I'd better say my magic word!

 In that Justice League adventure I reviewed a couple of days ago, the Key planned to take over the entire universe - an aim echoed by a similarly ambitious arch-foe, Texas Pete, nemesis of that greatest of heroes, SuperTed!

Although I'm more inclined to agree with his delightfully camp sidekick Skeleton's desires...

This all comes from a book I've had for nearly four decades, and had all but forgotten the very existence of until my brother and I found it in my overcrowded bookcase and rediscovered its wonders - the SuperTed Storybook!

Researching it on the internet, I see that it was originally published as the SuperTed Annual 1985, a hardback book in the traditional annual format (so, naturally, published in September 1984, because that's how British annual dates work), but the version we had was the paperback edition published by Scholastic Publications for the Chip Club (or maybe Puffin Club), that great way for primary school children to get really brilliant books on a regular basis! I don't think those clubs even exist any more, which is probably contributing to the growth of illiteracy, juvenile delinquency and other scourges of modern society.

But just check out the contents! The 64 pages are packed with comic stories, text stories, all kinds of informative features, a board game, a colouring page, a wordsearch and a whole lot of spotty people!

Actually, I should confess that this isn't my book at all - it's quite emphatically my brother's, since he's signed his name on the Texas Pete Fan Club badge...

42062 was our phone number. But I'm sure the baddies had a lot more fans than the rather strait-laced SuperTed himself did - everyone loves the baddies! Although I always particularly loved the Problem Page, in which our hero offers help with the worries of teddy bears, and provides us with some delicious-sounding drinks recipes, too!

Sodastreams were very cool in the 1980s. We had an off-brand knockoff one. Make your own fizzy drinks for only three or four times the expense and trouble of buying them in bottles!

Wasn't SuperTed great? I still can't believe I'd left this book unread on my shelf for so many years!