KID KLASSICS: SUNNY SUMMER SPECIALS OF YESTERYEAR...

It's the depths of winter, so let's cheer ourselves up by

stepping back into sunnier climes with a look at some of the

great Summer Specials from a vanished era.  Ready?

****** 

One of the things that every blogger has to concern themselves

with is just what to write about for each new post, in the hope that at

least someone will be interested in reading the result.  One can never

really tell with any certainty just what will float a reader's boat so it's a

bit of a gamble whenever a blog host takes the plunge with yet another

entry for his members' perusal and hopeful appreciation.  Will a catchy

title arouse their curiosity?  Will a dramatic opening illustration grab
their attention?  Sometimes I'm surprised as to just what attracts a
significant number of hits - and sometimes I'm disappointed in
equal measure as to what seems to escape under the radar.

So, "what's the recipe for today, Jim?" - and will it be enough
to lure you into my blog's web for a few enjoyable minutes of reading
pleasure?  Let's look at the subject of Summer Specials - or Holiday
Specials as they were also sometimes called.  Asides from three new Ul-
timate Beano Summer Specials which graced the shelves of WHS
a while back, the particular breed known as the Summer Special seems
to be extinct.  Hardly surprising given the dying interest in comics
in general, but no less disappointing for that inarguable fact.

Those of a certain age will recall the glory days, when - for a mere
2'6d (usually) - 96 pages of fun and adventure could be had to pore
over again and again.  There was just something about those extra thick
publications that seemed to beckon to us from the newsagents' counters -

enticing us to spend the half-crown that an indulgent grandparent or uncle
had given to us only a day or two before.  We were mainly unaware that,
inevitably, these bumper packages contained an allocation of reprint-
ed strips from comics or annuals of an earlier era - and what did it
matter anyway?  They were definitely new to us.

So come with me now on a short journey, and let us return to
an age when Holiday Specials were a welcome distraction as we
sheltered under the leafy shade of an overhanging branch from the
heat of the sweltering Summer sun.  A bottle of pop in one hand, an
oversized paper periodical in the other, the future remained an un-
discovered country - in which, sadly, all too soon we would find
ourselves residing while wondering how we got there. 

    

And below is one of my all-time favourites...

Posted in: Cartoons