Comics UK

I've recently acquired the Bunty Holiday Special for 1998, which from the evidence of the colour cover looks like a Summer rather than a Winter issue, and I was wondering if anybody could tell me how many more of these there were, when they appeared, and whether they were replacing the Summer Specials or not. There are none in the Specials section of the Gallery, just the Summer Specials. Also, apart from those years when a Bunty and Judy Summer Special appeared rather than the usual Bunty Summer Special, and judging purely by the lack in the Specials Section of the Gallery, were there any years when a different Summer Special was issued in addition to the Bunty offering, such as a Mandy Summer Special or a Diana Summer Special for example? Any clarification will be appreciated.

Only one I have is the reprint of the Bunty and Judy summer special 1972. Beats me why they called it the Bunty and Judy summer special though. Bunty had no connection with Judy back then as far as I know.

Same reason the first Beano summer special was a joint one with the Dandy, I suppose. Catch both sets of readers. I assume the stories included were a mix from both titles.

EDIT: Also, are you sure about the year? The Comics UK gallery shows that the 1972 Bunty Summer Special was not joint with Judy.


EDIT2: And Phoenix, the 1999 Bunty Holiday Special is in the gallery. It seems it was just the summer special renamed. 1998's is missing from the gallery, so if you can scan it, I'm sure Al will appreciate it if you submit it.

Thanks for that information, Digi.

Like Digi I suspect that, rather than publishing two Specials in the same year, DC Thomson simply renamed their Summer Specials as Holiday Specials sometime during the 1990s - possibly as a cunning ruse to give them a longer shelf life. Having said that I was puzzled to find that my version of the 1985 Bunty Summer Special appears to have a different cover from the one shown in Al's gallery! (at least it says 1985 on the copyright notice)



Were there two Summer Specials that year, or did they print different editions of the same one with alternate covers? Of course, if we had comics enough and time it ought to be possible to trace them via adverts in the weekly Bunty (though it's worth noting that the Holiday Specials continued to appear for several years after the comic itself ceased publication. For example I have Bunty Holiday Specials for 2003 and 2004).

Speaking personally I have to say that, although these Specials are collectible items in their own right, I'm afraid the later photo covers often seem rather dull and uninspired when compared with the earlier hand drawn ones. What's more, in a post-Savile world some of those images of prepubescent girls in swimming costumes (however innocent) can actually be quite disturbing!

- Phil Rushton

@Digifiend: thanks. I must have been thinking of another special. Maybe I do have that one in my collection. I'd better have another look in my collection.

philcom55 wrote:Like Digi I suspect that, rather than publishing two Specials in the same year, DC Thomson simply renamed their Summer Specials as Holiday Specials sometime during the 1990s - possibly as a cunning ruse to give them a longer shelf life. Having said that I was puzzled to find that my version of the 1985 Bunty Summer Special appears to have a different cover from the one shown in Al's gallery! (at least it says 1985 on the copyright notice)

I think that judging by the prices, the ones listed as 1985 and 1984 in the gallery are actually a year or two earlier, and therefore 1985 and not 1983 is missing from the gallery.

Perhaps someone has adopted the practice of giving the special the date of the year after the one printed inside just like you'd do with the annuals - easily done I expect. Especially if its a winter special.

philcom55 wrote:I was puzzled to find that my version of the 1985 Bunty Summer Special appears to have a different cover from the one shown in Al's gallery! (at least it says 1985 on the copyright notice)

Just to add to the confusion, this morning I received from 30th Century the Summer Special that Phil posted, and they are also claiming it as the 1985 issue. I bought it over the phone, obviously unseen, and didn't think to ask them to describe the cover first. One problem is that it isn't advertised in any issue of Bunty between the beginning of June and the end of August. When I get some spare time I'll look through Thomsons' other girls' story papers for the same months. I've only recently started trying to get a selection together for illustration purposes. So far, apart from the 1998 Holiday Special I enquired about on the forum recently, the only other one I have acquired is the 1990 one, at least it is 1990 according to 30th Century Comics.

Don't they have © DC Thomson and Co Ltd 19XX written anywhere? Inside back cover, maybe? It can't be later than 1990 anyway, as 1991's was dated on the cover.

Digifiend wrote:Don't they have © DC Thomson and Co Ltd 19XX written anywhere?

They do, Digi, but the general uncertainty has been due to the 1985 slot already being filled in our gallery. I'm now sure that your repositioning suggestion should be accepted by Al. There are too many gaps there anyway, so perhaps we should try to get some more. Apparently, they are quite difficult to get hold of though.

An eBay search produced just the Bunty Holiday Special for 1999. As I don't have it, I bought it. It was £9.99 post free on a Buy-It-Now. That does seem to be the going rate at the moment. That's four now. Still, from little acorns oak trees grow.

If it's any help here are the '93 and '95 Specials:





I'm afraid I can't upload them to the gallery myself as my main computer only has access to the Comics UK forum, but if anyone else wants to copy and paste these scans please feel free to do so.

- Phil Rushton

philcom55 wrote:my main computer only has access to the Comics UK forum

Just how many computers have you got, Phil?

...An ancient desktop Mac and a fiddly laptop PC I hardly ever use.

- Phil R.