Birthday Book for Boys

[stevezodiac]

Is everyone familiar with this annual? Published in 1971/2 (was it a Christmas annual?). I presume it was a one-off. Strange that there was no Buster mentioned on the cover although Buster does feature.

[Raven]

We've had a good few postings about this excellent book, with much enthusing about the beautifully drawn and coloured exclusive Kid Chameleon strip, and how Kid's image may have influenced David Bowie's Young Americans look. We also had the excellent first page of Fishboy posted and discussed how the first few episodes of Galactus were adapted for their reprint in the book. Check the search engine.

This one apparently didn't come out at Christmas but earlier in the year.

There was a Book For Girls, too.

[stevezodiac]

Sorry I obviously missed it. I suppose it was marketed as an annual parents could put aside for their sons Birthday. A good idea I suppose as it provides another sales outlet away from the Christmas scramble for dozens of titles.

[steelclaw]

Strange that there was no Buster mentioned on the cover although Buster does feature.

At the time it came out in 1972 Buster had merged with Jet you will see one of the flags says 'Buster & Jet' on the cover.

[Digifiend]

It's the yellow one on the left. There's also Lion and Thunder, Scorcher and Score, and Valiant and TV21. Knockout, Tiger, Cor!!, and Whizzer and Chips are the non-merged titles shown. 8 flags, 12 titles.

[stevezodiac]

Blimey it must have been a blind spot for me. There it is plain as a pikestaff. Must get me minces down to the dry cleaners. It reminds me of counting the letter Fs on the back of a packet of Rothmans.

[SID]

I didn't know about it until I saw this thread and I just won a bid for one at eBay.

[Captain Storm]

Correct me if I'm wrong,but I thought all the strips were reprints? You mention Kid Chameleon as being original?

The Cap.

[Raven]

You mention Kid Chameleon as being original?

The Cap.

Yes - drawn by Ian Kennedy.

http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtop ... 31&p=18637


And the Fishboy strip looks original, too.

[Captain Storm]

Interesting....Unusual to see an original strip in what was otherwise a cheapy reprint book.Re Fishboy though,I remember the original first strip where his parents were on a transatlantic voyage and the hapless toddler was cast overboard during a storm to become ultimately "Fishboy"...anybody care to elaborate with scans?

regards,

The Cap.

[Raven]

Interesting....Unusual to see an original strip in what was otherwise a cheapy reprint book.Re Fishboy though,I remember the original first strip where his parents were on a transatlantic voyage and the hapless toddler was cast overboard during a storm to become ultimately "Fishboy"...anybody care to elaborate with scans?

regards,

The Cap.

There's a scan of the first page of the book's Fishboy strip on the thread linked above, and it's not the one you remember; not an 'origin' story.

Other new content includes a six page Ghostly Guardian text story. The Jack and Jimmy (of City and United), Sludgemouth Sloggers, and Phil the Fluter strips look like they might be originals, too.

[Captain Storm]

Hi Raven,thanks for the info.I kinda guessed the Fishboy story wasn't the origin as that image of the baby falling overboard is embedded in my mind.Interesting to see they included some original stories..loved Ghostly Guardian...anybody know the artist? And while we're at it,does anybody know when Fishboy actually began?

kindest regards,

The Cap.

[Digifiend]

20 January 1968. Finished 6 December 1975.
http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/f/fishboy.htm
http://www.bustercomic.co.uk/fishboy.html

[Captain Storm]

Thanks Digi for that.Now I know which Issue to track down

regards,

The Cap.