Shorts: Saint Evils - Stephen Walker, The Grown-up Way VS The Right Way: Fear of Spiders - Karl Dixon, Fat Cat - Paul Palmer NEW!, Rubbish Superheroes (Bogey Man) - Garry Davies
PG 30: Dandy Subscription Page
PG 31: The Gleeks - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 32: The Bogies - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 33: Smashed Hits: All the Dinner Ladies (All the Single Ladies - Beyonce Knowles) - Paul Palmer
PG 34: Mailbag
PG 36: Advert: Dandy YouTube Channel/Dandy Website
PG 37: Korky the Cat (or should I say 'Xorky the Cat'?) - Phil Corbett
PG 38: Clown Wars - Nik Holmes
PG 39: Shorts: Rubbish Superheroes (B.O. Boy) - Garry Davies, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 92) - Wayne Thompson, Twit-ter - Nigel Auchterlounie, Jibber & Steve - Nigel Parkinson
PG 40: Puzzle: Korky's Wool Wars - Phil Corbett
PG 41: George VS Dragon - Andy Fanton
PG 42: Desperate Dan - Jamie Smart
PG 43: Next Week: (Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land, Rubbish Superheroes (The Incredible Guff), Justin Beaver, Pre-Skool Prime Minister and Little Ant and Dec)
PG 44: Back Page: Inside!(Pre-Skool Prime Minister, Desperate Dan, Clown Wars, The Arena of Awesome)

Review very soon

Wednesday 25 May 2011

The Dandy - Issue 3536

THE DANDY - ISSUE 3536


Let's try and revive my blog and go back to normal schedule shall we? Okay, this week's Dandy was incredible, from front to back this comic was beautiful, 44 pages of brilliance, what made it so brilliant? This is what:


PG 1: Front Cover: Pre-Skool Prime Minister - Jamie Smart
PG 2: Jokes (with Pre-Skool Prime Minister) - Jamie Smart
PG 3: What's Inside? (with guess who? That's right, Pre-Skool Prime Minister!) - Jamie Smart
PG 4: Pre-Skool Prime Minister - Jamie Smart 
PG 6: Harry and his Hippo - Andy Fanton
PG 8: Madvertisement: The Money Tree - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 9: Shorts: Britain's NOT got Talent - Karl Dixon, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 87) - Wayne Thompson, Freddy the Fearless Fly - Phil Corbett, Old MacDonald's Facebook Farm - Karl Dixon
PG 10: The Mighty Bork - Wayne Thompson (Au revior Bork!)
PG 12: Justin Beaver - Stu Munro
PG 13: Yore - The Etherington Brothers
PG 14: Bone-O - Mike Donaldson
PG 15: Sea Dogs - Steve Beckett NEW!
PG 16: Bananaman - Wayne Thompson 
PG 18: Puzzle: Get the Wind Up! - Steve Beckett
PG 19: Shorts: Not the Greatest Car Parker - Dave Mostyn, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 88) - Wayne Thompson, Knock! Knock! - Garry Davies, Britain's NOT got Talent - Karl Dixon
PG 20: Create a Comic: George VS Dragon - Andy Fanton
PG 21: Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land - Nigel Parkinson
PG 25: Competition: Make a Monster
PG 26: Clown Wars - Nik Holmes
PG 27: Smashed Hits: Pokerface - Unknown (Mark Bennington perhaps?) :/
PG 28: Puzzle: Gaz of the Titans: The Maze of the Golden Fleece - Nik Holmes
PG 29: Shorts: Saint Evils - Stephen Walker, Not the Greatest Cook - Dave Mostyn, Britain's NOT got Talent - Karl Dixon, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 89) - Wayne Thompson
PG 30: Dandy Subscription Page 
PG 31: The Gleeks - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 32: The Bogies (Hot Snot) - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 33: Madvertisement: 3D Comic - Nigel Auchterlounie (with a nice mention of Winker Watson and Greedy Pigg, hopefully a little clue to two characters returning! ;) )
PG 34: Mailbag 
PG 36: Advert: Dandy YouTube Channel, Dandy website
PG 37: Korky the Cat - Phil Corbett
PG 38: Puzzle: Gaz of the Titans: The Lair of Medusa - Nik Holmes
PG 39: Shorts: Terror Byte - David Banks, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 90) - Wayne Thompson, Britain's NOT got Talent - Karl Dixon, Jibber and Steve - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 40: George VS Dragon - Andy Fanton
PG 42: Desperate Dan - Jamie Smart
PG 43: Next Week (Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land, Bananaman, Korky the Cat, Worst Superheroes Ever!)
PG 44: Back Page: Continued Back Page (Desperate Dan, Harry and his Hippo, Dragon (from George VS Dragon), Little Eric (with Ant and Dec), Zeke, the Blue Blobs, The Foreign Thingy Man from PSPM and some Chef...)


ROUND UP:
TOTAL OF PAGES: 44
TOTAL OF COMIC STRIPS: 19
TOTAL OF COMIC STRIP PAGES: 27
TOTAL OF ADVERTS: 1
TOTAL OF DANDY RELATED STUFF (that's not a comic strip): 17



Not bad! :D


NEW/BRING BACK:
Harry and his Hippo
Pre-Skool Prime Minister
Terror Byte
Jibber and Steve


RATINGS:
PRE-SKOOL PRIME MINISTER - 10/10
Brilliant seeing it back and I really enjoyed, loved the drill bit! :D
HARRY AND HIS HIPPO - 10/10
Best story this week! Beautiful two pager by Andy with a fantastic storyline, loved the taking over bit with the title! Classic cartoon humour!
THE MIGHTY BORK - 9/10
Very sad to see it go, such a good strip, loved Corporal Clott and Colonel Grumbly's cameos, Wayne should seriously bring them back!
JUSTIN BEAVER - 9.5/10
Not enough cameos for me plus the story wasn't brilliant this week but still very high.
YORE - 8/10
Lovely artwork yet a poor storyline, what a shame.
BONE-O - 9/10
Quite liked it, nice story, reminded me of Foxy but with a dinosaur and a cockerel with an iPhone. 
SEA DOGS: 10/10
Beautiful, just beautiful, Steve has done a brilliant job!
BANANAMAN - 9.5/10
Not too heroic sadly but still funny story, I seriously thought the animal was hanged! ;)
HARRY HILL'S REAL LIFE ADVENTURES IN TV LAND - 9/10
God I hate that title. anyway not bad, felt it only needed to be 2 pages though with the speech bubbles.
CLOWN WARS - 10/10
YAYY!! Hurrah rah for guest appearances! Loved Desperate Dan Solo and the ending, brilliant!
THE GLEEKS - 10/10
So funny, thought I'd hate this strip but I LOVED IT!
THE BOGIES - 10/10
Ha ha! Love Hot Snot, love the innocent passenger, love Gobzilla, love the artwork. Brilliant stuff!
KORKY THE CAT - 9/10
Okay-ish. Korky looked a bit camp...
GEORGE VS DRAGON - 10/10
Two pages, lovely artwork, funny story, just brilliant. Very entertaining indeed!
DESPERATE DAN - 10/10
Aww bless... Poor Dan! Loved it! 


BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (Strip 1) - 5/5
SIMPLES! 101 WAYS TO USE A MEERKAT (No. 87) - 4/5
FREDDY THE FEARLESS FLY - 4.5/5
OLD MACDONALD'S FACEBOOK FARM - 3/5
NOT THE GREATEST CAR PARKER - 4/5
SIMPLES! 101 WAYS TO USE A MEERKAT (No. 88) - 5/5
KNOCK! KNOCK! - 3/5
BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (Strip 2) - 5/5
SAINT EVILS - 5/5
NOT THE GREATEST COOK - 4.5/5
BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (Strip 3) - 5/5
SIMPLES! 101 WAYS TO USE A MEERKAT (No. 89) - 5/5
TERROR BYTE - 5/5
SIMPLES! 101 WAYS TO USE A MEERKAT (No. 90) - 3/5
BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (Strip 4) - 5/5
JIBBER AND STEVE - 4.5/5


FREE GIFTS:
Mystery Gift (Mine was the Agent Dog 2 Zero's Kitty Hitter)
Haribos (Tangfastics) (Unlucky Rose! :( )


So yeah, end of the review. This week's was brilliant, you'd be a fool not to miss it!
The Dandy, 44 Page Mega Comic, £2.50, on sale now!

Tuesday 24 May 2011

The Phoenix Comic

It's looking very promising indeed, after the saddening fall of the DFC comic I believed it was all over for the company, and then this happens, a brand new comic named the Phoenix Comic, does it look good? We don't know yet, but I can say I love the logo!

The logo for the Phoenix Comic

It's claimed to be a humour/adventure comic which I quite like the sound of, I hope there's more humour than adventure but I doubt it. Anyway, here's a promotion poster for the comic which tells you a lot of info, a lot more than I can say! ;)

Ooh, poster!!
Four frame funnies eh? Maybe trying some mini strip stories like the Dandy? Not surprised really, they work like a charm, we have mini strips/shorts as well in the Wizzo!

The only thing that worries me is 'Real World Wonders', apparently this comic is non-fictional as well, that makes it surely more like a magazine! :O

Hopefully they'll use some old DFC comic strips as well as new ones, I'd love to see more of Fish Head Steve, Vern and Lettuce, Bodkin and Bear and Little Cutey. All brilliant strips!

Check out the Phoenix website for more information including a helpful comic blog!




Wednesday 18 May 2011

The Beano - Issue 3586

The Beano - Issue 3586
Sorry for the delay, tests, Wizzo and so on so yeah... Anyway, I'm back, that's good news isn't it?!

So, The Beano, first review in around 13 days or so. So, on with the review!

PG 1: Front Cover: Dennis and Gnasher - Barrie Appleby
(Incredibly poor compared to last week's. Looked like it was put together in 10 minutes...)
PG 2: Advert: Donkey Kong Country Returns
(1. 2 page advert. Yippee. -.- 2. DK Country Returns came out AGES ago, why advertise it now?!)
PG 4: Contents
PG 5: Dennis and Gnasher - Barrie Appleby
PG 8: Ratz - Hunt Emerson
PG 9: Advert: Beano Comic Maker Kit and Beano Summer Annual
PG 10: The Numskulls - Barry Glennard
PG 12: Minnie the Minx - Ken Harrison
PG 14: Meebo and Zuky - Laura Howell
PG 15: BSK Pull Out Cover
(1. What happened to 'BSK Fact File'? 2. Same picture now 3 weeks in a row...)
PG 16: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland
PG 18: Playground Pleasers
PG 19: Ball Boy - Dave Eastbury
(I don't care what the Beano Review say about Dave, he's one talented man.)
PG 20: Retro Beano: The Country Cuzzins - Hugh Morren
(Yippee! I've never heard of this strip! Nice choice because it's not one a lot of people had heard of.)
PG 21: Gimme! Gimme!
PG 22: Fred's Bed - David Sutherland
PG 24: Fred's Foul Facts
(Brilliant new title, looks fantastic! Only problem is it's a bit too big now meaning less facts....)
PG 25: Beano Subscription Page
PG 26: Billy Whizz - Nick Brennan
PG 27: Advert: LEGO Pharoh's Quest
PG 28: Roger the Dodger - Robert Nixon
(I'm sorry but what on earth. What was going on here? I'm very scared how Roger's feet are twisted around. O.o Also what's with the joke being a mirror image one, in other words 'flipped'?! Also doesn't take much to fool Roger's mum...)
PG 30: Gnasher's Bite - Jimmy Hansen
(Sadly not on the back cover, and why is that... Cos there's two frickin' adverts on the second to last and back page!!) >:(
PG 31: Advert: Donkey Kong Country Returns Puzzle
PG 32: Advert: Donkey Kong Country Returns

ROUND UP:

New part in my blog:

TOTAL OF PAGES: 32
TOTAL OF COMIC STRIPS: 12
TOTAL OF COMIC STRIP PAGES: 19
TOTAL OF ADVERTS: 6
TOTAL OF BEANO RELATED STUFF (that's not a comic strip): 8

The rest of my blog entry will be coming soon!

Sunday 1 May 2011

I've found another one!

Okay, you're probably wondering, 'what do you mean?' well, I can explain. 


On the Dandy Facebook Page, a kid by the name of Josh Champion posted 3 comic strips of past Dandy characters (which can be found here, here and here), I got in touch with him and soon he got a deviantART account, from here it was simple, after he uploaded some AMAZING artwork I asked whether he wanted to join the Wizzo, to which he basically replied yes. 


He got to work and started producing stories for a new comic strip which was originally just an adventure series of his own but then became a Wizzo story... Anyway, I'm now rambling on so I'll just get to the point... 


The first of Josh's strips is called 'Team Time', it's a brilliant strip which involves 3 kids, one from 1911 called Timothy (some humour having him in black and white unlike the rest of them!), one from the present day called Timmy and the final boy from the year 2111 called Tinny, all three are related and it's the same kid through different time periods. You can read the first and second strips here and here


The second strip is a combined effort between Josh and I, it's a short strip (soon we're having a third page of shorts for you! Ooh you lucky people!) anyway, Josh does the drawing and I write some of the scripts. So far there's been 3 Baldy strips with more on the way! You can read them here, here and here. It's basically about a man who's been very unfortunate to be named 'Baldy' by his parents, anyway, the strips show the good and bad things to being bald and his crazy adventures of trying to get hair and so on. Also as if that's not bad enough, he's soon introduced to the 'Bald Hate Club' who basically go after bald people. Poor, poor Baldy...


Anyway, that's about all for now, be sure to check out his devaintART page and follow him on his Twitter page, okay, that's about it so yeah, bye and stuff!



Saturday 30 April 2011

The Dandy - Issue 3532

The Dandy - Issue 3532
Hooray! Another brilliant Dandy! I look forward to this comic every week! :D


Okay, first of all I'll mention that this week's issue was the Royal Wedding Special (as was the Beano's), luckily it didn't cost us any extra. Anyway on with the contents:


PG 1: Front Cover: Bananaman! - Wayne Thompson
PG 2: Jokes - Jamie Smart
PG 3: What's Inside? (With Desperate Dan and Clown Wars) (Minigame: Find 3 Clowns in this week's issue)
PG 4: Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land - Nigel Parkinson
PG 6: Kid Cops - Lew Stringer
PG 7: Madvertisment: Commemomemomorative Happy Couple Confetti - Wayne Thompson
PG 8: The Mighty Bork - Wayne Thompson
PG 9: Shorts: Britain's NOT Got Talent - Karl Dixon, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 76) - Duncan Scott, Freddy the Fearless Fly - Phil Corbett, Thor - Andy Fanton
PG 10: Bananaman - Wayne Thompson 
PG 12: Justin Beaver - Stu Munro
PG 13: Yore - The Etherington Brothers
PG 14: Bone-O - Mike Donaldson
PG 15: Dress-up: The Royal Wedding Kit - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 16: The Arena of Awesome (Wizard VS Caveman) - Jamie Smart
PG 18: Puzzle: Dog Show - Phil Corbett
PG 19: Shorts: Grampire - Andy Fanton, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 77) - Duncan Scott, Thor - Andy Fanton, Britain's NOT got Talent - Karl Dixon
PG 20: Dandy Subscription Page
PG 21: Thingummyblob - Jamie Smart
PG 22: The Bogies (Slime Miner) - Nigel Auchterlounie 
PG 23: Mailbag
PG 24: Advert: Dandy's Youtube Channel/WWE Kids 
PG 25: Korky the Cat - Phil Corbett
PG 26: Clown Wars - Nik Holmes
PG 27: Madvertisement: Royal Wedding Memorabilia - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 28: Space Dogz - Nigel Auchterlounie
George VS Dragon - Andy Fanton
PG 29: Shorts: Thor - Andy Fanton, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 78) - Duncan Scott, Britain's NOT got Talent - Karl Dixon, Professor Dandy's World of Facts - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 30: George VS Dragon - Andy Fanton
PG 31: Next Time (Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land, Justin Beaver, Bone-O, Britain's NOT got Talent)
PG 32: Back Page: Desperate Dan - Jamie Smart


Okay, another great issue, I'm torn between George VS Dragon, Grampire, Justin Beaver, Arena of Awesome, The Mighty Bork, Thingummyblob and Bananaman on this one, they were all great! Other good strips included Thor, Space Dogz, The Bogies, Yore and surprisingly Harry Hill. Worst strip this week being either Korky the Cat, Freddy the Fearless Fly, Simples! or Bone-O. Kid Cops was pretty good as was Clown Wars and Britain's NOT got Talent...


RATINGS:


HARRY HILL'S REAL LIFE ADVENTURES IN TV LAND - 9/10
A very funny story surprisingly, really enjoyed it!


KID COPS - 9/10
A good storyline but I wasn't too keen on Lew's artwork this week.


THE MIGHTY BORK - 10/10
Okay, so it was basically the same as last week's but I really liked this week's! Some beautiful artwork once again by Wayne.


BANANAMAN - 10/10
Yippee! 2 pages of Bananaman! This is more like it, 1 pagers aren't very good, not enough action... Some lovely artwork by Wayne, absolutely beautiful in fact.


JUSTIN BEAVER - 10/10
The story was brilliant but once again the story wasn't the best bit, the fact that Justin Beaver is also a 'find the comic cameos' game just makes it brilliant, plus how much effort goes into each one! This week (with the help of Stu himself) I found Olly the Octopus from 'Desert Island Dick' (Topper), Dragon from 'George VS Dragon' (Dandy), A Dodge Book from 'Roger the Dodger' (Beano), Foxy (Topper) (I thought at first that it was Wolfy from Maw, Paw and Porky/Porky in the Beezer), a brilliant hidden cameo by Pop from 'Pop, Dick and Harry' (Beezer) as 'Mr Big, Boss of Records' and Rafael from 'Teenage Mutant Ninja/Hero Turtles' hiding under a drain. Brilliant stuff!


YORE - 9.5/10
Seemed to go on a bit but still a great strip, I love Doombar! :D


BONE-O - 7.5/10
One which seemed to cause a bit of confusion this week as no one seemed to understand why Mike had made the 'Hot Dog Man' become a flying dog. Still the artwork was lovely and I really like hsi style.


THE ARENA OF AWESOME - 10/10
Once again this week's was not promoted in any way whatsoever, yet it has become one of my most favourite AoA's since the strip began (The others being Mutant VS Shakespeare and Skater VS Knight (I also loved Simon Cowelly VS David Hasseldyhoff)) For some reason the last three panels make me laugh every time, I also love the line "You.. hit me. On my brilliant head." Also "No really, can I call my agent?" was also very funny. :D


THINGUMMYBLOB - 10/10
Grampire- Andy Fanton
BOBBLY WOBBLIES! WOBBLY BOBBLY BOO!! WOBBLE BOB!, BOOBLY WOOBLY! WOOBLE BOOBLE BLUB BLUB! Thingummyblob. I love you. Loved the lines "Darn you, Thingummyblob! YOU'RE a famous rock star and I'm sitting here eating cereal in my pants." and "HELLOOO!" I love this strip so much. <3


THE BOGIES - 9/10
I laughed at the bit with Prince Harry saying "Ha, ha! Marian!" Dunno why but I found that very funny. I found Nigel's artwork pretty poor this week, seemed quite rushed, especially Panels 12 and 13. 


KORKY THE CAT - 6/10
Oh dear. Phil, what have you done? This week's Korky was utterly dreadful. His artwork was okay-ish but to be honest, his artwork is quite poor, no charm about it, and as for the joke at the end, was it even funny? Phil's scrawly, rushed handwriting also ruins this strip making it basically impossible to read. I had to strain my eyes to read parts of it. And I hate to say it, but Korky was better as a mini strip.


CLOWN WARS - 8/10
Didn't really seem to be a joke or anything of the sort at the end... I liked the 'Johnson and his stinky feet' joke, nice humour here. I love the clown with green hair's face in Panel 4. Looks awesome!


SPACE DOGZ - 9/10
I'm really enjoying Space Dogz! There's hardly ever a joke at the end but the bits in between are the best, I mean The Kid asking why there's a 'Z' in space Dogz is brilliant and how while Mr Jack is looking for the bounty hunter, The Kid and Captain Cat-tastic just discuss why there's a 'Z' in Space Dogz and why it sounds cool than 'S'. I love the line "So how come we're not the Zpace Dogz then?" very funny and good logic! Also I really like the dialogue boxes with the pictures of the next to it, a really good idea! Also Nigel's artwork for this is brilliant, so much detail and charm about it.


GEORGE VS DRAGON - 10/10
Oh dear George, you are an idiot aren't you? This week's George VS Dragon was genius, the artwork, the storyline, the details, everything was brilliant. Best lines were defintely "Morning George, who are you talking to, eh?" and "Fetch the royal plasters!", only thing that saddened me about this week's was that we didn't see Dave the Squirrel or Wirlin, both of which I have really grown to like! Also I love 'Ye List', "Ye Prince's bride (commoner)", "Ye other Prince", "Mr A. Fanton" and "Mr D. Dan" were all very funny! :D


DESPERATE DAN - 9/10
It was okay, wasn't very funny if I'm honest, didn't have Jamie's randomness. Still nice artwork!
Korky the Cat - Phil Corbett
Failed to impress me this week.


BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (STRIP 1) - 5/5
I really liked this one, nice, cartoony artwork and a good storyline.


SIMPLES! 101 WAYS TO USE A MEERKAT (No.76) - 4/5
Not bad, an okay idea but the artwork was pretty poor.


FREDDY THE FEARLESS FLY - 2/5
For goodness sake, the same storyline ONCE AGAIN (Freddy does tricks, person says there's a fly on my ____ ) it's getting to samey, Phil's Freddy is an embarrassment.  


THOR (STRIP 1) - 5/5
So funny, I was in stitches. Andy's sense of humour is great, just shows you don't need a bad pun to make a comic strip funny. You just need good humour.


GRAMPIRE - 5/5
I love this oldie! He looks really sweet and awesome, all his stories are funny plus he's a vampire past his sell by date! What's not to love about that?! Andy once again amazes me! :)


SIMPLES! 10 WAYS TO USE A MEERKAT (No. 77) - 1/5
I didn't like it. At all. Nuff said.


Thor - Andy Fanton
THOR (STRIP 2)- 4/5 
Nice artwork but I don't like puns. Sorry Andy.


BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (STRIP 2) - 2/5
I didn't get it at all. What the hell was going on?!


THOR (STRIP 3) - 5/5
Very funny, not as good as the first one but still great! :D


SIMPLES! 101 WAYS TO USE A MEERKAT - 3/5
ANIMAL CRUELTY! I did not understand this one at all.


BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (STRIP 3) - 5/5
Very funny. I really liked this one, some nice, cartoony artwork once again by Karl Dixon. Plus a funny joke, excellent!


PROFESSOR DANDY'S WORLD OF FACTS - 3/5
Well, it's nice to see its return but that's about it, this week's story didn't make any sense to me. 


So there you have it, another fantastic issue! You'll be a fool not to get it!


Royal Wedding Kit - Nigel Auchterlounie
The Dandy- Issue 3532, The Royal Wedding Special, on sale now for only £1.50!

Friday 29 April 2011

The Beano - Issue 3583

Okay, so this week is that week that there's some wedding going on in London which has made a lot of publicity. Anyway, this week's Beano has made the Royal Wedding Special for this week (As have the Dandy) but luckily it's only £1.50!


Anyway, if I'm right, this week saw the switch of editors from Alan Digby to Mike Stirling, now, I'm not impressed. The Beano have fallen into a trap here and it's not looking good. Usually along with new editors comes new characters, however this time, Mike hasn't added any new characters, instead, more magazine-based stuff. Not a good move. Look how it went for the Dandy Xtreme.


So anyway, there are lots of new things this week which I doubt anyone really gives one about. We have:
- Fred's Foul Facts
(Basically Horrible Histories with Fred telling us facts about the place he went this week, boring!)
- Roger's Dodge Diary
(So boring. Why not have Dodge Clinic there instead?!)
- B.S.K Pull Out
(Comprises of front cover (Fact File), BSK story and Jokes. That's it.)
- Year of the Menace
(Seems to of replaced Beano V.I.P. (Thank goodness!) but still it's bad.)
- Jokes at the bottom of Dennis and Gnasher
(That's right. Dennis and Gnasher has been made smaller in order to add rubbish jokes. Great.)
- Roger's in reprints
(Once again Roger is back to reprints, not looking good. And annoyingly, it's one I've already read. It's quite old by the look of it, definitely by Rob Nixon and around the 1980's as the story is a page and a half (The other used to be Dodge Clinic but is now Roger's Dodge Diary)


But bar all this, something good has come out of it! New borders and page number pictures!
Okay so they're not really that exciting to most people but to me, this is brilliant!
Dennis has a tomato, The Numskulls has a signpost (?), Billy Whizz has himself running, Minnie has a red and black striped border and a beret, Meebo and Zuky have a bomb, Ball Boy has a grassy border and a football, Retro Beano has a mushroom, Fred's Bed has a time vortex border and tentacles , Roger has a red and black checked border and Gnasher's Bite has a dog bowl.
It's brilliant, it looks amazing and I love how each page has it's own picture! It's these little details that make comics fantastic!


Also another great thing is that BFG (Britain's Funniest Gag has seemed to disappear! Instead replaced with Playground Pleasers (BSK Pull Out) most likely.


Anyway. Onto the contents.


PG 1: Front Cover: Dennis and Gnasher with Will and Kate - Barrie Appleby
PG 2: Contents
PG 3: Dennis and Gnasher - Barrie Appleby
PG 6: Year of the Menace NEW!
PG 7: Beano Subscription Page
PG 8: The Numskulls - Barry Glennard
PG 10: Billy Whizz - Nick Brennan
PG 11: Advert: Beano Summer Annual (I really want it!!)
PG 12: Minnie the Minx - Ken Harrison
PG 14: Meebo and Zuky - Laura Howell
B.S.K PULL OUT
PG 15: Fact File: Fatty
PG 16: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland
PG 18: Playground Pleasers
PG 19: Ball Boy - Dave Eastbury
PG 20: Advert: Fantastic Pets
PG 22: Fred's Bed - Tom Paterson
PG 24: Fred's Foul Facts
PG 25: Gimme, Gimme!
PG 26: Retro Beano: Dennis the Menace - Davey Law
PG 28: Roger the Dodger - Robert Nixon REPRINT ALERT!
PG 29: Roger's Dodge Diary
PG 30: Advert: The Dandy: Kid Cops - Lew Stringer
PG 31: Next Week
PG 32: Back Page: Gnasher's Bite - Jimmy Hansen


What a fantastic issue for stories, Gnasher's Bite was great, love that strip. Minnie the Minx was brilliant, very funny! Also loved Ball Boy, Meebo and Zuky and The Numskulls, Roger was also very good despite being a reprint. Billy Whizz and Dennis were both very good as well. The worst story this week was The Bash Street Kids without a doubt. Fred's Bed was also okay but the pun was terrible.


RATINGS!


DENNIS AND GNASHER - 10/10
A nice story with some brilliant artwork, quite a bit of menacing, Panel 9 being brilliant!


THE NUMSKULLS - 9/10
This is more like it! A great strip which is also backed up by Barry's brilliant artwork!


BILLY WHIZZ - 9/10
I liked it, a nice idea which seemed original enough. Also some good artwork by Nick as well.


MINNIE THE MINX - 10/10
Brilliant, just brilliant. Seemed like a classic. The story is well-written plus Ken once again amazes me with his beautiful artwork.


MEEBO AND ZUKY - 9/10
I only had one problem with this weeks... I swear on the 'Next Time' from the previous issue, Zuky is falling from a biplane yet there's no biplane in this one.


BASH STREET KIDS - 7/10
What's happened? Where's the menacing, the naughtiest thing they do this week is a cartwheel.


BALL BOY - 10/10
We've had a story like this before where Ball Boy is being bullied by some rough kids, then the netball girls help him then he goes into the wrong changing room. It's basically the same but I liked it.


FRED'S BED - 9/10
It was all good, until the end, a brilliant piece of work with amazing artwork once again by Tom, yet the ending ruined it.


ROGER THE DODGER - 8/10
Removed 1 whole mark for it being a reprint. As much as I love Rob's artwork and rather have new stuff by Barrie.


GNASHER'S BITE - 10/10
I loved it. Very good. A great strip.


The Beano - Issue 3583, the Royal Wedding Special, on sale now for only £1.50.

Wednesday 27 April 2011

The Dandy - Issue 3531

1 week has gone and I haven't done my Dandy review yet?! I'm sorry comic fans!


Anyway, I'm going to refer to it like it was this week's if that's okay with you... Anyway...


So, a brilliant issue, this week's was another brilliant 44 pager and was also not only the Easter Special but also known as the Fanton Special as well as Andy does rather a lot in this week's issue!!


So, on with the contents!


PG 1: Front Cover - Bananaman - Wayne Thompson
PG 2: Jokes - Jamie Smart
PG 3: What's Inside? (With Rocky O'Flair - Wayne Thompson)
PG 4: Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land - Nigel Parkinson
PG 6: The Mighty Bork - Wayne Thompson
PG 7: Madvertisement: Madbury's Chrome Egg - Andy Fanton
PG 8: Kid Cops - Lew Stringer
PG 9: Shorts: Springwatch - Andy Fanton NEW!, Britain's NOT got Talent - Karl Dixon, Mad March Hare - Andy Fanton NEW!, The Eggheads - Nigel Auchterlounie NEW!
PG 10: Puzzle: Is your Teacher an Alien? - Duncan Scott
PG 11: Advert: Beyblade (I played with them when I was a little 'un!!) :D
PG 12: Bone-O - Mike Donaldson
PG 13: Clown Wars - Nik Holmes
PG 14: The Bogies: Double Blow Seven - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 15: Smashed Hits - Unknown
PG 16: The Arena of Awesome (Beano Editor: Mike 'First Strike' Stirling VS 'Crushin' Craig Graham) - Jamie Smart
PG 18: Yore - The Etherington Brothers
PG 19:  Shorts: Springwatch - Andy Fanton, Britain's NOT got Talent - Karl Dixon, The Eggheads - Nigel Auchterlounie, Mad March Hare - Andy Fanton
PG 20: Puzzle: Hoff-MAZE-ing!
PG 21: Justin Beaver - Stu Munro
PG 22: What's Inside the Dandy Office - Dave Mostyn
(Pull out: Stickers - Jamie Smart)
PG 24: Competition: Make me a Monster - Lorenzo Etherington
PG 25: Bananaman - Wayne Thompson
PG 29: Shorts: Springwatch - Andy Fanton, Britain's NOT got Talent - Karl Dixon, Mad March Hare - Andy Fanton, The Eggheads - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 30: Advert: Dandy Website and WWE Kids
PG 31: Cel-EGG-brity Easter Eggs - Nigel Parkinson
PG 32: Little David Hasselhoff - Nigel Parkinson
PG 33: Korky the Cat - Phil Corbett
PG 34: Thingummyblob - Jamie Smart 
PG 36: Dandy Subscription Page
PG 37: Space Dogz - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 38: Puzzle: Messi Bedroom - Chris McGhie
PG 39: Shorts: Springwatch - Andy Fanton, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 75) - Duncan Scott, Mad March Hare - Andy Fanton, Britain's NOT got Talent - Karl Dixon
PG 40: Farm-ula One - Wayne Thompson
PG 41: Mailbag
PG 42: George VS Dragon - Andy Fanton
PG 43: Next Week (Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land, Thingummyblob, Thor NEW!, Royal Wedding Kit, Justin Beaver)
PG 44: Desperate Dan - Jamie Smart


Okay, a really good issue, my favourite being a toss between Bananaman, Springwatch, George VS Dragon, Desperate Dan and Thingummyblob which were all fantastic, the worst this week was probably The Bogies and Eggheads, with Smashed Hits also failing to impress me once again. 


RATINGS:


1 PAGE OR MORE:


HARRY HILL'S REAL LIFE ADVENTURES IN TV LAND - 7/10
I didn't find it funny at all and found it very boring.
THE MIGHTY BORK - 9/10
Lovely to see his return after his sad absence last week. Seemed good enough, Easter related and a nice story.
MADVERTISEMENT (CHROME EGG) - 9.5/10
Some lovely humour here, loved the whale bit! Beautiful artwork by Andy Fanton as well!
KID COPS - 9/10
I liked it, wasn't too funny but it was drawn nicely and it was a nice idea, modernised as well.
BONE-O - 9.5/10
It's awkward, I love the artwirk, it looks professional, but for some reason there's something I don't like abotu this strip...
CLOWN WARS - 9/10
It was okay, not some of Nik's better pieces of artwork. Also I don't like the use of the 'Splat' so much plus how tacky it looks.
THE BOGIES - 5/10
Oh dear. And it was doing so well. Possibly the worst Bogies strip since the revamp. The artwork was rushed, the story wasn't at all funny and it just seemed boring and bad.
THE ARENA OF AWESOME - 8/10
After a massive build-up, this is what we get, a boring fight with hardly any references towards the comic, I was at least hoping to see some Beano and Dandy characters fighting. Seems when they show the AoA in the Next Week and promote it, it's bad, when they don't, it's good.
YORE - 8/10
Nice artwork, beautiful in fact, but this was the only thing good about this week's episode.
JUSTIN BEAVER - 10/10
Ah, finally a 10/10! I loved it, from all the comic cameos up to hidden references, I know when I see a good strip and this was one of 'em!
BANANAMAN - 10/10
4 pages of brilliance, Wayne Thompson, thank you for treating us! The Banker and Fta Cat are brilliant, I hope to see them back, also fantastic to see the return of Chief O'Reilly!
LITTLE DAVID HASSELHOFF - 9.5/10
Funny, nicely drawn (apart from his nose, it doesn't look right!), some nice comedy as well, yet another great Little Celebs strip!
KORKY THE CAT - 7/10
I don't like his artwork, it looks rushed and his speech bubbles are so hard to read, the story wasn't too good either.
THINGUMMYBLOB - 10/10
JEHHHHHHHLLYY!! Jamie Smart, you're a genius. A true genius. This week's Thingummyblob was both funny and touching, panels 10 and 18 made me feel sorry for him, this is what makes Jamie so brilliant, he can make the readers feel emotions for his characters, he's brilliant.
SPACE DOGZ - 9/10
I liked it. Some nice artwork by Nigel A, not as rushed and looks like more thought has gone into it.  At the moment I'm loving Space Dogz!
FARM-ULA ONE - 7/10
Urrrrgghhh. Last one, thank goodness. Well. It wasn't bad, I'll give it that and Wayne's artwork makes it look a lot better. But it was still a poor strip story-wise.
GEORGE VS DRAGON - 10/10
Oh man, this strip is hilarious! So glad it has returned, love the bit with Pat! Also a lovely appearance again from Dave the Squirrel as well as Wirlin, yippee!
DESPERATE DAN - 10/10
To the FUTURRRRRR!! This was brilliant, great artwork, very funny and I loved all the 'FUTURRRRRR' bits!


SHORTS:


SPRINGWATCH (STRIP 1) - 5/5
BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (STRIP 1) - 4/5
MAD MARCH HARE (STRIP 1) - 4/5
THE EGGHEADS (STRIP 1) - 2/5
SPRINGWATCH (STRIP 2) - 5/5
BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (STRIP 2) - 5/5
THE EGGHEADS (STRIP 2) - 2/5
MAD MARCH HARE (STRIP 2) - 4/5
SPRINGWATCH (STRIP 3)- 5/5
BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (STRIP 3)- 3/5
MAD MARCH HARE (STRIP 3) - 5/5
THE EGGHEADS (STRIP 3) - 2/5
SPRINGWATCH (STRIP 4) - 5/5
SIMPLES! 101 WAYS TO USE A MEERKAT (NO. 75) - 4/5
MAD MARCH HARE (STRIP 4) - 3/5
BRITAIN'S NOT GOT TALENT (STRIP 4) - 5/5


So there we have it, once again very sorry for not doing this blog entry before! 
Anyway, The Dandy - Issue 3531, NOT on sale now for £2.50!

Saturday 23 April 2011

What's that comin' over the hill?

IT'S A DINOSAUR!


Why's he here? Why that's simple, to spread the news of my best friend's new blog!


That's right, after long last, Hannes has now got his own blog. You can view it in all it's dinosaury brilliance right HERE!


You know you want to click it!


Please make him feel welcome to blogging by following is fantastic blog; I'm sure he'd like that very much!


So, why are you still on here? Check out his brand new blog right now! :D

Thursday 21 April 2011

And the winner is....

Okay. This is very late but I forgot to post it so yeah...

Anyway the winner of the Strictly Come Laughing competition is...



DRUMROLL PLEASE









Harry and his Hippo by Andy Fanton!! :D

So hooray! More of the classic return of the crazy duo! 

Commiserations to Daredevil Dad, Tag Team Tastic and Phil's Finger...

Can't wait to see them back in the comic! :D










The Beano - Issue 3582

Well, it's that time again, the new comics are out and I'm writing a review on them! Fun stuff... ;)
Anyway, this week's Beano has a tie in with the return of Doctor Who so it seems from the front cover!

PG 1: Front Cover - Dennis and Gnasher fighting the Dal-eggs! - Barrie Appleby
PG 2: Contents
PG 3: Dennis and Gnasher - Barrie Appleby
PG 6: Meebo and Zuky - Laura Howell
PG 7: WIN! Beyblades
PG 8: The Numskulls - Barry Glennard
PG 10: Billy Whizz - Nick Brennan
PG 11: Advertisement: Beano Summer Annual
PG 12: Minnie the Minx - Ken Harrison
PG 14: Ball Boy - Dave Eastbury (with a wonderful grassy border around it!)
PG 15: Advertisement: Dolphins or something...
PG 16: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland
PG 18: Beano V.I.P.
PG 20: Game: Beat the Eggy-Invaders
PG 21: WIN! Moshi Monsters and Rips Ice
PG 22: Fred's Bed - Tom Paterson
PG 24: BFG (Britain's Funniest Gag)
PG 25: Beano Subscription Page
PG 26: Beano Retro: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland
PG 28: Roger the Dodger - Barrie Appleby WARNING! REPRINT ALERT! WARNING!
PG 30: Puzzle: Escape from the Empire Scrimp Building
PG 31: Next Time
PG 32: 60 Second Dennis - Nigel Parkinson

Okay, first, let's make it clear... Last week the Beano made a massive deal about Gnasher having a new strip called Gnasher's Bit(e), yet this week, it wasn't there. Now why should they make a big deal out of it and then not have it in the next issue. That's just stupid.

Anyway, not a bad issue but in my opinion way to many boring competitions, puzzles and adverts... Is this really what kids want to read? Throughout this whole issue, there are no stories that both feature on a double page... You have a one page story, then an advert or some other non-comic thing.

Once again, screw the roster. Because this week there's definitely not the whole lot there.

This week had no Ivy the Terrible, The 3 Bears, Calamity James, Super School, Ratz, Beano Manga or Lord Snooty the Third. To be honest, The 3 Bears and Calamity James haven't appeared in ages and Beano Manga has supposedly ended along with Ivy the Terrible.

Has anyone realised that since Issue 3578, all the front covers have some reference to either a celebrity, a TV show or an event? 3578 had Formula 1, 3579 had Wrestlemania, 3580 had Barack Obama, 3581 had Lego and now 3582 has Doctor Who. Why must they do this? Next week's will probably have some reference to the Royal Wedding. When will this end?!

Anyway... Time for the ratings....

RATINGS:

Dennis and Gnasher - 9.5/10
A brilliant piece by Barrie, some fantastic artwork and an entertaining read, I liked his Dal-eggs a lot, but the one thing that bugged me was this strip lacked menacing, he uses his catapult but as defence, not as attacking or menacing.
Meebo and Zuky - 10/10
The beginning made me laugh already with Meebo's German and the repeating in Panels 1 and 2 with a few changes. The strip on a whole was planned well. Some nice violent comedy here.
The Numskulls - 10/10
This is a lot better than previous week's. No stupid comments made at the end. A funny story. Some good facts and same good artwork. Let's hope the Numskulls carries on at this standard.
Billy Whizz - 10/10
Very funny, nice storyline here with some fantastic, cartoony artwork by Nick Brennan, however I felt the gnome should have been a cameo of the 80's strip Gordon Gnome. That would've been some nice hidden detail.
Minnie the Minx - 8/10
Urrrgh. Such a good storyline until the end. Why does Teacher feel the need to say that comment and why does it end so sweetly. Minnie's meant to be a minx not a child who helps out her class.
Ball Boy - 10/10
This strip was brilliant. I loved the artwork, I find Dave Eatsbury's artwork remarkable. Only one thing ruined this for me. Th old lady's comment at the end. Why was that needed?!
The Bash Street Kids - 10/10
Brilliant stuff, also nice seeing the swot back after a long absence. This strory has a classic feel to it, the artwork also feels classic.
Fred's Bed - 10/10
Funny stuff. Some beautiful artwork by Tom here. I loved the ending!
Roger the Dodger - 9/10
I hate reprints. I absolutely hate them. Why? Becaue I've already read them!! I love the checkered border, they should keep doing this, reprint or not...
60 Second Dennis - 9.5/10
I liked the ending however there was hardly any menacing. Still a brilliant story!

So overall, not bad, certainly not amazing either...
This issue is the Easter special. But hardly any of the strips were Easter related.
Dennis and Gnasher - Easter related
Meebo and Zuky - Not Easter related
Billy Whizz - Not Easter related
Minnie the Minx -Kind of Easter related...
Ball Boy - Not Easter related
The Bash Street Kids - Not Easter related
Fred's Bed - Not Easter related
Retro Beano - Easter related
Roger the Dodger - Not Easter related
60 Second Dennis - Not Easter related

Anyway. The Beano Easter Special is on sale now at £2.50. Buy it or something...

Tuesday 19 April 2011

If the Beano and Dandy did merge.

Okay, copied from Jonathan Barham's blog, here is my idea for a merge. See the original be Jonathan here!


Okay...


PG 1: Front Cover: Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
The start of a comic strip continued on the back.
ART: Tom Paterson, Jimmy Hansen, Barrie Appleby
PG 2: What's Inside?
Same as the Dandy but with a whole contents and a hide 'n' seek styled game in the comic by Jamie Smart featuring Chaffies!
PG 3: Desperate Dan - Jamie Smart
PG 5: Billy Whizz - Nick Brennan
PG 6: Bananaman - Wayne Thompson/Chris McGhie
PG 8: Minnie the Minx - Laura Howell/Steve Beckett
PG 9: The Carrotty Kid - Andy Fanton
PG 10: Biffo the Bear - Jay Townsend/Andy Fanton
PG 11: Korky the Cat - Phil Corbett
PG 12: Harry and his Hippo - Andy Fanton
PG 13: Boo - Andy Fanton
PG 14: Kid Cops - Lew Stringer
PG 15: Shorts: Grampire - Andy Fanton, Jibber and Steve - Nigel Auchterlounie,  Justin Beaver - Stu Munro, Big Eggo - David Sutherland
PG 16: Pre-Skool Prime Minister - Jamie Smart
PG 18: Doctor Loo - Duncan Scott
PG 19: Meebo and Zuky - Laura Howell
PG 20: Postman Prat - Lew Stringer
PG 21: Ball Boy - Dave Eastbury
PG 22: Pigwhale - Jay Townsend NEW!*
PG 23: Johnny Bean from Happy Bunny Green - Laura Howell
PG 24: The Arena of Awesome - Jamie Smart
PG 26: Gnasher's Tale - Barrie Appleby/Peter Piper - Nick Brennan
PG 27: Marvo the Wonder Chicken - Nigel Parkinson
PG 28: Winker Watson - Steve Beckett
PG 29: Super School - Lew Stringer
PG 30: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland
PG 32: Shorts: The Not-so-Secret Millionaire - Laura Howell, Twit-ter - Nigel Auchterlounie, Off the Vine - Peter Player, Ping the Elastic Man - Barrie Appleby
PG 33: Little Plum - Hunt Emerson
PG 34: Fred's Bed - Tom Paterson
PG 36: Ivy the Terrible - Diego Jourdan
PG 38: Billy the Cat - Steve Beckett
PG 40: Agent Dog 2 Zero - Wayne Thompson
PG 42: Yore - The Etherington Brothers
PG 43: Robot on the Run - Alexander Matthews
PG 44: Roger the Dodger - Barrie Appleby
PG 46: The Mighty Bork - Wayne Thompson
PG 47: Shorts: The Awesome Alphabet - Jay Townsend NEW!*, The Stynx Effect - Chris McGhie, New Character - Nik Holmes, The Last Windbender - Karl Dixon
PG 48: George VS Dragon - Andy Fanton
PG 49: Next Time
PG 50: Back Page: Dennis the Menace and Gnasher -Tom Paterson, Jimmy Hansen, Barrie Appleby


EDIT!


* - Jay Townsend is a talented artist who's made some brilliant stories which he hopes will appear in the Dandy, these being the brilliant Pigwhale (1,2,3,4,5,6), Awesome Animal Alphabet (1,2,3), the 'had potential but could only think up one story': Bobzilla and classic return of Brassneck (more on that in all good time!) He also makes more grown-up comic strips like Trashfield and the brilliant Jip!


FREE GIFT!
Beezer and Topper mini mag (inside comic, not pull out.)
PG 1: Front Cover - Ginger - Nick Brennan
PG 2: Contents and Desert Island Dick
PG 3: Beryl the Peril - Laura Howell
PG 4: Adrian the Barbarian - Andy Fanton
PG 6: The Numskulls - Barry Glennard
PG 8: Sting - Jimmy Hansen
PG 9: Geezer - Barrie Appleby
PG 10: The Banana Bunch - Tom Paterson
PG 12: Send for Kelly - Mike Pearse
PG 14: Back Page: Baby Crockett - Jamie Smart


Finished. What's yours? :)

Thursday 14 April 2011

The Dandy - Issue 3530

The Dandy - Issue 3530
Just amazing, this comic is beautiful. Long may it last. :)

PG 1: Front Cover - (DESPERATE DAN!! - Jamie Smart)
PG 2: Jokes (It's awkward how Jak, Todd, Cuddles and Dimples all appear even though they no longer feature... Also the Mighty Bork and Korky the Cat which obviously don't fit in at all.)
PG 3: What's Inside? (With the Dandy Editor - Wayne Thompson)
PG 4: Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land - Nigel Parkinson
PG 6: Desperate Dan - Jamie Smart
PG 7: Madvertisement: The Hofficial Hoff Fan Club - Chris McGhie
PG 8: Kid Cops - Lew Stringer
Draw Awesome! - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 9: Shorts: Britain's Not Got Talent - Karl Dixon NEW!, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 71) - Duncan Scott, Freddy the Fearless Fly - Phil Corbett, Jibber and Steve - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 10: Create a Comic (Korky the Cat - Phil Corbett)
PG 11: How not to run a Marathon - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 12: Bone-O - Unknown NEW!
PG 13: Clown Wars - Nik Holmes
PG 14: The Bogies (Optimus Slime) - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 15: Smashed Hits - Unknown
PG 16: The Arena of Awesome (Simon Cowell VS David Hasseldyhoff!!) - Jamie Smart
PG 18: Yore - The Etherington Brothers
PG 19:  Shorts: Britain's Not Got Talent - Karl Dixon, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 71) - Duncan Scott, Twitter - Nigel Auchterlounie IT'S BACK!, Grampire - Andy Fanton
PG 20: Puzzle Page: Korky's Fun Fishing Page - Phil Corbett
PG 21: Justin Beaver - Stu Munro
PG 22: The London Marafun! - David Mostyn
ADDED STUFF! (Bananaman Poster and Make your own Dan and Korky!)
PG 24: Competition: Make me a Monster (for Yore)
PG 25: Bananaman - Wayne Thompson
They're back!
George VS Dragon -Andy Fanton
PG 29: Shorts: Britain's Not Got Talent - Karl Dixon, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 71) - Duncan Scott, Nibbles - Unknown, Terror Byte - David Banks
PG 30: Advertisement - The Dandy Website and WWE Kids
PG 31: Little Cheryl Tweedy/Cole - Nigel Parkinson
PG 32: Draw Awesome! - Nigel Auchterlounie (It really is awesome!)
PG 33: Korky the Cat - Phil Corbett
PG 34: Thingummyblob - Jamie Smart (HATS!!)
PG 36: Dandy Subscription Page
PG 37: George VS Dragon - Andy Fanton THEY'RE BACK!
PG 38: Puzzle Page: The Bogey-blocked Nazal-Maze! - Hunt Emerson
PG 39: Shorts: Britain's Not Got Talent - Karl Dixon, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 71) - Duncan Scott, Knock! Knock! - Garry Davies NEW!, Newsblast - Wayne Thompson IT'S BACK!
PG 40: Farm-ula One - Wayne Thompson
PG 41: Mailbag
PG 42: Space Dogz - Nigel Auchterlounie NEW!
PG 43: Next Time (Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land, Springwatch NEW!, Hoff-tacular stuff, Is your teacher an alien? And the big 'un, The Arena of Awesome - Beano Editor (Mike 'First Strike' Stirling VS Dandy Editor ('Crushin' Craig Graham))
PG 44: BACK PAGE: Desperate Dan -Jamie Smart

Space Dogz (The Space Dogz of Space) - Nigel Auchterlounie
RATINGS:

Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land - 9/10
There's an simple reason why I surprisingly liked this week's Harry Hill, because it has something to do with Come Fly with Me and I actually got the jokes...
Desperate Dan - 10/10
Jamie once again amazes us with another fantastic Desperate Dan story, this time about his beloved, lost teddy bear Mister Boo-Boo. It truly is fantastic!
Madvertisement - 9/10
The Dandy go Hoff mad this issue, this madvertisement is hilarious! Plus we also get some beautiful artwork thrown in by Chris McGhie.
Bone-O - Unknown
Kid Cops - 8/10
It was all okay up to the end, the pun was pretty poor and to be honest, the Kid Cops didn't really help that much...
How NOT to run a Marathon - 9/10
Very funny, my favourite parts being 1 and 4, some nice artwork by Nigel A as well.
Bone-O - 8/10
Well, there was no humour that's for sure... But I like the artwork a lot plus it looks really professional!
Clown Wars - 10/10
So funny, Clown Wars is fantastic as a one page story, the story goes on for longer and it's a lot more funnier!
The Bogies - 9/10
Absolutely bonkers, some great humour as well with Nick Clegg in a teapot and really small, great stuff by Nigel!
Smashed Hits - 6/10
What a waste of a page. Good use of rhyming and took some skill but it was really, really boring.
The Arena of Awesome - 10/10
So funny, David Hasseldyhoff was great with his speech about UHMERIKA*, loved the ending as well, Jamie you are a genius.
The Arena of Awesome - Jamie Smart
* - America ;)
Yore - 10/10
Hee hee! Real ladies go SQUISH! Doombar, you are a genius. I loved this week's, easpecially Doombar's fantastic comments and the funny stuff he does! Plus Lorenzo's artwork is outstanding as always.
Justin Beaver - 10/10
What is there not to love about this strip? You have a great storyline, funny jokes (The Award for song with 'Love' in it somewhere was hilarious!) and you also have a mini find the Dandy/Topper characters game! Have you found all 3? I have with the help of the brilliant Stu Munro himself! See if you can find them, there's Beryl the Peril, Korky the Cat and Marvo the Wonder Chicken in this week's!
The London Marafun - 8/10
Some brilliant artwork here by David Mostyn but sadly because of the poster in the middle, it's hard to read and play...
Bananaman - 10/10
Absolutely brilliant, give a pat on the back to the genius I thought we deserved four pages of the silly superhero! Right at the beginning we're already in for a laugh with the table tennis gag, Wayne's art in this one is also incredible, a lot of hard work and time has gone into this strip, Wayne is the king of facial expressions! There's some more great humour including the Pong going on in his brain and the utterly hilarious guide dog bit! The Louis Spence statue is very funny and Fat Cat and the Banker are fantastic looking villains, plus it's a continued strip! Yippee!
Little Cheryl - 8/10
The 'Tweedy/Cole' joke is very funny but that's about it, Nigel's artwork isn't amazing in this strip plus what is up with Little Simon's eyelashes?! O.o
Draw Awesome! - 10/10
"Yeah! Box body!!" This strip is fantastic, Nigel does a great job with this one, his quick and loose and that's what's so great about it! A great way to show something which is incredibly boring to do!
Korky the Cat - 9/10
Desperate Dan - Jamie Smart
Nice story, quite funny, nice squid gag and some good facial expressions, plus you gotta love Korky one pagers!
Thingummyblob - 10//10
HATS!! So funny, Thingummyblob is adorable, I just want to hug him! Whatsidoodle is also great and I love the picture of Thingummyblob as a hat on Whatsidoodle's head! Jamie has done an amazing job with this one, will somebody please give Jamie a knighthood!
George VS Dragon - 10/10
Of course it gets 10/10, they're back, yippee!! Gosh I've missed 'em, in fact I missed 'em so much I drew a picture of them to celebrate their return (See below)! Also, I loved the 'Delightfully Civil Snowman'!
Farm-ula One - 9/10
Some great jokes here with the steakhouse bit and Michael Moo-macher. Also liked the idea of having a Red Bull as a racer!
Space Dogz - 8.5/10
Hmm, not bad but certainly not fantastic, this strip lacked something, not sure what though... I liked the artwork though and the idea of using the characters' heads next to the speech bubbles, nice idea!
Desperate Dan - 10/10
I loved this, everything about it is fantastic, from the battery of the mobile phone to the adorable mountain pig, this strip was fantastic!

SHORTS RATINGS!

Britain's NOT got Talent (Strip 1) - 5/5
Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No.71) - 3/5
Grampire - Andy Fanton
Freddy the Fearless Fly - 4/5
Jibber and Steve - 4/5
Britain's NOT got Talent (Strip 2) - 5/5
Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No.72) - 2/5
Twitter - 5/5
Grampire - 5/5
Britain's NOT got Talent (Strip 3) - 4/5
Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No.73) - 5/5
Nibbles - 4/5
Terror Byte - 5/5
Britain's NOT got Talent (Strip 4) - 5/5
Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No.74) - 5/5
Knock! Knock! - 4/5
Newsblast - 5/5

And here's the picture I did for the return of George VS Dragon, coming soon to Andy's blog!

I DREW THIS!!

The Dandy - Issue 3530, 44 Page Special (with free gift), on sale now for only £2.50!

Kid Cops - Lew Stringer
Pictures from Lew Stringer's, Andy Fanton's, Jamie Smart's Facebook Page, The Dandy's Facebook Page and George Shiers; Blog. 
Thank you. :)