Retro UK Annuals: Bugs Bunny 1983

Along with the Tom & Jerry version, this was my very first annual I received on Xmas Day 1982. What I didn't know is that this would be the last Bugs Bunny annual to be published by World Distributors, who would finally give up producing classic cartoon annuals a year later, ending a golden era.

World published its first Bugs Bunny annual in the early 50's, but it was from its 1964 annual that it would publish a new book every year. Every book included reprints of American comic strip (licensed from Western Publishing), and most (including this one) also had short stories, jokes and even puzzles.

I'm proud to present the best bits of this fine annual. Unfortunately, my copy is long lost, and the one I later obtained has some bizarre tick marks (why?), which I'm only able to conceal on a few scans. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy reading them.

Front cover:

Back cover:

In this annual, there were three illustrated short stories, and the following is the first one, which I present in full:






This annual has plenty of puzzles, activities, and jokes. The former two were completed or had a few scribbles on, so I decided not to upload these. And most of the jokes are very painful (I like to know who wrote these), so here are the more bearable ones:



And, of course, I shouldn't forget to include examples of the American comic reprints included in this book. Here are the first pages of the first few:



And here's my favourite comic strip (in full), Power of Pizazz. I don't mind admitting that when I first read this, I had enormous sympathy for the alien "Bugs" when he exclaimed "This is food?" - I thought he was eating cauliflower!










More Bugs Bunny annuals will appear soon. Coming up next - Pink Panther!

Retro UK Annuals: Tom & Jerry 1967

The year was 1966: America was gripped by Beatlemania, the England football team won the World Cup, and the first Tom & Jerry annual was launched a few months before Xmas. Ah, it was a good year to be English (or so I imagine, being born 11 years too late!).
This was published by World Distributors, who were already publishing annuals based on classic American cartoons years before, with Bugs Bunny in the 50's and the Flintstones, Huckleberry Hound, and Top Cat annuals during the early 60's. Before then, publishers Dean launched the first Mickey Mouse annual in 1930, and Felix annuals popped up a decade before. It's a wonder why Tom & Jerry annuals arrived much later than their fellow animated stars.
World would only publish one T&J annual in the 60's, before embarking on a regular yearly run during 1970-83. Throughout the series (and indeed like the vast majority of these annuals), these books consisted mostly of reprints of American comic strips (published by Western Publishing), with some original illustrated stories and jokes/puzzles/activity pages.
To kick-start this new series, let's take a peek at some of the select pages from this annual, starting with the front cover:

Back cover:

Title page:

Four T&J comic strips appeared in this annual, the following are the first pages from each strip:




To complement the T&J strips, Barney Bears appears (with his nephews Fuzzy & Wuzzy) in a couple of his own:


Not to be outdone, T&J stalwarts Spike & Tyke get their own couple of adventures:


Another twin set of strips feature a character who is relatively unknown in Blighty: Wuff the Prairie Dog, specially created for the T&J comics in the US:


But there is more T&J stuff to come: Four illustrated stories are featured, and here are the openings from three of them:



However, here is a complete story, in which even Tom & Jerry themselves were influenced by the British music invasion (check out their moptops!):







There will be more selected Tom & Jerry annuals appearing in the future, alongside others (watch out for Looney Tunes, Pink Panther, Top Cat, and more). Unfortunately, due to a HUGE collection, I'm unable to show them all, but I do hope you enjoy viewing my selections and inspire you to collect these gems, whether they are British annuals or classic American comics.
And if you can identify the artists and/or original publishing dates, feel free to post a comment. Share it to the world!

DVD Review: The Caesars (Network - UK Region 2)

An everyday story of sex, madness, and regicide.

Augustus Caesar, Emperor of the Roman Empire, has ruled for over 40 years, bringing peace after years of civil war, but the price the empire paid for this was the absolute rule of one man – a dictator. Although brutal, he was nevertheless a popular leader. And now he is dying, and he has to nominate a replacement. He decides that Tiberius should replace him, with the loyal-but-foolish Germanicus the next in line.

Tiberius initially rejects the offer, as he feels he is nowhere near as brutal as Augustus and doesn’t wish to become an absolute ruler. Eventually, he reluctantly agrees, and takes command with the aid of the scheming Sejanus. But throughout his reign, he faces the turmoil that affected his family, including murder, in which many people label him as a tyrant. He does on occasion have to be ruthless, but the end result would normally follow a sense of guilt.

His great-nephew, Caligula, succeeds Tiberius, but early on he does show signs of his unpleasant side. Then a serious illness drives him further into insanity. Believing that he is a God and an immortal, he becomes an irrational murderer and rapist. As he becomes more and more deranged, no-one it seems can appease him in any way without fear of being executed.

Surviving throughout all this turmoil is Claudius, who was born with a stutter and club foot. Because of his disability, many dismiss him as a fool, but he uses this to his advantage. He is ignored by Tiberius and humiliated by Caligula, but it is Claudius himself who would get the last laugh.


This series was produced by Granada Television, and was broadcast on ITV in 1968 to critical acclaim. It has been compared in recent times to I Claudius and even the BBC/HBO’s Rome, but this is still an immensely enjoyable drama in its own right. The sets, although studio bound, are very impressive. A fine repertoire of actors grace the small screen, but there are three actors who really stands out: Andre Morrell (Quatermass & The Pit) gives a dependable performance as the weary Tiberius, Ralph Bates (Dear John) is frightfully chilling as the cold-blooded Caligula, and Freddie Jones (The Ghosts of Motley Hall) fully merited his Golden Nymph award (Monte Carlo Television Festival, 1969) as the rather-intelligent Claudius.

The series was shot originally on video, but it now exists as 16mm telerecordings made for the international market (the original Granada front and endcaps have been replaced by a Granada International equivalent), and Network has been supplied with a mix of old and recent transfers. The quality of the material does show that making telerecordings was not one of Granada’s main strengths. Generally, they zoomed in too close to the video monitor, which results in a cropped picture and a grainy look. There is also burnt-in video damage evident on the recordings. The first episode is the worst affected, as shown on the screenshot below. Because of the over-zooming, you can only just make out the title (Augustus).

It would have been nice to see the series get some digital clean-up, but this would be expensive and would make the DVD release commercially unviable. Of course, Network is renowned for releasing long-forgotten TV shows that most other DVD companies wouldn’t even touch with a barge pole, so we really must commend Network for having the guts to release this.

There is one extra that Network has somehow forgot to mention on its cover – a five-minute photo gallery, showing some behind-the-scenes images and those taken on the set. I was really amazed to see what the sets actually looked like in colour, it is just a shame that they never filmed it this way. If only they waited one more year until ITV colour transmissions became a reality. Because of the rarity of this series, it is unrealistic to expect commentaries or interviews, so the photo gallery is an unexpected bonus. Pity about the lack of subtitles, though.

Despite the quality of the film material, this is an excellent watch, and huge thanks to Network for allowing this series to get a deserved DVD release. However, the RRP of £19:99 is maybe on a high side for people who aren’t too familiar with this series and/or are rather unsure of 1960’s drama, so my advice is to wait until the sales. But whenever you buy this now or later, is it well worth what you paid for it. Recommended.

NOTE: DD Home Entertainment has released their own version of The Caesars (only available through their mail-order service, while Network's version is a general release) with the same RRP. However, given DDHE's track record, it is likely that these episodes will have their adcaps removed (Network has left these alone), and there is no mention of any subtitles or other extras on their catalogue and website.

Images (C) Granada

Text (C) Lee Glover. Not to be copied without permission.