Tuesday 15 December 2015

The Beano Revisited

The Beano Revisited - a guest post by my husband.



Since its inception on the 30th July 1938 by DC Thomson The Beano has been one of the stalwarts of comic history steadily sailing on into the vast ocean of fun and humour.
For a relatively small part of that time I was an avid reader looking forward to spending some of my pocket money on the weekly issue always looking forward to the latest escapades of my favourite characters such as Desperate Dan, The Bash Street Kids, Dennis The Menace and Lord Snooty to name but a few. However it has been some considerable time since I last read a comic book, probably around 45 years or so in fact so it was a nice surprise to be offered the chance by magazine.co.uk to read a modern version of the Beano and to give my humble opinion of it.

star wars
a topical from cover 

First thing I noticed was how different the look and feel of the comic was compared to way back in the 1970's era, a nice shiny cover and a more rounded logo with a sort of  embossed look to it, and despite altogether slimmer look there appeared to be more pages than I remember and when opened it has a semi gloss sort of feel to it and dare I say it a different smell, quite a change to what I had been used to as a child it's strange how you remember these things. However down to the nitty gritty, the important stuff, the content.
I was more than pleasantly surprised to see how many of my favourite characters still existed Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, Billy Whizz and of course Dennis The Menace and Gnasher to mention a few. A good number of new characters (well new to me anyway) have been introduced, Tricky Dicky, Calamity Jane and Dangerous Dan all seem to have slotted nicely into the comic in traditional style



still have comic strip style cartoons

The style of Beano humour seems to have shifted quite noticeably since I last read it, though the long standing tradition of anarchic humour has remained. When I was reading the Beano as a child quite a few of the characters appeared to glorify naughty style behaviour, e.g. bullying (Dennis the Menace), dishonesty (Roger the Dodger) etc. the copy I have been reading seems to have done away with a lot of dare I say not quite politically correct behaviour, you wont for instance see a slipper being applied to Dennis's rear end as a punishment. There also  seems to be a fair amount of activities and competitions and educational facts as well although that may have been the case way back in the day just not noticed at the time or remembered by myself now.


Star Wars themed makes and bakes 

I loved how the edition we received was very topical with not only the cover showing Star Wars but also some recipes and activities inside as well.

I think subscriptions make great presents as they are a gift that keeps on giving all year, and I for one know that the grandchildren love them coming through the post for them. There are so many different topics covered from computing, gaming, cooking, photography, hobbies, sports, to name but a few as well as children's comics and magazines.


To summarise I can highly recommend The Beano to readers old and new as I found the it to be as enjoyable as I did when first read it as a kid though I would have to read a few more issues  to get into some of the newer characters and I am quite confident that DC Thompson can continue to sail this (to me) newly revamped ship on into the future and perhaps in a few decades some of it's current readers will be writing a review similar  to this one and experiencing  that strange sort of feeling that you get when something so simple as a comic  with its familiar characters can transport you back to a into a world where things were just a little different.






11 comments:

  1. My boys love the Beano and its the only way i can get them reading sometimes as its fun at the same time

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    1. any reading is good reading, and reading should be fun

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  2. My brother loved the Beano when we were little, and I used to read it too. I love the Beano Dr Martens you can get -they look awesome! I would love to read it again with my daughter when she is a bit older.

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    1. Have never seen the Dr Marten Beano shoes.....good grief what will they think of next., but proves the comic is still popular.

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  3. The Beano is great and suitable for every generation as you can see in your post

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    1. it is isn't it, a great buy and lovely to hold onto

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  4. Oh my God, I haven't read The Beano in years. This brought back some memories. I remember the smell in particular.

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  5. My brother loved the Beano, I didnt even know it was still around, so it is a blast from the past x

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    1. I know you often think things that were around in your childhood will be long gone, nice to see them having lasting value.

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  6. I never read The Beano, although knew about it. It looks great - I love magazine subscriptions, they are a great idea Kaz x

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  7. Oh I used to love the Beano, I didn't know it was still around to be honest.

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