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| Art by MIKE LACEY. Copyright REBELLION |
Many months back, the now defunct CRIKEY! mag (#12) printed an article about Christmas Annuals. For some reason which escapes me, they had an illo of three annuals in a vertical row, so that you could see the first one, the title of the second, and part of the third. As a visual presentation it was a washout, to be frank. Why show pictures of something that you can't actually see? What really irked me was that the middle one was the 1973 KNOCKOUT ANNUAL, which has as Christmassy a cover as you could ever wish to cast eyes upon. (And you had to wish - because you sure couldn't see it on the page.)
This annual was the first I bought near the end of 1972 - with the proceeds from my Saturday morning car-washing exploits in the carpark of a local pub. (The second I bought that year was the 1973 MARVEL ANNUAL, which hit the shops later than the others. Perhaps it was a last-minute decision to publish it, hence its tardiness in appearing.) Anyway, I still remember walking back from the shops with my Knockout Annual, gazing at the cover under the blue, cloud-kissed skies of a bright, sunny August or September late morning or early afternoon.
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| How not to show an illustration of three books. From CRIKEY! #12 |
Knockout the comic (the '70s incarnation) was merged with WHIZZER & CHIPS in June, 1973, so by the time the second annual was issued around August/September of that year, the weekly was already history. Amazingly, this didn't seem to affect the annuals, because there were 13 of them in all, released every year right up until 1984 (for '85).
I wonder how many kids received a Knockout Annual for Christmas, then wasted their time searching the newsagents for weeks on end trying to find the comic. As all the while the evil publishers (IPC/FLEETWAY) laughed their socks off at the thought of all those poor, footsore kiddies being consumed with frustration and disappointment. (Cynical? Me?)
Anyway, enjoy the cover - it's a window into yesteryear.
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