Annuals now arriving thick and fast in bookshops, including Rupert the Bear

By John Freeman on July 28, 2015

We’re clearly heading for Christmas – and yes, we know it’s only the end of July! – with a further round of annuals set to hit book shops and online stores across the UK over the next few days, including this year’s Rupert Annual, published by Egmont, which is celebrating 80 years of the character published by the Express newspaper with what looks like a fine collection of stories old and new.

This latest round of releases follows the release in early July of this year’s Beano and Dandy annuals from DC Thomson, which are already being offered at knockdown prices in some shops.

Also already on sale are, The Broons book and the Oor Wullie book are released on alternating years but this year, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of these iconic characters the books have been released together for the first time ever.

Rupert story strips have appeared regularly in the Daily Express since 8th November 1920 and the strip’s initial publication was quickly followed by many tie-in books, including the long-running annual which this year features a number of classic strips, including one story by Alfred Bestall, who took over from Mary Tourtel, Rupert’s creator. There are plenty of stories from former official Rupert artist John Harrold, a position now held by Stuart Trotter, who provides “Rupert and the Coral Crown” for this annual.

Now owned jintly by Classic Media and the Express, if you’re a fan of the character you may want to check out The Followers of Rupert web site

We’ve just published a run down of the 2016 annuals here that we think may interest downthetubes readers, available on release from all good bookshops and online.

As yet, there don’t seem to be any of the “limited edition” annuals offered by DC Thomson and Egmont last year promoting some of their “classic” comics.

Note that annuals are sold into the books trade far in advance of publication (with creators working on them even sooner), so some of the covers below may not be final. We’ll swap them out as the official covers emerge and time permits.

If you’re a fan of The Beano and other DC Thomson titles then it’s well worth poking around the DC Thomson online shop; not only do they feature current titles, they also offer limited edition prints and a number of titles published some time ago, such as The Legend of Lord Snooty – published in 1993 – and of course, last year’s limited edition annuals, such as The Hotspur.

• Check out our 2016 Annuals checklist here

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.