I was browsing the Internet the other day when I came across a photograph of the above Lion comic on ebay. The cover of this comic might not strike you as important or unique in any particular way, but it is a good cover.
Now I'll show you another Lion cover, from the 1980 annual.
It wasn't just the front cover that was reprinted; a majority of the contents was as well, as the annual featured a whole host of well-known characters such as Robot Archie, Phantom Force Five and Adam Eterno, to name a few. Here you can see the page hasn't been properly resized from the original comic to fit the annuals larger pages. Sorry about the blurry photo, but it should still show the page size.
Looking through, and it seems that most, if not all, of the contents is reprinted, which is not surprising considering Lion folded five years before the annual was printed (six years before the cover date), but even so I always thought Fleetway produced new artwork for their covers. Obviously they just wanted to make as much money as possible from the annual and that was the way to do it. The sales of Lion annuals were slipping by this point and they'd only continue to make them for another three years, the last one (dated 1983), arriving in time for the Christmas of 1982.
Today I finished reading my copy of Lion King Of Picture Story Papers by Steve Holland, who writes the Bear Alley blog which I've linked at the end of the post. The book covers everything, and so much behind-the-scenes stuff that you wouldn't know just by reading the comic! As usual, I shall start with the negative, as I prefer to get those out of the way and move on to the many positives!
The only negative I have about this book is the error from pages 41 - 44. Page 41 ends with the sentence "It was the..." and I expected this sentence to be continued over the page, but instead I was greeted with a new chapter! Page 43 featured a full-page comic strip, of which there were many throughout the book, and the sentence was concluded on page 44. However, whether this is just a printing error in my book or in all of them I don't know, but it does make reading a little confusing. But that's the negative out of the way, let's move on...
The book is one of the most wonderfully written and researched pieces I have ever read. Each page goes into great detail about even minor things (such as where Royman Browne had his fatal heart attack (in the lift at Fleetway House)). In the hands of someone less capable, the book could have proved to be a boring read, but Steve keeps every single page interesting and fresh, instead of just firing the facts at the reader!
Lion was inspired by Eagle which was launched two years earlier (which amazingly merged into the Lion later on), but unlike its inspiration which has had countless books devoted to itself and its characters, this is the time a book has been produced dedicated to the history of "The King Of Picture Story Papers"! I'm surprised no books have been published on it before, but it has been well worth the 61 year wait since it was launched, as this is a book that stands out well!
At the back of the book is a very useful index, which lists all of the staff, characters, annuals and specials that appeared over Lion's 22 year life. Undoubtedly this index will prove useful, and I will more than likely be returning to it many times!
Lion King Of Picture Story Papers is a book which needs to be read and re-read to take everything in, due to the amount of information crammed into its seemingly short 262 pages. I highly recommend this book, and it now sits proudly on my shelf in-between The Art and History Of The Dandy (By Morris Heggie, 2012) and Encyclopedia of Comic Characters (by Denis Gifford, 1987).
Overall, the book is fantastic and kept me very entertained during a long car journey! You can buy the book for £25.99 + £4.00 postage from:
http://bearalleybooks.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/lion-king-of-picture-story-papers_3.html
Bear Alley blog:
http://bearalley.blogspot.com
This is the final part in the series, and this time we take a look at another Tiger annual, the 1980 one! (not the one pictured above, that's just a fantastic footy cover,courtesy of Clive Huckstepp!) First up is Nipper, about Nipper Lawrence who played for the Blackport Rovers.
Billy's Boots is, as it's title suggests, about a boy named Billy who has a special pair of boots (not only did they used to belong to a proffesional player, but they're special in their own little way as well)!
And finally, Hot-Shot Hamish, the man with the kick like a cannon!
Well, that sums it up for the posts on football, even though Euro 2012 isn't over yet! I hope you enjoyed these posts as much as I did, they gave me a chance to write about comics I wouldn't usually cover. I'll definatly be returning to sports in the future, maybe with the Olympic Games!
However, if you want more football fun, head on over to Kazoop!, where a few footy comic strips are added EVERY DAY until the end of Euro 2012!