Some of you will already know of the website I'm about to plug but for those of you who haven't seen it, tonystrading.co.uk is well worth bookmarking for any fan of British comics. Every year, covers of the new annuals are uploaded to the site and with the recent addition of the 2012 editions there are now 60 years of annual covers to appreciate.
British annuals have been around longer than 60 years (see this 1935 Funny Wonder Annual for just one example) but Tony's selection begins with the 1953 dated books and still manages an impressive gallery of thousands of covers. It's interesting to see how changing tastes and fads were reflected by annuals, including Westerns, TV shows, pop stars, and video games. Comic titles thrive and die, with the only constants being The Dandy, The Beano, The Broons and Oor Wullie. Both a sad reminder of what we've lost but also a celebration of the glory days of UK comics. Not every published annual of the last 60 years is up there but the majority certainly are.
http://www.tonystrading.co.uk/galleries/index-annuals-year.htm
Don't forget to look around the site for galleries of other interesting bits and bobs as well. http://www.tonystrading.co.uk/galleries.htm
Rupert seems a significant omission from the recent years I looked at. Also a touch depressing to see so many TV tie0ins, but a sign of the times I guess.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya Scott. It may be lame, but I still read these even though comics have went downhill the last 20 years I have been into them. Now they are just going digital. Ah missing the old days...
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