I note on some sites, and there are even a couple of You Tube videos, people professing to being very knowledgable about British comics are making fun of the Gerald Swan albums: "For some reason known only to himself, Swan decided that he was going to call his annuals "albums"!" Big chuckle.
Okay, for the simple out there -or people interested in learning....
An "Annual" is a hardback that was produced once a year by companies -around Christmas time. There might be something reprinted but as a rule most of the content was original work. Once a year -"annual".
Swan was far from the only person who called his 'annuals' by that 'silly' name.
What is an album? Well, think about it -it's a collection of things such as photographic albums, postage stamp albums, sticker albums and so on. Swan, and others, used the term correctly. The contents of his albums, as well as those from other publishers,were collected reprints. You had the material from the weeklies so bundle it all together and you have new money coming in but are not paying the creators a second time except for covers. Album -a collection of things.
Now, do not get confused when you see the European term "comic album" used. If you have seen the titles published by Cinebook the 9th Art such as Blake & Mortimer, Yoko Tsuno, etc those are Comioc Album format and consisting of 48-90+ pages. Soft cover. Bandes dessinées is taken to simply mean "comics" but do not be fooled: hardback, soft-cover and US style formats are all included.
Hopefully that makes it clearer. So if you see or read someone mocking Swan over the use of the word "album" you know that person isa double-dumb-ass with oak leaf clusters (that just means they are a VERY big dumb-ass).
Butthething is that these are all still comics and comics should be read and enjoyed!
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