Once again thanks to our Holidays tradition, here’s another pick of British Annuals selected not just for nostalgia’s sake but because it’s my wife’s house and my rules…
After decades when only US comics and memorabilia were considered collectable or noteworthy, a well-deserved resurgence of interest in home-grown material means there’s lots more of this stuff available. So, if you’re lucky enough to stumble across a vintage volume, modern facsimile or even one of many digital reproductions increasingly cropping up, I hope my words can convince you to expand your comfort zone and try something old…
Great writing and art is rotting in attics or the archives of publishing houses, when it needs to be back in the hands of readers once again. As the tastes of the reading public have never been broader and since a selective sampling of our popular heritage will always appeal to some part of the mass consumer base, let’s all continue rewarding publishers for their efforts and prove that there’s money to be made from these glorious examples of our communal childhood.
However, let’s please remember that these materials were created long ago in a very different society for a vastly different – and presumed uniform and conforming – audience. As such much material is inadvertently funny, blatantly racist, classist and sexist… and pretty much guaranteed to offend somebody somewhere sooner rather than later. Think of it as having to have that talk with your grandparents about “back when everything was better”…
If you don’t think you can tolerate – let alone enjoy – what’s being discussed here, maybe these are not the books you need today. Why not look at something else or play a game instead? Or eat some more roast beast?