TERRANOVA47's LION

My favourite Lion Annuals were mid 1950's.

Here is an article from the 1954 annual just right for MC readers from 70 years ago.

Terranova47

USA

SPEED AND POWER ANNUAL 1

 I picked up a nice hardback annual at the weekend second-hand.

Its called Speed and Power number 1 from 1975.

Its based on a magazine of the same name.

Lots of great artwork.

I think we looked at little at the mags years ago.

Did you get Speed and Power?

MORE OBSCURE KIDS ANNUALS

Two more obscure annuals new to me are these seen in the retro floor of a York charidee shop today.

First up we have the Esmerelda Annual from 1973. I would have been 12 and have never seen this in my life. You?

The second is this Mighty Warriors Annual from 1979. Who are they? Is that cyclops in red? And an R2D2 ball in the right corner? Again, never ever seen this before. You readers?

OBSCURE TV ANNUALS

In our local antiques emporium there's a stack of old kids' TV annuals [all £3 each]. Two caught my eye because I'd never heard of them before. Here they are as they appear on the web.

First up is Danger UXB. At first glance I thought this was an Action Man annual but it appears to be about a real bomb squad?

Second is The Quest, which looks like a Western. is that Kurt Russell on the cover?

Are these annuals and TV shows that you know readers?

Do you collect annuals?

GREEN'S GUIDE TO COLLECTING TV, MUSIC AND COMIC ANNUALS

Hi

 As Annuals make a regular appearance on Moonbase, I thought you might be interested in this reference book from a few years ago. Green's Guide to Collecting TV, Music & Comic Book Annuals 1950-2001, by Paul Green & Laura Taylor, GT Publications, 2000. 

There are various sections on defining an Annual, grading, collecting, and shows that did not have their own Annual but had stories, comic strips, or features in other Annuals. Then the main listings, in alphabetical order, the Annuals themselves. Title, Publisher, Dates, some give a guide to the contents, and Values (in 2000, so a bit out of date now). 

Only a few of the Annual covers are illustrated in black and white, with eight pages in colour. Finally a cross-reference list - there was a Harry Secombe  'pin-up' in TV Mirror 1956. The amount of information on each title varies, but you get the basics - the photos should give you some idea of the contents. 159 pages.

I also recall borrowing one or two books on the history of Annuals from the library many years ago, but I can not recall their titles. So there is some reference material out there.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

BILL EV'S BEAUTIFUL BOOKSHELVES

Hi Woodsy, 

here are some photos of my collection of annuals DVDs and books. Quite a few Gerry Anderson publications too. Some are original purchases, some given to me from my late Cousins collection, some are modern acquisitions.

On display are my favourites, unfortunately there just isn't enough space in my main bookcase to display everything. The comics, including the TV21s are stored in a cupboard, as there isn't any more room. In addition to my own collection of books my wife has a big bookcase of her favourite novels: JRR Tolkien, Harry Potter, Book of Dust series, and many others.

Scarily, every one of these books, and the same with Sharon's, have been read several times over from cover to cover. Every DVD has been watched at least four plus times! But it is a collection spanning nearly sixty years.

Bill Ev.

TERRANOVA'S TERRIFIC ANNUALS

Woodsy

More annuals.

I couldn't find my copy of Captain Kremmen so offer this from AMAZON Books instead, along with two Annuals.

It's interesting the imbedded memory Kenny has left from his rather frantic un BBC demeanor.

Terranova47

USA

TERRANOVA47'S AWESOME ANNUALS

 

What a bookcase!

TIMMY TOAD'S AMAZING ANNUALS

Deary me, theres little left of the hoard. There must have been 50-60 annuals sat on the shelves at my parents in 1981.

Of the paltry remnants, the Busters and Tom and Jerrys were saved from going to the charity shop as they were sat under Timmy's dot matrix printer in 1991. As well as comic annuals we had the look and learn type ones (as well as a host of pictorial encyclopedias) .

All the GA ones I had are gone except the 3 shown. I also had this 1969 Fantastic Four annual. Fortunately quite a lot of these annuals are available free online in CBR format - I have downloaded a few eg all the XL5 ones, although I am sorely tempted to buy some of the TV21 and Thunderbird annuals.

Timmy

GETTING RID OF SOOTY BOOKS

 The spring cleaning at Moonbase continues and we've emptied the old car boot stall stock out of the shed. Alas its been a long long winter. Damp, mildew and mice have all had something to say and our old stock is looking worse for wear, so much so, a lot just has to go.

So after a clean up with anti-bacterial wipes and a dry in the fresh air, this large pile of old annuals - Dan Dare, Sooty, Crackerjack et al - is ready to go on the local freecycle site as a job lot free to a good home.

And they've already got a taker

and gone!

Do you freecycle anything readers?

RANGER DANGER

Its odd when you see your own words on another site. Re-used pictures are commonplace but not words, so I was surprised to see this I wrote in 2010:

http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2010/06/ranger-book-1967.html

on an entry for the Ranger Annual on Amazon!

https://www.amazon.com/Ranger-Book-1967-Fleetway-Publications/dp/B0056UA6DU

I'm pretty sure that isn't my Amazon entry!

Does this happen to you?

geek salad with manimal action

Just had some boiled eggs to boost my Sunday morning systems. Got back from taking the Moonbase mutt out for the first time since mid-March. Its a strange feeling slowly returning to normality.

I may even list some books on Amazon today, which used to be all part of my weekend routine. There's not many annuals that haven't passed through Moonbase over the years but a few characters have remained stubbornly elusive both in books and TV.

Manimal is such a one. I don't think I ever saw this on telly. I assume he's half man half animal. For some reason I'm imagining the young guy from Dallas turning into a panther. Was that the cover of the annual? Wonder what the show was like? Wonder if there were action figures or games?

Manphibian is another name that's floated up from somewhere but that could just be indigestion and I may have made it up!

Certainly the Greatest American Hero or even the Greatest American Super Hero is another character I have heard of but never seen. I know he was the guy who played Carrie's prom date in Carrie. 

I've written about his role in the horror film House but his name has gone. In my Tomart's guide there are even toys emanating from the Greatest American Hero TV show, maybe even a VW bug? Any good?

Another hero, the Last Action Hero no less starring big Arnie was a further curve-ball that swept passed me. Having got their own page in my copy of the Action Figure guidebook I've seen the action figures and Arnie's car many times at car boot sales in the past but never seen the film. Was it Arnie's finest hour?

Last but not least unless you're a Scout is Last Boy Scout. I know its a Bruce Willis actioner but beyond that nada. Probably too violent to have spawned any toys or games or? Is the movie worth its scout badges readers?

Are you well up on these characters' shows and films and their collectables readers?

moonbase clutter alert

Part of my problem as an old collector was hoarding.

I used to buy in all sorts of stuff like these cheap vintage paperbacks and annuals.

Left over from my toy fair stall days stuff like has begun to form piles of clutter in the house, loft and shed.

Loads have now gone to charity shops, which is where some will have been bought!

These are bagged up and ready to roll too.

We're drowning in clutter at Moonbase and its got to change! 

Turns out all this dusty stuff is seriously bad for my health!

Are you a hoarder too readers?

Countdown to Christmas: An Annual Event

One thing I always used to get at Christmas was a couple of Annuals.

That year’s TV21 Annual was always a must have, and if I was lucky maybe a weekly comic annual like Lion or Valiant, and if I’d been really good that year a TV tie - in annual like Voyage to the
Bottom of the Sea or The Avengers.

 

When I look at the annuals on offer for todays youngsters they just look like they threw them together with big splash photos and fancy graphics - all style over content.

 

The annuals from my day seemed to be put together with a little care and imagination, especially the Century 21 examples.

 

 

I still try to pick up the odd old cheap annual on eBay around this time of year just to remind me of those Xmas days gone by.