Childhood Comics and Annuals

[Katharine]

All this talk of children's annuals obviously had a bad influence on me. Today I bought the 1970 Princess Annual. It looks to be in mint condition, although I might discover some writing inside when I read it. At 10p how could I possibly have left it on the shelf?

[Anita Bensoussane]

At that price, I couldn't have resisted either!

[Lenoir]

I still have a couple of Playhour Annuals from the 60s and Valiant annuals from the 70s. Also a lot of old Valiant comics, and some others like Tiger.

[Rob Houghton]

One comic I do have is the infamously short-lived 'Scream' - a 'horror' comic which fleetingly showed it's face in the spring of 1984. There were only 15 issues ever produced, as there was a printer's strike (I believe) and it was deemed not worth continuing with, as it's contents had sparked controversy. I have all 15 issues. Looking on ebay, I see that many issues are selling for around £10 each.

http://ukcomics.wikia.com/wiki/Scream!

[Francis]

I do love the Bestall illustrated Rupert annuals - I am trying to get all the 1950 ones without spending too much.

[Billy Farmer]

I have always been a big fan of Comics, and used to enjoy reading a lot of Comics, Buster and Roy of the Rovers, were my two favourite Comics, my all time favourite Comic Strip - The Leopard from Lime Street, appeared in Buster Comic, I also enjoyed reading many other Comics, including - Dandy, Beano, Beezer, Topper, Spike, School Fun, Victor, Warlord and Tiger Comic, some of my other favourite Comic Strips - The Byrds of Paradise Isle, Keen & Mustard, Ben the Bad (Buster Comic), The Hard Man, Tommy's Troubles (Roy of the Rovers), Iron Barr, The Man in Black (Spike Comic), Hot Shot Hamish, Billy's Boots and Nipper (Tiger Comic), I have bought many DVD/DVD-ROMs, on eBay, which contain hundreds of issues of Comics, also Annuals and Comic specials, I have also obtained all the 1970's Rupert Annuals, on eBay.

A very interesting YouTube Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9lPN98B5uI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Billy Farmer]

My all time favourite Comic Strip - http://bronzeageofblogs.blogspot.co.uk/ ... alked.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lucky Star]

My all time favourite Comic Strip - http://bronzeageofblogs.blogspot.co.uk/ ... alked.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I remember it well. Buster was a great comic.

[Rob Houghton]

I had Buster comic for many years! It had a different 'feel' to other similar comics, and was well produced.

[Moonraker]

Yes, I took it too - along with Topper and Beezer.

[Rob Houghton]

Which one was printed as a broadsheet? I always felt very grown-up reading that - like a newspaper!

[Billy Farmer]

They both were - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Topper_(comics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beezer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rob Houghton]

Thanks for the info! I think I probably had them both, though not regularly, and mixed them up in my mind not realising they were two different comics. They hadn't merged when I used to have them, at the end of the 1970's. I think it was maybe Topper I had most, as I remember Tricky Dicky being on the front!

[timv]

I used to read 'Smash' in the late 1960s - with Janus Stark the Victorian escapologist, the futuristic 'Battle for Britain' between a band of rebels and a mad medieval-style baron with science fiction weapons, and the 'Pillater Peril ' - an 'Adventure series' Blyton-style mystery set in a crumbling clifftop mansion in Cornwall like 'Craggy Tops' though with a reanimated Tudor villain not a contemporary crook as the 'baddie'. The stories mixed science fiction with the supernatural and straightforward adventure. There was also the 'Swots and Blots' cartoon strip set in a run-down inner-city school with feuding kids and a cynical teacher, probably drawn by Leo Baxendale. I also read 'Buster' and 'Valiant', and some of the final apperances of Dan Dare in 'Lion' which had merged with 'Eagle'.
I am not certain which stories appeared in which comics in some cases; there was a Viking adventure strip, 'Eric the Viking', in one (recycled from an earlier 'Karl the Viking' strip), a wrestling story about a team of boy wrestlers starring an Inca-style South American teenage chief who his evil relatives were trying to kidnap ('King of the Ring'), and a football story about a 'gypsy' boy (presented in a positive manner) playing for a posh football team in another, I think 'Valiant'. I admit to reading 'Look and Learn' which my parents approved of, mostly for the Roman/ science fiction strip 'The Trigan Empire' which was my favourite. But I did think there were rather too many stories featuring World War Two , though I suppose that reflected the writers' own childhoods.

[Moonraker]

Mickey the Monkey was on the front of The Topper, and Ginger on The Beezer. At least, that's how I remember it!