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.
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “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.
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Merry Christmas, BEANO fans!