Leo Baxendale's Willy the Kid was launched in the mid 70's and book two came out in 1977 (although it was probably 1976 when it first hit the shops). For £1 you got 66 part colour pages. That isn't as many pages as most annuals, but this was written and drawn by just one person! Willy the Kid ran for three years, and there was a 'Best Of' book published around 10 years ago. The '77 annual was advertised on the back page of Denis Gifford's latest revival of Ally Sloper - the worlds's first comic character. The ad below is from issue #3 (the christmas issue), and is a full page taken from the annual itself, with a few bits edited.
Here's the page that actually appeared in the annual. It looks like the Willy that appears on the ad is actually a new drawing not taken from the book, as I can't see it on any pages.
It wasn't all comic strips though, as there were a few text pages throuhout the book, the first was Going For A Walk With Grandad.
Willy the Kid's book wasn't based entirely around him, as a lad named Spotty Dick also got a story to himself! It was all about a kid named Dick (Richard) who was trying to get jobs, and either did really well (by accident) or failed miserably!
Now I bet you can't see where this is going...!
This really is a fantastic read, but one of the most interesting pages has to be the one where Leo Baxendale is listing all the characters he created and when he drew them from!
And finally, the back cover!
2 comments:
I received 'Willy the Kid' Book 2 (as I now know it - I thought it was a one-off!) when I was about six years old.
It is such a crazy comic in places that even the Viz reading adult pals I now show it to are a little unnerved by it!
That whole twelve days of Christmas bt at the back is incredible! Funny thing is that the most right-wing of my Grandparents bought it for me! Anyway, it taught me to draw and I treasure it even now.
Great blog by the way! Great to celebrate that, in this dreary old United Kingdom, it is the monster fans and comic aficionados who make life fun!
Wow. What a step down memory lane!
I distinctly remember my dad coming home from work and giving my brother and I two Willy books in 1979.
I read them cover to cover more times than I care to remember and seeing these pages again just brought it all flooding back again. Sadly my copies have gone over the years due to various house moves but I'm sure I'll find a copy again.
Thank you.
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