There can’t have been many of us Children of the 1980s that didn’t own at least one annual during our childhood. From The Beano to The Dandy, from Bunty to Mandy, we loved catching up on the latest stories about our favourite comic strip characters…
We don’t know about you, but as well as receiving the latest annuals for Christmas, our parents were also rather good at one, passing down the annuals from their childhood, and two, finding older ones at local jumble sales. Personally, we didn’t care where we got them from, as long as we got them!
Even seeing today’s annuals featuring the latest childhood crazes fills us with that lovely warm feeling of nostalgia, as they remind us of a time when receiving one of them would make us oh so very happy…
Below are 15 annuals that we really believe will take you right back to your childhood. Be sure to let us know how many of them you remember, which was your favourite, and which annual we really shouldn’t have left out!
1. The Beano is the one comic that has lasted to this day, along with its annuals that you’ll still find brand new versions of in your local shop!
2. Bunty was clearly labelled as being ‘for girls’, but will any other gentlemen admit to having a sneaky read of their sister’s?
3. Second to the Beano in our eyes was The Dandy, and we collected as many of these brilliant annuals as we could!
4. Twinkle was labelled as being ‘specifically for little girls’. How many do you remember owning when you were a kid?
5. Now we’re talking! We had the toys, we loved watching the brilliant cartoon series, and we could also ask for the annual at Christmas.
6. Were you a fan of Mandy? It ran from 1991 until 1997 before being merged with Judy.
7. Just like with He-Man and his friends, having ThunderCats toys and watching the TV show simply wasn’t enough when we found out we could also read about them!
8. The beautiful My Little Ponies invaded many an 80s girl’s bedroom, were you one of them?
9. We fondly remember the M.A.S.K. comics and annuals, because we couldn’t get enough of these overtime working, crime fighting crusaders!
10. The Care Bears were one of the most popular franchises of the 1980s, so of course you could read about them in their brilliant annuals.
11. Did anyone own a David Hasselhoff adorning Knight Rider annual? Personally we didn’t, be we really get the feeling that we were missing out.
12. Yes of course you could buy an annual featuring our favourite crack commando unit.
13. The ‘truly outrageous’ Jem also had her own annual, one which we’re sure many of you 80s girls will remember it with much fondness!
14. We could also read about our favourite robots in disguise, as well as playing with the toys and enjoying the brilliant cartoon series.
15. Who was a fan of Roy of the Rovers? It was brilliant, even if Roy did end up scoring about 100 goals a season.
Be sure to spread some lovely, warm, nostalgic memories to your friends and family by sharing this post with them!