Candy, Andy & the Bearandas

[holyzombiejesus]

Was going to put this in the What Did You Get For Christmas thread but thought it deserved one of it's own.

Living in a picture-perfect English village, two panda bears, Mr and Mrs Bearanda, bring up their plastic children, Candy and Andy.

Devised by Gerry Anderson's Century 21 Productions (Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet) for the 1960s comic book market, the images created for the photo-strips are a surreal, unique look at domesticity, the family and childhood. Their unusual nature meant they never reached the popularity of other Anderson characters, and the photo story comics were abandoned after a year.

Absolutely fucking mental. Only £15 for the hardback collection of photos from the brilliant Four Corners Books

They even had Dinky toys!

[Small Man Big Horse]

Due to my obsession with photo comics I've bought this thanks to getting an Amazon giftcard as a present, and I'm really looking forward to reading it when it arrives.

[Famous Mortimer]

Looks like a proto-Fuccons

[Small Man Big Horse]

My copy arrived today but I have to admit to being a bit disappointed by it, and just posted this review on Amazon:

I'm a huge fan of photo comics (having loved Doomlord and co in the 1980s relaunch of Eagle) and this collection of photographs from a Gerry Anderson creation are often fascinating, there's a very unusual style to them which makes the human dolls seem creepy and the panda dolls somewhat sad. But there's a two page forward, an eight page article, and then 39 pages of photographs, and that's all you get for your money. There's a number of pages which are completely blank as well, and I've no idea why as some pages contain images on both sides, and it really does feel like it's been put together like this so that it appears to be a semi-decent sized book, but I feel very disappointed by the size of it.
If you're a fan of Gerry Anderson's you may well enjoy it, but otherwise unless you can pick it up fairly cheaply I wouldn't recommend it, and I certainly don't feel like I received anywhere near good value for money given that this cost £15.

I did wonder if it was so short as there weren't any other good quality photographs available to print, but a quick google search brought up a number of images, so it feels a bit weird that the book is so short.

Edit: Just wanted to say I'm glad you enjoyed it Holyzombiejesus, and I'd already bought it before I saw your post, but the more I read about the comic the more annoyed I am that it's so short and also missing so many details.

I noticed that a lot of full issues can be found here: https://britishcomics.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/candy/ - and they include the text story which accompanied each photo, and it seems mad that this book didn't feature that aspect of the comic as well, especially given the number of blank pages. I'm presuming it might be a rights issue, but even that seems odd and if it is the case an explanation as to why it doesn't contain more from the comics would have been appreciated.

[holyzombiejesus]

That's a shame. You should ask Four Corners why they've presented it the way they have, I imagine they'd respond. I bet it'd be quite interesting.

[Small Man Big Horse]

That's a shame. You should ask Four Corners why they've presented it the way they have, I imagine they'd respond. I bet it'd be quite interesting.

I've just done so now in as polite and friendly as I possibly could be, and if they do respond I'll let you know.

[Ignatius_S]

Was going to put this in the What Did You Get For Christmas thread but thought it deserved one of it's own...

Thanks for posting about this - will be getting a copy...

[Ignatius_S]

My copy arrived today but I have to admit to being a bit disappointed by it, and just posted this review on Amazon:

I did wonder if it was so short as there weren't any other good quality photographs available to print, but a quick google search brought up a number of images, so it feels a bit weird that the book is so short.

Edit: Just wanted to say I'm glad you enjoyed it Holyzombiejesus, and I'd already bought it before I saw your post, but the more I read about the comic the more annoyed I am that it's so short and also missing so many details.

I noticed that a lot of full issues can be found here: https://britishcomics.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/candy/ - and they include the text story which accompanied each photo, and it seems mad that this book didn't feature that aspect of the comic as well, especially given the number of blank pages. I'm presuming it might be a rights issue, but even that seems odd and if it is the case an explanation as to why it doesn't contain more from the comics would have been appreciated.

In terms of the photos that have included, from having a quick look about the book, it 'presents the best of the surviving original transparencies' according to the publishers website (and was also mentioned in the book launch event blurb). And according to this - https://www.a-rabbitsfoot.com/editorial/art-photography/candy-andy-bearandas-photobook-thunderbirds/ - 'Around 90% of the transparencies were lost'. On that basis, they would be limited in what can be reproduced as scans would look poor alongside it.

It is being advertised as a 'phonebook' and my gut feeling is that they think the main market is for those interested in the purely photographic/visual art aspect. Personally, that's what's drawing me to it, although I wouldn't have minded the text being included or more being made of that.

Reading this - https://www.fourcornersbooks.co.uk/articles/an-unusual-family/ - I think they're less interested in providing the context for the images that were in the comics... which I'll have to look through, thanks for the link!

[George White]

My aunt and uncle had the toys but only the oddly yellow pandas remained, as a kid, I wondered what the bipedal Sooties were.

[Small Man Big Horse]

In terms of the photos that have included, from having a quick look about the book, it 'presents the best of the surviving original transparencies' according to the publishers website (and was also mentioned in the book launch event blurb). And according to this - https://www.a-rabbitsfoot.com/editorial/art-photography/candy-andy-bearandas-photobook-thunderbirds/ - 'Around 90% of the transparencies were lost'. On that basis, they would be limited in what can be reproduced as scans would look poor alongside it.

It is being advertised as a 'phonebook' and my gut feeling is that they think the main market is for those interested in the purely photographic/visual art aspect. Personally, that's what's drawing me to it, although I wouldn't have minded the text being included or more being made of that.

Reading this - https://www.fourcornersbooks.co.uk/articles/an-unusual-family/ - I think they're less interested in providing the context for the images that were in the comics... which I'll have to look through, thanks for the link!

I understand where you're coming from but it feels like there's a fundamental dishonesty at its core as it says its 92 pages long but in total there's 49 pages of content, and 10 of those are largely text based, so there's only 39 photographs and 40 blank pages, and I don't understand why they've included the blank pages at all other than to make it seem the book offered a lot more than it really does, and if I'd known that I doubt I would have bought it given the cost.

It also feels like a great missed opportunity, the scans on that site aren't too bad and I'd have happily seen a few of them reproduced at the very least, if only to better understand the world that Anderson had created. Surely it would have been better than just leaving pages completely blank, anyhow?

[Mister Six]

I sort of think having the actual narrative or any context would spoil it.

Tempted to bag this cheap if I ever get the chance and then never read any of the words.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Bar the forward and introduction the book is text free, so that wouldn't be an issue. And I do get where you're coming from, but I really enjoyed reading the online scans of the comic so much that I wish they had included the prose.

Also, I got a very considerate and thoughtful email from the publishers which has made me reconsider my response a little, and I do feel a little bit guilty for the negative review I posted. I'm not going to post the email here as I'm not certain it's for public consumption, but if anyone's interested I'd be happy to pm it to them, as they go in to a lot of detail as to why the book is constructed in the way that it is.

[Ignatius_S]

I understand where you're coming from but it feels like there's a fundamental dishonesty at its core as it says its 92 pages long but in total there's 49 pages of content, and 10 of those are largely text based, so there's only 39 photographs and 40 blank pages, and I don't understand why they've included the blank pages at all other than to make it seem the book offered a lot more than it really does, and if I'd known that I doubt I would have bought it given the cost.

It also feels like a great missed opportunity, the scans on that site aren't too bad and I'd have happily seen a few of them reproduced at the very least, if only to better understand the world that Anderson had created. Surely it would have been better than just leaving pages completely blank, anyhow?

Sorry, I meant to comment about the number of pages as the official information is at odds with what you said and based on the former, I would be expecting double the contents and would have been disappointed, personally. From the site:

92 pages: 16 pages printed black and white on coloured Woodstock Cipria 140gsm and 76 pages printed in colour on Tatami White 150gsm.

With leaving pages blank, there are practical reasons why this happens in photo books and it's not that uncommon to varying degrees and it's very usual to employ empty space in other ways. At times, it's more effective having one image on a page and a blank one than an image on each page. One of the books I own is a Fred Herzog one and there are couple of images that are on their own in this - I suspect this might be be to do with the number of images versus the number of pages (which is why I think this happens in photo books sometimes) - and they really stand out as a result. The design of the book is fantastic and the images that are together don't compete for attention, but having a single image presented on its own offers something different. In that book, at times, there is a single photo that goes across two pages but not by much - it takes up the width of one page and about 20-30% of the other, which is other blank (except for a few words in a tiny font) and is a very good of presenting it.

I picked up a book cheap of images in Cuba - it wasn't a cheaply produced book and was nicely put together, but took the approach of having a photo on each page, which I didn't find very effective. There were a few factors at play but personally, I feel that dropping the few images and having blank pages instead would have enhanced it.

My attitude has shifted a lot about this, I have to say!

Regarding the scans, they look low-resolution (which I would expect) and unsuitable for printing. It would be nice to have a decent curation of the comics, as it's something that I find fascinating.

[Ignatius_S]

Bar the forward and introduction the book is text free, so that wouldn't be an issue. And I do get where you're coming from, but I really enjoyed reading the online scans of the comic so much that I wish they had included the prose.

Also, I got a very considerate and thoughtful email from the publishers which has made me reconsider my response a little, and I do feel a little bit guilty for the negative review I posted. I'm not going to post the email here as I'm not certain it's for public consumption, but if anyone's interested I'd be happy to pm it to them, as they go in to a lot of detail as to why the book is constructed in the way that it is.

Ha, just saw this! It would be great to hear more about the reasoning if you don't mind PM-ing it or at part of it!

[holyzombiejesus]

I'm not going to post the email here as I'm not certain it's for public consumption, but if anyone's interested I'd be happy to pm it to them, as they go in to a lot of detail as to why the book is constructed in the way that it is.

Yes please!

[Small Man Big Horse]

I've just sent it to you now, and I think they make a very good case as to why the book is like it is, and I feel if they updated the Amazon page and made it clear how many images were included and what people were getting then it'd be fair enough.

[holyzombiejesus]

Thanks for that. Certainly seems like a lot of thought went in to the book. Guess one of the problems of getting stuff online is not being able to check stuff out before buying. Does the publisher supply the info for Amazon or is it just provided as a bare bones number of pages and size type thing?

[Small Man Big Horse]

Thanks for that. Certainly seems like a lot of thought went in to the book. Guess one of the problems of getting stuff online is not being able to check stuff out before buying. Does the publisher supply the info for Amazon or is it just provided as a bare bones number of pages and size type thing?

I would have thought it'd be down to the publisher. When I self-published my novel I had to put in all of the exact details, and as the email mentioned they're a pretty small company and unless they hired someone to list the book on other line sites I'd be surprised if anyone else would. But that's all supposition and I don't know for sure.