ICONIC KIDS’ COMIC The Dandy faces closure after 75 years of entertaining kids across the UK and Ireland.
Its publisher DC Thomson – which also produces the Beano – said it was considering the comic’s future, after sales figures nosedived in recent years.
According to The Guardian, in the 1950s and 1960s the Dandy sold as many as two million copies a week. Now, newsstand sales have fallen below 8,000 – less than 0.5 per cent of its peak figure.
The Beano is still selling around 38,000 copies, ITV reports.
In a statement reported by journalism site HoldTheFrontPage, DC Thomson said:
We’re celebrating the fact that The Dandy has been in print for 75 years and we’ve a lot of planning to do to ensure that our brands and characters can live on in other platforms for future generations to enjoy.
Both the Beano and the Dandy have attempted to adjust to the online age with websites, Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The Dandy underwent an extensive rebrand in 2004, with a wholesale change in artwork and the magazine redesigned to feel like “a children’s TV channel”, the BBC reported at the time.
However, in 2010 it reverted to its original format – though the artwork is still significantly different from the ‘classic’ Dandy and Beano style. (The Beano has stuck closer to its roots.)
Here’s what the cover of the Dandy looks like today:
Screen grab via dandy.com
