Well, my Christmas present in 1973 was a Doctor Who annual. I had no complaints - though, I did notice that they were getting progressively thinner over the years from the ones we had in the sixties!
The annuals did start getting thinner and part of that was down to the less thick paperstock used but also, I believe, because of the various problems at the time (theenergy crisis for one). Weekly comics went from 40+ pp to 30+ and it was all about cutting corners but turning a profit. Quality in art/content also started going down in the mid to late 1970s.
The decline in art quality was one of the first things I noticed. Very poor attempts at likenesses of Katy and Elisabeth for a start and wondered how they could be so inept whilst the weeklies continued - with the likes of Gerry Haylock - doing such a superb job. As yourself, I noticed this happening with TV-related annuals and only kept with DW, partially out of series loyalty, also in the hope that things would improve. I gave up at the Davison-Baker transition, not being able to take the rip-off, both in size and content.
Well, my Christmas present in 1973 was a Doctor Who annual. I had no complaints - though, I did notice that they were getting progressively thinner over the years from the ones we had in the sixties!
ReplyDeleteThe annuals did start getting thinner and part of that was down to the less thick paperstock used but also, I believe, because of the various problems at the time (theenergy crisis for one). Weekly comics went from 40+ pp to 30+ and it was all about cutting corners but turning a profit. Quality in art/content also started going down in the mid to late 1970s.
ReplyDeleteThe decline in art quality was one of the first things I noticed. Very poor attempts at likenesses of Katy and Elisabeth for a start and wondered how they could be so inept whilst the weeklies continued - with the likes of Gerry Haylock - doing such a superb job. As yourself, I noticed this happening with TV-related annuals and only kept with DW, partially out of series loyalty, also in the hope that things would improve. I gave up at the Davison-Baker transition, not being able to take the rip-off, both in size and content.
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