History Creator / DCThomson

In the [[TheRoaring20s 1920s]], the company diversified into [[PulpMagazine story papers]]. Their story papers became known as ''The Big Five'', the five being ''Adventure'', ''The Wizard'', ''The Rover'', ''The Skipper'' and ''The Hotspur''. Over the years they began to feature more and more comic content, and so did their newspapers with the classic [[NewspaperComics newspaper comic strips]] ''ComicStrip/TheBroons'' and ''ComicStrip/OorWullie'' first appearing in 1936. This lead DC Thomson to attempt to release a Big Five but for comics as opposed to story papers. They first released ''ComicBook/TheDandy'', in 1937, followed by ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' a year later and then ''The Magic Comic'' in 1939. They originally all featured story paper style serial text stories, and they also all released large hardback annual versions of the comics every year. Then UsefulNotes/WorldWarII lead to a reduction in the number of pages in most of their comics, their formats changing from weekly to fortnightly, and the closure of ''The Magic Comic''. But the war also lead to numerous propaganda comic strips including ''[[UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini Musso the Wop]]'' in ComicBook/TheBeano and ''[[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Addie]] and Hermy'' in ComicBook/TheDandy. Many of these UsefulNotes/WW2 era strips were quite bizarre, with The Dandy's [[FunnyAnimal Korky the Cat]] fighting [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Nazi]] mice and The Beano's Big Eggo (an Ostrich) also helping fight the war.

It took a while for the company to recover from the effects of the war [[note]]with The Beano and Dandy not reaching their pre-war page count until the [[The90s 1990s]][[/note]], but The50s is often though as a golden age for DC Thomson's comics. The decade saw sales reach their peak, the introduction of a number of long running comics such as ''ComicBook/TheTopper'' in 1953, ''ComicBook/TheBeezer'' in 1956 and ''Bunty'' in 1958 [[note]] ''Bunty'' was a comic solely aimed at girls[[/note]]; it also saw the introduction of a number of classic comic strips such as ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]]'', first appearing in The Beano in 1951, ''[[WackyHomeroom The Bash Street Kids]]'', first appearing in The Beano in 1954, and ''Beryl the Peril'' and ''Minnie the Minx'', both in 1953 and in ''ComicBook/TheTopper'' and ''Beano'' respectively. This period also saw some of the most iconic artists start drawing for the comics including Creator/LeoBaxendale, Creator/KenReid and Creator/DavidLaw.

The [[The80s late '80s]] and [[The90s early '90s]] proved to be a dark period for DC Thomson's comics as this period saw the end of a large number of their comics and a large number of mergers. By the mid-'90s, the only comics left were ''ComicBook/TheDandy'', ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', ''Bunty'', and ''ComicBook/{{Commando|Comics}}'' as well as a number of Beano related spin-offs. These spinoffs included ''Beano Superstars'' [[note]]which featured long stories involving characters from just one strip in ''ComicBook/TheBeano''[[/note]], ''Classics from the Comics'' [[note]]which featured reprints from not only ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' but other humour comics made by DC Thomson and evolved out of two earlier reprint only comics called ''The Best of [[ComicBook/TheBeezer Beezer]]'' and ''The Best of [[ComicBook/TheTopper Topper]]''[[/note]], and the ''Beano Fun Size Comics'', which also had a Dandy version [[note]]both of these had evolved out of the earlier Beano and Dandy comic libraries which had begun in The80s and these featured longer stories similar to the Beano superstars but in A5 format as opposed to the Superstar's A4[[/note]]. Some of the now defunct comics continued their annuals a short while after their closure, with The Beezer's last annual being released in 2002 almost ten years after the comic's closure. This period was not all bad, though, as it saw the beginning of the ''ComicStrip/{{Dennis the Menace|UK}}'' TV series, as well as another TV series based on DC Thomson characters called ''The Blobs'' (themselves based on a series of books published by the company in 1980).

The TurnOfTheMillennium saw the closure of ''Bunty'' and ''Beano Superstars'', but DC Thomson's other comics lingered on. This period, however, also saw the release of the monthly Beano spin-off ''[=BeanoMAX=]'', and ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' continued to top the Christmas book sales charts every year with the sale of The Beano Annual. ''The Dandy's'' circulation dwindled, leading to a disastrous revamp in 2007 as ''The Dandy [[XtremeKoolLetterz Xtreme]]''.

TheNewTens did not start off well for DC Thomson's comics, with the end of the ''Fun Size Comics'' and ''Classics from the Comics'' in 2010 and the end of ''ComicBook/TheDandy'' in 2012 on its 75th anniversary. The company still had three comics left with ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', ''[=BeanoMAX=]'' and ''ComicBook/{{Commando|Comics}}'', as well as their newspapers and a few magazines (including Wrestling/{{WWE}} Kids). In June 2013, both [=BeanoMAX=] and the digital Dandy closed. MAX was replaced with a new [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK 100% Official Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine]], while the Dandy's closure was blamed on technological problems, with a promise that it would be brought back at some point.

In the [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]] the company diversified into [[PulpMagazine story papers]]. Their story papers became known as ''The Big Five'', the five being ''Adventure'', ''The Wizard'', ''The Rover'', ''The Skipper'' and ''The Hotspur''. Over the years they began to feature more and more comic content, and so did their newspapers with the classic [[NewspaperComics newspaper comic strips]] ''ComicStrip/TheBroons'' and ''ComicStrip/OorWullie'' first appearing in 1936. This lead DC Thomson to attempt to release a Big Five but for comics as opposed to story papers. They first released ''ComicBook/TheDandy'', in 1937, followed by ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' a year later and then ''The Magic Comic'' in 1939. They originally all featured story paper style serial text stories, and they also all released large hardback annual versions of the comics every year. Then UsefulNotes/WorldWarII lead to a reduction in the number of pages in most of their comics, their formats changing from weekly to fortnightly, and the closure of ''The Magic Comic''. But the war also lead to numerous propaganda comic strips including ''[[UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini Musso the Wop]]'' in ComicBook/TheBeano and ''[[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Addie]] and Hermy'' in ComicBook/TheDandy. Many of these UsefulNotes/WW2 era strips were quite bizarre, with The Dandy's [[FunnyAnimal Korky the Cat]] fighting [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Nazi]] mice and The Beano's Big Eggo (an Ostrich) also helping fight the war.

It took a while for the company to recover from the effects of the war [[note]]with The Beano and Dandy not reaching their pre-war page count until the [[TheNineties 1990s]][[/note]], but TheFifties is often though as a golden age for DC Thomson's comics. The decade saw sales reach their peak, the introduction of a number of long running comics such as ''ComicBook/TheTopper'' in 1953, ''ComicBook/TheBeezer'' in 1956 and ''Bunty'' in 1958 [[note]] ''Bunty'' was a comic solely aimed at girls[[/note]]; it also saw the introduction of a number of classic comic strips such as ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]]'', first appearing in The Beano in 1951, ''[[WackyHomeroom The Bash Street Kids]]'', first appearing in The Beano in 1954, and ''Beryl the Peril'' and ''Minnie the Minx'', both in 1953 and in ''ComicBook/TheTopper'' and ''Beano'' respectively. This period also saw some of the most iconic artists start drawing for the comics including Creator/LeoBaxendale, Creator/KenReid and Creator/DavidLaw.

However TheFifties also saw a decline in the traditional story papers, with a number of papers switching to the comic format and text stories disappearing from the comics. The real decline for the story papers took place in TheSixties when the Big Four[[note]]the fifth Big Five story paper, ''Skipper'', closed at the same time as ''Magic'', due to paper rationing[[/note]], all now comics, began [[ComicsMerger merging]] into one another, although ''The Hotspur'' survived until 1981. They were being replaced by a new breed of adventure comics including ''The Victor'', ''Hornet'' and ''[[ComicBook/{{Commando}} Commando]]'', the latter of which is still running.

TheSixties, TheSeventies and [[TheEighties early Eighties]] was also something of a good period for the company's comics. The period saw a number of new comics being introduced. Most did not last very long before being merged, but there were some notable exceptions to this, including the SciFi comic ''Starblazer'' (1979-1991), the war comic ''Warlord'' (1974-1986), the girls comic ''Mandy'' (1967-1991), the girls magazine ''Jackie'' (1964-1993), ''Bimbo'' (1961-1972) and ''Twinkle'' (1968-1999), the latter two both aimed at young children. This period also saw the release of ''Nutty'' (1980-1985) home to ComicStrip/{{Bananaman}} who went on to be the first DC Thomson character to get his own cartoon.

The [[TheEighties late Eighties]] and [[TheNineties early nineties]] proved to be a dark period for DC Thomson's comics as this period saw the end of a large number of their comics and a large number of mergers. By the mid nineties the only comics left were ''ComicBook/TheDandy'', ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', ''Bunty'', and ''ComicBook/{{Commando}}'' as well as a number of Beano related spin-offs. These spinoffs included ''Beano Superstars'' [[note]]which featured long stories involving characters from just one strip in ''ComicBook/TheBeano''[[/note]], ''Classics from the Comics'' [[note]]which featured reprints from not only ComicBook/TheBeano but other humour comics made by DC Thomson and evolved out of two earlier reprint only comics called The Best of [[ComicBook/TheBeezer Beezer]] and The Best of [[ComicBook/TheTopper Topper]][[/note]], and the ''Beano Fun Size Comics'', which also had a Dandy version [[note]]both of these had evolved out of the earlier Beano and Dandy comic libraries which had begun in TheEighties and these featured longer stories similar to the Beano superstars but in A5 format as opposed to the Superstar's A4[[/note]]. Some of the now defunct comics continued their annuals a short while after their closure, with The Beezer's last annual being released in 2002 almost ten years after the comic's closure. This period was not all bad, though, as it saw the beginning of the [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]] TV series, as well as another TV series based on DC Thomson characters called ''The Blobs'' (themselves based on a series of books published by the company in 1980).

TheNewTens did not start off well for DC Thomson's comics, with the end of the ''Fun Size Comics'' and ''Classics from the Comics'' in 2010 and the end of ''ComicBook/TheDandy'' in 2012 on its 75th anniversary. The company still had three comics left with ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', ''[=BeanoMAX=]'' and ''[[ComicBook/{{Commando}} Commando]]'', as well as their newspapers and a few magazines (including Wrestling/{{WWE}} Kids). In June 2013, both [=BeanoMAX=] and the digital Dandy closed. MAX was replaced with a new [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK 100% Official Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine]], while the Dandy's closure was blamed on technological problems, with a promise that it would be brought back at some point.

* ''ComicBook/{{Commando}}''

[[/index]]

The TurnOfTheMillennium saw the closure of ''Bunty'' and ''Beano Superstars'', but DC Thomson's other comics lingered on. This period, however, also saw the release of the monthly Beano spin-off ''BeanoMAX'', and ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' continued to top the Christmas book sales charts every year with the sale of The Beano Annual. ''The Dandy's'' circulation dwindled, leading to a disastrous revamp in 2007 as ''The Dandy [[XtremeKoolLetterz Xtreme]]''.

TheNewTens did not start off well for DC Thomson's comics, with the end of the ''Fun Size Comics'' and ''Classics from the Comics'' in 2010 and the end of ''ComicBook/TheDandy'' in 2012 on its 75th anniversary. The company still had three comics left with ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', ''BeanoMAX'' and ''[[ComicBook/{{Commando}} Commando]]'', as well as their newspapers and a few magazines (including Wrestling/{{WWE}} Kids). In June 2013, both [=BeanoMAX=] and the digital Dandy closed. MAX was replaced with a new [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK 100% Official Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine]], while the Dandy's closure was blamed on technological problems, with a promise that it would be brought back at some point.

It took a while for the company to recover from the effects of the war [[note]]with The Beano and Dandy not reaching their pre-war page count until the [[TheNineties 1990s]][[/note]], but TheFifties is often though as a golden age for DC Thomson's comics. The decade saw sales reach their peak, the introduction of a number of long running comics such as ''ComicBook/TheTopper'' in 1953, ''ComicBook/TheBeezer'' in 1956 and ''Bunty'' in 1958 [[note]] ''Bunty'' was a comic solely aimed at girls[[/note]]; it also saw the introduction of a number of classic comic strips such as ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]]'', first appearing in The Beano in 1951, ''[[WackyHomeroom The Bash Street Kids]]'', first appearing in The Beano in 1954, and ''Beryl the Peril'' and ''Minnie the Minx'', both in 1953 and in ''ComicBook/TheTopper'' and ''Beano'' respectively. This period also saw some of the most iconic artists started drawing for the comics including Creator/LeoBaxendale, Creator/KenReid and Creator/DavidLaw.

* ''ComicBook/Bunty''

* ''ComicBook/Mandy''

'''D. C. Thomson & Co.''' are a British publisher of [[BritishComics comics]], [[BritishNewspapers newspapers]] and magazines.

TheNewTens did not start off well for DC Thomson's comics, with the end of the ''Fun Size Comics'' and ''Classics from the Comics'' in 2010 and the end of ''ComicBook/TheDandy'' in 2012 on its 75th anniversary and its failed attempt at relaunching online as a WebComic. The company still had three comics left with ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', ''BeanoMAX'' and ''[[ComicBook/{{Commando}} Commando]]'', as well as their newspapers and a few magazines (including Wrestling/{{WWE}} Kids). In June 2013, both [=BeanoMAX=] and the digital Dandy closed. MAX was replaced with a new [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK 100% Official Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine]], while the Dandy's closure was blamed on technological problems, with a promise that it would be brought back at some point.

TheNewTens did not start off well for DC Thomson's comics, with the end of the ''Fun Size Comics'' and ''Classics from the Comics'' in 2010 and the end of ''ComicBook/TheDandy'' in 2012 on its 75th anniversary (although it continued online as a WebComic). The company still had three comics left with ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', ''BeanoMAX'' and ''[[ComicBook/{{Commando}} Commando]]'', as well as their newspapers and a few magazines (including Wrestling/{{WWE}} Kids). In June 2013, both [=BeanoMAX=] and the digital Dandy closed. MAX was replaced with a new [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK 100% Official Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine]], while the Dandy's closure was blamed on technological problems, with a promise that it would be brought back at some point.

It took a while for the company to recover from the effects of the war [[note]]with The Beano and Dandy not reaching their pre-war page count until the [[TheNineties 1990s]][[/note]], but TheFifties is often though as a golden age for DC Thomson's comics. The decade saw sales reach their peak, the introduction of a number of long running comics such as ''ComicBook/TheTopper'' in 1953, ''ComicBook/TheBeezer'' in 1956 and ''Bunty'' in 1958 [[note]] ''Bunty'' was a comic solely aimed at girls[[/note]]; it also saw the introduction of a number of classic comic strips such as ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]]'', first appearing in The Beano in 1951, ''[[WackyHomeroom The Bash Street Kids]]'', first appearing in The Beano in 1954, and ''Beryl the Peril'' and ''Minnie the Minx'', both in 1953 and in ''ComicBook/TheTopper'' and ''Beano'' respectively. This period also saw some of the most iconic artists started drawing for the comics including LeoBaxendale, KenReid and DavidLaw.

* ''TheBroons''

In the [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]] the company diversified into [[PulpMagazine story papers]]. Their story papers became known as ''The Big Five'', the five being ''Adventure'', ''The Wizard'', ''The Rover'', ''The Skipper'' and ''The Hotspur''. Over the years they began to feature more and more comic content, and so did their newspapers with the classic [[NewspaperComics newspaper comic strips]] ''ComicStrip/TheBroons'' and ''ComicStrip/OorWullie'' first appearing in 1936. This lead DC Thomson to attempt to release a Big Five but for comics as opposed to story papers. They first released ''ComicBook/TheDandy'', in 1937, followed by ''TheBeano'' a year later and then ''The Magic Comic'' in 1939. They originally all featured story paper style serial text stories, and they also all released large hardback annual versions of the comics every year. Then UsefulNotes/WorldWarII lead to a reduction in the number of pages in most of their comics, their formats changing from weekly to fortnightly, and the closure of ''The Magic Comic''. But the war also lead to numerous propaganda comic strips inlcuding ''[[UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini Musso the Wop]]'' in TheBeano and ''[[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Addie]] and Hermy'' in ComicBook/TheDandy. Many of these UsefulNotes/WW2 era strips were quite bizarre, with The Dandy's [[FunnyAnimal Korky the Cat]] fighting [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Nazi]] mice and The Beano's Big Eggo (an Ostrich) also helping fight the war.

The [[TheEighties late Eighties]] and [[TheNineties early nineties]] proved to be a dark period for DC Thomson's comics as this period saw the end of a large number of their comics and a large number of mergers. By the mid nineties the only comics left were ''ComicBook/TheDandy'', ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', ''Bunty'', and ''ComicBook/{{Commando}}'' as well as a number of Beano related spin-offs. These spinoffs included ''Beano Superstars'' [[note]]which featured long stories involving characters from just one strip in ''ComicBook/TheBeano''[[/note]], ''Classics from the Comics'' [[note]]which featured reprints from not only TheBeano but other humour comics made by DC Thomson and evolved out of two earlier reprint only comics called The Best of [[ComicBook/TheBeezer Beezer]] and The Best of [[ComicBook/TheTopper Topper]][[/note]], and the ''Beano Fun Size Comics'', which also had a Dandy version [[note]]both of these had evolved out of the earlier Beano and Dandy comic libraries which had begun in TheEighties and these featured longer stories similar to the Beano superstars but in A5 format as opposed to the Superstar's A4[[/note]]. Some of the now defunct comics continued their annuals a short while after their closure, with The Beezer's last annual being released in 2002 almost ten years after the comic's closure. This period was not all bad, though, as it saw the beginning of the [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]] TV series, as well as another TV series based on DC Thomson characters called ''The Blobs'' (themselves based on a series of books published by the company in 1980).

The TurnOfTheMillennium saw the closure of ''Bunty'' and ''Beano Superstars'', but DC Thomson's other comics lingered on. This period, however, also saw the release of the monthly Beano spin-off ''BeanoMAX'', and ''TheBeano'' continued to top the Christmas book sales charts every year with the sale of The Beano Annual. ''The Dandy's'' circulation dwindled, leading to a disastrous revamp in 2007 as ''The Dandy [[XtremeKoolLetterz Xtreme]]''.

TheNewTens did not start off well for DC Thomson's comics, with the end of the ''Fun Size Comics'' and ''Classics from the Comics'' in 2010 and the end of ''ComicBook/TheDandy'' in 2012 on its 75th anniversary (although it continued online as a WebComic). The company still had three comics left with ''TheBeano'', ''BeanoMAX'' and ''[[ComicBook/{{Commando}} Commando]]'', as well as their newspapers and a few magazines (including Wrestling/{{WWE}} Kids). In June 2013, both [=BeanoMAX=] and the digital Dandy closed. MAX was replaced with a new [[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK 100% Official Dennis the Menace and Gnasher Megazine]], while the Dandy's closure was blamed on technological problems, with a promise that it would be brought back at some point.

In the [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]] the company diversified into [[PulpMagazine story papers]]. Their story papers became known as ''The Big Five'', the five being ''Adventure'', ''The Wizard'', ''The Rover'', ''The Skipper'' and ''The Hotspur''. Over the years they began to feature more and more comic content, and so did their newspapers with the classic [[NewspaperComics newspaper comic strips]] ''TheBroons'' and ''OorWullie'' first appearing in 1936. This lead DC Thomson to attempt to release a Big Five but for comics as opposed to story papers. They first released ''ComicBook/TheDandy'', in 1937, followed by ''TheBeano'' a year later and then ''The Magic Comic'' in 1939. They originally all featured story paper style serial text stories, and they also all released large hardback annual versions of the comics every year. Then UsefulNotes/WorldWarII lead to a reduction in the number of pages in most of their comics, their formats changing from weekly to fortnightly, and the closure of ''The Magic Comic''. But the war also lead to numerous propaganda comic strips inlcuding ''[[UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini Musso the Wop]]'' in TheBeano and ''[[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Addie]] and Hermy'' in ComicBook/TheDandy. Many of these UsefulNotes/WW2 era strips were quite bizarre, with The Dandy's [[FunnyAnimal Korky the Cat]] fighting [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Nazi]] mice and The Beano's Big Eggo (an Ostrich) also helping fight the war.