In 1983 someone had the idea to release a Big Daddy annual alongside the traditional Christmas annual fare. But what could possibly fill the ninety-odd pages devoted to the old tub bucket?

The cover proudly displays his girth and little else. Although to be fair there isn't room for much else.

If you think the front is scary, this is the back cover.

If you think the annual's obsession with Daddy's huge physique ends at the cover, think again. The contents page is worse still.

Now there is a man who lives his gimmick - he's D shaped.

Basically, the entire book is devoted to how fat Big Daddy is. Not in a bad way - this was an age before chronic obesity was a national epidemic and fatness could be celebrated. And it is probably preferable to America's equivilent to our British flab - anabolic steroids.

There are cartoons which make light of Daddy's massiveness.

I don't know why it was printed at that strange angle. Notice how, alongside the county-sized stomach, he's still been given biceps. I can imagine the meetings - "I don't care how fat you make me as long as I got guns."

In addition to helping stupid army recruits (or just enjoying having young soldiers jumping on him in public places), Big Daddy is also useful in the sea.

And just when you thought a drawing of a topless Big Daddy was scary, turn the page and you get the real thing.

More to come in the second half of this retrospective including more nudity, the secrets of Big Daddy's workout and the time Big D came flab to flab with someone as big as him (and it isn't GIant Haystacks).