skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A recent blog on The Guardian website lamented the demise of the traditional comic Summer Special, and they were right to do so. After almost fifty years, the bumper seasonal editions seem to have finally ceased to be. D.C. Thomson hung on the longest, but the Beano Summer Special closed a few years ago, replaced by the monthly BeanoMAX, and last year's Dandy Summer Special appears to have been the last one.
What went wrong? Apparently today's retailers dislike them because they occupy valuable shelf space for too many months. The other reason is down to how comics themselves have evolved. With regular UK comics now being full colour glossies, how can a Summer Special stand out as "special"?
The idea of weekly comics having a once-yearly Summer Special spin-off only appears to have gained popularity in the 1960s. There was a glossy colour Mickey Mouse Holiday Special as early as 1937 (priced 6d - a small fortune for a kid back then) but British comics of pre-war years would sometimes have a themed summer edition as part of their regular run, in the usual 8 page format. Here's an example from 1934; the "Jolly Summer Holiday Number" of The Joker, published by Amalgamated Press. Artwork by John L. Jukes...
...and the "August Holiday Number" of A.P's Funny Wonder from 1939, with a wonderful cover strip by the great Roy Wilson...
Inside that same issue of The Funny Wonder, Charlie Chaplin indulges in some seaside slapstick...
As the 1960s rolled around, Fleetway launched a Jack and Jill Summer Special for the pre-school audience in 1961. The following year saw Odhams launch an Eagle special and also in 1962 TV Publications Ltd published a TV Comic Holiday Special; a 48 pager with mostly new material. Not to be left out, D.C. Thomson tested the market with a combined Dandy/Beano Summer Special in 1963 featuring reprints from the weeklies. That same year also saw City Magazines publish a Huckleberry Hound/Yogi Bear Summer Extra. These sharply printed photogravure publications established the format for such Specials for the next few years.
The Specials must have proven to be very successful. The following year (1964) saw Thomsons devote individual Summer Specials to both The Dandy and The Beano with brand new material, and TV Comic continued with its Specials too.
Trumpeting the comics as "special" certainly wasn't hyperbole. Freed from the limitations of the weekly newsprint format the Summer Specials offered painted full colour strips bursting with life. (Although my copy of the first Dandy Summer Special from 1964 shown here is unfortunately browned with age.)
This was the perfect time for the Summer Specials to arrive. With The Dandy going through a peak in 1964, the Special featured some of the best artists in the business. Here's Eric Roberts on Dirty Dick and Ken Reid on Big Head and Thick Head...
...and Bill Holroyd on Joe White and the Seven Dwarfs...
Charlie Grigg was the resident cover artist, always producing memorable images of Korky the Cat. Here's the cover for the 1966 edition ( a bit torn, sorry). The image featured an inventive but simple novelty. By holding the cover in front of your eyes and rotating it it seemed as though Korky's bike wheels were spinning...
...and another Grigg cover for the 1969 issue...
The back cover of the same special is a fine example of how the quality printing gave artists the opportunity to go to town with colour work, as this Korky the Cat strip by Charlie Grigg demonstrates. (Korky's brutal remark to the mice in the final panel is a cracker, and shows how much more abrasive the dialogue could sometimes be in comics of the 1960's)...
The Beano Summer Special had the benefit of the great Dudley Watkins on covers for its first few years. Here's the cover for the 1967 edition...
(Don't worry folks. Biffo wasn't plunging to his doom after all. The back cover showed he was only diving towards a trampoline!)
Inside that same issue, a fantastic centrespread story featuring The Iron Fish...
Usually the centre pages would be reserved for a board game, ideal for those wet days sat inside a holiday guest house. Here's one by Eric Roberts from the Dandy Summer Special 1969...
The Summer Specials were clearly intended to be read by kids whilst on holiday, and the strips reflected the holiday environment of the 1960s, whether it be a journey in a train carriage...
...or the favourite destination of the time, Blackpool...
...watching a Punch and Judy Show...
...building a sandcastle...
...going on the fair...
...having a donkey ride...
...or simply relaxing in the sun with a cigar. (Er, well, maybe the readers' Dads could relate to that one!)...
Both the Dandy and Beano specials featured 32 glossy tabloid pages; quite a leap from the 16 newsprint pages the weekly editions had back then. City Magazines also seized the potential of the Summer Special by issuing the 48 page whopper TV21 Summer Extra in 1965 which featured a free gift (the "Cosmic Capers Kit") giving it the advantage over its rivals.
Here's the cover to the 1966 edition...
Inside, the adventure strips had little connection to a holiday theme but at least the "special" aspect was evident in futuristic articles such as this spread (by Eric Eden I think)...
Odhams also joined the party, releasing the Fantastic Summer Special in 1968, a 52 pager. Although mostly Marvel reprint, it did feature a handful of new pages including The Cloak by Mike Higgs...
Fleetway decided to hop on the bandwagon on Thursday June 23rd 1966 with the publication of the Valiant Summer Special...
This policy continued when Fleetway came under IPC control in 1968. The format IPC chose was different to the now-standard tabloid glossy. Instead, they went for quantity (sometimes over quality) with chunky 96 page specials, mostly in black and white. Here's the Lion Summer Special for 1969...
A large percentage of pages in the IPC specials were filled up with reprints from old Fleetway weeklies, sometimes with the characters' names changed in a futile attempt to make the strips seem new. However, the reprints were not entirely unwelcome as they collected together serials into nice complete chunks (albeit edited for space). Ideal summer reading indeed.
Here's the first Buster Holiday Fun Special, (1969), with a cover by Reg Parlett...
Reg also contributed new material inside, including this seaside two pager featuring Freddie (Parrot Face) Davies, a popular stand up comic of the period...
A striking Mike Western cover to the Valiant and Smash Summer Special 1971...
Inside that same edition, Banger and Masher, an often overlooked Ken Reid strip...
TV Comic continued its run of Holiday Specials throughout the Sixties and right up to 1986. Here's the cover to the 1970 edition by Dick Millington...
Inside, the traditional board game, with artwork by Barry Glennard...
From these early days, the Summer Special became a familiar sight in newsagents throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Seaside resorts would order extra copies as they were guaranteed sellers. (I remember bookstalls along Blackpool's prom selling them in the Sixties.) So popular were the specials that they'd often carry on for years after the parent comic had folded.
Sadly, the demise of the specials has been on the cards for several years and now, with the format eclipsed and sometimes bettered by the regular comics themselves there seems no place for them in the 21st Century. A great shame, as for many of us they definitely made our summers special.
Further reading:
What became of comics' summer specials: A blog on guardian.co.uk by David Barnett:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/jul/13/comics-summer-specials
Summer Special cover gallery:
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Specials/SpecialWhole.asp?FirstTime=Yes
Thanks to Ray Moore for the updates and corrections on the 1961/62 information.
UPDATE: Although the Summer Specials are no more, some publishers have launched the Summer Annual in its place, - hardback books in the traditional children's Christmas annual format, albeit thinner. Egmont currently have several out, tied into licensed properties, including the Power Rangers Super Legends Summer Annual and the Disney Princess Summer Annual.
(My thanks to Rik/KlownKrusty for this info.)
Last week's issue of Retail Newsagent, a magazine for the newstrade, ran a feature on the current state of British comics and found the market still had potential.
However, a sad sign of the times was that at no time did the article mention the word "comics", preferring to refer to them all as "children's magazines". Even The Beano wasn't exempt, with the 71 year old title being called a "children's publication".
The two page feature, by David Harris, covered how the titles were faring in the recession, with quotes from various publishers to say how resilient children's magazines are. Apparently there are an incredible 156 children's titles currently being published, with overall sales of 64.1 million. Whilst most of those titles do not feature comic strips (so cannot be classed as comics) it's obvious they are still considered by the trade to be of a similar ilk to comics, - all falling under the "children's publications" banner. The emphasis of the article was mainly on the younger end of the market; an area which retailers seem to consider to be the main arena for comics today.
Jaynie Bye, joint Managing Director of BBC children's titles, responded to retailer's "bugbear" over bulky cover mounts, explaining how they boost sales and that buyers now expect them. "We have now reached the stage where if there is not a covermount, parents think it must have fallen off."
The recent development of occasional higher cover prices for certain issues was also addressed (such as Spectacular Spider-Man and The Beano increasing their prices by 50p or more on some weeks). James Willmott, head of group advertising at Titan said "Retailers like this because if there is a larger margin to be made they want a piece of it."
Recent new laws restricting certain advertising in children's magazines seems to have benefited the titles. Alison David, commercial director of Egmont, relates in the article how, because the titles' incomes are now more dependent on cover price than advertising, any advertisers pulling out due to the recession shouldn't damage the magazines' profits too much.
The article concludes that "the magazine market might be struggling, but children's is definitely one of its strongest sectors" and that "this is one well-established sector upon which retailers can rely".
It's great that an influential trade magazine such as Retail Newsagent is giving out such a positive message about kids' comics, even though the message is solely about profit not content. Unfortunately it seems that bulky cover mounts, overcrowded shelves, a "younger" tone, tv-centric titles and price hikes are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
A few interesting revelations came to light in the advertising features surrounding the article; looks like Panini are launching a new GI Joe comic later this month, and are soon to revamp The Mighty World of Marvel, relaunching from issue one.
The biggest news however was mentioned in a sidebar to the main article: this September The Beano is being "restyled" to reflect the upcoming new Dennis and Gnasher tv series on CBeebies. No further details of the relaunch were forthcoming, except that it would feature "a series of free gifts" to coincide with the tv show. Watch this space for further developments.
Network DVD, a company dedicated to classic British tv series who have made many old favourites available on disc, are giving fans of Fireball XL5 a unique opportunity to own an exclusive new art print by veteran comic artist Mike Noble.
Although now aged 79 and retired from comics, Mike has clearly lost none of his talent for producing dynamic artwork in striking colour, as can be seen by the image above. One of the greatest comic artists the UK has ever produced, Mike had a long and distinguished career in British comics, drawing strips such as The Lone Ranger for TV Comic, Robin of Sherwood for Look-In, and of course Fireball XL5 for TV Century 21.
The brand new print taken from Mike's artwork will be limited to just 25 copies, and will be sold on a first come, first served basis at £39.99 each. Each print will be individually numbered and is a one-time only deal. The offer starts from next Friday, July 17th 2009, and no pre-orders will be taken.
Network recently released Fireball XL5 The Complete Series Special Edition as a DVD boxed set (see box art below) and its bonus features included an item on the comic strips with contributions from Mike Noble, Bill Mevin, and Colin Page.
For more info visit the Network DVD website here:
http://www.networkdvd.net/index.php
With his Brickmobile accidentally colliding with thought captions, Brickman plunged to his doom off a big cliff five months ago but his partner Tina Trowel seems to have moved on since she suddenly announced she was dating Superbloke in last month's issue of Elephantmen (issue 20).
However, already cracks seem to appearing in the relationship faster than a quick-baked brick. Can Tina really find true love with a man who loves his pecs more than her? Can Superbloke trust a woman who once dated arch-villain Mister Cheese?
Find out all the juicy goss in The Secret Diary of Tina Trowel, the latest page in the ongoing Brickman saga, in this month's special edition of Elephantmen, War Toys: Yvette on sale now from all discerning comic book stores. ($3.50).
The other 35 pages of the comic are pretty good too. More details of those here:
http://www.hipflask.com/issues/wartoys_yvette/index.html
After 40 years in the comics business, including an impressive 22 year stint as editor of The Beano, Euan Kerr has left D.C. Thomson.
The news came to light on the Comics UK forum, where it was erroneously reported that Euan had been sacked! Only when Euan himself posted a comment to put the record straight was the title of the thread corrected.
Euan took over as Editor of The Beano in 1984, at a time when the so-called "traditional" British comic was on its decline. Regardless of comics falling by the wayside, and a change in style for comics in general, Euan managed to keep The Beano forging on as a popular top-selling title. He also became the public face of the comic, appearing on tv programmes such as Blue Peter to promote the title.
In 2006 Euan handed The Beano over to his Chief sub-editor Alan Digby and moved on to become Deputy Manager of Children's Publishing, creating a new title, - BeanoMAX, - a monthly comic/magazine hybrid which included contemporary features and slightly longer stories of Beano favourites. (Alan Digby will be editing BeanoMAX from now on.)
Commenting on his departure on Comics UK Euan said "After 40 years in the business and with my health and sanity almost in tact, the lure of the golf course was too much! I've loved my time in comics and hope to do some part-time writing."
Best wishes to Euan on his retirement and here's looking forward to his future projects. The Beano Memoirs perhaps? ;-)
Read a 2006 interview with Euan Kerr on the FP website here:
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2006/07/british-comics-month-%E2%80%93-the-beano-and-the-dandy/
As you may have already read on other blogs the second in the series of Egmont Classic Comics is out now, this time spotlighting Battle Picture Weekly.
Only available from branches of WH Smith, the 52 page £3.99 special contains a good selection of reprints from the old war comic. Characters such as Johnny Red, Major Eazy and The Sarge are represented, with artwork by Joe Colquhoun, Carlos Ezquerra, Mike Western and more.
Reproduction of the strips is great considering the pages are probably scanned from the comics rather than from original art. Paper quality is superb; a heavy matt stock, much better suited to such strips than light-reflecting glossy paper.
Unfortunately some of the strips end with cliffhangers which will never be resolved as this is a one-off edition. The conclusions saw print 30 years ago of course, in the original printings, but for new readers it's very much a case of "For you Tommy, the war is over". Particularly evident in the Day of the Eagle cliffhanger which has Hitler victorious over our apparently dead hero.
As stated above, this comic is only available from WH Smith. Sadly, my local store seems to be a slave to its system these days and as they shelve comics alphabetically this Battle special was crammed into an already stuffed top shelf, wedged behind Beano, Beano Max, and Ben 10. I only found it by accident when I pulled out The Beano. (As mentioned here before, unless publishers' sales reps get store managers to tidy up their act I foresee major sales slumps for UK comics.)
Egmont Classic Comics: Battle Picture Weekly is on sale until 15th September. Replacing that on the shelves, the next Classic Comic, Buster will be published, followed by Misty in December.
Brickman is dead and there's a NEW Brickman patrolling Guffon City, - ex-Marvel UK hero of the 1980s Combat Colin! The bobble-hatted bucaneer ditches the bobble hat for a black cowl and cape in Elephantmen No.20 on sale now from all comic shops that are smart enough to stock it!
Visit the official Elephantmen website at:
http://www.hipflask.com/issues/elephantmen20/
****************************
My apologies for a lack of blogs of late. I'm currently undergoing hospital eye tests for a potentially serious problem so it's quite a worrying time and probably best to keep away from the computer except for work. Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly.
This was the perfect time for the Summer Specials to arrive. With The Dandy going through a peak in 1964, the Special featured some of the best artists in the business. Here's Eric Roberts on Dirty Dick and Ken Reid on Big Head and Thick Head...
Posts
