Comics & Annuals | Books & Reading

Nothing evokes fond memories of childhood quite like the endearing and unpretentious comic book and its close cousin the hardback annual. Throughout the 20th century right until the present day, generation after generation of young and old alike have delighted at such timeless classics as 'the Beano', 'the Dandy', 'Tintin' and 'Batman'. Over the years this
unique art form has grown from its origins as a simple form of humour, and branched out into a wide range of categories to appeal to everybody's tastes; from action and adventure to romance, mystery, science fiction, horror and beyond!

Wild and Wacky
Often termed 'graphic novels' among literary circles, comics are an almost primitive form of communication brought to life by a combination of the cartoonists' art and their most basic use of language. Brash words and images are married together in sequences of panels to portray events and stories as the cartoonist would have us interpret them. As we delight in the stories they tell, we find such appeal in the exaggerated, wild and wacky facial expressions and the unique way that movement is suggested by the cartoonist. We often fill in the gaps between the imagery using nothing but our own imagination. But somehow the artist always succeeds in conveying the exact messages he set out to communicate to his readers. Despite the simplicity of the static illustrations that leave so much to our imagination, we still manage to find them so full of movement and energy.

A Little History
The classic comic book as we know it found its origins in the very basic panel cartoon strips that gave light relief to otherwise austere newspapers around the middle of the nineteenth century. The popularity of these humorous cartoons grew alongside the growth in the printing industry and the industrial revolution, and comic strips and books took off around the world, particularly in Britain, the US and Japan. Many of the most popular themes born of this era have since been adapted into animated film. Alongside the development of the comic book, annuals were more associated with Christmas; who can forget the delight of receiving a favourite annual on Christmas morning. Originally presented to us as a succinct selection of a particular genre of comic strips from a particular year, they later evolved and branched off to adopt their own identity, shifting away from traditional comic strips. Written articles were added, as well as photos and puzzles. It became a type of yearbook for virtually any area of a child's interest; from 'the Dandy' annual to the 'Doctor Who' annual,
to 'the Pony Club', 'Star Wars' to 'Bob the Builder'! It thus became a fond way for a child to indulge and represent their particular hobby, interest, favourite programme or movie.

Comics Today
Recent times have given over to the rise of the webcomic. With the birth of the internet and our freedom to access and contribute to it as a worldwide medium, virtually anyone now has the freedom to create and publish their own cartoons without the traditional constraints, and there are consequently thousands of webcomics available online, many of them achieving great popularity and commercial success. We might expect this freedom of expression via the internet to threaten to outdate such relics as the humble hardback annual, but its endearing qualities have ensured its strength even today, as annuals continue to be a popular choice for children. While the vintage annuals such as 'The Beano' and 'Rupert the Bear', have become highly collectible for nostalgic adults, the modern annuals such as 'Harry Potter', are as popular as the vintage annuals were in their heyday. Alongside the annuals, traditional printed comic books also continue to thrive and enjoy renewed popularity as a modern media despite their electronic rivals.

All this suggests that the original comics and annuals are fast becoming the vintage form of today's interactive media. We are beginning to find the old comic books and traditional annuals an endearing treasure from the past as they even start to become an investment for our pockets as well as our senses. As time goes by, the sense of nostalgia that these publications bring to us only deepens. Reading a vintage comic thus becomes more than just constructing a personal interpretation suggested by an artist. Comics are about the coming together of words and images from a time and a character that represents our childhood and we expect they will do so in the same way for the children of today. Long may they continue then to tell stories to entertain and delight us in this way for generations to come