Here is a very nice article related to the time when we still had millions of annuals each year (I am giving away my age - the "good" old days):
https://treasuryofbritishcomics.com/its-an-annual-thing-celebrating-the-tradition-of-the-comic-book-annual/ (https://treasuryofbritishcomics.com/its-an-annual-thing-celebrating-the-tradition-of-the-comic-book-annual/)
Nice to see a nod to The Beano in there, given the title still putting out annuals. (Mini-IP loves the Dandy one too.)
There wasn't a Christmas were several suspiciously annual-shaped presents weren't stacked under the tree. And the 200AD annuals were the most prized of all, natch. Those things must have been good value for cash-strapped parents.
Hah! A perfect and timely riposte to my claim that the old Annuals were rubbish. Have linked to the article on the Xmas Prog Rankings blog.
Looking back now, they were varied fare—a real mix of original gems and crappy reprint. But they were good value for parents and kept kids quiet. I'm impressed by the DC Thomson ones these days, which IIRC are all new material. (The Beano certainly is. I think the Dandy is too.)
Great article and look who its written by - our very own Maryanddavid of Hibernia.
The covers on these things are so good and could of course entice you in to some right ol' tosh!
As I've said on AlexF's blog thread I have fond memories of the 2000AD Annuals through the 80s. I'm surely not the only Squaxx who was enticed into Tharg's world (even though at the time not a subscriber to the weekly prog!)
For the hard core at the time they may not have have Thrilled enough for some but looking forward if this is the seeds that Regened sows then Tharg will have followers for the future 👍🏻
Naturally, I applied a spreadsheet to this question when I was indexing the Dan Dare, Starlord and Tornado annuals, because they seemed to contain content that wasn't really related to the publication they were sprouting from.
I codified this as "if the content also exists in the parent publication, it's relevant".
Dan Dare Annual 1979 35% relevance
Dan Dare Annual 1980 35% relevance
Starlord Annual 1980 16% relevance
Starlord Annual 1981 26% relevance
Starlord Annual 1982 06% relevance
Tornado Annual 1980 18% relevance
Tornado Annual 1981 38% relevance
I'm sure Mike Carroll won't mind me sharing his wonderful Christmas fantasy: What if the 2000ad Annuals never stopped ...
(https://i.imgur.com/T7pmofk.jpg)
I'm glad that didn't happen, they would all take up so much room!
I know it won't happen but I'd love to see some way of getting 2000ad Annuals back on the agenda.
Quote from: Richard on 18 December, 2021, 01:36:25 AM
I'm glad that didn't happen, they would all take up so much room!
Not a collector of the Ultimate Collection, obviously!
That's a nice pic of annuals that never were, but quite optimistic on the page counts for certain years! As for annuals in general, I can't imagine we'll ever see them from Rebellion. They're essentially loss leaders for those that create good ones these days, or full of junk content that costs naff-all to make for the rest. And since hardcovers in general are seemingly hard to shift at full price (look at how even The Out isn't getting one), I can't imagine Rebellion would want to commission a 100+ page annual that'd end up being on sale in WHSmith for a fiver.
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 18 December, 2021, 02:12:06 PM
That's a nice pic of annuals that never were, but quite optimistic on the page counts for certain years!
Imagine the contents of the end of year specials but bulked out with abridged reprints of ten year old thrills and lots of grainy bw features about solar farms or the Loch Ness Monster.
As a nipper the annuals were definitely a Christmas highlight. I think we forget how many there were at times. Some of the ads in the progs around the 80's give some sense.
Yes the contents are a mixed bag. You get a sense in which some of the articles were filler although it can be quite amusing skimming through those related to the Space Race especially after all these years.
The quality of the original material could also be highly variable. Gems from the likes of McMahon and Dillon (his ABC Warriors tale is amazing). Other pieces that skirted with painfully embarrassing.
On the reprint side I think we forget how limited the opportunities were to delve into some of the material of yesteryear. Sometimes the annual was the only chance we had to revisit some of the strips of the first year or so of Tooth, never mind the bits culled from the likes of Valiant and so on.
I do think that for those of us who almost grew up with Tooth, reading the annuals even now works on two levels. On the one hand we read it as adults whilst simultaneously the child that revelled in it on Christmas Day is still reading it. Those who are coming to it as adults without that experience are likely to find their reading is quite different I would think.
Maybe they could re-think the annuals. Have them as a kind of add-on, full of stats and lists for the year, features on notable stories, "filler" from small press volunteers (working just for kudos, I guess), maybe interviews and such. Something purely for the fans with genuinely useful elements.
the covers uncovered annual (which arrived today) is a truly beautiful thing. i just hope it really is a tradition revived - for any further winter solstices this benighted planet might have left ...
I *think* I've said this before, but it would be very agreeable if Rebellion would make the end of year progs available in hardback, through the webshop, at an inflated print on demand price. And, further, to eventually make *all* the previous similar 100 pagers available in the same format. Perhaps with a new, special, spine calling it the 'yearbook' etc. I know it's spectacularly nerdy and completist, but I'd certainly free up a shelf for them all- even if they were around £20 a throw.
SBT
Quote from: SmallBlueThing(Reborn) on 19 December, 2021, 11:41:45 AM
I *think* I've said this before, but it would be very agreeable if Rebellion would make the end of year progs available in hardback, through the webshop, at an inflated print on demand price. And, further, to eventually make *all* the previous similar 100 pagers available in the same format. Perhaps with a new, special, spine calling it the 'yearbook' etc. I know it's spectacularly nerdy and completist, but I'd certainly free up a shelf for them all- even if they were around £20 a throw.
SBT
An annual sized, hardback version of the xmas prog?
*Absolutely* sold!
Quote from: Woolly on 19 December, 2021, 01:07:34 PM
Quote from: SmallBlueThing(Reborn) on 19 December, 2021, 11:41:45 AM
I *think* I've said this before, but it would be very agreeable if Rebellion would make the end of year progs available in hardback, through the webshop, at an inflated print on demand price. And, further, to eventually make *all* the previous similar 100 pagers available in the same format. Perhaps with a new, special, spine calling it the 'yearbook' etc. I know it's spectacularly nerdy and completist, but I'd certainly free up a shelf for them all- even if they were around £20 a throw.
SBT
An annual sized, hardback version of the xmas prog?
*Absolutely* sold!
I would be totally down for this.
The print on demand option would be a good route.
They could add some additional material just for the hardcover version. (They did toy with this idea once, where additional material was included in the digital edition).
As an aside, does anyone remember attending the Annuals signing events at Forbidden Planet in London.
They were great days and one of the few times I got to meet other fans.
Quote from: Tjm86 on 18 December, 2021, 08:15:25 PM
As a nipper the annuals were definitely a Christmas highlight. I think we forget how many there were at times. Some of the ads in the progs around the 80's give some sense.
I covered the full line-up from one of the ads in my prog slog (https://sheridanwilde.wordpress.com/2021/11/30/2000ad-prog-444-welcome-home-rogue-any-last-requests-yeah-miss/).
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 18 December, 2021, 02:12:06 PM
As for annuals in general, I can't imagine we'll ever see them from Rebellion. They're essentially loss leaders for those that create good ones these days, or full of junk content that costs naff-all to make for the rest. And since hardcovers in general are seemingly hard to shift at full price (look at how even The Out isn't getting one), I can't imagine Rebellion would want to commission a 100+ page annual that'd end up being on sale in WHSmith for a fiver
While I absolutely get that a 2000 AD annual isn't viable on that sort of retail basis, it does surprise me that with an aging contingent of the readership hankering after past glories (going by many of the Regened comments) there hasn't been an attempt at a new, retro-styled annual sold through the website at a premium price. I mean we live in a world where it's possible to get Star Wars books styled like Haynes manuals, so I imagine there must be interest for that sort of thing.
And it's relevant that the Beano Annual is ALWAYS in the top 10 bestsellers for children's books each year, along with the Guinness Book of Records. 2000AD never had the same level of recognition but there are clearly a LOT of Brits who like to get the same gifts each year.
Although I suspect Rebellion would have better luck with a sort of 'Best of IPC' Annual, mashing up all the comics they bought, rather than just focussing on 2000AD
that would be great. but for the proper nostalgic feels, half the strips should be printed in red and black.
As a child I always looked forward to an annual at Christmas, but my favourite was always something from Buster or Whizzer and Chips than Eagle or Battle - the fomer was packed with strips and felt like getting 100 comics at once, whilst the latter did seem quite filler-y even then, although I enjoyed it when you got a full strip printed in one (I'm sure I first read Shako this way). The less said about a TV tie-in annual like Terrahawks or The A-Team the better.
I probably wouldn't buy a Rebellion annual if it were a couple of new bits and then reprints of Visible Man, Night Zero and Joe Two Beans: I'd definitely buy one that was a load of Tom Paterson / Reg Parlett etc humour strip reprints but not sure the market is there for that! I generally take the end of year Prog and my annual nowdays.