Dan Dare gyro jeep

I'm always happy to feature unusual bits of Eagle merchandise on the blog. 

There were...

Dan Dare roller skates here

Dan Dare hairbrush here

Dan Dare tie clip here

Eagle stationery here

Eagle club notebook here

With the compliments of the Eagle club here

Eagle / Girl table tennis medals here

Eagle club cycle pennant here

and today I present 'the wonderful Dan Dare gyro-jeep'. As ever, the box is more exciting than the actual toy itself. A rare object.

Images from the 'Eagle and Dan Dare collectors' facebook group c\o Rick Sudars.

Eric Parker overseas (part 4 of 10)

I've recently begun a lengthy series of blog posts all about renowned illustrator Eric Parker (check out his Wikipedia entry here) who had a 50 year (!) career as a comic illustrator.

I've looked at Roughs (part 1) here
Roughs (part 2) here
Roughs (part 3) here
Roughs (part 4) here
Female heads (part 1) here
Female heads (part 2) here
Female heads (part 3) here
Female heads (part 4) here
Pubs (part 1) here
Pubs (part 2) here

Overseas (part 1) here

Overseas (part 2) here

Overseas (part 3) here

and now we turn our attention to the start of a series of illustrations of foreign climes...

This was painted in Calvi (in Corsica)

This was painted in Calvi (in Corsica)

This was painted in Calvi (in Corsica)

This was painted in Calvi (in Corsica)

Eaglecon 80 - part 3

It occurs to me that I've not covered anything to do with the very first Eagle comic convention - Eaglecon 80. A recent sale by ace ebay seller phil-comics (here) of one of the awards from Eaglecon 80 (see below) for £155 has inspired me to start looking images.

I looked at some initial images here

We had images about what was on display here

Now we have some images of the original art that was on display

All these images are from the late, great Eagle & Dan Dare historian Adrian Perkins.

Charles Evans-Gunther (left) & Fred Nelson (right)

Dan Dare tieclip

I'm always happy to feature unusual bits of Eagle merchandise on the blog. 

There were...

Dan Dare roller skates here

Dan Dare hairbrush here

Eagle stationery here

Eagle club notebook here

With the compliments of the Eagle club here

Eagle / Girl table tennis medals here

and today I present an authentic 1950s Dan Dare tieclip - all images swiped from a recent ebay auction

Sandy James artwork for Tiger

These images are swiped from an eBay sale last month and are a rare chance to see some original Sandy James artwork - from the 22nd September 1984 issue of Tiger

Kapow - the art of making comics & film; original comic art, part 11

Just ended at the Rugby Art Museum & Gallery is Kapow - the art of making comics and film (more details here). If you've not yet been to this free exhibition here are just a few of the pages of original vintage British comics art that were on display

I looked at vintage British comic art here and here and here
I looked at 2000AD / Dredd art here
Frank Bellamy art is here
Bernie Wrightson is here
A selection of artists here

Jock part 1 was here, part 2 was here, part 3 was here

And now Jock. There was a LOT of art from 'One dark knight' there so I'll present it as a series of posts, so here's part 4...

2000AD art bonanaza in latest Catawiki auction

Bidding ends tonight on these pages - good luck if you bid!

here's a whole Catawiki auction running at the moment entitled From the valuts of the Book Palace - and as you might expect it's jam-packed with British comics loveliness. I'm just highlighting the 2000AD pages (mainly by Carlos Ezquerra) but all the art is worth a look. Bidding ends on Saturday evening

This page from Al's baby

This 1992 page from the story Judgement day

This Strontium Dog page from the story 'Portrait of a mutant'

and this page from the same issue

This page by Manuel Benet (from Megazine #38)

and this one too

The Real Ghostbusters - Puzzlebuster

I'm indebted to Chris Wing & Philip Boyce for alerting me to the existence of this title. It ran for 6 issues apparently and my covers gallery starts now...

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #1, August / September 1990, £1.35

image sourced from here

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #2, October / November 1990, £1.35

image sourced from here

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #3, December 1990/January 1991, £1.35

image sourced from here

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #4

image not to hand - can you help?

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #5

image not to hand - can you help?

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #6

image not to hand - can you help?

UPDATED: Keith Burns covers for Commando

I first came across Keith Burns art when he illustrated the Titan comics Johnny Red series, since then he's just started illustrating Commando covers and the covers are fantastic. Here are the covers he's done so far...

Commando 5209 - American avenger

Commando 5215 - a matter of honour

Commando 5229 - shadow in the storm!

Commando 5241 - steel inferno

Commando 5251 - Radar raiders

Commando 5259 - Braddock

Commando 5267 - Braddock demons

Commando 5289 - the Wombat and the Tiger

Commando 5297 - fog of war

Commando 5299 - Sladen's promise

Commando 5307 - Stealing Stukas

Commando 5315 - Ironhide

Commando 5329 - Blitzkrieg west

Commando 5335 - Durand's Dunkirk

Commando 5337 - Dodger's Dunkirk

This issue is interconnected with issue 5337 Durand's Dunkirk but told from the perspective of the British fighting to stop their retreat.

Commando 5353 - Outgunned!

Commando 5355 - Bullseye Bruno

Commando 5377 - Third time lucky

Commando 5385 - The flying emu

Commando 5395 - HMAS Expendable

Commando 5411 - Ready for Anything!

Commando 5417 - The girls on the guns

Commando 5448 - Die-or walk!

Check out the third of our nine 60th Anniversary specials Issue 5448 Die — or Walk! Former editor Calum Laird's sequel to Commando Issue 1 Walk — or Die! has the table turned with the Brit carrying the Jerry!

Commando 5463 - Target Tomcat

Commando 5481 - Vengeance

Commando 5497 - Pearl Harbor

Commando 5511 - Escape from Java

Commando 5525 - Sink the Shokaku!

published March 15th 2022

Commando 5547 - Stay behind squad

published June 9th 2022

Commando 5559 - Wild weasel!

to be published July 21st 2022

Commando 5607 - Combat air patrol

Commando 5619 - Achtung, destroyer!

Commando 5641 - Sink the Tiger

The unthinkable has happened —HMAS Tiger has been captured by the Japanese and is being used to create havoc amongst allied shipping! The Australian Navy’s most experienced destroyer commander, John Griffin, is called in to solve the problem, his orders: “SINK THE TIGER!”

Keith's design roughs for Commando 5641

Commando 5671 - Dutch courage

Commando 5677 - Hell on high

They called Lieutenant Robert Lloyd a coward for flying out of formation in his B-17 and blamed him for the death of his crew. He was demoted to co-pilot in another outfit but his new pilot wasn't going to listen to a coward’s advice on flying!

Commando 5687 - Beneath

When the Nazis thundered over Europe, they did not know what horror lay beneath, hungry from the last war. It had tasted human-flesh and it craved more…

Commando 5711 - 3 Company

Three's certainly company with this lot! A soldier, a sailor, and a pilot find themselves stranded on the Dunkirk beaches each blaming the other for their predicament. But they'd soon after to work together to escape the clutches of the Nazis!

Commando 5715 - Steer into danger

The salty seadogs are back for another oceanic adventure in the Pacific as the experienced skippers of HMAS Tiger and HMAS Wombat take on deadly Japanese Cruisers!

Commando 5731 - Leg before Chindits

Major Charles Beevor and his depleted group of Chindits were deep into the jungles of Burma. Cut off by the Japanese, they were out for six and would not stop until the Japanese threat was bowled over!

Commando 5747 - the deadly sun

In 1918, the deadly sun shone down on the desert and blinded Pilot Martin Connors. Out of its rays came a German plane flown by an ace who had already killed three other British pilots!