Childhood Comics and Annuals

[joanne_chan]

The current "rebooted" - pardon the modern phrase - Roy of the Rovers graphic novels written by Bob Williams, illustrated by Ben Willsher from last year "Kick off and Foul Play the current edition comes recommended for those who liked Tiger and obviously Roy of the Rovers.
Roy's sixteen and is set in 2018 obviously but the essence of Roy and several other key characters remain with plenty of soccer action of course.

[Rob Houghton]

This probably sounds a daft question...but I've never read anything about Roy of the Rovers, and as a child I steered clear of it completely because I couldn't imagine anything more boring than a comic strip entirely about football. Was I being naive? I still can't believe it was just about football, lol...but that's how it seemed to me at the time. Surely its based on something more substantial than just football matches?

[timv]

I have to admit that I have never read any 'Roy of the Rovers' either, though I remember a lot of my contemporaries doing so. From what I heard some of the later stories about Roy seem to have ventured away from strictly football into soap opera territory like 'Dallas' and 'Dynasty' once he was a player-manager and venturing abroad for jobs, eg plane crashes and scheming multi-millionaire financiers owning clubs.

The only football serial I read was one with a more unusual storyline, I think in 'Valiant' in the early 1970s - 'Raven on the Wing', featuring a 'gypsy' teenager in a posh metropolitan football club whose rich and overpaid players looked down on him and were forever trying to get him disgraced. It had Raven using genuine 'Romany' phrases and made reference to Romany culture in what was an unusually positive attitude for the 1970s, with the hero assisted by his manager's tomboy teenage daughter in foiling his rivals. 'Smash' and 'Valiant' which I read featured other sports too, eg wrestling, plus science fiction , explorer adventures, a tough comprehensive school in the marshy Fens with a nature-loving hermit PE master who could talk to the wildlife combating the school's hooligans, a Viking thriller, and occasionally the supernatural. You don't see variety like that any more, and it would be great if some of it could be reprinted - there was first-class artwork as well as 'social realism' and fantasy. I understand that a major comics company (Rebellion?) has bought up the rights to most of the 1950s-70s comics and is reprinting some of the best known stories, starting with some 1970s serials from 'Tammy' , so I am keeping an eye on this.

[Lenoir]

I also used to read "Valiant" and have a lot of them. Raven played for Highboro, nicknamed the Toffs.
In the later episodes another gypsy from his tribe became the goalkeeper.
I also remember reading a few issues of "Smash!" when I could find them second-hand, but it joined up with Valiant eventually and a few of the stories came across like Janus Stark.

[Katharine]

I'm sure many of us EB fans can understand this man's hobby.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-51122968" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lucky Star]

Hah yes. Good on him. I love the Beano although I don't collect it. I've got quite a few of the annuals though.

[Rob Houghton]

I loved the Beano too - and had the comic delivered for about ten years - I think back then it cost about 7p an issue - which seems unbelievable now! Plus I had the annual every year between about 1979 and 1987. I used to love it - but these days its not a patch on what it used to be.

[Rob Houghton]

Further to my message above, I decided to buy the Beano comic for old time's sake, this week! I quite enjoyed reading it, and was surprised how close in style it was to my childhood memories - still quite a few of the same characters in there - Dennis the Menace, Beryl the Peril, Tricky Dicky, Numbskulls, Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, and Billy Whiz, are all still there!

Mind you, considering when I last bought the comic it was priced 9p - 12p - I was quite shocked to discover it now costs £2.75!!!

[Boatbuilder]

Hmmm! Let's assume it was 40 years ago when you last bought it Rob, If it was 12p in 1980 then using the calculator I use (which only goes to 2018 at the moment) would indicate with inflation it should have cost 58p in 2018, so at a rough guess, not much more than 60p today. £2.75 really IS a hike.

This is the link to the inflation calculator I use: http://inflation.iamkate.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Eddie Muir]

When I read the Dandy and Beano comics in the late 1940s/early 1950s, they were 2d each (less than 1p). The first issues, 4th December 1937 and 30th July 1938 respectively, were also 2d each. The prices of the two comics remained at 2d each until the 1960s: almost thirty years after their first publication.

[Boatbuilder]

Yes, 2d was the price I remember in the 1950's, Eddie. And 2d in 1938 is still only 52p in 2018 using the same calculator and .008p as the equivalent of 2d.

[Rob Houghton]

Hmmm! Let's assume it was 40 years ago when you last bought it Rob, If it was 12p in 1980 then using the calculator I use (which only goes to 2018 at the moment) would indicate with inflation it should have cost 58p in 2018, so at a rough guess, not much more than 60p today. £2.75 really IS a hike.

This is the link to the inflation calculator I use: http://inflation.iamkate.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I still have a couple of old Beano comics, which I saved. The last one I have is from 1984 - when I was 13 - when it cost 12p. I also have a copy from 1982 which was 10p...so it seems it went up around a penny a year!

Of course, back then it was on 'newspaper' type paper - and only the cover and two pages internally were in colour, whereas today the whole thing is in full colour and on glossy paper. I wonder how much it would cost today if they reverted to the same quality of paper and printing as in the 1980's?

[Eddie Muir]

Yes, 2d was the price I remember in the 1950's, Eddie. And 2d in 1938 is still only 52p in 2018 using the same calculator and .008p as the equivalent of 2d.

That’s very interesting, John. Thank you for posting the very useful link to the inflation calculator.

[Daisy]

Yes, it was 2d when I got it in the late '40s - same price as Sunny Stories. Prices certainly seemed to stay much more steady in those days. I remember the horror of surprise when the cost of a postage stamp for a letter went up from 2 and a half to 3d in the late 50s. It had been the former all my life! And sending a postcard cost less - just 2d I think.

[Barnard]

I read Valiant from 1964 until 1969. My favourite stories were The Wild Wonders, Legge’s Eleven, Jack o’ Justice, Kelly’s Eye and Captain Hurricane. Unbelievably, in the 1970’s, I threw the comics away. I’d love to be able to read them again.