Friday, September 26, 2008

History of the Beano

Now available, a 352-page hardcover from Waverley Books: The History of the Beano: The Story So Far. The editor is Morris Heggie. The book, published on 25 September, is broken down into ten-year sections, each taking a look at the seven ages of The Beano. As well as reprinting many strips from the original artwork, editor Morris Heggie and his team of writers (including Bill Graham) will be offering a ton of background material on the editorial staff and creators, as well as fascinating facts, revealing, for instance, that the highest selling issue of the comic was the 22 April 1950 issue, which sold 1.9 million copies.

4 comments:

  1. sounds good..

    wished they hurry up and release Best of Buster:)

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  2. Morris Heggie ex Dandy editor is doing the book..on Lews blog the info..
    Peter Gray

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  3. I have a theory why the highest selling Beano was in April 1950. This was the time Eagle was launched and I wonder if Thomsons increased the circulation of The Beano to compete?

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  4. There's a simpler reason than that. Ask yourself why Hultons were in a hurry to launch Eagle... they saw the dummy in November 1949 and the first issue was out in April, the same month Fleetway launched School Friend and the first pocket library, Cowboy Comics.

    Paper! Paper came off the ration in April 1950. After ten years of short supply. I imagine every comic published by Fleetway and D.C. Thomson got a boost. In Thomsons case I imagine Dandy also saw an increase in sales around that same time, although I guess we'll have to wait until they do The History of the Dandy to find out... if they do one...

    And one for the story papers... and please don't forget Beezer and Topper and all the later boys and girls papers which will be celebrating birthdays soon... Bunty was 50 years old this year, for instance, and there must be a score of 50th, 40th and 30th anniversaries coming up.

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