1970 - I got my first Christmas Annual in 1970 . POW, featuring Leo Baxendale's Grimly Feendish (partly based on Professor Marcus from The Ladykillers) in a haggis heist. And Spiderman battling the Meteor Man.
1971 - Tom and Jerry, I always thought it was a bit odd that these were full of speech bubbles, when T and J hardly ever spoke in the cartoons.
1972 - Disneyland had a story about Donald Duck being shipwrecked at sea which gave me nightmares for years.
1973 - My first Star Trek Annual. Kirk's top was always a bit too mustardy or green, but the ' Trek Annuals were all illustration, no long winded wordy nonsense here. Marvellous.
And the spectacular Persuaders Annual, the photo sections were tinted green - which gave a Tooty Minties vibe.
More to come soon - most of the pic's used here are from the mighty site
http://www.tonystrading.co.uk/
11 comments:
Great post ! I had a very similar conversation today at work on the joy of comic annuals at Christmas. Being a bit of a Warmonger as a kid I prayed for Warlord, Victor and Battle. Comic treats were of course Dandy and the Beano.
They were a staple weren't they! Do kids still get them? I've been scratching my head trying to come up with ones I would have had. There was always a Rupert Bear, which I always found a little diasapointing (sorry Dad), and worse the dreaded 'Look and Learn' annual. My favourite ever was the Goodies annual, although I'm dead jealous of that Persuaders one
Annuals are still around but seem to be all fancied up now, there was a set tone and format to these which reached it's peak in the 70's. Would recommend the link here for a year by year guide.
EFR
I was more of Fleetway kid - Whizzer and Chips, Whoopee, Shiver and Shake, Krazy etc...
VS
Disappointing annuals would have been Blue Peter (loved the show but not the Annuals)definitely Rupert Bear, Look and Learn, Or Boys Own type things - had to be TV related action or cartoon.
you'd never imagine anyone could out camp roger moore but tony curtis out flounced him every time
x
i want all of those annuals now!
x
Ally - you're bang on about Tony Curtis - Danny Wilde was one of my earliest heroes (after Batman), the clothes - fitted suede jackets, scarves, he always had driving gloves on, and that fantastic Ferrari. I never realised how 'swishy' he seemed until many years later. Great title sequence too.
best one we got was an xmen annual pages and pages of full colour cartoons it was like looking into the future. that being said a big pile of eagle annuals we got from a jumble where just as top.
I had that very same Disneyland annual!
Now, I have the Top of the Pops book, which is like an annual.
FC - I've still got mine, It's got the Goofy and the Pirates story with the "it was all just a dream " ending. I've seen the TOTP one and have been dropping hints to Mrs M about it
I had the POW annual for sure. Who could ever forget that Spiderman cover image? I used to get lots of annuals for Christmas and I loved them. I'd devour everything inside. Even the crappy filler puzzles and join the dots etc. I still buy my kids annuals because it's traditional to do so. Sure they are not the same to us, but to a kid they are just the same. My kids now thrive on Pokemon annuals and Star Wars etc.
The POW annual was a great combo of comics and action stories. You can probably get it on Ebay for a steal.
Keep an eye out for this years Marvel Heroes annual it's a 21st Century version of the POW annual,
(buy one get one free at Smiths) I got that and the Spongebob one for my two.
had all of these too, bar the disneyland one. Wish you could get such good annuals today, i used to look forward to these so much at christmas
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