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30 April 2020

Dan Dare auction c/o Vectis today

This auction is today - don't forget!

A couple of weeks ago (here) I highlighted an upcoming auction at Vectis auctions (here) featuring plenty of original Dan Dare merchandise. So today, on the 70th anniversary of the launch of the original Eagle, I thought I'd highlight some of those items...

Once on their website you need to look at lots 3234-3270 [the auction starts with lot 3001] - the catalogue is available to look at here with all the Dare items in the final section of lots 'Tinplate & Plastic'.

Good luck bidding!







29 April 2020

UPDATED: The Smurfs comic - by DeVere

Some updates in red of a couple of these hard to find Smurf comics...

From 1996 here's issue 1 (November 1996) of 'The Smurfs' comic from DeVere Entertainment
32 pages in total
It contains the following comic strips by Peyou:
a). The Smurfosaurus (8 pages long)
b). The baby owl (8 pages long)
c). Lazy Smurf sets to work (1 page)


Issue 2, the Smurfs comic (December 1996)
32 pages in total
It contains the following comic strips by Peyou:
a). The Smurf's Christmas (8 pages long)
b). Gargamel - friend or foe? (8 pages long)
c). The wooden car (1 page long)


Issue 3, the Smurfs comic (January 1997)
32 pages in total
It contains the following comic strips by Peyou:
a). Taken for a ride! (8 pages long)
b). A kiss for Smurfette (8 pages long)
c). Smurf it yourself! (1 page long)

Issue 4, the Smurfs comic (February 1997)
32 pages in total
It contains the following comic strips by Peyou:
a). The little blue bunny (8 pages)
b). The warm-hearted Smurf (text story, 2 pages)
c). The Smurf's little kitten (8 pages)
d). Bloomin' lovely! (1 page)


Issue 5, the Smurfs comic (March 1997)
32 pages in total
It contains the following comic strips by Peyou:
a). All's well (8 pages)
b). The nothing machine (text story, 2 pages)
c). The DIY Smurf (8 pages)
d). That's ice...


Issue 6, the Smurfs comic (April 1997)
Stories by Peyou are as follows:
a). The Smurfs and mother nature (8 pages)
b). Jobs for the Smurfs (text story, 2 pages)
c). The tournament (8 pages)
c). Skating on thin ice (1 page)

The brand has changed (from DeVere entertainment limited to DeVere House of fun) but this is definitely issue 6 in volume as on page 2 it refers back to issue 4 (of volume 1 and it can't be referring back to issue 4 of volume 2).

James Hill on facebook also commented
...not sure whether or not there actually was a #6 for volume 2. We'd stopped packaging by then because DeVere had stiffed us for payment. They'd already gone bust once - see changing logos which signified a change in company - and we'd taken a hit on the last few issues of volume 1. When no payments arrived for the first couple of issues of volume 2 we decided to call it quits. 


Series 2
The series then appears to have been re-booted / re-numbered (the inside front page refers to this as "volume 2, number 1"). I'd previously been advised that this lasted 6 issues (but I can't remember who told me and James Hill (who worked on it) now isn't sure there was an issue 6. It's from 1997 but is otherwise undated


So this issue 1 is from 1997, but is also published by DeVere (albeit by DeVere House of Fun rather than by DeVere Entertainment), the price had been reduced down to £1.25 (from £1.85) but the page count is down to 24 pages (from 32) and the paper is cheaper.
Stories by Peyou are as follows:
a). Shake and fly! (8 pages)
b). The edelweiss (text story, 2 pages)
c). Food for thought (1 page)

Issue 2, the Smurfs comic
Stories by Peyou are as follows:
a). Musician Smurf's oompah! (8 pages)
b). Rhyme nor reason (text story, 2 pages)
c). Shake 'n' bake! (1 page)

Issue 3, the Smurfs comic
Stories by Peyou are as follows:
a). Puppy and the Smurfs (8 pages)
b). The whitebird (text story, 2 pages)
c). Trumpet trauma (1 page)

Issue 4, the Smurfs comic

Stories by Peyou are as follows:
a). Puppy and the Smurfs (8 pages)*
b). The red stew (text story, 2 pages)
c). Fruity fun (1 page)

*the story title is wrong (Puppy and the Smurfs was from issue 3) - this story is about the Smurf fire brigade 

Issue 5, the Smurfs comic
cover not to hand - does this even exist?

Issue 6, the Smurfs comic
cover not to hand - does this even exist?

28 April 2020

Sonic the Comic poster magazines

I've (slowly) been collecting back issues of Fleetway's Sonic the Comic for a while now (collecting slowly because the individual issues tend to be relatively pricey) and I've always been aware that there is was also a series of 9 poster magazine produced as well.

I recently acquired one of these (these seem even harder to collect than the normal run of the comic) and it inspired me to actually check out what the other issues look like. Thanks to the Sonic fandom wiki (here) I can see what all the issues look like...

You'll see that some of the issues (3-9) contain new comic strip material, so those are the most interesting as far as I'm concerned.

Sonic the comic poster mag (issue 1)

Sonic the comic poster mag (issue 2)

Sonic the comic poster mag (issue 3)

Sonic the comic poster mag (issue 4)

Sonic the comic poster mag (issue 5)

Sonic the comic poster mag (issue 6)

Sonic the comic poster mag (issue 7)

Sonic the comic poster mag (issue 8)

Sonic the comic poster mag (issue 9)

Images sourced from here - a great site, loads of info.

27 April 2020

Warhammer monthly comic - focus on Kev Walker's covers

Recently I've been working my way through the cover artists who graced the cover of Warhammer monthly comic back in the late 90s / early '00s...
Issues 1-10 is here

Issues 11-20 is here
Issues 21-30 is here
Issues 31-40 is here
Issues 51-60 is here

Issues 61-70 is here
Issues 71-80 is here
Issues 81-86 is here

But obviously if you're after a particular artist I realised that it'd be a bit of a slog going through all those links, so instead I'm going to do a bit of a short-cut selection here and just look at the covers of a single artist at a time.

I looked at Clint Langley's covers here
I looked at Colin MacNeil's covers here
I looked at Kev Hopgood's covers here

Next up is Kev Walker...

Warhammer monthly comic - issue 4, cover by Kev Walker

Warhammer monthly comic - issue 17, cover by Kev Walker

Warhammer monthly comic - issue 23, cover by Kev Walker

Warhammer monthly comic - issue 32, cover by Kev Walker