EXTREME BLOGGER !!!!

I was scanning the BBC website the other day and came across an article detailing the re-branding of the Dandy comic. The basic Dandy comic of 70 years it appears was ready for a face lift and is now known as... wait for it... Dandy Xtreme.

Now before you all go reaching for your pads and pens to write letters of disgust from "Outraged of Swindon" to the Daily Mail, just look at the reasoning behind it.

The below is taken from the BBC Site -

The Dandy editor Craig Graham said: "Following extensive research, we discovered The Dandy readers were struggling to schedule a weekly comic into their hectic lives. They just didn't have enough time.
"They're too busy gaming, surfing the net or watching TV, movies and DVDs."

"They made us promise to retain comics, but suggested we make our characters cheekier, edgier, and more extreme."

Fair enough. They're just doing what the kids want. It isn't some adult led comitee deciding what children want. As I read it over again, certain aspects began to stand out and make me begin to bristle with Trevor Mcdonald type rage. "...struggling to schedule...", "...hectic lives..."...too busy surfing the web..."

Now this implied that when I read the Un-Xtreme Dandy as a youngster, I wasn't busy or leading a hectic life. Oddly enough I didn't just sit around all week bored senseless, waiting for a comic to pop through my letter box which I would read again and again until the paper fell apart.

I would read a comic because I wanted to read a comic, not just beacuse I had time to. I would choose to read a comic over playing a game, or watching TV (Yes we had TV...) or playing out in the street.

If kids are struggling to schedule in a reading of the Dandy as they are too busy surfing the web for Extreme stuff, then perhaps the Dandy is a bit crap. I wouldn't mind, but there seems so little comic competition nowadays. The only problem we had in scheduling was whether to read Whizzer and Chips, or Wow, or Buster, or The Beano, and that's before you even got onto Hotspur or Warlord or Battle.

So come on Dandy, stop making excuses, you're blaming the wrong things. Make the kids want to read a comic instead of watching TV. If they want to do something extreme they can always go cheese rolling.

p.s. When searching for images on Google with the single word "Extreme" - make sure safe search is on. Just a tip - especially if the vicar is watching...