best christmas annual

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 07 Nov 2007, 23:32

I always loved the annual advert in Whizzer and chips where you see all the covers it made me want all of them...also annuals of comics which didn't exist like Cheeky, Krazy etc...in the 80's..

Beano book was a must my first one was 1984 with the snowman and the great drawing by David.

My favourite annual came to me in hospital and that was the first Beano and Dandy 50 years book...really was great...and still is...

steelclaw · Post by **steelclaw** » 08 Nov 2007, 00:11

Raven wrote:Fleetway's 1972 Birthday Book for Boys was a real treat - it had a boy with a big cake on the cover - blending strips from the IPC/Fleetway stable of comics: Cor!!, Tiger, Lion, Scorcher and Score, Valiant, Whizzer and Chips, all in the same volume. I remember the very tiny me being extremely pleased with this compilation (of new strips or reprints? I'm not sure.) Good idea on Fleetway's part too, to introduce you to characters from comics that may otherwise be unknown to you.

It turns out there was a second Birthday Book For Boys, too, probably from the following year, but I didn't get that one.

Hey Raven, you either had a very late Christmas or as you say tiny and got christmas muddled up with easter.

The Birthday book for boys was first advertised in Lion & Thunder on the 8th April 1972, very unsuall for an annual not to come out before christmas, unless it was trying to get in first before christmas.

It was advertised for a few months in Lion & Thunder, think how many boys birthdays there are in that time span, mine included I have a copy of it.

[img

658]http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u283 ... x/birt.jpg[/img]

[img:214:300]http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/images/Annual ... (Boys).jpg[/img]

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 08 Nov 2007, 00:31

steelclaw wrote:very unsuall for an annual not to come out before christmas

[img:214:300]http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/images/Annual ... (Boys).jpg[/img]

Simple but nice colour balance on that Mike Western cover!

By the way, I noticed a couple of early annuals out this year too. A Shoot Summer Annual for one, and a Spider-Man one (which was softback). Both appeared around June.

That Birthday Book is a favourite of mine too. I imagine the idea was a) to provide an out of season gift to give to boys on their birthdays, and b) to promote the IPC comics after the strike of 1970 damaged sales. There was also a Birthday Book for Girls as you may know.

I don't recall a second BBFB in 1973. I'm sure I would have bought it if I'd seen it. Although I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Lew

steelclaw · Post by **steelclaw** » 08 Nov 2007, 00:34

I was going to say I've never seen a BBFB 1973 for sale, I would have seen it by now on ebay.

You can see the girls one in the Annuals/books section.(of this site)

steelclaw · Post by **steelclaw** » 08 Nov 2007, 00:34

Right going to have a look on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HB-Book-Annual-bi ... dZViewItem

Post by **AndyB** » 08 Nov 2007, 00:54

The first annuals I remember in our house were Beano and Dandy 1977. I was given older annuals in the early 1980s by a colleague of my dad's, including Dennis The Menace 1970 with the half-tabloid strips previously mentioned - I always assumed they were simply resized from the normal single-page strips!

Raven · Post by **Raven** » 08 Nov 2007, 01:00

[quote="steelclaw"]

Hey Raven, you either had a very late Christmas or as you say tiny and got christmas muddled up with easter. :lol:

The Birthday book for boys was first advertised in Lion & Thunder on the 8th April 1972, very unsuall for an annual not to come out before christmas, unless it was trying to get in first before christmas. :lol: ...

[img:1024:658]http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u283 ... x/birt.jpg[/img]

Swoon - the nostalgia. What a line-up: Kid Chameleon, Fishboy, Billy's Boots, Beat Your Neighbour, Mowser - yes, this book ruled.

Well, I must have got it for my birthday, which is late in the year, or Christmas - it was certainly a present; I still remember the cosmic thrill of unwrapping and discovering it - so maybe it stayed on sale for the whole year?

Lime Street Leopard · Post by **Lime Street Leopard** » 08 Nov 2007, 02:05

What a great thread! Speaking as a 42 year old long term comic and Annual fan,I have to say I loved getting Annuals for Christmas.
For me the biggest thrill was eagerly scouring the KAYS catalogue when it arrived in late summer.I woould go straight to the page featuring Annuals.There was usually a full page spread with all the titles for the year and a small photo of each Annual.
Part of the fun with the TV based annuals was seeing if the cut and paste mock up in the catalogue became the actual cover for the Annual.
I distinctly remember in 1978 there was a provisional cover for THE RETURN OF THE SAINT Annual 1979.Although it ended up as the same cover,the catalogue picture stated ,''THE SAINT Annual'' in blue against background of trees.By the time the Annual arrived the black border proclaiming,'' RETURN OF THE SAINT Annual 1979'' had been crudely placed across the top half of the cover obliterating the top half of the picture and an awkward looking half figure of Ian Ogilvy standing by his Jaguar XJS.I assumed that by the time the Annual had gone to press,the publishers assumed it was going to,THE SAINT Annual.Then it was changed to RETURN at the eleventh hour.This would seem to be confirmed on Page 5 which states,''THE SAINT Annual'' as opposed to RETURN.
Can anyone confirm this at all?I'm sure I never dreamt it!!And does anyone know of any other Annual covers which were changed or altered before publication?

philcom55 · Post by **philcom55** » 08 Nov 2007, 03:26

I can definitely remember one catalogue that showed a completely different version of the first Dr. Who Annual. It had a green cover painting that included various creatures from the first series; I never could work out why it was changed.

- Phil Rushton

Kremmen · Post by **Kremmen** » 08 Nov 2007, 10:58

And I thought it was just me that used to look at me mam's catalogue - Marshall Ward - and only at the annuals!

Well, them and the toys!

I can also remember a tingle of excitement when, in late August/early September, the adverts for the annuals would start appearing, especially in the IPC titles. On Saturdays when we were doing the shopping, I'd be in the Asda looking at these treasures while me mam was getting the week's groceries. The thrill of seeing these books in glorious colour as opposed to the black-and-white badly reproduced photos in the likes of Valiant or Smash!

Kremmen · Post by **Kremmen** » 09 Nov 2007, 10:58

Lime Street Leopard wrote: For me the biggest thrill was eagerly scouring the KAYS catalogue when it arrived in late summer.I woould go straight to the page featuring Annuals.There was usually a full page spread with all the titles for the year and a small photo of each Annual.
Part of the fun with the TV based annuals was seeing if the cut and paste mock up in the catalogue became the actual cover for the Annual.
I distinctly remember in 1978 there was a provisional cover for THE RETURN OF THE SAINT Annual 1979.Although it ended up as the same cover,the catalogue picture stated ,''THE SAINT Annual'' in blue against background of trees.By the time the Annual arrived the black border proclaiming,'' RETURN OF THE SAINT Annual 1979'' had been crudely placed across the top half of the cover obliterating the top half of the picture and an awkward looking half figure of Ian Ogilvy standing by his Jaguar XJS.I assumed that by the time the Annual had gone to press,the publishers assumed it was going to,THE SAINT Annual.Then it was changed to RETURN at the eleventh hour.This would seem to be confirmed on Page 5 which states,''THE SAINT Annual'' as opposed to RETURN.
Can anyone confirm this at all?I'm sure I never dreamt it!!And does anyone know of any other Annual covers which were changed or altered before publication?

It's also referred to as The Saint Annual on the spine. I have that book and now that you mention it the title at the top does seem a bit rushed. What always struck me about the cover was the head-and-shoulders image of Ogilvy/Templar that seems to be protruding from his car while he's also standing at the door of the car. Is this an inflatable Saint for use as a decoy? I felt that they could get away with all the white silhouettes that were on the cover, but the aforementioned image sticking out of the side just looked naff. Having said that, it was a better quality photo of Ogilvy, as the one of him at the door of his car looked a bit grainy, so they might have shoehorned it into the picture.

I seem to recall a catalogue image of a Superman annual that would have come out in 1981 and as Superman 2 was in the cinemas, images of Christopher Reeve were used. When the annual did appear, it was, IIRC, the usual artwork covers depicting the comics character.

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 09 Nov 2007, 12:13

half-naked women dressed only in their underwear!!!). I pored over these intriguing covers for months, writing and rewriting wish lists

- Phil Rushton[/quote]

Sorry Phil, this edit was just too good to miss.
Ah! my trusty Johnny Seven gun. A veritable spring-loaded arsenal of ways to kill and maim. Down the wood to sort out a Jap machine-gun nest and back it time for tea!

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 09 Nov 2007, 13:30

Lime Street Leopard wrote:I assumed that by the time the Annual had gone to press,the publishers assumed it was going to,THE SAINT Annual.Then it was changed to RETURN at the eleventh hour.

Sounds likely. The original concept for the series was that it was to be called The Son of The Saint, but I'm not sure when the producers decided it would still be the original Simon Templar. (Probably when they realized that for the Ogilvy version to be Moore's son, it would mean Templar was a father throughout the sixties series when he was swanning off having adventures. Not a great role model.

)

Lew

Shaqui · Post by **Shaqui** » 10 Nov 2007, 14:44

There's been an index to the comic related annuals up for some time... a television related one is in the works.

http://www.technodelic.pwp.blueyonder.c ... uals02.htm

The 'first' Supercar annual I would actually categorise as a storybook, and these are indexed here:

http://www.technodelic.pwp.blueyonder.c ... ybooks.htm

philcom55 wrote:One of my favourites would have to be the 1963 Supercar Annual, featuring the only appearance of 'Super-R' (R for Rocket!). This contained some fantastic colour artwork by Lady Penelope's Eric Eden (who was at least ten years ahead of the pack with his mastery of the airbrush). The thing that really struck me about this was that, like the later Dalek Book, it basically told one big story with a few interludes along the way: in effect coming very close to the format of a modern 'Graphic Novel'. Also, the giant rocketship itself, based on Supercar's own advanced technology, seemed to fit beautifully into the wider Gerry Anderson chronology as a prototype for the later Fireballs; so much so that I was really disappointed when the connection was never exploited in TV21.

Incidentally, if Shaqui is reading this I'd be interested to know if the Supercar and Fireball Annuals are due to be added to his brilliant Gerry Anderson website. If so does he know how many of the Supercar Annuals were produced as I've only ever seen two but the old Comic Book Price Guide suggested there were three altogether?

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