ANNUALS

TV Crimebusters Annual 1962 TV Crimebusters - Dr Keel Originally published as bound-collections of a year's supply of both adults and children's' magazines during the nineteenth century, these glossy hardbacked books, now containing all-new material, are still the staple of many children's Xmas stockings.   For the benefit of non-Brits, the Annuals were roughly A4-sized books which appeared in the shops around September in order to be ideal presents for the coming Christmas. They generally featured the same strips which had been in a title the previous year and were of varying quality, this was mainly due to publishers using a pool of European based artists who had blatantly no idea who they were meant to be drawing -  a startling example are the late 70s Dr. Who Annuals which feature almost surreal depictions of Tom Baker's Doctor.

The finest examples of British Comic Annuals based around TV shows are arguably those published by Century 21 around the mid to late 60s for their TV21 supermarionation title and other related Gerry Anderson series. Filled with background detail and information supplied by the writers on the actual shows, larger than the standard A4 size, and bursting with colour, they still stand up to scrutiny.  The worst examples were the aforementioned late 70s Dr. Who Annuals (although, in fairness, the 60s Dalek Annuals have the stamp of quality about them).

In total, there were eight annuals published in the UK that had Avengers comic strip content (I've deliberately excluded the two TV Comic Annuals that had Avengers text stories for the time being).   These were:

  • the 1962-published TV Crimebusters that featured Steed and Dr. Keel (the only piece of merchandise that featured this pairing);

  • the three annuals dedicated fully to The Avengers, which were published between 1967 and 1969 and featured Steed partnered with Mrs. Peel in the first one, and with Ms. King in the two subsequent editions;

  • the TV Comic Annuals for 1967 and 1973.  The first featured two strips detailing Steed's adventures with Mrs. Peel, the latter had a single strip featuring Steed and Ms. King;

  • The New Avengers Annuals of 1977 and 1978 which, like their The Avengers predecessors were fully dedicated to strips, fiction and details of the show.

Click on the links below each of the illustrations to go to more detailed information and more illustrations from each of them.

The Avengers 1967 - Mrs Peel
The Avengers 1968 - Ms. King
The Avengers 1969 - Ms. King

TV Comic Annual 1967
TV Comic 1967
TV Comic 1973

The New Avengers Annual 1977
The New Avengers 1977
The New Avengers 1978