13 
The tatty magazine rack in your local WHSmith is about to lose one of its longest-serving titles, with publisher DC Thompson chopping the print version of the Dandy in favour of an all-new entirely digital copy of the comic that’ll appear online instead.
The tired old exploits of Desperate Dan will make it to a 75th anniversary edition of the comic, published on December 4th this year, which will be the last ever printed comic. It’ll be accompanied by a reprint of the very first issue, featuring many of the same jokes still in use today.
Despite some uproar from old people saddened about seeing a small part of their childhood disappear, it’s unlikely to be missed by many kids. The most recent sales figures available, for the end of 2011, show the Dandy was selling just short of 7,500 copies a week, as the kids of today have long since abandoned comics in favour of playing awful Flash games and watching last night’s TV on YouTube.
The comic’s refreshed web site isn’t yet live, simply hosting a countdown until the all-new digital Dandy launches. In fact, the existing content was taken offline due to hacking concerns, as some people out there have nothing better to do than hack kids’ web sites that happen to be in the news. [Guardian]
I’m amazed to hear they were selling as many as 7,500 copies to be honest. Even as someone who remembers far enough back that comics such as this were actually popular I was never a fan of Dandy and Beano.
I’m surprised to hear that these comics are still around. They were tired and dated when I was a kid…
I was in Dundee yesterday admiring the statue. I used to read Dandy and Beano, but not so much for DD or Dennis the Menace, more for The Bash Street Kids and Roger the Dodger. It’s sad, but inevitable really.
I think I’d be more melancholy if 2000AD went up the spout, as the Kid says, Dandy was dated.