Comic oddities: My Cartoon Annual 1984

Here's a strange book that turned up in the shops in 1983: My Cartoon Annual, a 64 page full colour hardback priced at £2.75. (Although I picked it up when it was remaindered for £1.) 

If the characters are unfamiliar it's because all of the contents of My Cartoon Annual are reprints from Spanish comics, translated into English. The book is copyright Opal Quill Limited, and was printed in Spain. The company also did a few adventure comics annuals (again, all reprint I believe). 

The art styles are energetic and fun, the stories range from mundane to quirky, the translations are a bit awkward in places and the re-lettering in English is unrestrained and lively. The end result is an enjoyable humour compilation which made a refreshing change from the UK comics of the time.

Here's a few selected pages from the book. I hope you enjoy them... 

UPDATE: My thanks to Ruth Bernárdez for identifying the artists of the strips. Ruth writes:

The New Job is By Manuel Vazquez. This, I believe, is from a long series called La Familia Cebolleta (the Cebolleta Family (cebolleta translate to english as Spring Onion, or Scallion).

Zippy and Zappy (Zipi y Zape) are by Escobar. A genius cartoonist sadly gone.

Yolande is by Nebot.

I'm trying to think what Ben Bore was called in Spain but can't remember now. The artist is RAF.

Swindle and co is by Rojas de la Cámara. 

1980 London convention

I've lost count of the number of comic conventions I've attended over the years but the second one I went to was the Marvel Comics Film and Fantasy Convention 1980. I think it took place in September of that year, and I forget the venue but it was somewhere in London. This was several years before I'd be invited to any as a guest of course.

Unlike previous UK cons which had been organized by various fans, the 1980 one was produced by Marvel UK. Although it did feature some comic-related events it also featured a healthy amount of film and TV related panels. In that respect it was a pioneer of the sort of shows that take place today, albeit on a much smaller scale. 

Here are a few pages from the A5 convention booklet. Above is the front cover by Paul Neary, using artwork that would also appear on the cover of that year's British Spider-Man Annual. 

As you can see from the list of staff, Colin Campbell was one of the event co-ordinators. Colin had run the previous year's convention in Birmingham.

The guest list included a good selection of people from comics and film/TV...

As it was a Marvel-financed show the booklet naturally used a couple of pages to promote its latest UK reprint comics...

Comic conventions back then usually had a venue with a cinema in order to show various SF movies. This event being no exception...

Here's the list of events over the two days...

Winners of the Starburst Awards received one of these trophies based on Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still...

I took a few photographs over that weekend but I only had a cheap camera back then with a poor flash so my apologies for the low quality of these shots. I've tried to improve them in Photoshop as best I can but they're still substandard... 

Cosplay wasn't the big thing it is today but a few people turned up in fancy dress such as this guy as Captain America. (Possibly a Marvel UK staff member?)

Blake's Seven actor Jaqueline Pearce with her Starburst Award (and also collecting one on behalf of someone else I believe)...

Actors Caroline Munro and Paul Darrow...

Me when I was 21! 

As it was 35 years ago I've forgotten most of what happened at the show. The main thing I recall is going for a lunchtime drink in a pub on the Portobello Road and meeting Lemmy from Motorhead, as one of my mates knew him. Sadly that pal died a few years ago, and I've long lost touch with some other friends from that time. I remember the convention didn't quite have the spark it deserved, mainly due to the venue, but we didn't care. We were young and we had a laugh, which in the end is what it's all about.

TV21 goes football!

Early 1969 was a period of change for readers of British comics, and not for the better in the opinion of some. Eagle was merged into Lion, Smash! was changed beyond recognition into a traditional adventure comic and then on May 7th 1969 there was this cover. "TV21 goes football...in a big way!" 

Football United starts today! I remember my heart sinking at the sight of this headline. I'd only recently started buying TV21 again and found it to be great escapism compared to most other British comics, partly due to the absence of football. Sport was something you expected to see in Tiger or Lion, but the whole point of TV21 was that it was mostly set 100 years in the future, focused around the universe of Gerry Anderson shows. Admittedly that theme had been compromised considerably several months earlier with the absorption of TV Tornado, but its reinvention as a 'space and spy' comic was acceptable.

I've never been a fan of football so the inclusion of a football feature in TV21 was not only out of place but something I actually disliked and I soon dropped the comic. I suspect I wasn't the only one, as sales on the comic continued to fall, leading to a relaunch as TV21 and Joe 90 a few months later. (See here.)

In retrospect, despite the cover and the new footie feature, it was still business as usual inside so perhaps I over reacted when I stopped buying the comic. Let's take a look at the contents...

Pages 2 and 3 gave us Secret Agent 21, one of the mainstays of TV21. Not based on a TV show but part of the Anderson universe. I always liked Rab Hamilton's art on this...

Captain Scarlet, which at one time had been the cover feature of TV21 for months, had by now been demoted to a three page black and white strip. This week, - seagulls turned into Mysteron agents! Art by Jim Watson...

The Munsters, usually drawn by Paul Trevillion, was this week ghosted by Graham Allen...

Department S was a kind of 1960s X-Files but with rational explanations to the mysteries. Artwork by Carlos Pino...

Thunderbirds still dominated the centre pages with fantastic artwork by Frank Bellamy...

The Saint had two pages, with art by Carlos Pino I think...

Zero X was the only other full colour strip. Stunning artwork by the great Mike Noble, - and what a memorable cliffhanger!

Of course, the ever-present Corgi Model Club News was there on page 19...

The back page had an ad for a new ice lolly plus a half page feature on the fictitious mission to Saturn.  

All in all, it was still a great comic, but I still think the inclusion of football was a mistake and another nail in TV21's coffin that set it on a decline it never recovered from. The following year, TV21 and Joe 90 would big up the sport even more, with regular centrespread football team photos. Presumably they thought that was what the readers wanted, and admittedly kids were losing interest in space exploration so the publishers had to try something. However it didn't seem to halt the fall in sales. Eventually budget cuts would bring in reprints, poorer paper, and with TV21 a pale shadow of its former self it merged into Valiant in 1971. 

Here comes The Flash!

Next Thursday (May 7th) sees Titan Comics publish The Flash No.1, a 100 page full colour comic featuring DC Comics' Scarlet Speedster, reprinting a few of his contemporary adventures.

Although the character has appeared in numerous UK comics over the years, I believe this is the first time that The Flash has had his own British title since the early 1960s, when Thorpe and Porter published a black and white reprint series.

Titan's The Flash No.1 is only a one-off for now, presumably to test sales. I'm speculating that a regular series might follow if it proves successful enough. Hopefully the comic will attract a lot of interest due to The Flash TV show.

The Flash No.1 will be priced at £3.99, which is pretty good value for 100 full colour pages. You can find out more, and how to buy a copy by post if you prefer, by visiting Titan's website here:
http://titanmagazines.com/t/souvenir-one-shots/uk/the-flash/1/     

Menacing revelation

Here's a story ripped from today's headlines; the current Dennis the Menace is the son of the 1980s version! It's been mooted in the comic before but this week's Beano makes it official with a story by Nigel Auchterlounie, drawn by Nigel Parkinson. 

Older readers who say "It's not the Dennis the Menace I grew up with" didn't know how right they were! I'm sure they'll be dancing in the streets tonight now their comment has been justified. Although they'd be best to hold fire on their usual follow up "He's not even allowed to use a catapult these days" considering the cover of this week's Beano....

For the full background story see the Wired website here:

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-05/01/dennis-the-menace-father-the-beano