Unsual Spin off Annuals.

steelclaw · Post by **steelclaw** » 12 Dec 2007, 12:07

Where I used to live you hardly ever(if ever)saw any of the spin off Annuals from, Valiant, Lion, Tiger, Buster, in the shops, it wasn't until ebay and seeing one or two in the Annuals/Book section of this site that I knew they existed, apart from Dandy & Beano spins offs.

I'm always pleased when I find one of these type annuals at a car boot sale or charity shop the latest for me was the Tiger book of sport 1970.

Does anyone have a complete list?

Did they all come out for the christmas market?(Except the Birthday book for boys).

Heres a few pics of what I mean.Maybe not unsual to most people.

[img:243:280]http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u283 ... okxx/4.jpg[/img]

[img:238:378]http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u283 ... okxx/3.jpg[/img]

[img:373:448]http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u283 ... okxx/1.jpg[/img]

[img:288:400]http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u283 ... okxx/2.jpg[/img]

tolworthy · Post by **tolworthy** » 12 Dec 2007, 13:04

Thanks for starting a thread on this! I don't have anything useful to add, but this is something I really loved about British comics back in the 60s and 70s. The comics were not just comics but felt like whole worlds, with stories and features and spinoffs to suit every taste. Buying a "space special" felt like I was digging into a part of that amazing world and finding hidden gold.

steelclaw · Post by **steelclaw** » 12 Dec 2007, 15:02

Thanks Toworthy for the last 7-8 years I have been fascinated with these spin off Annuals, there is two Buster Spooky Stories Annuals in the Annual book section, and a Valiant book of Mystery and Magic.
Apart from Dandy & Beano, Lion, Valiant, and Tiger seem to have published the most of these annuals,

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 12 Dec 2007, 15:13

The Fleetway examples include
The Buster Book of Thrills
The Lion book of War Adventures (I think this is the title from memory)
The Lion Book of How it Works
The Valiant Book of Pirates
The Lion Book of Conquerors
The Buster Book of Gags 1970, 1971
The Buster Book of Spooky Stories 1975, 1976
The Valiant Book of Mystery and Magic
I'll check out some others.

Raven · Post by **Raven** » 12 Dec 2007, 15:18

There were at least a couple of Cor!! Book of Gags, too - 1976, 1977.

steelclaw · Post by **steelclaw** » 12 Dec 2007, 15:23

Excellent keep going you two.

Kashgar picked up that a few months ago.

[img:722:1024]http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u283 ... x/lion.jpg[/img]

steelclaw · Post by **steelclaw** » 12 Dec 2007, 15:37

[img:345:400]http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u283 ... nspeed.jpg[/img]

WHAT ON EARTH

[img:279:255]http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u283 ... xx/val.jpg[/img]

Raven · Post by **Raven** » 12 Dec 2007, 16:23

There was the Whoopee! Book of Frankie Stein which came out for a few years. Some old Ken Reid Frankie reprints from Wham in there, and reprints of adventure strips like Crabbe's Crusaders.

Didn't some girls titles like Princess Tina have books of horses and or ponies from time to time?

colcool007 · Post by **colcool007** » 12 Dec 2007, 18:33

For Christmas 77, I got the Daily Mirror Annual. Now that is an unusual spin-off! Plus, north of the border, the Topical Times Annual was a regular in many footie-mad boys stockings.

Captain Storm · Post by **Captain Storm** » 12 Dec 2007, 21:25

I have the VALIANT SPACE SPECIAL 1967 plus 2 THE SUN ANNUALS from the mid 70's.

helsbels · Post by **helsbels** » 12 Dec 2007, 22:05

There were also quite a few spin off annuals for girls - Princess had their yearly "Book of Ballet" and "Book of Horses", and I think Tammy had a book of dance. There was definitely a "Bella's book of Gymnastics" (Bella Barlow from Tammy) one year.

I have a few June spin offs in my collection - the "June book of strange stories" from 1972 & 1974(I don't know if there was one in 1973!)and the June & School friend book of heroines" from 1970 & 1971. I also have a Sue Day annual from 1962 ( another spin off from Princess). I'm certain there are more, but I can't think of any at the moment - does anyone else know of other girls annual spin offs?

helsbels · Post by **helsbels** » 12 Dec 2007, 22:13

Ooh yes - I forgot! There was also the Tammy/Princess Tina/June Birthday book for girls 1972 (were there ever any more of these published?)

stevezodiac · Post by **stevezodiac** » 12 Dec 2007, 22:58

TV21 produced all the usual Fireball, Stingray, Thunderbirds and Lady Penelope annuals but they also produced a Project SWORD annual. I never used to read this strip probably because it wasn't an Anderson series and perhaps someone can remind us what SWORD stood for. I think the annual was all text with some illustrations but no strips. could be wrong though, anyone?

steelclaw · Post by **steelclaw** » 13 Dec 2007, 00:22

helsbels wrote:Ooh yes - I forgot! There was also the Tammy/Princess Tina/June Birthday book for girls 1972 (were there ever any more of these published?)

I'm quite sure there was only one of these and one Birthday book for boys of the same year.(But could be proved wrong)

Raven · Post by **Raven** » 13 Dec 2007, 00:40

There was some kind of peculiar and rather butch annual-style Hotspur tie-in book in the early '70s on 'how to be a super boy', or something like that; with features on boxing and athletics and keeping fit, looking like it had a British Empire public school philosophy about the importance of athletic prowess and discipline for boys.

Must have been quite dated even a quarter of a century ago.

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