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!

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.

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!

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

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...

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? :)

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. :)

The Beano - Issue 3581

The Beano - Issue 3581

Ooh hello again! It's that time again, it's another comic blog post! :D

Anyway this week's comic was a 40 pager! Fantastic yes? Well, no actually, 1) The comic cost £2.50, with this and the Dandy at £2.50, BeanoMAX at £3.50 and Toxic at £3.99, comics are becoming too expensive. 2) The 8 extra pages were given to the 16 page LEGO mini-mag, what a waste. So there we all are looking forward to a 40 pager and this is what we get. Anyway on with the review:

PG 1: Front Cover (Dennis and Gnasher) - Barrie Appleby
PG 2: Contents
PG 3: Dennis and Gnasher - Barrie Appleby
PG 6: Meebo and Zuky - Laura Howell
PG 7: Win a Menace Mobile!
PG 8: The Numskulls - Barry Glennard
PG 10: Billy Whizz - Nick Brennan
PG 11: Advertisement
PG 12: Minnie the Minx - Ken Harrison
PG 14: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland
PG 16: Ratz - Hunt Emerson (Or should I say 'Antz'?)
PG 17: THE DREADED LEGO MINI-MAG
PG 25: Freddie Fear - Dave Eastbury
PG 26: Beano V.I.Pweet
PG 28: Willy Wonka Competition (WTF?! What's a Willy Wonka Two Page comp doing here?!)
PG 30: Fred's Bed - Tom Paterson
PG 32: BFG (Britain's Funniest Gag)
PG 33: Beano Subscription Page
PG 34: Retro Beano: Dennis the Menace (Surprise, surprise) - Davey Law
PG 36: Roger the Dodger - Barrie Appleby (REPRINT!!)
PG 38: Advertisement - The Dandy (Farm-ula One - Wayne Thompson)
PG 39: Next Time
PG 40: Back Page: Gnasher's Bit(e)! NEW! - Barrie Appleby

RATINGS:

Dennis and Gnasher - 10/10
A great storyline plusan extra page of Appleby's artwork! The story was planned out well plus a nice appearance from the catapult again!
Meebo and Zuky - 9/10
A funny story, liked the bit with the pig! Still not very violent and the storyline wasn't the greatest.
The Numskulls - 10/10
This is the sort of Numskulls we all like, the team harming Edd even though they're trying to do something right! One of the greatest Numskulls stories in a LONG time!
Minnie the Minx - 8/10
It was sweet, I'll give it that but seriously, this is not Minnie! Minnie is meant to be a menace, this tory lacked that big time.
The Bash Street Kids - 8.5/10
A good idea, no menacing though but still not bad...
Ratz - 8/10
A nice build-up until the end when the story was ruined.
Freddie Fear - 9/10
Good idea, quite sweet but lacked the horror of the old stories... But still, some beautiful artwork by Dave Eastbury.
Fred's Bed - 10/10
What a great story! Fred meeting Vlad was one I never imagine appearing! Ah well, I was wrong, he still has yet to meet these though! (Hitler and Jack the Ripper)
Roger the Dodger - 10/10
One of my favourite Roger stories by Barrie but really, why did they reprint it? Surely Barrie can do Dennis AND Roger without having reprints, anyway there's three ways to tell a Roger reprint:
1) Is Dave with him? It's rare now that Roger isn't with Dave so if he's not there, it's a reprint possibly.
2) The title's bubble writing, Roger now has a fixed title annoyingly so if it looks different it's probably a reprint.
3) Does Roger have a red tongue? If so it's likely to be a reprint since new ones have Roger with a pink-ish tongue. I'm observant (and sad) ;)
Gnasher's Bit(e) - 10/10
Right, ignore the fact that the title name sucks and should be called Gnasher's Tale, this comic strip is basically the highlight of the comic, I reckon it's replaced 60 Second Dennis which is a relief. Anyway the artwork is among some of Barrie's greatest artwork on Dennis and Gnasher, there's a great load of comedy in this strip, there's hardly any dialogue meaning the reader can go through the comic quickly and easily plus it's on the back which is a great thing as I love comic strips on the back! :)

So there we are, should you get it, yeah I guess, it's a bit of a rip-off at being £2.50 and having 40 pages but not really... Next week's is the Easter Special! The free gifts are terrible being Moshi Monster stickers (WHY???), a crossbow and Haribos (Bad news for Pinkinfrench), at least the teaser blurb has got me interested:
"Don't miss seeing how Dennis uses the cool crossbow to strike back against super sneaky Walter as the Year of the Menace reaches new heights of mega mischief!"
Looks promising enough. I guess.

Anyway The Beano - Issue 3581 on sale now for £2.50.

The Dandy - Issue 3529

The Dandy - Issue 3529       £1.50

Both comics were fantastic this week, both a great laugh with fantastic stories! Here's the contents:

PG 1: Front Cover (Featuring Harry Hill)
PG 2: Jokes with Desperate Dan - Jamie Smart
PG 3: What's Inside? (Featuring Harry Hill)
PG 4: Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land - Nigel Parkinson

Grampire - Andy Fanton    NEW!

PG 6: Bananaman - Wayne Thompson
PG 7: Madvertisement: Actifartia - Nigel Auchterlounie
PG 8: The Mighty Bork - Wayne Thompson
PG 9: Shorts: Grampire - Andy Fanton NEW!, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 68) - Duncan Scott, Freddy the Fearless Fly - Phil Corbett, Jibber and Steve - Nigel Auchterlounie BACK!
PG 10: Strictly come Laughing Title Page
PG 11: Harry and his Hippo - Andy Fanton
PG 12: Daredevil Dad - Steve Beckett
PG 13: Tag Team Tastic - Warwick Johnson Cadwell
PG 14: Phil's Finger - Chris McGhie
PG 15: Kid Cops - Lew Stringer BACK!
PG 16: The Arena of Awesome (Mutant VS Shakespeare) - Jamie Smart
PG 18: Professor Popalot - Lorenzo Etherington
PG 19: Shorts: Grampire - Andy Fanton, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 69) - Duncan Scott, Off the Vine - Peter Player, Korky the Cat - Phil Corbett
PG 20: Yore - The Etherington Brothers
PG 21: The Bogies (Evel Knasal) - Nigel Auchterlounie

Justin Beaver - Stu Munro   NEW!

PG 22: Dandy Subscription Page - Farm-ula One - Wayne Thompson
PG 23: Farm-ula One - Wayne Thompson
PG 24: Thingummyblob - Jamie Smart
PG 26: Mailbag
PG 27: Clown Wars - Nik Holmes
PG 28: Bananaman - Wayne Thompson
PG 29: Shorts: Grampire - Andy Fanton, Simples! 101 Ways to use a Meerkat (No. 70) - Duncan Scott, Nibbles - Unknown, Terror Byte - David Banks
PG 30: Justin Beaver - Stu Munro NEW!
PG 31: Next Time (featuring the Free Gift (Gnashing Teeth), Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land, Space Dogz NEW!, Britain's got no Talent, Bone-O NEW!
PG 32: Back Page: Desperate Dan - Jamie Smart

--
RATINGS:

Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land - 9/10
Bananaman - 8/10
Madvertisement - 7/10
The Mighty Bork - 8/10
Harry and his Hippo - 10/10
Daredevil Dad - 9/10

THEY'RE BACK! Kid Cops - Lew Stringer

Tag Team Tastic - 8/10
Phil's Finger - 9/10
Kid Cops - 9/10
The Arena of Awesome - 10/10
Yore - 9/10
The Bogies - 10/10
Farm-ula One - 8/10
Thingummyblob - 10/10
Clown Wars - 10/10
Bananaman - 9/10
Justin Beaver - 9/10
Desperate Dan - 10/10

RATINGS FOR THE SHORTS:

Grampire Story 1 - 5/5
Simples! No. 68 - 4.5/5
Freddy the Fearless Fly - 4/5
Jibber and Steve - 5/5

FINAL STRIP: Harry and his Hippo - Andy Fanton

Grampire Story 2 - 5/5
Simples! No. 69 - 4/5
Korky the Cat - 5/5
Grampire - 4/5
Simples! No. 70 - 5/5
Nibbles - 3/5
Terror Byte - 5/5

--
BEST 'N' WORST:

BEST:
- Harry Hill's Real Life Adventures in TV Land 
- I can't believe I'm saying this but this story was great this week, great ending and a good laugh!
- Harry and his Hippo 
- Funny story, loved the idea of the Cabbage King haunting Hippo's dreams!
- Daredevil Dad
- The craziness and creativeness of this strip makes it brilliant every week!
- Phil's Finger 
- Nice story with brilliant artwork!
- Kid Cops
- Just great to see 'em back in the comic again!
- The Arena of Awesome
- We're studying Shakespeare at school so this strip was perfect, the humour was great plus the part about the plays was genius, I guess you could say the mutant thought Shakespeare was a temPEST! Ha ha! I'm a genius... Well... Maybe...
- Yore
- Fantastic strip, fairly gory yet not too gory... Plus the artwork for this week's was fantastic as was the storyline.
- The Bogies
- Very funny, The Bogies is getting better and better each week!
- Thingummyblob

LAST STRIP: Tag Team Tastic - Warwick Johnson Cadwell

- Two pages of crazy Jamie Smart fun with the lovable green creature Thingummyblob, what's not to love?!
- Clown Wars
- This page works a lot better as a one page strip, the story goes on longer plus there's more Nik Holmes goodness to enjoy!
- Bananaman
- I liked the continuous story idea plus the fact there were TWO stories!
- Justin Beaver
- A great parody with some great drawings, unfortunately the quality has come out badly on the writing so it's a bit blurred and gives me a headache to read...
- Desperate Dan
- This is great as it shows just how far Dan will go to get things his way, very funny plus lovely artwork by Jamie!

The Dandy is on sale now for only £1.50 for 32 pages of fun! Literally, there are no adverts this week!
Also next week is the Dandy Bumper Special with 44 pages again for only £2.50, that's twelve extra pages and new characters! :D WOOO!

Plus next week, it's the return of Andy's fantastic twosome George VS Dragon, here's a picture found on Andy's blog!

THEY'RE BACK! George VS Dragon - Andy Fanton
With George showing us his lovely, new beard!

Also please vote for the Strictly come Laughing contest, I recommend voting Harry and his Hippo or Daredevil Dad because they're both fantastic!  Vote here!

And now a final picture just to scare all you lot!

AAAUUUGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! O.o

Pictures found on Andy Fanton's, Lew Stringer's, The Etherington Brothers' and Steve Beckett's blogs.

The Beano - Issue 3580

The Beano - Issue 3580           £1.50

Wow. The Beano was incredible this week, with the paper now a lot thicker and less flimsy, the comic stays upright and feels a lot better. Anyway this week, we see Barack Obama making an appearance for the second time in the comic. Some people would be annoyed by this but I don't see a problem with it, after all, it's not like Obama is staying in the comic or featuring in a comic strip, it's just a guest appearance. Anyway what's inside this week's issue?  Here's what:

PG 1: Front Cover (Featuring Dennis and Gnasher as well as Obama)
PG 2: Contents
PG 3: Dennis and Gnasher - Barrie Appleby

Dennis and Gnasher - Barrie Appleby

PG 5: Beano Subscription Page
PG 6: The Numskulls - Barry Glennard
PG 8: The Bash Street Kids - David Sutherland
PG 10: Meebo and Zuky - Laura Howell
PG 11: Gimme! Gimme!
PG 12: Minnie the Minx - Ken Harrison
PG 14: Billy Whizz - Nick Brennan
PG 15: Next Time
PG 16: Gnasher Poster
PG 18: Ball Boy - Dave Eastbury
PG 19: Beano Retro Shop
PG 20: Retro Beano (Dennis the Menace - Davey Law)
PG 22: Fred's Bed - Tom Paterson
PG 24: Beano V.I.P.
PG 26: B.F.G. (Britain's Funniest Gag)
PG 27: Gnash-ional Treasure - Nigel Parkinson NEW!
PG 28: Roger the Dodger - Barrie Appleby
PG 30: Advertisement - The Dandy (Boo - Andy Fanton)
PG 31: Advertisement - Rio
PG 32: Back Page: Advertisement - Legend of the Guardians

Now I see why people are annoyed with this week's, having Obama on the front cover and politicians inside but really I don't see a problem in it... It's a one-off of these appearing, they're not like Harry Hill who appears annoyingly in the Dandy EVERY WEEK! It's just a harmless celeb making an appearance, nothing wrong with that...

Anyway, on with the review!

--
RATINGS:

- Dennis and Gnasher - 10/10
- Great story with lots of menacing plus a fantastic caricature of Obama!
- The Numskulls - 8/10
- It was okay, not too funny but certainly not as bad as most week's...
- The Bash Street Kids - 10/10
- Very good, although I would've liked to see the Florence as the nurse but then the story wouldn't work...
- Meebo and Zuky - 9/10
- Absolutely horrible! Fantastic artwork with a disgusting but great storyline!

Minnie the Minx - Ken Harrison

- Minnie the Minx - 9/10
- Not bad, seemed to drag on a bit though, got a bit bored plus i don't like it when the Teacher gets all gullible and acts dumb... Silly Teacher... Lovely artwork though, loved the planet list in Panel 2 with Pluto crossed out!
- Billy Whizz - 10/10
- Nice idea plus I loved the part where Bob rang Billy and the Billy appeared behind him within a frame! Great humour!
- Ball Boy - 10/10
- The artwork = Fantastic, storyline = fantastic, characters = fantastic, well done Dave Eastbury, you have and well and truly blew me away.
- Fred's Bed - 9/10
- Great idea, I loved how Fred went back in time to stop Fred and then the crazy ending with the confusing but funny Fred paradox idea of Fred stopping Fred stopping Fred to end up in detention.
- Gnash-ional Treasure - 9/10
- I liked it but what I didn't get was why Gnasher was at 10 Downing Street in the first place, very confusing, but still great ending with nice artwork by Nigel.
- Roger the Dodger - 9/10
- Well 1) It's not a reprint, thank goodness! And 2) The artwork is fantastic, unfortunately the storyline isn't as good but still a nice idea.

Now there isn't a very big character roster this week but still look, NO REPRINTS!

Anyway next week is a 40 Page Lego special (second Lego special we've had now and you get exactly the same free gifts as last year), I think it'll cost £2.50 but hopefully it'll be worth it with 40 pages of comic strips instead of the dreaded issue a few months ago  also known as the 'Advert Special'

The Beano, on sale now for only £1.50.

Pictures found on George Shiers' Blog.