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You can thank (or blame) regular reader CJ for this post, Crivs, as he asked me in the comments section of The Complete Sparky #1 (back in August) whether I'd be showing the covers of my Sparky Books. I only had three at the time, but now I have five (the first five) so here they are*. There were 15 in all (though the last one was a combined Topper & Sparky Book), so that means I have a third of them. Will I ever bother to track down the remaining ten? Time will tell, Crivvies, time will tell.
Okay, so you've got the covers to look at - anyone interested in seeing any of the contents? Let me know in the comments section.
*(Update: I've now added the Book for '72, so that's six I have. They came out when I lived in one of my former houses between 1965 and '72 so that's that aspect of my life covered as far as Sparky books go. I never had any of them at the time, but somehow it now feels as though I did.)
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It's interesting to note that the weekly Sparky comic came out at the beginning of 1965, meaning it was probably prepared sometime in early or mid-'64 (unless it was a rush job to compete with TV Century 21), so DCT must've been waiting to see how well it sold, for them not to have the first Book all ready to go for Christmas '65. The '67 Book would've been on sale in August/September of '66, but that means it was likely in preparation at the start of '66 if my own experience of when IPC Annuals were put together is any indication. I remember working on the 2000 A.D. and Judge Dredd Annuals for 1986 not long into 1985. As I was lettering finished art, they must have been drawn weeks or months earlier.
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22 comments:
I'm too young to remember any of these but my favourite cover is the 1969 snowy scene.
The scene is probably impossible as I don't think you get snow on the Moon, CJ, but it's a good Christmassy scene, I suppose.
The 1970 cover is not exactly 'woke' and 1971 shows where Keyhole Kate ended up. If you can show some of the contents I for one would be interested.
I find it interesting that it took four Books for Sparky to appear on the cover, T47 (though he still appeared inside), considering the comic was named after him.
I only had the 1969 Sparky annual. It wasn't a comic I liked that much at the start but once strips like "The Sparky People" , "Puss n Boots" and I-Spy" appeared I liked it a lot more . Nice covers though.
I think I'll maybe buy the 1972 Annual as well, McS - then I'll have all the Sparky Books that came out when I lived in the house and neighbourhood we stayed in back then.
Meant to say, I never had any of them at the time, and the 1968 one was bought from Obelisk Books in the Virginia Galleries, the same day (I think) I bought my Eagle #1 there from Russell Aitken, the owner. My, that was nearly 40 years ago, if my memory is doing its job.
T47, I meant to say that there's a Klanky strip from the 1968 Book on the blog somewhere. I'll get round to showing some other strips before too long.
McS, also meant to mention that I acquired the '70 & '71 Books from one of my old neighbours in 1997, who lived two rows behind me when I lived in the same street. They belonged to one of his younger brothers, who sadly died sometime in the '70s, a few years after I'd moved from the area. His name's written inside both of them.
I can't quite recall whether Russell's shop was called Obelisk Books or Obelist Books - 'twas one or the other.
I remember when I had annuals for Christmas, I would spend ages just looking at them. Not only reading them but looking at them. Annuals to me were an event that would last well into the new year, possibly until I saw the next year's annuals. I was always fascinated by adverts which only showed the covers, longing to know what was inside. Nowadays I look at the Beano and Dandy annuals and couldn't care less. I've asked my friend not to buy me any this year as even the retrospective book was woke last year. I may pick them up in the sales if I can but won't be bothered if I can't. I had the Topper and Sparky Book (1978) but no Sparky Books on their own. In fact I had Topper 1976, 77 and 78 (the Sparky one).
Yeah, I haven't bought any Annuals (apart from the combined The Broons and Oor Wullie ones) for the last couple of years at least, as they just don't appeal to me anymore. However, give me an Annual from the '60s & '70s - even if it's one I've never read before - and, same as you, I enjoy looking through it and eventually reading it. They just seemed to have something that modern ones don't have. I wonder if kids today will think the same when they're adults as we do now? If there are still Annuals being sold then.
Monty says the 1978 annual was The Topper & Sparky but I definitely had The Topper 1978 annual and there was no Sparky.
How is a woke annual defined? Last week the tabloid press was making a fuss because apparently young people are rejecting traditional sandwich fillings such as ham & mustard in favour of "woke fillings". I'd love to know what a woke sandwich filling consists of. I've been buying ready-made sandwiches for donkey's years and I've never seen ham & mustard on sale.
The Topper & Sparky combined Book was for 1981, CJ, and the '78 Sparky book was Sparky on its own, so Monty maybe just got mixed up in his memories.
As for what what woke sandwich fillings consist of, I can categorically, positively, definitely declare - I have no idea.
I suppose a vegan sandwich filling might count as woke but I can't think of any other kind. That's the problem with overusing the word woke - it just gets ridiculous eventually.
That's the problem when words can mean more than just what they were originally intended to mean - they can be stretched to include several related things that just fall under their 'umbrella'. I'm now off to have a woke jobbie.
I have the Shiver and Shake, Monster Fun, Laurel and Hardy annuals amongst others from the 70's stored in attic, my other half was concerned on why I was spending so much time up there and even hinted that I had a stash of booby books, I informed her I had something much more satisfying hidden away and proceeded to proudly showcase my childhood annuals. She actually looked at me with disappointment after the big reveal, ruddy women? She`d be blooming fuming if she looked in the shed though...
Then better make sure she never looks in the shed, eh? I hope your Annuals are well-protected up in the attic, as the poor climatic conditions of most lofts usually do for them in some way.
They're not mint but very much complete and stored in plastic containers. Luckly our attic is a perfect environment, boxes and contents that have been stored for years are still like new, no damp, mould, smells or nasties which is ideal for my other vintage toys, comics and general treasures, would make a banging man cave, with a lottery win.
I had to store some of my collection in the loft a few years back while work was done in the house. Even though the comics were boxed and protected, when I eventually brought them down, the outside of some of the staples had rusted on the spines, requiring me to carefully take a fine bit of Emery paper to them. Also, some articulated figure toys, even though they were bubble-wrapped and boxed, had splits to some of the joints. The loft is insulated, but cold can have adverse effects on some things, regardless of how well they're wrapped and protected.
That's so sad, moisture is sod with collectables. No way would I store my loot up there if I suspected it was going to degrade. I'm so lucky, but my little secret is, I've installed a PIV for the house so it draws fresh filtered air from the loft to ventilate my 1930's bungalow, that extraction effect circulates the loft space enough to keep it a dry sweet haven for my things, I could die up there and my wife would be non the wiser, no smells, no decay for years (ok, joking!) maybe a month, i'm very perishable, in fact she'd only notice I'm gone when something breaks or the dog needs walking.
I managed to sort out most things, to the extent that no one would know there'd ever been a problem. The only exception was a calculator whose screen went funny. However, I was able to locate a 2nd-hand duplicate calculator on eBay and took the screen from that to put it in my original so that it worked again. Cosmetically, my original was in nicer condition, which is why I wanted to keep it, as well as for its nostalgia factor.
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