Guidelines from Beano and Dandy Editors
Beano Editor Mike Stirling and Dandy Editor Craig Graham offer some helpful advice about the recipe for a great comic strip.
Mike explained, “We are inspired by all sorts of things. We speak to our readers a lot and we know what young people are into - and the people entering the competition are going to have an advantage because they are kids!
What we do next is script write – which sounds very grand – and we tend to do that in a group and we throw ideas about. We start with a character, then ask a series of questions using what we know about the character – for example, what if a certain character was put in a particular situation, how would he or she react, what would happen? You scribble all of this down and then you see where you can add in jokes.”
Mike also said research is key to making the comic strip work: “We would strongly advise anyone thinking of entering the competition to get a hold of The Beano and The Dandy to familiarise themselves with the characters and also to check out our websites.”
Once the story ideas are in place the next stage is illustrating. Mike went on, “The story has to be told via the pictures first and foremost, and so you should be able to understand the whole story without even reading any speech balloons. The speech balloons add in extra information and jokes and the final thing you do is add the visual gags in the background – that’s something that really good artists do naturally.”
Craig said “We are going to be looking for originality and clear storytelling and a big hint is getting the speech balloons in the right order reading from top to bottom. A good tip is to have someone else read it to make sure it is clear.”
Mike added, “And it’s not just about the dialogue, it’s about the sound effects. Using bigger fonts or using words outside the balloons to suggest sound or movement – and lots of other techniques you will see by reading the comics.”
Another thing the editors say is key to creating a good story is having the confidence to let other people see it. In the same way they will sit down in a group and discuss story ideas, entrants can get together with brothers, sisters, mums, dads or friends and ask their opinions.
Mike reveals The Beano and The Dandy have a large number of celebrity fans – and they enjoy featuring famous people in their comic strips, too, because subjects think “It’s such an honour!”
“It’s your imagination completely and utterly and there are no limits to it. I always compare it to being a movie director with an unlimited budget because anything at all can happen”
Craig also suggests creating caricatures by exaggerating facial features and says the more feedback you get, the better. “Let someone else read it and see if they get the jokes and understand it the way you do. Sometimes it just needs to be a subtle change to be more funny.”
Ultimately, both editors are looking for originality and evidence of research into how The Beano and The Dandy comics work.
Mike said, “The reason so many of our characters wear red and black is because that was the only option when they were printed years ago. Don’t think we will give a big tick to a new character in red and black – we’d like to see something different.”
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