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Was it really 41 years ago? Well, yes, is the answer. 'Twas back in December of 1978 that I bought my first regular Christmas BEANO, meaning that I should now have 42 of them in my collection - if I haven't inadvertently missed any in the intervening years between then and now. I had a notion that I bought the '78 festive ish in Southsea or Portsmouth, but looking at the date on the comic and measuring it against when I came home, it doesn't quite work, even allowing for it going on sale before its cover-date. Still, I can't shake the association, so maybe I did get it in Pompey.
Anyway, that brings us to this year's seasonal offering, which is now a bit out of date, but I only acquired it last week. Fortunately for me, SAINSBURY'S had a couple of overlooked issues still on display, so I nabbed one. (Don't worry, I paid for it.) No point in giving it a thorough review, as it 'does exactly what it says on the tin', and I'm sure today's kids will enjoy it well enough - though there are too many of what I consider 'filler' pages, which would be better used for actual comic strips, and once again it's burdened with some useless tat, pushing the normal price of £2.75 up to £4.99. Speaking for myself, I wish DCT would abandon this irritating habit, which is clearly only designed to fleece regular readers (and collectors of festive numbers) out of an extra couple of quid. They should stick to selling comics, not 'lucky bags'.
When I started typing this, it was still Saturday, and earlier this evening I bought the New Year issue. This was advertised as going on sale on the 24th (though dated 28th), but on the appointed day, I checked in WHS and Sainsbury's and it was nowhere to be seen. When I asked about it in WHS, I was told it hadn't come in. I'm not sure I believe this, and suspect it was sitting in the back, waiting 'til the 28th before being put on display. I don't know if anyone from THOMSON's reads this humble blog, but they should check to see if these shops and their distributors are doing what they're supposed to be doing, and selling/delivering their comics on the date assigned by the publishers.
(Update: Oops, my mistake - sort of. I've missed an ish in-between - #4015 - which was the one due out on the 24th. However, it wasn't in the shops that day when I looked and asked for it, so my observation is still relevant. Who's to blame for the cock-up - shops or publishers? In the 'old days', the New Year issue usually came right after the Christmas one, so I wish they'd stick to that - it's less confusing.)
(Update: Oops, my mistake - sort of. I've missed an ish in-between - #4015 - which was the one due out on the 24th. However, it wasn't in the shops that day when I looked and asked for it, so my observation is still relevant. Who's to blame for the cock-up - shops or publishers? In the 'old days', the New Year issue usually came right after the Christmas one, so I wish they'd stick to that - it's less confusing.)
Anyway, we now segue from the present to the past, as below is the front and back pages of the issue that started it all for me. It's likely that I had the odd Christmas number before this, probably back in the '60s, but #1901 is the first regularly purchased yuletide ish of a 41 year custom that I'll probably never be able to shake.
4 comments:
Interested in knowing why you started collecting the Christmas Beano in 1978 when you would have been about 18/19 years old, do/did you do that with other comics. Have to say I miss the comic strip covers but they do look old fashioned by today's standards
Even back then at that age, McS, I was mired in nostalgia, so it was probably because The Beano reminded me of my childhood. And it may also have been because I'd just started buying the Dennis The Menace books, which came out every two years at that time. (I had the ones for '76 & '78, which went on sale in '75 & '77. I've now got every one ever published.) And I'd recently joined the Dennis The Menace Fan Club, so that might've had something to do with it. I was still buying Marvel and DC comics at that time, so buying The Beano didn't seem odd to me, even though I'd not long turned 20. After all, it was only another comic.
In 1978 the Beano was a mere 40 years old but now it's 41 years since you've been buying the Christmas issue!!
Which means that a 7 year old in 1938, if he'd bought every Christmas issue up to '78, would've been 47, which is much younger than I am now. Oh, I feel old.
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