The Dandy, the UK’s oldest children’s comic, will cease weekly print publication and go online only after its 75th anniversary edition in December, publisher DC Thomson has confirmed.
The final printed issue of the UK’s longest-running children’s comic will be released on its 75th birthday in December.
The Dandy, best known for cartoon characters Desperate Dan the cow-pie eating cowboy, Korky the Cat and Bananaman, is being pulled from shelves following a drop in circulation in recent years.
Circulation of the children’s comic hit 2 million copies a week in its heyday, but slumped to below 7,500 last year as kids increasingly turned to video games and social networking for their entertainment.
Dundee-based publisher DC Thomson said the comic will still be available online and it has “exciting plans in the pipeline” to take it in a “different direction”.
Ellis Watson, chief executive of the company’s newspaper and magazine publishing operations, said: “Dan has certainly not eaten his last cow pie. All of The Dandy’s characters are just 110 days away from a new lease of life.”
The Dandy Annual will continue to be printed and the 2013 annual is already on the shelves.
The Cartoon Museum in London is currently preparing an exhibition marking the 75th anniversary of the first edition of The Dandy, which went on sale in 1937, priced at 2p with a free whistle.
www.dandy.com
