They're here! Dandy and Beano Annuals 2016

The 2016 cover-dated annuals are starting to appear now and The Dandy Annual 2016 and The Beano Annual 2016 were published just over a week ago. Let's take a brief look inside them.

I always find there's mixed emotions these days when The Dandy Annual appears; joy that there's 112 pages of all-new Dandy material, but sadness that it's a reminder that the weekly is no longer around. However, let's focus on the positive, and once again the book delivers a nice package of classic Dandy characters by contemporary creators.

Fans of Ken Harrison will be pleased to know that there's plenty of pages by him in here as he illustrates several Desperate Dan stories and a couple of puzzle pages.

I was pleased to see Desperate Dawg in the book too; the 1970s canine version of Dan. Originally by George Martin, the new version is drawn by Alexander Matthews.

Much-missed 1960s Ken Reid characters Big Head and Thick Head are back in a couple of new strips drawn by Mike Donaldson.

Jack Silver returns too, drawn by Wilbur Dawburn...

...while Nigel Auchterlounie once again draws Corporal Clott...

...and I tackle The Smasher and Keyhole Kate...

Other strips in this packed annual include Greedy Pigg by Nigel Parkinson, The Jocks and the Geordies by Paul Palmer, Brassneck by Steve Beckett, and the return of George vs Dragon by Andy Fanton, plus much more.


Like its sister publication, The Beano Annual 2016 kicks off with a cover by Nigel Parkinson. Nigel also draws several pages inside featuring top favourites Dennis the Menace and Minnie the Minx. 

It was good to see an adventure strip in the book, in the form of classic hero General Jumbo. I don't know who's illustrated it but the artwork is excellent.

Great to see work by Hunt Emerson in the annual, drawing Little Plum...

...and Laura Howell doing fine work on Les Pretend...

The annual features all the usual favourites such as Roger the Dodger, Biffo the Bear, Ball Boy, The Numskulls, the Bash Street Kids, Billy Whizz, Pup Parade, and of course Bananaman...

There's also three pages of Lord Snooty by me...

The Dandy Annual 2016 and The Beano Annual 2016 are out now at a R.R.P. of £7.99 each, but you're bound to find them discounted, or cheaper online. These are the only traditional British comic annuals left now so don't wait until they're remaindered after Christmas. Give them your support now, to help them continue for years to come.  

2016 Annual cover previews

D.C. Thomson have now released the cover images for The Dandy Annual and The Beano Annual dated 2016, which will be published soon. Both covers are drawn by Nigel Parkinson. 

You can pre-order the books at the D.C. Thomson website here:
https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/our-brands/beano-shop/books/pre-order-double-trouble-pack.html

Thanks to Beano fan 'Beanomaster1' for the heads up on Comics UK.  

Cover story

There's a discussion on Facebook at the moment about this annual cover so I thought I'd expand upon it here. This memorable cover to The Beano Book 1970 was painted by Dave Sutherland, who was the regular cover artist on the Beano annuals at that time (and for many years afterwards). He still draws The Bash Street Kids in The Beano every week of course, and this year will be his 53rd year on the strip!

The interesting thing about this annual cover is that the week the book was published, that week's Beano comic (No.1416, dated September 6th 1969) tied in with it, showing what happened next! A rare British comics crossover. Although the book cover was by Dave Sutherland, the strip on the weekly was by Biffo's regular artist Dudley Watkins. Sadly, by the time this saw print, Mr.Watkins had passed away suddenly the previous month. 

That same issue also carried an ad for the latest Dennis the Menace annual on the back page, with a vague link to that week's Dennis strip drawn by Davey Law. 

Annuals on their way!

The Summer Specials won't be out for a few days yet but you can already pre-order the Christmas annuals! The Dandy Annual 2015 and The Beano Annual 2015 are both available to order separately at £5.99 each from the publishers at the DC Thomson Shop, or you can save money if you order them as a double pack for only £10. According to the website they'll be delivered the first week of August.

https://www.dcthomsonshop.co.uk/our-brands/annuals-calendars/double-trouble-book-pack.html

I only have four Rasher mini-strips in the Beano Annual, but I did quite a few pages for The Dandy Annual, - great classic characters The Smasher, Keyhole Kate, and Korky the Cat! Here's a preview of one of them...

Speaking of annuals, I'd better get on with drawing the pages for the 2016 editions! 

2015 annuals cover previews

Click to see images larger.

Over on the unofficial Beano fan forum an anonymous source has posted advance cover images of three upcoming DC Thomson annuals. The images are low resolution but even so, the covers look great! Ken Harrison's lively Dandy Annual 2015 cover shows a host of classic characters whilst Nigel Parkinson's Beano Annual 2015 cover displays his fantastic skills as an artist. (Just look at the perspective and detail in that railway station roof.) Both covers have a really nice uplifting sense of carefree joy about them.

In recent years the classic Beano/Dandy reprint gift book has perhaps focused too much on more modern times but from the looks of things the new edition will be firmly set around the 1940s. Hopefully there'll be some wonderful examples of work by Dudley Watkins, Allan Morely and more within its pages. And a Big Eggo strip on the cover? Incredible. (Although this may be subject to change by the time the book reaches the shelves of course, but I hope not.)