The Best of Boyfriend

Published by Prion Books on 1 September 2008. A collection along the lines of the Jackie books that Carlton have done in the past, including a mixture of strips, pop pin-ups, features, horoscopes and problems pages. I'm pleased to say that I managed to get a couple of full-length stories into this one: a 9-episode strip and the 9-part serial 'Janie and the Lovesick Ghosts' which is a lot of fun. The serial was so popular that it had two sequels ('The Ghosts and Lovesick Janie' and 'Janie and the Star-Struck Ghosts').

Order your copy via Amazon.co.uk.

Contents

Includes four complete comic strips...

The Model Bride Art: Gwen Tourret
The Truth About Lorna Baron! (9-episode serial) Art: Julio Bosch
Love! Love! Love! Art: J. Ariza
Mistaken Heart Art: J. Nabau

... one complete serial story...

Janie and the Lovesick Ghosts (9-episode serial) illustrated by Shirley Tourett

... and dozens of features, pin-ups, horoscopes, problem pages and fashion advice.

Synopsis

Boyfriend, a new kind of girls' paper, was launched in the spring of 1959. It was the first girls' magazine to truly put music first. Each week there would be a new 'Boyfriend' - Russ Conway, Johnny Mathis, Lonnie Donegan - introducing his life story and, to prove that he had a softer side, his favourite romantic story. You could also meet 'The Girl Behind the Boy'. Whether this was so you could emulate her to get your own pop-star boyfriend or a case of "know your enemy" so you could steal her boyfriend, I don't know. Away from the music, Rachel Lindsay handed out fashion tips on everything from clothing to hairstyles and twins Johnny and Jeannie Talbot offered weekly advice on the Boyfriend problems page. Boyfriend really came into its own when the sixties began to swing. The magazine gave itself over to modern pop: as early as February 1963, before their first album was out, Boyfriend was describing The Beatles as "even more modern than modern." Cliff Richard was a favourite of the magazine and was given his own column to introduce other stars of the pop scene...although it's unlikely that Cliff ever got any closer to the column than cashing the pay cheque he earned from the magazine for using his name.

Seven years after its birth, Boyfriend sank beneath a swelling tide of pop magazines and girls all over the country mourned its passing. The Best of Boyfriend celebrates the life of an iconic sixties publication with a welter of material that represent some of the best pate.

Publicity

full bleed, front & back covers

Reviews

"Another fantastic volume from Prion—this time Boyfriend, which concentrated heavily on the current pop scene but also had some fascinating articles on fashion and all the other things that concerned youngsters at the time—serialised picture stories were also a strong feature, and two of them are reprinted throughout the pages of this most wonderful book. An absolute gem!"—Paul Edmund Norman, Gateway Monthly.