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Saturday, October 13, 2018

TV Fun Vol.2 #1

23 Mar 1988 - 05 Apr 1988; Cover price 65p.
40 pages. Colour & B&W.
Fleetway Publications.

The lots-to-do magazine.

Cover (uncredited).

Free push-out Fireman Sam cardboard model.

Contents:

.2 Who is hiding? Mr. Men picture puzzle feature (uncredited).
.3 A picture crossword puzzle feature (uncredited).
.4 Fun with Superted and his friends UNTITLED w: UNKNOWN; a: UNKNOWN.
.6 UNTITLED [These little birds are migrating to England] picture puzzle feature (uncredited).
.7 Hide and Seek The Pondles picture puzzle feature (uncredited).
.8 The Pondles UNTITLED w: UNKNOWN; a: UNKNOWN.
10 UNTITLED [Show Miss Helpful which path she should take] Mr. Men maze feature (uncredited).
11 UNTITLED [Who is Rabbit having a race with?] (uncredited).
12 Colouring Fun Fireman Sam colour-in page (uncredited).
13 UNTITLED ["I've never seen a bald dog before!"] colour-in page (uncredited).
14 Make a picture Mr. Men cut-out feature (uncredited).
15 find the pairs picture puzzle feature (uncredited).
16 Meet Kissyfur colour-in page (uncredited).
18 Paddlecab County picture puzzle feature (uncredited).
20 UNTITLED Fireman Sam cut-out stand (uncredited).
22 UNTITLED [Lazy Mr. Lazy] poem (uncredited).
23 UNTITLED [Space Baby wants to pick flowers] maze feature (uncredited).
24 UNTITLED [triangle = yellow; square = green] colour-in picture puzzle (uncredited).
25 Woodland Game board game (uncredited).
26 UNTITLED Raggy Dolls cut-out mobile feature (uncredited).
27 Stuck Up Fireman Sam maze feature (uncredited).
28 Learn to write with AB Sitter feature (uncredited).
30 UNTITLED [Texas Pete, Bulk and Skeleton are up to something] (uncredited).
32 UNTITLED [Mae the figure of the little man] cut-out feature (uncredited).
33 Sooty and Sweep UNTITLED [Sooty found four big wheels] w: UNKNOWN; a: UNKNOWN.
34 UNTITLED [Conker is rather a forgetful Pondel] maze feature (uncredited).
35 UNTITLED [It must be catching! This carpenter has forgotten something too.] picture puzzle (uncredited).
36 Space Baby Jigsaw (uncredited).
37 Space Baby UNTITLED ["Look at Mummy's flowers"] w: UNKNOWN; a: UNKNOWN.
38 UNTITLED [Miss Chatterbox was still talking] colour-in page.
39 Free in your next TV Fun in-house advertisement.
40 Little Green Man cut-out feature (uncredited).

It's difficult to think of a title which has been covered less than TV Fun's revival, and it isn't a great leap to state that it is probably a fate the title deserved. Aimed at a much younger audience than most other tie-in titles, there is a lot of what (in the majority of titles) would be considered 'filler,' but for the age-range being catered for these are selling points. The strips, therefore, could be considered filler. Don't let that observation hurt your head too much.

This has to be judged with the target audience in mind, and as such is remarkable value for money. There are plenty of pages to colour in, pages to cut images from (with adult supervision), mazes to figure out... TV Fun is remarkably 'full' for its size. It is annoying that I can't find out anything about artists (or other creators), as there are numerous quality illustrations throughout.

The Superted strips are slanted slightly, making reading slightly awkward, and placement of six three-panel strips with varying locations together might, perhaps, be slightly confusing for the youngest of readers. The Fireman Sam colour-in page is very attractive, though the bald dog image seems awkwardly drawn. It's a vaguely familiar style, but I'm not sure where I've seen it before.

Kissyfur's introduction seems unnecessary, when compared to the use of other characters without such wording. The series began running in 1987, so readers should have been as familiar with the cartoon as they were with Fireman Sam, Mr. Men and Superted. Whoever did title lettering on the Paddlecab County map should have used a ruler, but I doubt the youngsters leafing through this would have noticed.

Okay, so it isn't to everyone's taste, but if you are over the age of eight you can't complain about this issue.

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