Battle Picture Weekly Annual 1979

Battle Picture Weekly Annual 1979 (1979)
By Fleetway | IPC Magazines
ISBN: 0850374057
Condition: Good (battle-tested but still in fighting shape)
Offered by: Crappy Old Books

Fix bayonets and adjust your nostalgia goggles: this is the Battle Picture Weekly Annual 1979, a hardback chunk of pure British war-comic energy from the days when childhood reading consisted mostly of explosions, grit and officers shouting in block capitals.

This is the annual tie-in to Battle Picture Weekly, the comic that specialised in brave idiots, doomed missions, terrifying sergeant-majors and tanks that exploded at least once per story, often twice for luck.

What’s lurking between the boards

Inside, you are cordially invited to:

• March through comic strips filled with mud, shrapnel, and men with names like “Bouncer”, “Nails” or “Killer” who’ve never heard of emotional vulnerability.

• Plough into text stories where a plucky underdog turns the tide of war in about four pages flat, through a combination of reckless bravery and convenient plotting.

• Encounter “factual” features about real-life battles, weapons, aircraft and vehicles, illustrated with an enthusiasm for hardware that would make any history teacher nervously proud.

• Enjoy a generous serving of SFX dialogue: “RAT-A-TAT!”, “WHAMM!”, and “YE GODS!” delivered at maximum volume.

It’s peak late-70s boys’ annual: loud, earnest, a bit dodgy historically, and completely uninterested in your modern concepts like nuance or subtlety.

Condition: Good (like a veteran with a few scuffs)

“Good” in Crappy Old Books language means:

• The covers are solid, the spine is intact, and the book is in no danger of desertion.

• All pages are present and readable – no missing missions, no mysteriously absent finales.

• There’s the expected amount of light wear: mild rubbing, maybe a bumped corner, perhaps a faint sense it once lived under a bed next to some Lego and a model Spitfire.

• Nothing is taped together, falling out, or smelling like it was rescued from a trench.

Not a pristine, shrink-wrapped relic – more like a seasoned corporal: a bit worn, still absolutely functional, and quietly unimpressed by your standards.

The vibe

Open this and you’re immediately back in:

• A world where every problem can be solved by courage, shouting and grenades, in roughly that order.

• The era when “character development” meant a sergeant briefly admitting he respects you before throwing you into another obviously suicidal mission.

• Living rooms with brown carpets, orange curtains and a small human absolutely glued to a war comic annual while breakfast goes cold.

There are no trigger warnings, no content notes, and no reflective afterword. Just sweaty, intense war stories and a firm belief that sound effects are a literary device.

Not for the museum-grade collector (and that’s fine)

This is not:

• A mint, factory-fresh, never-opened showpiece.

• Something to slab in plastic and brag about on grading forums.

• An item that will double as your pension plan.

This is:

• A properly readable annual designed to be handled by actual humans.

• Perfect for sofa reading, shed reading, train reading or “I’ll just flick through one story while the kettle boils” reading.

• Something you can leave lying around without having a panic attack if someone under 12 picks it up.

In other words, it’s for people who actually like comics as comics, not as financial instruments.

Ideal for:

• Former Battle-reading kids now masquerading as grown-ups who “don’t really buy comics anymore” (sure you don’t).

• Fans of old British war comics who think the three pillars of civilisation are Commando, Battle, and tea.

• Anyone who appreciates the quietly perfect absurdity of a violently dramatic war annual being sold by a place called Crappy Old Books.

• Collectors who prefer their books honest rather than flawless.

Reported back for duty by Crappy Old Books, where the annuals are a bit worn, the grading is truthful, and the barrage of “KRAKOOM!” has been going strong since 1979.

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