Category: British Annuals and Albums

Posted on

Merry Christmas, Boys and Girls!

In keeping with my self-imposed Holiday tradition here’s yet another selection of British Annuals selected not just for nostalgia’s sake but because it’s my blog and I just want to…

After decades when only American comics and nostalgia items were considered collectable or worthy, these days the resurgence of interest in home-grown comics and stories means there’s a lot more of this kind of material out there and if you’re lucky enough to stumble across a vintage volume, I hope my words can convince you to acquire it.

Topping my Xmas wish-list would be further collections from those fans and publishers who have begun to rescue this magical material from print limbo in affordable new collections…

Great writing and art is rotting in boxes and 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 public have never been broader and 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.

The Sparky Book 1975

By many and various (D.C. Thomson)
Retroactively awarded ISBN: 978-0-85116-103-7

For many British readers – whether comics fans or not – the Holiday Season means The Beano Book, but publisher D.C. Thomson produced a wide range of weekly titles over the decades, most of which also offered superb hardcover annuals so this year I’ve opted to feature one of the lesser lights – although as always, the quality and invention of the work is hard to deny…

Way back when, most annuals were produced in a wonderful “half-colour” which British publishers utilised in order to keep costs down. This was done by printing sections or “signatures” of the books with only two plates, such as Cyan (Blue) and Magenta (Red) or Yellow and Black.

The sheer versatility and range of hues provided was simply astounding. Even now this technique inescapably screams “Holiday Extras” for me and my aging contemporaries. This particular example comes from the barely-yesterday year of 1974 (and would have hit shop shelves in late August) when printing technology had advanced to such a degree that a goodly proportion of the book could cost-effectively be produced in full colour.

Sparky launched as a weekly comic on January 23rd 1965, intended for a slightly younger audience than Beano or Dandy and after 652 issues merged with The Topper (July 9th 1977 issue).

As was often the case its Annual outlived it, generating fun-filled hardback albums from 1965 until 1980, all featuring extra-long or special tales starring its most popular strips.

Again, as is so often the case, my knowledge of the creators involved is appallingly sub-standard – especially in regard to the writers – but I’ll hazard my usual wild guesses in the hope that someone with more substantial information will correct me when I err…

The manic mirth begins with Vic Niell’s ‘Peter Piper’ whose “Magic Pipe Brings Things to Life”.

In this tale the musical mysticism causes chaos by animating a giant dog on a poster which our hero compounds thereafter by having to zap a lot of burly folks into existence to help him catch it again, after which “Britain’s Brightest Coppers” Cedric and Frederic take on a brace of bandits dressed as policemen in an extended and hilarious ‘L Cars’ escapade illustrated by Bill Hill.

A dramatic full-colour painted fact-feature then eulogizes the ancient Vikings in ‘Faces of Man: North Man’ (by an artist I can’t identify) after which the inimitable Bill Ritchie provides his first cartoon contribution with ‘Barney Bulldog and Young Ben’ who enjoy a spot of indoor football whilst ‘Dreamy Daniel – Who Does He Think He Is?’ – by a fill-in artist also unknown to me – details the foolish fantasist’s muddling up fixing a TV aerial with scaling Everest.

Gordon Bell then limns ‘Spoofer McGraw – He Tells Tall Tales’ as the fibber regales his buddy Bo with the ludicrous story of how crash helmets were invented whilst ‘Hungry Horace’ (by George Drysdale?) is just for once innocent of scoffing all the food in the family picnic hamper before ‘Keyhole Kate’ (maybe Drysdale again rather than original artist Allan Morley) devises a foolproof gimmick to facilitate her nosy voyeurism but becomes a victim of her own ingenuity…

Jim Petrie’s ‘We Are the Sparky People’ offers an unedifying peek behind the scenes of comics production and a warning glimpse at the seedy inner workings of the editorial department on a day when the office mice run riot, after which another full-colour section spotlights the nation’s most infallible espionage agent as ‘I Spy… and the Master Phoney!’ (by Brian Walker or John Fox, perhaps?) pits the diminutive wonder against chameleonic Chinese rogue Wong Numba…

Following a little brain-teasing with ‘The Great Sparky Join-the-Dots Game’, John Geering delights with a boisterous outing for ‘Pansy Potter, the Strong Man’s Daughter’ as her long-suffering folks enjoy a quiet holiday by staying home after packing their child off to the seaside…

‘Faces of Man: South Man’ celebrates the prowess of the legendary Zulu warriors before Ritchie enjoys a spot of fourth-wall busting canine metamorphosis in ‘Barney Bull’ and Bob Webster (or a rather good impersonator) delights in an extended tale of every fan’s favourite alien robot in ‘A Tale of Two Klankys’ wherein the well-meaning mechanoid aids little Ernie and Sis Huggins in winning a fancy-dress prize and nabbing some conniving kidnappers…

Malcolm Judge’s ‘Ali’s Baba’ starred an invisible genie tasked with acting as super-nannie to the world’s most trouble-prone toddler and here the ill-starred ifrit exhausts himself after the pestiferous kid smuggles a puppy into the house after which ‘Jumbo and Jet’ (artist unknown but possibly Mike Green?) details how the elephant and mouse duo have a holiday from hell in a seaside chalet…

Probably by the same illustrator is ‘Snip and Snap the Tearaway Terriers’ who take drastic action against an owl interrupting their sleep whilst archest of enemies ‘Puss and Boots’ rejoice in full-colour forays by Geering and ‘Hungry Horace in 2000AD’ speculates on greed and nosh-cadging in the World of Tomorrow.

The rainbow hues continue as the civilisation and accomplishments of China are celebrated in ‘Faces of Man: Eastern Man’, wish-granting ‘Mr. Bubbles’ (Pamela Chapaeu and/or James Fox) turns barnyard swine into gourmet clubbers and ‘A Typical Day in the Life of Peter Piper’ sees the well-meaning lad’s animations generate a rollercoaster’s worth of trouble and thrills…

Back in black and red ‘Spoofer McGraw’ tells more tall tales to Bo – this time regarding the shocking truth behind puppets and marionettes – after which ‘Barney Bulldog’ finds his new job actually costs him cash and ‘Keyhole Kate’ invades a castle and is hoist on someone else’s petard…

Sports day is just another opportunity for a cat-and-dogfight to ‘Puss and Boots’, after which ‘L Cars in France!’ sees the boobies in blue export their ineptitude to Paris whilst ‘Pansy Potter’s Horoscope’ gives her dad plenty of warning about forthcoming disasters on their next holiday together…

‘Invisible Dick’ by Tony Speer finds boy-hero Dick Dixon searching for his real cloaking torch whilst tackling a bullying thug after which ‘Ali’s Baba’ takes up the tactics of a highwayman after being read Dick Turpin at bedtime and ‘Puss and Boots’ indulge in underwater warfare in a backyard swimming pool before ‘Presenting… Sirs View of the Sparky People’ heralds another full-colour section with candid comedic CCTV footage…

Quirky but uncredited ‘The Space Kids’ then reveals how four boys with a stunning secret aid extraterrestrial junk man Zarro after the trader unwittingly collects an occupied lunar module as stellar scrap before a final ‘Faces of Man: Western Man’ describes the life of native American tribes before the White Man came and everything wraps up with another ‘Mr. Bubbles’ escapade as young Wendy wishes she could do handstands like the other girls and soon the entire town is walking upside down…

Bright, breezy and supremely entertaining, this is another unbeatable blend of festive fun and thrills to delight kids of all ages.
© D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. 1974

My Enid Blyton Book (1948)

By Enid Blyton, illustrated by Grace Lodge (Latimer House/Marks & Spencer, Ltd.)
No ISBN

Enid Mary Blyton (August 11th 1897-28th November 1968) was English and wrote lots of stories for children – sometimes as many as fifty books a year.

Despite being controversial for much of her career she quickly became part of the very fabric of growing up British and her name became synonymous with childhood. In 1948 another bastion of empire – high-end retail giant Marks and Spencer – began an association with the author which produced three stunning annual collections of fabulous, beautifully illustrated gentle fantasy short stories. This was the first of them.

My Enid Blyton Book 1948 featured a selection of previously told tales taken from the weekly children’s periodical Sunny Stories for Little Folks between 1927 and 1934, lavishly and enchantingly illustrated here in the traditional two-colour process by the amazingly gifted Grace Lodge.

An astute businesswoman, the author had already recycled the material once as two thirds of the 1934 compilation tome The Red Pixie Book (illustrated then by Kathleen Nixon).

A lexicon of clever, charming and funny yarns for youngsters, the book commenced with ‘Who Stole the Crown?’ (from SStfLF #174, September 1933) wherein the King of Pixieland’s summer crown was purloined by persons or creatures unknown and the appalled ruler was forced to turn to a rather smug chap called Little-Cap who used deductive reasoning to ferret out the culprit…

Next follows the salutary tale of a gnome named ‘Clickety-Clack’ (#90, March 1930) whose gruffly unpleasant manner was cured in a trice following a shocking encounter with an aeroplane, after which human children Jill and Norman went on the adventure of a lifetime.

Whilst walking in the woods their pet Puppy-Dog Pincher was turned into a mouse by an outraged brownie. Thankfully a kindly Pixie maid lent them ‘The Little Walking House’ (AKA ‘The House with Six Legs’ from SStfLF #190, May 1934) so that they could travel to the sky castle of High-Hat the Giant and secure a cure. Of course it wasn’t quite as simple as all that…

‘Gooseberry Whiskers’ (#92, April 1930) is a delightful “just-so” story revealing how a thieving gnome trying to hide stolen caterpillar hairs accidentally gave a simple garden fruit bristles and ‘The Pixie Who Killed the Moon’ (#16, February 1927) detailed how foolish Pixie boy Big Eyes was the bane of his mother’s existence and got a big surprise after confusing the lunar orb for a red balloon…

‘Feefo Goes to Market’ (#190, May 1934) is a rather jolly and riotous romp relating how a hardworking gnome with a very large family was held up as an aggravating paragon to his fellow wee folk once too often by many unhappy wives…

As the prosperous onion-pudding maker returned home a bunch of irate neighbourhood husbands lay in wait to teach him a lesson but Feefo was not only industrious but crafty and turned the tables on his lazy ambushers…

Mister Curly was mean, always finding ways to penny pinch and not share time, effort or money. However his life changed radically after he swindled a tinker goblin out of ‘The Little Singing Kettle’ (#187, April 1934) and learned a hard but necessary lesson…

‘Good Old Jumbo!’ (#188, April 1934) detailed how a neglected toy animal rescued a kidnapped Pixie princess Dimple from Red Goblin kidnappers after which a subtle tale from the war of the sexes revealed how a very bad king was controlled by his wise and noble wife through the agency of ‘King Bom’s Ice-Cream’ (#188, April 1934).

‘The Boy Who Pulled Tails’ (#189, May 1934) is another lesson well told as boisterous human boy learned that yanking animals’ tails was only fun for him. His epiphany began after he tugged the sleek tail of a gnome cat which promptly leaped off and attached itself to his rear end. A few days of having his own appendage attacked worked wonders thereafter…

Sometimes however mischief pays off as in ‘Pipkin Plays a Trick’ (#187, April 1934) wherein the wily pixie and his sister Penny duped their selfish neighbours and impatient elders into carrying out tedious arduous chores simply by implying that some money had been lost…

The tale of ‘The Poor Pink Pig’ (#178, November 1933) is a story of witchcraft in which the unhappy porker, fed up with acting as a substitute familiar to his owner Mother Winkle, goes looking for a new home whilst the saga of ‘Mr. Grumpygroo’s Hat’ (#88, February1930) proves how acting nice and smiling can transform even the most surly curmudgeon into a pillar of society and friend to all and everything ends with a sorry saga of recalcitrant imbecility as ‘Fiddle-De-Dee, the Foolish Brownie’ (#103, October 1930) proves over and over again that he is immune to any aspect of common sense…

Sweet, charming, clever, nostalgic and ferociously twee, these tales are nevertheless a superb example of what made Britain British for decades and still retain their mesmeric power, especially when lavishly illustrated by one of the very best artists you’ve never heard of.

A genuine landmark of Annual publication.
© Enid Blyton 1948. All rights reserved.

Valiant Annual 1973

By various (Fleetway)
Retroactively awarded ISBN: 978-0-85037-033-1

Valiant was conceived as a “Boy Paper” in 1962 as the British comics industry struggled to cope with the sudden importation of brash, flashy, full-colour comics from America. A weekly anthology concentrating on adventure features and offering a constantly changing arena of action, the magazine was the company’s most successful title for over a decade and absorbed many less successful periodicals between its launch and eventual amalgamation into new-styled, hugely popular Battle Picture Weekly in 1976.

There were 21 Annuals between 1964 to 1985, combining original strips with prose stories; sports, science and general interest features; short humour strips and – increasingly from the 1970s onwards – reformatted reprints from IPC/Fleetway’s vast back catalogue.

From their creative heyday (this book would have been on sale from the end of August 1972) and sporting a magical Mike Western cover, the all-boys excitement begins with ‘The Sea Warriors’: an illustrated historical feature on the numerous vessels to carry the name “Valiant”.

‘The Wild Wonders’ (Western and probably Tom Tully on script) kicks off the comics capers with a tale of Rick and Charlie Wilde and their long-suffering guardian Mike Flynn. Shipwrecked on remote Worrag Island in the Hebrides, the toddlers were raised by animals and survived to become almost superhuman specimens. When rescued by Olympic swimmer Mike they became sporting sensations able to out-compete most adult athletes in any discipline. They could also talk to animals.

Here they save the seaside resort of Frilsea from a band of marauding thugs and bikers in a splendidly anarchic romp after which ‘The Tuffs of Terror Island’ finds four boys trapped on a tropical paradise filled with giant animals with only friendly caveman Urrg to help them survive.

The long-running serial strip originated in Lion, drawn by Tony Coleman, but I suspect this one-off, featuring the hunt for a colossal and nutritious cassowary egg, has been handled by a very talented Spanish ghost-illustrator.

Seagoing simpleton ‘Wacker’ (originally “Elmer” when running in Buster) has pet problems before the iconic ‘Captain Hurricane’ (written by Scott Goodall or Jon Rose) makes his first appearance, single-handedly crushing the Japanese in Burma whilst his hardworking batman Maggot Malone sets about ending a food shortage caused by black marketeers…

A brace of comedy capers – ‘The Crows’ by the amazingly prolific Reg Parlett and the astoundingly slick and wonderful ‘Sporty’ by Reg (Sporting Sam) Wootton – segues neatly into prose skiing/smuggler thriller ‘Diamond Run’ with illustrations by Eric Bradbury after which frenetic trend-chasers ‘The Nutts’ cause aerial angst in a superb yarn from Spanish cartoonist Ángel Nadal.

His comedic prowess is also on show in western spoof ‘Hymer Loafer – the Tiredest Man in Tennessee’ whose stagecoach lowjinks here exasperate his hard working mother. The strip was a frequently recycled feature previously entitled Lazy Sprockett and Kip Carson when it appeared in Buster.

A photo-packed essay on Olympic history, ‘The Greatest Games of All’ is followed by another maritime mirthquake with ‘Wacker (He’s All at Sea)’ before a true veteran aviator takes to the skies in ‘Battler Britton and the Flying Fortress’ (possibly illustrated by Italian artist Giorgio Trevisan) wherein the air ace has to retrieve a new bombsight from a downed bomber.

Clearing the palate is another Parlett rib-tickler starring ‘The Crows’ after which a full-colour section highlights period peril for ‘Janus Stark’. The epic “Incredible Adventures” of this fantastically innovative and successful strip were created by Tully for the relaunch of Smash in 1969, with the majority of the art by Francisco Solano Lopez’s studio.

The eerie moodiness of the weekly well suited the story of a foundling who grew up in a grim orphanage only to become the greatest escapologist of the Victorian age. The “Man with Rubber Bones” also had his own ideas about justice, and would joyously sort out scoundrels the Law couldn’t or wouldn’t touch.

A number of creators worked on this feature which survived until the downsizing of the publisher’s comics division in 1975 – and even beyond. Stark escaped oblivion when the series was continued in France – even unto Janus’s eventual death and succession by his son.

Here the monochrome murk gives way to stunning sunlit scenes as the escapologist travels to Egypt, solves the secret of the pyramids and foils tomb-robbers in a fast-paced romp painted by Solano Lopez or possibly Carlos Cruz.

A football-themed Wootton ‘Sporty’ precedes an outdated and rather un-PC selection of gags dubbed ‘Injun Antics’ after which strange facts are recounted in ‘Well Fancy That’ and Leo Baxendale’s ‘The Swots and the Blots’ (possibly ghosted by Mike Lacey) renew their cataclysmic class wars…

A prose tale of ‘Captain Hurricane’ finds the mighty Marine in France thumping “Krauts” and facing off against a steam engine before a recycled and reformatted ‘Kelly’s Eye’ serial pits the indestructible troubleshooter against vampires and a sinister slave-taking mastermind…

The much-loved, long-running strip featured ordinary, decent bloke Tim Kelly who came into possession of the mystical “Eye of Zoltec” gem which kept him free from all harm as long as held on to it. You won’t be surprised to discover that due to the demands of weekly boys’ adventures, Tim lost the infernal thing pretty darned often – and always at the most inopportune moment…

The spectacular artwork of Solano Lopez was the major draw of this series, with Tully and Goodall the usual scripters.

Nadal’s ‘Hymer Loafer’ then stops the trains from running on time – or at all – after which unlikely survivor ‘Billy Bunter’ (Parlett) again overcomes incredible odds to fill his prodigious tum and ‘The Sea Warriors’ reveal the story of HMS Hermes with ‘Wacker’ sustaining the naval theme whilst playing hob with ships’ figureheads…

One of the most fondly remembered British strips of all time is the startlingly beautiful Steel Claw. From 1962- 1973 Jesús Blasco and his small family studio enthralled the nation’s children illustrating the breakneck adventures of scientist, adventurer, spy and even costumed superhero Louis Crandell. Initially written by novelist Ken Bulmer, the majority of the character’s career was scripted by Tully.

Here ‘The Return of the Claw’ offers a superbly illustrated prose drama wherein Crandell has to recover a stolen nuclear missile and ends up trapped in a sinister carnival…

One more funny flight of ‘The Crows’ leads to a full-colour extended outing for gypsy football savant ‘Raven on the Wing’ (Solano Lopez studio) as the wonder boy suffers a loss of form whilst in France and tribal mystic Morag has to invoke her uncanny powers to set him right…

An hilarious dalliance with man-powered flight for ‘The Nutts’ is followed by a photo-essay ‘Sporting Roundabout’, games pages exposing ‘Magic Secrets’ and a fact-feature of astronauts and ‘Star Transportation’ before the frankly bizarre ‘Yellowknife of the Yard’ stars in a text tale (with illustrations by Douglas Maxted?) fighting the depredations of flamboyant mastermind the Crime Master as he confounds the regular Metropolitan constabulary…

A gag-packed selection of ‘Sporting Smiles’ precedes another ‘Billy Bunter’ tale after which Henry Nobbins tries his hand big game hunting in Africa…

Light-hearted everyman ‘His Sporting Lordship’ was one of the most popular strips of the era. Beginning in Smash! it survived merger with Valiant in 1971 and only died just before the comic itself did.

Nobbins was a labourer on a building site when he unexpectedly inherited five million pounds and the title of Earl of Ranworth. Unfortunately, he couldn’t touch the cash until he had restored the family’s sporting reputation by winning the championships, prizes and awards that his forebears had held in times past…

Further complicating the issue was rival claimant Parkinson who, with henchman Fred Bloggs, attempt to sabotage each attempt. Luckily the new Earl was ably assisted by his canny and cunning butler Jarvis…

The capable manservant had his hands full in this tale (art possibly by Douglas Maxted) as Henry strives to bring back a live lion for the local zoo with Parkinson and Bloggs on wicked top form…

HMS Kent is the final subject of the ‘The Sea Warriors’ feature whilst ‘Who Is It?’ tests the readers’ knowledge of sporting stars after which the seasonal bonanza concludes with a stellar fantasy (illustrated by Luis Bermejo?) as teenager ‘Jon of the Jungle’ and his man-ape ally Zim travel back to Africa only to have their plane crash onto a lost plateau where dinosaurs, cave men and even worse monsters still battle for survival…

Eclectic, wide-ranging and always of majestically high quality, this blend of fact, fiction, fun and thrills is a splendid evocation of lost days of joy and wonder. We may not be making books like this anymore but at least they’re still relatively easy to track down. Of course what’s really needed is for some sagacious publisher to start re-issuing them…
© IPC Magazines Ltd., 1972

Posted on

Superman Annual 2015


By Joshua Hale, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Rob Williams, Todd Seavey, Joelle Jones, Wes Craig, Chris Weston, Chris Jones, Craig Yeung, Al Nickerson & various (Titan Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-78276-190-7

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: What Every Kid Deserves… 8/10

The first British Superman Annual was for 1951, a power packed mono-colour monolith that introduced a legion of kids to the decidedly different American style of comic strips. It opened the floodgates to a tidal wave of other DC characters ranging from Tommy Tomorrow to Detective Chimp.

By the end of the 1970s the Superman (and Batman) Christmas editions were a slim and slight shadow of their former bumper selves, even though during the mid-1980s a new crop of editors and designers found a way to invigorate and add value to the tired tomes.

The perennial favourites’ fortunes waxed and waned as different companies attempted to reinvent the tradition but sadly the “World’s Finest” superheroes disappeared completely from British stockings for most of the 21st century.

Thankfully the Cape & Cowl tradition was revived by Titan Books last year and the current crop are ready to liven up a few more Christmas mornings…

This book is the 37th annual for the Action Ace (not counting a series of five combination Superman and Batman tomes for 1975-1978) and the publishers have again wisely catered to the characters’ small and larger screen presence throughout.

The majority of tales collected here come from the continuity-neutral original webcomic Adventures of Superman (#2 and 4, August and October 2013) with material and features from Superman: Secret Files and Origins plus a cool bonus story starring the World’s Greatest Superheroes from the TV spin-off Justice League Adventures #5.

The “Never-ending Battles” begin with ‘Slow News Day’ by Joshua Hale & Joelle Jones wherein a friendly “scoop” contest between rival reporters Lois and Clark inexplicably draws the Man of Tomorrow into the most hectic and annoying day of his life, after which a fulsome fact feature by James Robinson, Sterling Gates & Pete Woods provides everything you need to know about the vast and fascinating city of ‘Metropolis’.

Next Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Wes Craig & Craig Yeung reveal ‘A Day in the Life’, offering a sneaky peek inside the disturbed mind of Lex Luthor as the bonkers billionaire daydreams ways to kill his greatest foe, before another tranche of fact-files (by Geoff Johns & Francis Manapul) delivers the lowdown on both Luthor and space scourge Brainiac.

‘Saviour’ (Rob Williams & Chris Weston from Adventures of Superman #4) contrasts the frantic infallible Man of Steel’s battle against a bevy of super freaks with the loving homeboy who likes to visit with his mum in Kansas, before ‘The Daily Planet’ staff come under the fact-file spotlight courtesy of Gates, Jamal Igle & Jon Sibal, and Johns & Manapul provide the same information overload for superdog ‘Krypto’.

Wrapping up the story portion of this thrilling tome is ‘The Star-Conqueror’ (Todd Seavey, Chris Jones & Al Nickerson from Justice League Adventures #5, May 2002) wherein Superman, Green Lantern John Stewart, Hawkgirl, Flash and Wonder Woman voyage to a distant planet to liberate the population from the mental domination of stellar horror Starro…

With a final fact file on ‘Supergirl’ by Gates & Igle and big, bold cover/pin-ups by John Delaney, Rob Leigh & Bruce Timm, this stunningly seductive and engaging oversized (292 x 227mm) hardback bonanza is a perfect treat for comicbook buffs that will delight and dazzle young and old alike.

Superman and all other characters featured in this book and the distinctive likenesses thereof are ™ DC Comics, Inc. Superman created by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster. By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel family. Used with permission all rights reserved. © 2002, 2009, 2013, 2014 DC Comics, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Batman Annual 2015


By Ivan Cohen, Jim Zubkavich, Matthew Manning, Luciano Vecchio, Neil Googe, Dario Brizuela & various (Titan Comics)

ISBN: 978-1-78276-189-1

A staple of Christmas mornings since the early 1950s, Seasonal annuals featuring DC superstars (generally Superman and Batman plus a few other less enduring icons) slowly became a shadow of themselves as the 20th century concluded.

By the end of the 1970s the Superman and Batman Christmas books were a slim and slight shadow of their former bumper selves, even though during the mid-1980s a new crop of editors and designers found a way to invigorate and add value to the tired tomes.

The perennial favourites’ fortunes waxed and waned as different companies attempted to reinvent the tradition but sadly the “World’s Finest” superheroes disappeared completely from British stockings for most of the 21st century.

Thankfully they were revived by British sequential arts bastion Titan Books last year and the current crop are ready and waiting to liven up a few more Christmas mornings…

The first Batman annual was dated 1960, with two separate publishers releasing Holiday collections during the heydays of “Batmania”, and this current one is the thirty-fifth (not counting a series of five combination Superman and Batman tomes for 1975-1978) and the publishers have again wisely played up the characters’ small and larger screen presence throughout.

Most of the stories and features are taken from the US comicbook tie-in to the tragically controversial CGI television series Beware the Batman; specifically #2-5 from January to April 2014, with a particularly tasty “in-continuity” comics bonus from Legends of the Dark Knight 100-page Super Spectacular #1, (December 2013).

The power-packed peril kicks off with ‘Son of Man-Bat’ by Ivan Cohen & Luciano Vecchio wherein the still barely qualified Caped Crusader, two-fisted butler Alfred and junior assistant Katana become embroiled in a comedy of errors when monstrous mutate Man-Bat begins another midnight rampage of terror and destruction.

However, thanks to the timely assistance of Commissioner Gordon‘s daughter Barbara (who moonlights as clandestine information analyst Oracle), it soon becomes clear that the leathery-winged horror terrorising the city is not Kirk Langstrom but a little kid who was in the wrong place when the afflicted scientist was testing out the latest cure for his mutation…

Soon the Batman and his eerie counterpart are hunting together and the desperate Langstrom is forced to choose between using his one shot at redemption on himself or a stupid, innocent child…

Next up is quirky psychological thriller ‘Diagnosis’ (by Jim Zubkavich & Neil Googe, originally seen in Legends of the Dark Knight 100-page Super Spectacular #1) which sees the Gotham Gangbuster in a tense standoff with former psychologist Harleen Quinzel. As Harley Quinn the demented Joker-groupie has Batman in a bad situation that he can only escape by allowing her to psychoanalyse him, but the daffy death-dealer has completely underestimated the hero’s determination and ingenuity…

Being a British Christmas book there’s a sheaf of extra features and the DC Nation Secret File lowdown on Catwoman nicely clears the emotional palate for the final comics clash as ‘Rule of Three’ (by Matthew Manning & Dario Brizuela from Beware the Batman #2) offers the origins of Batman, Alfred and Katana as backdrop to the shocking tale of a family visiting Gotham who are incomprehensibly targeted by psychotic eco-maniac Professor Pyg.

The porcine plunderer has no idea of the storm he has provoked by trying to deprive a small boy of his parents…

The mayhem and magic then wraps up with a DC Nation Secret File on Gotham gang boss Black Mask…

This fabulously engaging oversized (292 x 227mm) hardback bonanza, stuffed with additional big, bold pin-ups and portraits, is an impressive tome that will be of much interest to aging chronic nostalgists like me, but will also delight and enthral the younger members of your clan – the ones you can’t quiet down with a shot of hooch and a Great Escape DVD…
© 2013, 2014 DC Comics, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. All rights reserved.

Posted on

Merry Christmas, Boys and Girls!

In keeping with my self-imposed Holiday tradition here’s yet another selection of British Annuals selected not just for nostalgia’s sake but because it’s my blog and I just want to…

After decades when only American comics and nostalgia items were considered collectable or worthy, these days the resurgence of interest in home-grown comics and stories means there’s a lot more of this kind of material out there and if you’re lucky enough to stumble across a vintage volume, I hope my words can convince you to acquire it.

Topping my Xmas wish-list would be further collections from those fans and publishers who have begun to rescue this magical material from print limbo in affordable new collections…

Great writing and art is rotting in boxes and 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 public have never been broader and 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.

Posted on

The Beano Book 1974


By various (DC Thomson & Co., Ltd.)
Retroactively awarded ISBN: 978-0-85116-077-1

For many British readers – whether comics fans or not – fans, the Holiday Season can only mean The Beano Book, so I’ve once more highlighted another of the venerable, beloved tomes as particularly representative of the time of year.

Way back when, many annuals were produced in a wonderful “half-colour” which British publishers used to keep costs down. This was done by printing sections or “Signatures” of the books with only two plates, such as Cyan (Blue) and Magenta (Red) or Yellow and Black.

The sheer versatility and colour range provided was simply astounding. Even now this technique inescapably screams “Holiday Extras” for me and my aging contemporaries and none more than in this spectacular example which would have hit shop shelves in September of 1963.

As is so often the case, my knowledge of the creators involved is appallingly sub-standard, but I’ll hazard my usual wild guesses in the hope that someone with more substantial information will correct me when I err …

This anarchically rousing compilation kicks off with a double-page splash of ‘Peculiar Pets’ Picture Gallery’ (by Robert Nixon, I think) displaying a number of comics stars and their companion animals of choice, after which Minnie the Minx (Jim Petrie) and a few chums and latterly Biffo the Bear with human pal Buster (by David Sutherland) introduce this year’s annual before Ron Spencer’s Baby-Face Finlayson (“The Cutest Bandit in the West”) imagines life as a giant and not a pipsqueak…

“Fastest Boy on Earth” Billy Whizz (drawn superbly as ever by Malcolm Judge) then learns to respect the power of traffic signs – in his house – before the crafty campaigns of ‘The Nibblers’ (John Sherwood) wins them a grand Christmas nosh-up and sanctuary from the seasonal snows.

Back then The Beano still had the odd adventure strip and perhaps the greatest of these was boy superhero Billy the Cat. Sutherland next proves his astounding visual versatility in The Bash Street Kids where the pupils plump for pop and resist the calming charms of classical music – leading to a camera-shattering pinup of ugly mug Plug – before switching to action mode as the acrobatic champion – now teamed with his cousin as Billie the Cat and Katie – jointly recapture an escaped convict and preserve their secret identities from curious school chums in a splendid rollercoaster romp.

Petrie’s Minnie the Minx then painfully learns that she’s not cut out for pony riding, after which Nixon panoramically maps out ‘A Funny Look at “Beano-Town”‘ whilst Bob McGrath details the sub-zero antics of The Three Bears as they try to find fuel to heat their chilly cave.

Also ably illustrated by the tireless Sutherland, Biffo and Buster return as rivals clashing in a man-powered flight competition, after his Pin-up Pup! of Dennis the Menace’s perilous pooch Gnasher leads into a custard-coloured clash between his master and simpering swot Walter.

Spencer’s Little Plum experiences a mysterious clean-up whilst sleepwalking before Nixon’s Lord Snooty and his snowballing pals at Bunkerton Castle get some startling help from the estate’s star stag Angus even as elsewhere – and keeping up the Hibernian humour – Haggis hunters The McTickles (by Vic Neill?) fall foul of their canny shaggy prey…

Pup Parade starring the Bash Street Pups (Gordon Bell) finds the mini-mutts (eventually) enjoying an old dinosaur bone before a dedicated and extended niche chapter from Nixon. Here in an expansive section of his own, Roger the Dodger’s Special Mini-Book offers the rollicking tale of the ‘Disappearing Dodger’, a pin-up, his hilarious, historically inaccurate ‘Family Tree’, ‘A Dodger’s Outfit’, and an informative peek at ‘A Dodger’s Den’ before closing with the final pin-up ‘Dreaming of Dodges’…

Biffo’s back – and points south – endure a battering due to the bear’s interest in buttercups (Sutherland) before Nixon reveals how the obstreperous Grandpa still catastrophically refuses to act his age and The Nibblers (Sherwood) again overcome malicious moggy Whiskers to fill their bellies with purloined goodies.

The riddle of Billy Whizz’ footwear replacement is solved in a quick-fire yarn by Judge before Bell’s Pup Parade starring the Bash Street Pups tale discloses the secret of their unlikely alliance with a very big cat…

Heading out West, The Three Bears (McGrath) find – and lose – a mountain of gold, The McTickles lose a skirmish with the wily Stilt-legged McHaggises, and Baby-Face Finlayson rewrites a few favourite nursery rhymes before Teacher and even Head have another go at civilising the Bash Street Kids with music – appended with a stomach-churning pin-up of Cuthbert Cringeworthy in Teacher’s Pet’s Picture Gallery…

Ron Spencer stretches his artistic muscles providing ghastly genealogical ‘Fun with the Finlayson Family’ and illustrating how Little Plum gets into big trouble trying to recapture girlfriend Little Peach‘s pet parrot, before Billy the Cat and Katie swing back into action, turning on the town’s Christmas lights and tracking down a hold-up gang (Sutherland).

Another gloriously funny Lord Snooty strip from Robert Nixon segues into Minnie the Minx’s hilarious crush on an American boy-band – and older readers will cringe with mirth at Jim Petrie’s hilarious spoof of then-sensation Donny Osmond – before Nixon strikes back with a Grandpa yarn involving the old codger’s inability to stay clean…

Beano star Dennis the Menace was only slightly involved in the Annuals of this period as he had his own Christmas Bumper book to run riot in, but he closes this tumultuous tome with an funny educational strip that’s a thinly disguised advert for his solo venture before the merriment closes here with another superb dose of Nixon’s ‘Peculiar Pets’ Picture Gallery’ …

This is supremely entertaining book, and even without legendary contributors Dudley Watkins, Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid there’s still an abundance of satisfyingly madcap, infectious insanity. With so much merriment on offer I can’t believe this 40-year old book is still sprightlier and more entertaining than most of my surviving friends and relatives. If ever anything needed to be issued as commemorative collections it’s these fabulous DC Thomson annuals…

Divorcing the sheer quality of this brilliant book from nostalgia may be a healthy exercise – perhaps impossible, but I’m quite happy to luxuriously wallow in the potent emotions this annual still stirs. It’s a fabulous laugh-and-thrill-packed read from a magical time, and turning those stiffened two-colour pages is always an unmatchable Christmas experience, happily still relatively easy to find these days.
© 1973 DC Thomson & Co., Ltd.

Posted on

Pow! Annual 1970


By various (Odhams Books)
ASIN: B003VUO2SC

This splendidly intriguing item is one of my favourite childhood delights: addictively captivating at the time and these days a fascinating indicator of the perceived tastes of Britain’s kids. Most importantly it’s still a surprisingly qualitative read with its blend of American adventure strips playing well with a selection of steadfastly English and wickedly surreal comedy material.

With Scotland’s DC Thomson steadily overtaking their London-based competitors throughout the 1960s, the sheer variety of material the southerners unleashed to compete offered incredible vistas in adventure material and – thanks especially to the defection of Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid to monolithic comics publishing giant Amalgamated Press (created by Alfred Harmsworth at the beginning of the twentieth century) – had finally found a wealth of anarchic comedy material to challenge the likes of the Bash Street Kids, Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx and their unruly ilk.

During that latter end of the period the Batman TV show sent the entire world superhero crazy and Amalgamated had almost finished absorbing all its rivals such as Eagle‘s Hulton Press to form Fleetway/Odhams/IPC.

Formerly the biggest player in children’s comics, Amalgamated had stayed at the forefront of sales by latching onto every fad: keeping their material contemporary, if not fresh. The all-consuming company had been reprinting the early successes of Marvel comics for a few years; feeding on the growing fashion for US style adventure which had largely supplanted the rather tired True Blue Brit style of Dan Dare or DC Thompson’s Wolf of Kabul.

“Power Comics” was a sub-brand used by Odhams to differentiate those periodicals which contained reprinted American superhero material from the company’s regular blend of sports, war, western adventure and gag comics – such as Buster, Lion or Tiger. During the Swinging Sixties these ubiquitous weeklies did much to popularise the budding Marvel characters and universe in this country, which was still poorly served by distribution of the actual American imports. Fantastic and its sister paper Terrific were notable for not reformatting or resizing the original artwork whilst in Wham!, Pow! or Smash!, an entire 24-page yarn could be resized and squeezed into 10 or 11 pages over two weeks…

Pow! launched with a cover date of January 31st 1967, combining home-grown funnies such as Mike Higgs’ The Cloak, Baxendale’s The Dolls of St Dominic’s, Reid’s Dare-a-Day Davy, Wee Willie Haggis: The Spy from Skye and many others, British originated thrillers such as Jack Magic and The Python and resized US strips Spider-Man and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

After 53 weekly issues the title merged with Wham!, that combination running until #86 when it was absorbed into Smash! Nevertheless, the title generated a number of annuals, even though, by 1969 when this annual was released, the trend generated by TV Batmania was dying.

Interest in superheroes and fantasy in general were on the wane and British weeklies were diversifying. Some switched back to war, sports and adventure stories whilst with comedy strips on the rise again, others became largely humour outlets.

This was one of the last Odhams Christmas compendia to feature imported Marvel material: from then on the Americans would handle their own Seasonal books rather than franchise out their classics to mingle with the Empire’s motley, anarchic rabble.

The content is eclectic and amazingly broad, beginning with a complete but compacted retelling of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #5 by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby from January 1964.

The full-colour WWII tale found the doughty warrior ‘At the Mercy of Baron Strucker’; beaten and humiliated in a duel with an Aryan nobleman. Soon filmed footage was used as a Nazi propaganda tool and Fury hero was a broken man – until one of his men realised the nonplussed noncom had fallen for the oldest trick in Hollywood’s playbook. The riotous rematch went rather better…

This was followed by a welter of gag strips beginning with an outing for Graham Allen’s The Nervs (revolting creatures that lived inside and piloted unlovely schoolboy Fatty) after which The Swots and the Blots (probably drawn by Mike Lacey) ushered in the economical 2-colour section with another Darwinian example of schoolboy Good vs. Evil and an unnamed substitute for Mike Higgs rendered the comedy caper The Cloak vs. Cloakwoman…

Next up is a short Marvel sci fi thriller as ‘Escape into Space!’ (from Tales of Suspense #42 June 1963 by Lee, Larry Lieber & Matt Fox) sees a convict escape to freedom into the void – or does he…? – before Wee Willie Haggis – the Spy from Skye scotches a plot to nobble Scotland’s prime (in)edible export and Percy’s Pets finds the obsessed animal enthusiast in deep water after getting hold of a hyena and crocodile…

Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #5 provides a factual page devoted to ‘Weapons of War: Light Machine Guns of World War II’ to restart the full colour fun, which continues with another Swots and the Blots romp ‘n’ riot after which idiot espionage continues with The Cloak vs. Blubberman…

Back then to red-&-black for the not-resized Amazing Spider-Man #36 (May 1966, by Lee and Steve Ditko) as the Wallcrawler faces deranged super strong thief the Looter in ‘When Falls the Meteor!’

The magnificently strange comic villain Grimly Feendish then fails in another bid to get rich nefariously before tiny terror Sammy Shrink restarts a final segment of full-colour wonders with more boyish pranks, after which the reformatted ‘Death of a Hero’ (Fantastic Four #32, November 1964, by Lee, Kirby & Chic Stone) uncovers the secret of Sue and Johnny Storm‘s father: a convict who gains incredible power as the rampaging Invincible Man…

This is a strange and beloved book for me and these are all great little adventures, even though I suspect it’s more nostalgia for a brilliant childhood rather than any intrinsic merit. Feel perfectly free to track this down and contradict me if you like though…
© 1969 The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited.

Posted on

Superboy Annual 1964-1965


By various (Atlas Publishing/K.G. Murray)
No ISBN:

Before DC Comics and other American publishers began exporting directly into the UK in 1959 our exposure to their unique brand of fantasy fun came from licensed reprints. British publishers/printers like Len Miller, Alan Class and bought material  from the USA – and occasionally, Canada – to fill 68-page monochrome anthologies – many of which recycled the same stories for decades.

Less common were (strangely) coloured pamphlets produced by Australian outfit K.G. Murray and exported here in a rather sporadic manner. The company also produced sturdy and substantial Christmas Annuals which had a huge impact on my earliest years (I strongly suspect my adoration of black-&-white artwork stems from seeing supreme stylists like Curt Swan, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson uncluttered by flat colour).

This particular tome of was of the last licensed UK DC comics compilations before the Batman TV show turned the entire planet Camp-Crazed and Bat-Manic, and therefore offers a delightfully eclectic mix of material far more in keeping with the traditionally perceived interests of British boys than the suited-&-booted masked madness that was soon to follow in the Caped Crusader’s scalloped wake.

Of course this collection was still produced in the cheap and quirky mix of monochrome, dual-hued and weirdly full-coloured pages which made the Christmas books such a bizarrely beloved treat.

The sublime suspense and joyous adventuring begins with a rare treat as ‘The Origin of the Superman-Batman Team!’ (by Jerry Coleman & George Papp from Adventure Comics #275, August 1960) offers an alternate view of the Dark Knight.

Teenaged Bruce Wayne was sneaking out on his still-living parents to fight crime as the Flying Fox and the Boy of Steel undertook to give some pre-heroic training after seeing their future partnership in a time scanner.

The task was made simple after the Waynes moved to Smallville but soon an odd rivalry developed…

British books always preferred to alternate action with short gag strips and the Murray publications depended heavily on the amazing DC output of cartoonist Henry Boltinoff. Here a jungle jape starring explorer ‘Shorty’ and a court appearance for ‘Casey the Cop’ herald the start of the duo-colour section (blue and red) before ‘Superboy’s First Day at School’ (Otto Binder & Papp from Superboy #75, September 1959) reveals how another attempt by Lana Lang to prove Clark Kent was the Boy of Steel prompts the lads Super-Recall and reveals how, on their first day in primary school, he inadvertently displayed his powers to her several times…

A big hit during the 1950s, Rex the Wonder Dog featured a supremely capable German Shepherd – and his owners – experience a wide variety of incredible escapades. Here ‘The Valley of the Thunder King!’ by John Broome, Gil Kane & Bernard Sachs from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #14 March-April 1954, finds the dog and soldier Major Danny Dennis discover a lost tribe of Aztecs in Mexico just as a volcano erupts…

‘How Luthor Met Superboy!’ (by Jerry Siegel & Al Plastino from Adventure Comics #271, April 1960) revealed how young scientist Lex and Superboy became friends, and how the genius became deranged after a laboratory fire extinguished by the Teen Titan caused him to lose his hair. Enraged beyond limit, the boy inventor turned his talents to crime…

Boltinoff’s ET gag strip ‘On the Planet Og’ temporarily terminates the two-tone tales and leads into a black-&-white section wherein Rex’s support feature Detective Chimp takes over.

Bobo was the pet, partner and deputy of Sheriff Chase of Oscaloosa County, Florida: a chimpanzee who foiled crimes and here experienced ‘Death Walks the High Wire!’ (Broome, Irwin Hasen & Joe Giella from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #8 March-April 1953), solving the murder of a circus trapeze artist.

The amazing hound then became ‘Rex, Dinosaur Destroyer!’ (Robert Kanigher, Kane & Sy Barry, from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #11-September-October 1953) after an atomic test blast opened a subterranean rift packed with survivors from another age…

‘Little Pete’ and another ‘Casey the Cop’ by Boltinoff augur a return to red and blue tones and an epic 2-part Superboy tale as ‘The Mystery of Mighty Boy! and ‘Superboy’s Lost Friend!’ (Binder & Papp; Superboy #85, December 1960) see the Boy of Steel travel to distant planet Zumoor and a teen hero whose life closely mirrors his own. They quickly become firm friends, but Superboy soon finds good reason to abandon Mighty Boy forever…

Comedy courtesy of Boltinoff’s ‘Professor Eureka’ leads into ‘Superboy’s Nightmare Dream House’ (Superboy #70, January 1959 by Alvin Schwartz & John Sikela) which finds the Teen of Tomorrow teaching a swindler a life-changing lesson before ‘Peter Puptent’ and ‘Casey the Cop’, after which Detective Chimp uncovers ‘Monkey Business on the Briny Deep!’ (Broome, Hasen & Giella, The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #10 July-August 1953) whilst Rex and Danny Dennis Jr. head out west to climb a mountain for charity and brave the perils of ‘The Eagle Hunter!’ (Kanigher, Kane & Barry from The Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #14 March-April 1954).

This thrilling collection returns to full-colour for one last Boltinoff ‘Doctor Rocket’ funny before ‘The Super Star of Hollywood’ (Siegel & Papp Adventure Comics #272, May 1960) reveals how super-dog Krypto becomes spoiled and big-headed after starring in a Hollywood movie – until Superboy applies a little clandestine reality check…
© National Periodical Publications, Inc. Published by arrangement with the K.G. Murray Publishing Company, Pty. Ltd., Sydney.

These Christmas Chronicles are lavish and laudatory celebrations of good times and great storytelling but at least they’re not lost or forgotten, and should you care to try them out the internet and a credit card are all you’ll need.

Merry Christmas, a fruitful New Year and Happy Reading from Everybody at Now Read This!

Posted on

Fantastic Annuals 1968, 1969, 1970


By various (Odhams)
No ISBNs

Fantastic was the flagship of the “Power Comics” sub-brand used by Odhams to differentiate those periodicals which contained reprinted American superhero material from the company’s regular blend of sports, war, western and adventure comics. During the mid-1960s these captivating ubiquitous British weeklies did much to popularise the budding Marvel characters and universe in this country. With its sister paper Terrific the comic was notable for not reformatting or resizing the original artwork. In Wham!, Pow! and Smash! an entire 24 page adventure could be squeezed into 10 or 11 pages over two weeks…

However, although the all-action comic featured Thor, Iron Man and the X-Men in chronological tales (with a few gags and a UK generated adventure feature), the annuals were a far more exotic and intriguing mixed bag…

The 1968 book – released in December 1967 – opens with the full-colour Thor thriller ‘When Magneto Strikes!’ (by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Chic Stone from Journey into Mystery #109, October 1964) recounting a blistering battle beneath the sea between the Thunder God and mutant master of Magnetism before plunging on after with the home-produced fantasy adventure ‘The Temple of Zentaca’ wherein a two explorer pals, their dog and a handy super-rifle foil a plot by a manic mad scientist in a cunning, anonymous yarn probably illustrated by the great Luis Bermejo Rojo.

After a rather bland and uncredited science fiction prose vignette ‘The Fugitives’ the Annual lapses into traditional two tone mode (red and black) and offers a Marvel monster yarn ‘The Man Who Hated Monstro!’ (from Journey into Mystery #92, May 1963 by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber & Paul Reinman) before launching into the bombastic ‘Beware of the Blob!’ (X-Men #3 1963, Lee, Kirby & Reinman) wherein the mutant teens tackle an immovable human mountain and his evil carnival, followed by a magical Stan Lee/Steve Ditko sci fi yarn ‘I Used to be… Human!’ …also taken from JiM #92.

‘Colossus!’ is another British weird mystery saga illustrated by European master José Ortiz Moya, with a young man obtaining ultimate vengeance for the murder of his father by animating a giant stone statue…

Full colour is restored for the prose short ‘The Invaders’ and the book closes with the captivating Lee/Robert Bernstein/Kirby classic ‘Iron Man vs Doctor Strange!’ (or ‘The Stronghold of Doctor Strange!’ as it originally was: a mad scientist who paved the way for the later Master of the Mystic Arts and whose one-and-only appearance was in Tales of Suspense #41, May 1963).

This fabulous collection blew me away Christmas morning and still makes my weary pulse race today…

© 1967 Odhams Books Limited. Selected material © Marvel Comics Group (1963) 1967.

One year later the magic resumed with Fantastic Annual 1969, which began with a beautiful double-page painted frontispiece featuring the entire heroic pantheon contained therein before the X-Men battled artificially enhanced giant insects in ‘The Plague of the Locust!’ (from X-Men #24, September 1966, by Roy Thomas, Werner Roth & Dick Ayers) after which ‘Miniman the Incredible Crusader’ debuted in a spectacular clash with insane roboticist Dr. Tome; another uncredited fantasy thriller illustrated by a tantalisingly familiar artist tragically unknown to me…

With talk of moonshots in the air the ‘Conquest of Space’ was an inevitable but endearing text feature, followed by the red and black section which kicked off with folksy fantasy masterpiece ‘Humans Keep Out!’ (Journey into Mystery #86, November 1962) by Stan Lee and the marvellous Don Heck, who also illustrated the untitled Iron Man thriller which followed, pitting the Armoured Avenger against the wicked Count Nefaria and invaders from the Moon.

(For your peace of mind the story was originally entitled ‘If a Man be Mad!’, scripted by Al Hartley and inked by Mike Esposito from Tales of Suspense #68, August 1965).

After another ‘Conquest of Space’ page ‘All About Iron Man’ reprinted a selection of fact pages and pin-ups disclosing the technical secrets of old Shellhead, whilst ‘The Mighty Thor Battles the Incredible Hulk!’ (Lee, Kirby & Chic Stone from Journey into Mystery #112, January 1965) gave us one of the very best frantic fight-fests in Marvel’s entire history before Lee & Ditko leavened the mood with a classy time travel thriller ‘Prophet of Doom!’ (from Tales of Suspense #40, April 1963) whilst Lee & Sol Brodsky shone light on the incredible unknown with ‘Mr. Flubb’s Torch’ (originally the more euphonius “Flashlight” in the October 1963 ToS #46)…

After one final ‘Conquest of Space’ full colour was restablished and this year’s model concluded with a magnificent adventure of home-grown superman Johnny Future who travelled to the end of the universe to defeat the invincible Disastro in a stunning tale probably scripted by Alf Wallace and illustrated by the inimitable Luis Bermejo.

© 1968 Odhams Books Limited. Selected material © Marvel Comics Group (1963) 1968.

 

Fantastic Annual 1970 saw the end of the era. Interest in superheroes and fantasy in general were on the wane and British weeklies were gradually switching back to war and sports stories. This was one of the last Odhams Christmas compendiums to feature imported Marvel material: from then on the Americans would handle their own Seasonal books rather than franchise out their classics to mingle with the Empire’s motley, anarchic rabble.

The frantic fun started in full colour with the contents of X-Men #40, January 1968, by Roy Thomas, Don Heck & Dick Ayers, wherein the merry mutants tracked down an alien robot Frankenstein in ‘The Mark of the Monster!’ after which the switch to red and black synchronised with ‘The Fantastic Origin of Doctor Doom!’ – a genuine Marvel Masterwork by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Chic Stone from Fantastic Four Annual #2, September 1964, which revealed the pride and folly which shaped one of the greatest villains in comics.

‘The Haunted House!’ (or ‘I Speak of the Haunted House’ from Tales of Suspense #42, June 1963) is a splendid example of Lee and Ditko at their light-hearted best, whilst Thor displayed his warrior acumen battling ‘The Evil of Loki!’ in a severely edited, almost truncated reprint of ‘The Day Loki Stole Thor’s Magic Hammer!’ (Lee, Robert Bernstein & Joe Sinnott from Journey into Mystery #92, May 1963). At least it was in full colour, as was the group pin-up page featuring the Thunder God, the X-Men and Iron Man traced off by a Power Comics art junior – possible Steve Parkhouse or Barry (Windsor) Smith – after which the two colour printing returns as the Armoured Avenger is ‘Suspected of Murder!’

The supposed victim was, of course, his own alter-ego Tony Stark in this tense, guest-star studded yarn by Lee, Heck & Dick Ayers (from Tales of Suspense #60, December 1964) after which ‘The March of the Steelmen’ offered another excellent but uncredited science fiction thriller, pitting a brace of upstanding British researchers against an uncanny invasion of unstoppable metallic warriors from a sub-atomic world…

The final tale, in full colour, introduces another indomitable domestic hero as ‘Matt Marvel – Lawman of the Future’ pitted all his incredible resources against maddest of scientists Doctor Merlin in a mind-boggling battle of wits and wiles with the world at stake…

These stunningly more-ish collections are mostly tasty treats for we backward-looking baby-boomers, but even though the Marvel material has been reprinted ad infinitum, there’s still a wealth of excellent and intriguing home-made heroic action going begging here, and it’s long past due for some enterprising publisher to gather all that quirky British invention into a modern compendium of weird warriors and wonders.

Anybody here tempted by a new/old UK Action Force…?
© 1969 Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited. Selected material © Marvel Comics Group (1963, 1964) 1969.

Posted on

Merry Christmas, Boys and Girls

Since the Mayans miscalculated and we’re all (most?) still here, I’ve gotten all extra-nostalgic and doubled my pleasure by indulging in not just one but two days of British Annual excellence…

Today’s Cool Yule Drool comprises a trio of my most often enjoyed festive frolics and tomorrow we’re doing it again with even more passion but just a little less imaginatively.

Have a Very Merry Day and always keep reading new things…

Robin Annual Number 1

By various, edited by Marcus Morris (Hulton Press)
No ISBN:

There’s not a lot around these days in our field which both caters specifically for little kids and simultaneously introduces them to the ineluctably tactile wonders and sensorium of a high quality comics anthology experience, but once upon a time there was a whole subdivision of the business dedicated to enthralling and enchanting our youngest and, hopefully, brightest…

Robin was created in the hugely successful wake of Marcus Morris and Frank Hampson’s iconic Eagle, catering to the pre-school market the way Swift targeted 6-10 year olds and Girl concentrated on potential young ladies (that looks far creepier in print than I’d intended…). The periodical ran from March 28th 1953 to 25th January 1969, a startling 836 joy-stuffed issues.

Offering a range of beautiful genteel, diffidently Christiano-centric stories, strips and puzzles for parents to read with and to their toddlers, Robin sported the same supremely high production values as all the Hulton Press titles. It was edited by Morris until 1962 when Clifford Makins took over, shepherding the title until its absorption into Odhams/Fleetway comic Playhour, just as the collapse of theUK comics industry was beginning…

There were at least nine Christmas Annuals – such as this first one from 1953 – which combined stunning, lavishly illustrated colour strips and features with solid, memorably stylish and glossy monochrome pages for an 80 page compendium of enticing wonderment between sturdily thick and reassuring red cardboard covers.

Again like its older brothers and sister, Robin included a selection of licensed characters well known to the new but ever-growing television audience…

This particular British Festive icon opens with double-page front and end-pieces by Reg Forster, depicting railway station scenes to colour in and a beautiful painted dedication to the young Princess Anne and Prince Charles, after which the prose tale of ‘Johnny and Mr Spink’ related the tale of a boy given a pony for his birthday.

The first comic strip is in colour. ‘The Amazing Adventure of Percy and the Cricket Ball’ featured anthropomorphic animals and a young man who turned sporting disaster to his advantage, followed by an illustrated poem ‘Things to Do’ and ‘The Story of Woppit’, a monochrome strip featuring an infamous teddy-bear in the snow with bunnies.

More shrew than bear, Mr. Woppit was merchandised as a toy and one was adopted as a lucky mascot by notoriously superstitious sportsman and speed enthusiast Donald Campbell. It was with him when Campbell died piloting the hydroplane Bluebird K7 on Coniston Water in 1967, and found amidst the floating wreckage.Campbell’s remains weren’t recovered until 2001.

A Play Page of puzzles is followed by the first TV star as ‘Andy Pandy’ played garden pranks on Teddy after which ‘The Old Woman and the Mouse’ offered a delightfully salutary prose fable illustrated by the incredibly talented David Walsh and then ‘The Twins Simon and Sally’ got into a mess feeding the chickens in their first strip saga.

‘Princess Tai-Lu’ was a magical Siamese cat and in her initial strip here celebrates Christmas with a few furry feline friends in her own unique manner, whilst the illustrated poem ‘Little Grey Stone’ by Margaret Milnes is a visual feast of tone-&-wash mastery and colour comic ‘Tom the Tractor’ related the heroic rescue of a climbing lamb and piglet by a handy animated farm vehicle,

‘Scruffy the Scarecrow’ was almost junked by the farmer until some friendly Magpies saved his job in a rather moving text tale, but ‘The Proud Mouse’ was the architect of her own downfall in a delightfully executed strip by an uncredited hand.

‘Richard Lion’ (and his animal chums Henry the kangaroo, Pug the bulldog, Peggy the black panther, Nemo the jester and others) seems like a rather excellent knock-off of Bestall’s Rupert Bear by the brilliant Maria Jocz, but it still offers wonder and joy aplenty in a two-chapter, vividly coloured strip which finds the cubs being harassed by and then saving some irascible Snow Gnomes. Next comes the second of the BBC’s Watch With Mother properties as Bill and Ben ‘The Flower-Pot Men’ saved a tortoise from his own exuberant folly in a captivating black and white strip.

A black Scottie dog narrates ‘The Sad Story of McTavish’ (by Norman Satchell) whilst ‘Charlie and the Cake’ takes only three panels to explain the folly of stealing confectionery from the larder…

The snow-bound adventures of Rufus, Rodney Rita and little brother “Fums” resulted in a new family pet thanks to the intervention of ‘The Magic Wellingtons’ in a beguiling colour strip, whilst, following a Bo Peep maze-page, ‘The Twins Simon and Sally’ return no wiser than before as their attempts to bath both a dog and cat at the same time goes spectacularly awry…

‘Midge the Motor Car’ was a living autonomous little auto and his trip to the local Fair resulted in initially chaos but eventually a dramatic and heroic rescue in a lovely monochrome strip from Catherine Hammond and an uncredited scripter, after which ‘The Shepherd Boy’ retold the story of David and Goliath in a stylish full colour comics version, and short story ‘The Runaway Bus’ – illustrated by Forster – detailed how a London Passenger Service Vehicle took itself off to the seaside for the day…

The poem ‘Eider Downy House’ (Gay Wood) is followed by the sublime black and white nature strip ‘The Dormouse at Christmas’ and a full colour rebus double spread of the alphabet before the prose tale of ‘Ku Mu and the Crocodile’ (written and illustrated by Dorothy Craigie) told a gentle tale of West Africa and the strip ‘Bingo, Bango and Bongo’ by Jenetta Vise demonstrated to three monkeys that performing in a circus was far more fun than merely spectating…

A ‘Mrs Bunny Maze Puzzle’ precedes the all-colour adventures of talking calf ‘Johnny Bull’ on land, sea and in the air, after which the superbly limned prose story ‘The Excited Red Balloon’ shows the sheer class of illustrator Eileen Bradpiece, before Technicolor tiny titan ‘Andy Pandy’ performed a prankish encore at a tea-party for Teddy and ‘Tina, Tim and the Magic Helicopter’ undertook an astounding prose voyage to the Wild West…

Patricia Hubbard drew an amazing strip adventure of the dolls in ‘Toyville’ and, following the conclusion of Richard Lion‘s excursion to the cave of the Snow Gnomes and another rebus page entitled ‘Can You Read this Letter?’, ‘The Flower-Pot Men’ accidentally built themselves a splendid flying sailboat.

The rather trenchant warnings in the tale of ‘Canty Kitten’ are balanced by a practical feature on ‘How to Draw a Toy Engine’, after which David Walsh displays his dexterity with both monochrome and full colour scenes for the ode to ‘Skating on a Pond’ and the enigmatic Kearon (perhaps Robot Archie artist Ted Kearon?) exhibits great virtuosity in relating the strip saga of ‘Philip’s Circus’…

The indefatigable Walsh then lent his deft pen and brush to the alarmist but happily ended text tale of ‘The Squirrel Who Forgot’ and sublime ‘Princess Tai-Lu’ returned to save her human companion’s hat in another lovely monochrome strip.

‘Billyphant’s Birthday’ provided a menagerie of pets for the lonely little pachyderm and that motivated Motor Car returned in ‘Midge at the Zoo’, handling runaway rhinos and adoring peacocks alike, before another Play Page segued into a black and white bible strip detailing what happened when ‘Jesus gets lost’ and all the seasonal magic ended with the prose saga of runaway pigs ‘Quibble and Quarrel’.

Unlike most periodicals of the time, this annual actually lists all the creative contributors involved – although not which pieces they worked on – so those I’ve been unable to identify I’ve name-checked here: writers Leila Berg, Maria Bird, John Byrne, Nancy Catford, Dennis Duckworth, Jessica Dunning, Rosemary Garland, James Hemming, Maureen Hillyer, Winifred Holmes, Ursula John, Rosemary Sisson, John Taylor, Billy Thatcher, & Shelagh Fraser whilst artists unattributed include Anthony Beaurepaire, Nancy Catford, Harry Hants, Irene Hawkins, Elizabeth Hobson, Stewart Irwin, Faith Jacques, Janet & Anne Graham Johnstone, Mary McGowan, Constance Marshall, Michael K. Noble, Walter Pannett, Prudence Seward, A.E. Speer, Astrid Walford & Andrew Wilson.

Relatively cheap and still quite available, books like this were and should remain an integral part of our communal history, always astoundingly high in quality and absolutely absorbing. Whimsical, comforting and supremely entertaining, this is a package with a host of child-friendly tales that have tragically missed becoming nursery classics simply because they appeared in a disposable comic rather than permanent kid’s novel, and it’s long past time publishers re-examined this wealth of forgotten material with a view to creating new masterpieces for library shelves and wholesome all-ages TV animation projects…

No copyright notice so I’m guessing most of the originally created intellectually properties material now resides as part of IPC or Egmont. If you know better I’ll be happy to have this entry amended.

Superadventure Annual 1967

By various (Atlas Publishing & Distribution)
No ISBN

Whereas the 1962 edition – the first Christmas Annual I can remember getting – was a stunning shock to my British-born, Polish/German reared, pre-school senses, by the advent of the 1967 Superadventure Annual (December 25th 1966 at about 11 minutes past 4 in the morning), I was a far more sophisticated but no less excitable consumer.

I had since learned in those short intervening years quite a bit about Superman, Jimmy Olsen, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Flash, Tommy Tomorrow and all the rest through the sleek American import comics that my Dad faithfully brought home every Friday after work, teaching me – and himself – English (admittedly American-seasoned) by poring through them together over weekends filled with sugary snacks and in-between huge, rustic, home-grown and Mum-cooked meals.

That early indoctrination and fascination remains strong – for the comics at least. I’m far too old and debilitated for sugar, starch, caffeine and artificial additives now…

This was one of the last licensed UK DC collections before the Batman TV show turned the entire planet Camp-Crazed and Batmanic, and therefore offered a delightfully eclectic mix of material far more in keeping with traditionally perceived British boy’s interests than the masked suited and booted madness that was soon to follow in the Caped Crusader’s scalloped wake. Of course this collection was still produced in the cheap and quirky mix of black and white, dual-hued and full colour pages which made those Christmas books such a bizarrely beloved treat.

The action opens with a classically lovely yarn starring the Fastest Man Alive, printed in black and red.

The first story is reprinted from The Flash #119 (March 1961), crafted by John Broome, Carmine Infantino & Murphy Anderson, and related how the lethal Looking Glass Bandit used his incredible technology to turn our hero into a living genie before attempting to murder him with ‘The Mirror Master’s Magic Bullet’ after which space cop Tommy Tomorrow tackled – in plain old monochrome – ‘The Planeteer’s Alien Allies’.

The strip was a hugely long-running back-up strip which moved from Real Fact Comics, to Action Comics and Worlds Finest Comics before fading from sight and memory. This particular tale of sneaky conniving ETs only pretending to be Earth’s friends comes from WF #122, December 1961, courtesy of scripter Jack Miller and versatile illustrator Murphy Anderson. Ubiquitous gag cartoonist Henry Boltinoff produced hundreds of funny pages and characters over the years, and a great selection are sprinkled through this book, beginning with a crafty ‘Casey the Cop’ howler…

World’s Finest Comics #125 from May 1962 provided the Green Arrow thriller ‘The Man Who Defied Death’ (by Ed “France” Herron and Lee Elias); a bold and grittily terse mini-epic and taut human drama about a desperate daredevil willing to do absolutely anything to earn the cash for his son’s medical bills, followed by a Boltinoff ‘Moolah the Mystic’ rib-tickler and the start of the full (but exceedingly odd) colour section.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #60 (April 1962) provided the astonishing story of ‘Super-Mite’ as author Leo Dorfman & artist Al Plastino had the exuberant cub reporter explore the mystery of a little action figure given by the Man of Steel to an ailing boy which inexplicably became as smart and powerful as any full-sized Kryptonian! This is followed by a Boltinoff gag starring ‘Peter Puptent, Explorer’ and a chiller featuring Aquaman and Aqualad battling ‘The Curse of the Sea Hermit’.

First seen in Detective Comics #295, September 1961 by George Kashdan & Nick Cardy, this spooky sea tale seemingly pitted the heroes against ancient evil but there was ultra-modern piratical plundering behind this scheme…

Back in black and white, ‘The Trickster Strikes Back’ (Flash #121, June 1961) saw the rapacious return of an air-walking bandit with murderous intent, outmanoeuvred by the Vizier of Velocity in a stunning yarn from Broome, Infantino and Joe Giella whilst, after another Peter Puptent page, Tommy Tomorrow undertook a desperate ‘Journey to 1966’ (originally entitled ‘Journey to 1960’, by Miller & Jim Mooney, when it first appeared in WF #113, November 1960) to capture a would-be world-conqueror with the inadvertent aid of the Planeteer’s own grandfather, after which the grand Costumed Dramas end in fine style with ‘The League of Fantastic Supermen’ (by Jerry Siegel, Curt Swan & George Klein from Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #63, September 1962) in which a quartet of Kryptonian outlaws and the double-dealing Legion of Super-Villains are all outwitted by the plucky junior journalist.

Maybe I’m blinded by nostalgia-coloured goggles, but it seems admirably astounding to me that the all-ages stories featured here are so perfectly constructed that whether an innocent(ish) tubby toddler or the sullen, embittered old coot I became, these tales continue to beguile, bemuse and satisfy in a way that no food, drink or drug could. This is another book that will always say “Merry Christmas” to me.

…And hopefully to you, too…

© 1966 National Periodical Publications, Inc.,New York. Published and distributed jointly by Atlas Publishing and Thorpe & Porter, Ltd., by arrangement with The K.G. Murray Publishing Company Pty. Ltd., Sydney.

Beano Book 1972

By various (DC Thomson & Co., Ltd.)
Retroactively awarded ISBN: 978-0-85116-038-2

For many British – and indeed Commonwealth – fans, Christmas can only mean The Beano Book (although Scots worldwide and of every nationality have a pretty fair claim that the season belongs exclusively to them via the traditional, annually-alternating collections of The Broons and Oor Wullie which make every December 25th mirthfully magical), so I’ve yet again highlighted another of the venerable and beloved tomes as particularly representative of the Season of Joy.

In those days these annuals were produced in the wonderful “half-colour” British publishers used to keep costs down. This was done by printing sections or “Signatures” of the books with only two plates, such as Cyan (Blue) and Magenta (Red): The sheer versatility and colour range this provided was astounding. Even now this technique inescapably screams “Holidayextras” for me and my contemporaries.

As is always the tragic case, my knowledge of the creators involved is criminally sub-par but I’ll hazard the usual wild guesses in the hope that someone with better knowledge will correct me when I err and embarrassingly get it wrong again…

This boisterously compelling chronicle opens with a double-page splash of The Bash Street Kids (by David Sutherland) breaking the fourth wall and playing mischievous hob with the book’s two-colour formatting, after which The Three Bears by Bob McGrath and the exceedingly domestic Biffo the Bear (Sutherland again) officially welcome us to the festivities.

Leading off this year’s anarchic antics is a splendid school Panto skit starring Minnie the Minx courtesy of Jim Petrie, after which the iconoclastic Dennis the Menace and Gnasher make their first appearance adding their own unique tinge of terror to a school play thanks to prolific diversity of style chameleon David Sutherland.

“Fastest boy on Earth” Billy Whizz (by Malcolm Judge) then experiences painful feedback from a rashly hurled boomerang and his Antipodean counterpart, before the re-assembled Bash Street Kids helpfully assist Teacher get over his over-sleeping problem with the expected catastrophic results in a dedicated and extended niche chapter interwoven with the eccentric and imaginative ‘Bash Street Motor Cartie Show’.

Biffo and human pal Buster go shopping for new furniture next – in an eye-popping blue and yellow segment – after which Roger the Dodger is again outwitted by his dad and Lord Snooty learns the error of his selfish, posh-boy ways in a brace of gloriously funny strips from Robert Nixon, whilst Ronald Spencer’s painfully un-PC but exceedingly hilarious Little Plum follows with the rambunctious redskin falling foul of a bolshie buffalo before Billy Whizz rockets back with a tricky ‘Whizz Quiz’ to test our wits and reactions.

In a previous annual the Bash Street Kids found themselves the reluctant owners of an accident-prone elephant, and she riotously returns here in an extended episode of Pups Parade starring the Bash Street Dogs (and Ethel Hump) by the marvellous Gordon Bell. Stuck with the excitable, ponderous pachyderm by the awesome and omnipotent Beano Editor, the mangy mutts soon handed her off to their arch-foes The Bash Street Cats but it took the canny connivings of ‘The Nibblers’ (drawn by either John Sherwood or Ron Spencer?) to finally quell Ethel’s destructively effusive spirits…

At this time The Beano still had the odd adventure strip and perhaps the greatest of these was local boy superhero Billy the Cat. Here in an expansive section of his own, the plucky acrobat chases burglars over rooftops, crushes bullies, catches car thieves and almost mucks up a fire drill in a rollicking rollercoaster of blistering action by Sandy Calder – and there’s also a splendid ‘Quick on the Draw’ feature inviting readers to become artists themselves…

Biffo the Bear then endures an agony of indecision whilst his hirsute and voracious American cousins The Three Bears got a slap-up Christmas feed even after failing again to breach the impregnable local general store of grocer Hank Huckleberry…

The defences of Bunkerton Castle proved too much when Lord Snooty and His Pals tried to bring in a truly tremendous Xmas tree, but Minnie the Minx had far more success in her spring-heeled hi-jinx – until Dad caught her, at least – whilst the ‘Billy Whizz Diary’ proved its worth in mirth before Little Plum and that buffalo had their hands and hooves full trying to wigwam-train Chiefy‘s latest pet – a Smart Alec chimpanzee…

The Nibblers next resumed their war of attrition with malicious moggy Whiskers whilst Roger’s latest Dodges proved ultimately unsuccessful but did prompt him to dream big and explain what would happen ‘If I Were a Rich Boy…’

Another extended journey to Bash Street found the Kids literally sucking up to Teacher after “borrowing” a Corporation Dust Cart and industrial vacuum cleaner, whilst following some enthralling, appalling ‘Party Puzzles’ the ‘Pup Parade’ ended the segment with a dirty scheme to clean up the dog’s communal dustbin home…

Biffo then worked out with the local Fire Brigade and ‘The Three Bears’ had snow fun at all when Hank trapped them with a frigid, foodless maze, after which Minnie found things to amuse herself – but not so many other folks – building snowmen…

The Festive fun then concludes with a thinly veiled but entertaining ad for that year’s Dennis the Menace Annual and a return to the Bash Street Kids’ colour cavortings…

This is another astoundingly compelling edition, and even in the absence of legendary creators such as Dudley Watkins, Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid there’s no discernable decline in the outrageous and infectious insanity. With so much merriment on offer I can’t believe this forty year old book is still sprightlier and more entertaining than most of my surviving friends and relatives. If ever anything needed to be issued as commemorative collections it’s these fabulous DC Thomson annuals…

Divorcing the sheer quality of this brilliant book from nostalgia may be a healthy exercise – perhaps impossible, but I’m perfectly happy to simply wallow in the magical emotions this annual still stirs. It’s a fabulous laugh-and-thrill-packed read from a magical time, and turning those stiffened two-colour pages is always an unmatchable Christmas experience – and still relatively easy to find these days.

© 1971 DC Thomson & Co., Ltd.