One of the fun things about visiting my grandparents was a pile of Topper Annuals that had belonged to my mum or uncle. The early ones had a landscape format which always seemed special.
Like most UK comics it had a special hardback edition, timed for the Christmas market, which had a selection of features representative of the weekly. The annual outlived the weekly by four years.
So we could while away the hours with Flip McCoy the Flying Boy, Big Fat Boko (and his crafty crow Koko), Mickey the Monkey, King Gussie (didn't get that until I got there), Jusee lius Cheeser, Cap'n and the Kids, Foxy, Wee Young Dirkie, Whizzers from Ozz, Nick Kelly, Beryl the Peril, and, of course, Nancy. Aunt Fritzi got a look in too.action
For some reason I particularly enjoyed Nancy and continue to do so. Nancy and Fritzi appeared in a US comic called Tip Topper and at some point Topper. I think it predates the Thompson weekly but don't know if that is coincidence or influence.
tFun fact, the Topper's mascot, top left on the masthead, is Oor Wullie. He's a cult feature from The Sunday Post and is still going strong after 86 years of publication. Despite appearing on the Topper mast every week, Wullie never graced the inside pages as a feature character.
Meanwhile ...
Farewell Roy, the Home Bargains Cat
Slight aside on this one. Yonks back I read an essay by a 19th century Swiss (?) Cartoonist. In many ways it was a manifesto for the production of comics/graphic novels. Never got to see if he had put his principles into action.
Save the world, eat mushrooms and algae
We're going to need a bigger boat
Inside Kellog's Crunchy Nut factory
Out for the late shift at work today. How is your weekend shaping up?
No comments:
Post a Comment