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It's a highly unusual situation for me to look at an item and have absolutely no hint of an idea as to when and where I first bought it, but such is the case with the above Annual. Note that it's an 'official' Superman Annual, though as far as I know, there were never any unofficial ones - certainly not in the UK at least. It's dated 1980, which means it went on sale around August or September of 1979, but however hard I try, I just can't recall where I obtained it from or in what year. Was it 1979 or sometime in the early '80s? Did I buy it new from a shop or by mail order as a 'back issue', or did I get it in a jumble sale? Perhaps a friend (yes, I do have some) gave it to me - I just don't have a ruddy clue. I find this incredibly irritating as I've always prided myself on having a good memory, but this is a book that somehow slipped through the cracks.
What I do remember is I gave it to a a pal by the name of Bob Billens (or something close to that) in the early '80s, after I'd already extracted two pages that made up a Superman poster, plus a third page by Curt Swan (possibly first published in a US mag) showing how to draw Superman's face in a variety of expressions. I was going to throw the book out, but he said he'd take it instead, regardless of the extracted pages. I still have those pages, though I substituted the poster, which was on my wall, with a print-out of a scan of it a few years ago. Recently, I got the urge to track down a replacement, but I couldn't even recollect what the cover looked like. I looked at UK Superman Annuals on eBay, and there were a few which showed images of some of the contents. When I saw the double-page poster I knew that was the one I was searching for.
So that's another item from my youth returned to the fold, 40-plus years after owning my original, and it's good to have again. It reminds me of that friend (before he proved to be a bit of a d*ck - no, I don't mean 'duck'), as well as a time in my life when it seemed that the world was my oyster and I had unlimited time to 'cultivate' it. Funnily enough, although I extracted the poster in the early '80s while living in my current house, it wasn't until my family moved to another in 1983 that, around a year later, it went up on a wall in my new bedroom. As regular readers know, we returned to our previous home just over four years after flitting from it, where the poster assumed the spot on the wall it was intended for had we never moved elsewhere. Strange when you think about it, eh? It ended up where it began, and maybe that's precisely how it should be.
Any thoughts, theories, observations, or accusations (y'know, like "You're bonkers, Robson!") made welcome in our comments section.
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| A page in a similar vein to this one appeared in SUPERMAN #245 for Dec '71/Jan '72 |
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13 comments:
You're bonkers Robson.
Everyone's a critic.
I never saw this or any other DC annual on sale ever. I don't think much of the cover as it looks too cartoony.
Superman looks like he's been copied from a Curt Swan drawing, CJ. There were quite a few DC character Annuals at this time, like Batman, The Superheroes, etc., but you weren't ever into DC mags so maybe that's why you never saw the UK Annuals.
I had this annual 3 years on the trot, 1982-1984 because I was a big fan of the movies at the time. I also had the 1977 Batman/Superman annual although I've no idea how I acquired it. 1982 is my favourite with Chris Reeve on the cover albeit a small picture.
http://www.tonystrading.co.uk/galleries/annuals/superman.htm
I've also recently acquired the Superman Annual for 1983, though I never had it at the time, and the Batman one for 1984 - again, never had it back then. Some good stories in them. Right, I'll take a look at that link - ta much.
I never had any all superhero type annuals as a kid, I don't know if they never appealed to me ( being reprint) or I never saw them). I never had any UK Marvel titles either even although I bought MWOM, SMCW and Avengers every week. The closest I got to buying these ( or more likely asking for them as a present) was an early mid 1960s POW annual that had a Spidey tale.
I think one of the reasons I bought so few UK Annuals that reprinted DC strips was because they were recoloured (when they were in colour, that is - sometimes they were in b&w) and pages (recaps usually) were omitted, which I didn't like. However, I bought my replacement 1980 Annual more for the particular time in my youth it represents, rather than any of the contents. Talking of Pow!, McS, I'm lucky to have every Wham!, Smash!, Pow!, and Fantastic Annual ever published.
Superman's depiction, on that cover, is appalling - particularly his mouth. I never had that annual. I did, however, have the 1979 UK Superman Annual - which was a cracking good read! I also had the Superman & Batman Annual 1974, on whose cover Superman needs a bill-hook, of some description, to fend off a tiger, despite being virtually indestructible. That was a good annual, too.
Phillip
The actual inking is perhaps a little rough, but that definitely looks like a 'swipe' of a Curt Swan drawing of Superman so I can live with it. Some of those Annual covers were a little lacking in their rendition, so not always the best they could've been.
I got a copy of this for Christmas in what must've been 1979.
Even back then, something struck me as a little "off" with the cover artwork, what with the movement lines of Solomon Grundy falling back looking like they were scribbled on as an afterthought and the point of impact flash just hanging there in mid-air.
As an adult, I did a bit of investigating and found that this image is a reworking of that of the original cover of Superman #301, dated July 1976,
in which the original story 'Solomon Grundy Wins on a Monday' was first published. Seeing the original artwork everything made sense.
First, I'd like to draw your attention to the similarities between the two covers- Grundy on the left of frame with Superman on the right, nearer the foreground. Behind Grundy is a the same building with the same woman looking out of the window at the fight below and in the distance one can see the skyscrapers of Metropolis.
Now onto what they changed. Most obvious is that the roles of puncher and punchee have been reversed, with Grundy being the aggressor in the shot. Rather than Grundy smirking off Superman's punch as he does on the annual's cover, Superman is sent reeling from Grundy's blow on the cover (the movement lines and the "flash" of impact make more sense in the original cover as well, feeling more integrated into the scene as opposed to looking like an afterthought)
Other changes include the lack of the upturned car, crashed motorcycle and unconscious cop at the feet of Grundy, replaced by a large crack in the road and dust cloud (although this cloud may be the swamp mist Grundy appeared out of in the story)
In hindsight, the "toning down" of the original cover may be understandable. These annuals were marketed at little kids. I myself was only five years old at the time and was mostly familiar with Superman from the George Reeves show and cartoons at the time. I don't even think I had saw the first film back then and only knew of it from cultural osmosis.
Could you imagine a five year old opening his presents early on Christmas morning to be greeted with the image of his favourite super-hero having the crap beat out of him?
Now I'll have to go onto the Internet and look for the cover of #301. I'm surprised to learn that you were familiar with Supes only through the George Reeves TV show, as I didn't know it was still being shown back in the late '70s. Anyway, thanks for taking the time and trouble to compare the Annual cover with the comicbook cover. As for Superman getting beat up, I would think that would've intrigued a 5-year old reader - it would me.
Took a look at 301 - the cop on the ground seems far too small in relation to SG and Supes so I'd say the perspective is a little off.
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