Annuals galore

[stevezodiac]

I noticed these ads in some 1983 Whoopee comics and was astonished that IPC could publish so many annuals in the same year. This doesn't include the boys and girls annuals. I'd be interested in what other titles they published that year. I'm guessing this is the most annuals they ever published in one year?

[Dunder Ed]

Ipc did like to produce a lot of annuals probably quite cheaply compared to the few annuals DCT made. IPC liked to continue annuals for comics that did not even exist at some times.

[felneymike]

Both companies produced annuals long after parent comics had folded, Hurricane being one IPC example.

The practice may have started with Chums and Chatterbox, the weekly versions of which both folded in the 30's (and the monthly 'omnibus' editions soon after), but the Chums annuals ran until 1941 (Christmas 1940) and the Chatterbox ones until 1955! While the weekly version of those were still running, the annual was actually a compliation of all the weeklies for a year.

[AndyB]

The next year, 1985, was the last big year for Fleetway Annuals, although I don't remember a Wow annual in 1985 - I think one or two hung around until 1986, but that was the very end.

[Lew Stringer]

The next year, 1985, was the last big year for Fleetway Annuals, although I don't remember a Wow annual in 1985 - I think one or two hung around until 1986, but that was the very end.

Not so. Several Fleetway annuals carried on into the 1990s. Buster, Big Comic, and Whizzer & Chips annuals were last published for the year 1994:

http://www.tonystrading.co.uk/galleries ... s/1994.htm

[AndyB]

Not what I meant - I got those titles right to the end in the 1990s.

The difference is that from 1987, it was current titles only, although Big Comic started out as an annual before it became a comic.