Home of Desperate Dan has suffered circulation decline from 2m in its heyday to below 8,000

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

The Dandy, the UK's oldest children's comic and home to cartoon strip characters including Desperate Dan, the cow-pie eating cowboy, is facing closure after 75 years.

In its heyday between the 1950s and 1980s, the Dandy sold 2m copies a week as young fans lapped up stories of Desperate Dan and Korky the Cat.

But it has suffered circulation decline since then as successive generations of children have grown out of the habit of reading weekly comics, with their free time given over instead to watching TV and more recently playing video games and surfing the internet.

The Dandy has outlasted children's comic titles such as the Beezer and the Topper by 20 years or more. But a series of relaunches in the past five years – including a switch to a fortnightly called Dandy Xtreme, and most recently a move in 2010 to introduce celebrity-themed comic strips featuring the likes of Harry Hill and Cheryl Cole – have failed to halt its circulation decline.

By the second half of 2011, circulation had dipped below 8,000, according to the most recent official figures, and the title is expected to cease publication shortly, according to insiders.

A spokeswoman for Dandy publisher DC Thomson confirmed that the closure of the print title was being considered as part of a review of the company's magazine business, but indicated that characters such as Desperate Dan would continue to exist online.

Characters such as Desperate Dan could also continue in print by switching to DC Thomson's sister title the Beano, home to Dennis the Menace. The Beano had a circulation of 38,000 in six months to the end of December.

"We are carrying out a review of our magazines business to meet the challenges of the rapidly changing publishing industry," the spokeswoman said.

"There are many challenges within the industry at present, but we're excited that the digital revolution has also given us an opportunity to innovate and develop. We're confident that future generations will continue to enjoy our much-loved products and characters."

The Dandy first went on sale in 1937 costing 2p, with a free whistle. The Cartoon Museum in London is preparing an exhibition celebrating the 75th anniversary, which will open in October.

An anniversary edition book called The Art and History of The Dandy is already available for sale, and earlier this year Royal Mail released a collection of stamps commemorating Britain's best-loved comic characters including Desperate Dan and Dennis the Menace.

Anita O'Brien, curator of the Cartoon Museum in London, admitted that comics were facing a myriad of challenges as they seek to remain viable in the digital age.

"The major difficulty comics have is their distribution, kids have other things to spend their time and money on these days like playing computer games and things like that, We do workshops and lots of kids want to create their own stories and do enjoy reading them, but there are definitely challenges."

Over the years, the Dandy has taken in characters from other defunct titles, including Beryl the Peril, a female counterpart to stablemate the Beano's Dennis the Menace, Bananaman and Cuddles and Dimples.

But Desperate Dan, who can lift a cow with one arm, is probably the cartoon strip most closely associated with the title.

There was a national outcry when Dan, immortalised as an 8ft bronze statue in DC Thomson's home town of Dundee, was briefly "retired" in a storyline involving the Spice Girls in 1997.

He was also forced to give up his favourite food, cow pie, during the BSE outbreak in 2001.

In the 2010 revamp a raft of celebrity-based comic strips were introduced, featuring celebrities such as Harry Hill, Cheryl Cole, Simon Cowell, Jamie Oliver and Jeremy Clarkson, in a bid to target new readers.

However, sales had slumped a further 50% by the end of 2011 and DC Thomson pulled Dandy, which is priced at £1.99, from the official industry circulation audit at the beginning of the year.

The Dandy – key dates

December 1937 Dundee-based publishing group DC Thompson launched the Dandy as a weekly comic aimed at boys and girls.

September 1941 Desperate Dan became a wartime hero in Britain, sinking German U-boats and fighting enemy plans with a peashooter. Wartime paper shortages force the Dandy to switch to fortnightly publication.

April 1950 The Dandy became the world's biggest-selling comic with a circulation of 2 million.

November 1997 Desperate Dan temporarily "retired" after he struck oil and sailed off with the Spice Girls. The news prompted an outcry from fans across the world, and DC Thompson later admitted it was a PR plot to coincide with the comic's 60th anniversary.

August 2012 DC Thompson announces plans to retire the Dandy.