Merry Christmas: 6 Days To Go

As the 25th of December rapidly bears down on us, each day for the next week downthetubes will be taking a look at a selection of comics and magazines from past Christmases.

Speed and Power was Look and Learn's sibling, using much the same format but leaning more towards the technological than its older brother. It lasted for 87 issues from March 1974 to November 1975 before being amalgamated into Look and Learn, initially as a separate pull out section.

The end of 1974 saw this unusual 48 page magazine format Christmas Special which they tried their best to give a Christmas cover to. Indeed each of the three subjects that artist Wilf Hardy illustrates are included in the contents - from the (sort of Christmassy) snowmobile racing to the RAF's then new Hawk trainer aircraft to the Soviet rocket launching a Mars probe.

The Christmas Special was as close as Speed and Power got to an annual during its lifetime although three Look and Learn Books of Speed and Power appeared after the two titles were amalgamated.

As for the weekly magazine the Christmas issue was hardly that Christmassy with a half hearted attempt at putting some holly and a "Happy Christmas!" on the front cover which featured a less than wintry dune buggy racer and a Royal Marines Commando Dory rigid raider.

More Christmas covers tomorrow.

Tube Surfing: Beano, Broons, Bunty and Bombers

• It is that time of year when next year's calendars are hitting the stores and the one to look out for at the moment is the Beano Retro Comic Art Calendar. With the weekly Beano falling into line with the new CBBC TV series Dennis and Gnasher series, older Beano fans should be pleased to see that the calendar features vintage Beano art selected by former Beano and BeanoMAX editor, Euan Kerr. For those readers north of the Border, it is the Brown clan's turn to be featured in DCT's softcover annual this year and they are of course also featured on the new Broons calendar for 2010.
  
  
• From humour to adventure and good news for the girls - after all the Jackie compilation books from Carlton, DC Thomson have finally decided to publish a Bunty compilation book this year. Bunty For Girls: Golden Age Classic Stories costs £8.99 and includes the first adventure of Bunty favourites The Four Marys amongst many other strips.
  
  
• All the DC Thomson items mentioned here are available via the DC Thomson website and postage is included on all the website's prices. Also still available from last year is the slipcased reprint of the 1966 Hotspur annual which has been reduced in price to £8.49.
  
  
• Away from DC Thomson and over (almost) to Look and Learn. Regular Look and Learn aircraft artist Wilf Hardy has produced many painted covers for UK air show brochures, as can be seen on Jeremy Briggs' piece on him over on Bear Alley. A selection of these paintings for the annual air show at RAF Waddington have now been produced as special limited edition packs with proceeds going to the RAF Benevolent Fund and the RAF Association. The set of 14 A5 prints feature 10 paintings by Wilf Hardy, 2 by his replacement on the Waddington brochures Tim O'Brien, and two joint efforts. Price is £5 plus £1.50 UK P&P and they are available by sending a cheque payable to "Timothy O'Brien" to 15 Angelica Court, Bingham, Nottingham, NG13 8SU. There are more details about the packs on Tim's website. If you like Hardy's aircraft illustrations in Look and Learn then these are well worth purchasing.
  
  
• And finally for now back to DC Thomson and their Waverley Books imprint which has had great success in the past few years selling Broons spin off books beginning with the high quality Maw Broon's Cook Book. This year the new Broon's books from Waverley have included The Broon's Days Oot! and Maw Broon's Remedies An' Suchlike while October will bring The Broons' Book of Gairdenin' Wisdoms in time for Christmas. For those messy cooks who have been using both the Cook Book and its follow up the But An'Ben Cook Book, then Maw Broon's But An'Ben Apron is also now available to buy from Waverley Books - "It keeps ye braw and clean!"