Princess of Asgaard by Sandy James

I've long been interested in acquiring a copy of Princess of Asgaard, an advertising comic produced by the Danish bacon company. I first spotted it in a Denis Gifford reference book and recognised the artist as being Sandy James.

A copy was up for sale recently (the hammer price ended up being £63.50!) so I took the opportunity to swipe the images...

All other Sandy James references on the blog can be found here

All other Denis Gifford references on the blog can be found here

All other advertising references on the blog can be found here

You should check out Phil-Comics here

Keith Watson advertising material

Just recording for posterity some recent sales of Keith 'Dan Dare' Watson artwork. These were all sold by Wellers auctions (of Guildford) on 05/11/25 in their Retro & Vintage Collectors Auction: Enamel Signs, Toys, Posters & more auction. All prices quoted below are the hammer price not the total price paid by the purchaser.

Lot 535 - sold for £45

Keith Watson (1935-1994) original pencil sketch prep work possibly for Thunderbirds or Joe 90, with handwritten notes regarding colours. Reported to be by comic book artist Keith Watson with a photocopy for Dr Who "Genesis of the Cybermen" a illustration for a never used story concept. Both 29.5 x 42cm / AN2

The text at the top of the right hand picture says...

Line & wash commission for 'Who Dares'

Montage illustration for story out line by

Gerry Davis 'The genesis of the Cybermen'

Featuring characters & cybertype that never

were seen on screen

Lot 530 - sold for £30

Dan Dare - A 1987 Mobil Oil advertising poster featuring Dan Dare holding a bottle of Mobil 1 Rally Formula oil, folded, 38 x 51cm / AN2

Lot 534 - unsold

Keith Watson (1935-1994) original comic strip panel sketch in pencil depicting a fighter plane "The Gloster" with a close up of a chrome engine and blank text box, reported to be by Keith Watson (Dan Dare artist), 59 x 28cm / AN2

Lot 536 - sold for £80

Keith Watson (1935-1994) a large pencil sketch illustration of a futuristic car with family against a city backdrop. Reported to be by comic book artist Keith Watson ( Dan Dare, Thunderbirds, Joe 90 ), 84 x 59cm, folded / AN2

Lot 533 - sold for £55

Keith Watson (1935-1994) Original artwork reported to be by Dan Dare comic book artist Keith Watson. Pencil on paper, the illustration shows a man and woman overlooking a futuristic cityscape with the man pointing at a flying vehicle. Oval title space with rough text "Step into the Future", page size 33.5 x 40.5cm / AN2

Vintage comic advertising

These fantastic vintage advertising signs are currently up for auction (on 6th July) with an opening bid of £25 (auction estimate £40-£70) - the auction can be found here

Size is 9" x 19.5"

Scream advertising in new Eagle

From the pages of new Eagle here is the advertising campaign for Scream - which launched 24th March 1984...

From 3rd March 1984

From 10th March 1984

From 17th March 1984

From 24th March 1984

Money Fun #1

A long time ago (here to be precise) I looked at the contributors to a rare advertising comic called "Money Fun!". It was masterminded by Denis Gifford and National Saings (Bank) and was produced in July 1982. 

Anyway, for posterity, I wanted to record the fact that the front cover for issue #1 of Money Fun is currently up for sale here for £225

It's described thus...

Original artwork by Jim Baikie for a National Savings advertising campaign that was published as Melvin's Money Fun comic in 1981. Only one other edition was published in 1982. On the artwork is a reference to Chas who was Charles Grigg (a famous comic illustrator) and also a reference to DG, probably a reference to Dennis Gifford an illustrator and author. Size 38 x 27cm (image) mounted and framed

The reference to Jim Baikie is in relation to the double page spread that Baikie produced for the interior of the comic. The original art for which sold recently here as lot 494 in the Peter Hansen auction of comics.

The reference to Charles Grigg is incorrect. The Chas in this case is Chas Sinclair.

For more details please see Denis Gifford's ACE Newsletter #38 (volume 4, number 5) dated Aug/Sep 1981...

UPDATED: The Wastefuel Family comics

I've looked at plenty of advertising comics before (see them all here) but these recent images from ace ebay seller Phil-Comics for an early 1980s British Gas energy conservation campaign were new to me...

The campaign launched as “The Wasteful Family”, but was later rebranded as “The Wastefuel Family”.

UPDATE...cover images for issue 5 has now added.

The Wasteful family #1

image c/o https://www.comics.org/issue/1066596/cover/4/

The Wasteful family #2

The Wastefu(e)l family #3

image not to hand - can you help?

The Wastefuel family #4

The Wastefuel family #5

Currently up for sale here

The Wastefuel family #6

image c/o https://www.comics.org/issue/1066596/cover/6/

8 pages long and 8.5 x 6 inches in size.

Denis Gifford records there being 6 comics in total produced 1980-4 - so clearly a few more examples of this British Gas comic are out there for me to find. 

“The Wastefuel Family” flyers were inserted in issues of popular comics at the time, such as this edition of Eagle, cover dated 22nd October 1983, currently on sale here…

You can find all other example of advertising comics on the blog here

The artist here has now been confirmed as Jeremy Simmonds, who also drew “Gas Cats”.

The wasteful family comics

I've looked at plenty of advertising comics before (see them all here) but these recent images from ace ebay seller https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/philcomics were new to me...

The Wasteful family #2

The Wasteful family #4

8 pages long and 8.5 x 6 inches in size.

Denis Gifford records there being 6 comics in total produced 1980-4 - so clearly a few more examples of this British Gas comic are out there for me to find. 

You can find all other example of advertising comics on the blog here

KP crisps advertising campaign drawn by Robin Smith - part 1

From the pages of new Eagle dated 15th September 1984 we have the first 2 pages of a KP Alien Spacers advertising campaign drawn by new Eagle / 2000ad / probably lots more things artist Robin Smith.

Come back soon for part 2... 

UPDATED: The wasteful family comics

I've looked at plenty of advertising comics before (see them all here) but these recent images from ace ebay seller https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/philcomics were new to me...

UPDATE...cover images for issue 1+6 now added as well as artist details

The Wasteful family #1

image c/o https://www.comics.org/issue/1066596/cover/4/

The Wasteful family #2

The Wastefu(e)l family #3

image not to hand - can you help?

The Wastefuel family #4

The Wastefuel family #5

image not to hand - can you help?

The Wastefuel family #6

image c/o https://www.comics.org/issue/1066596/cover/6/

8 pages long and 8.5 x 6 inches in size.

Denis Gifford records there being 6 comics in total produced 1980-4 - so clearly a few more examples of this British Gas comic are out there for me to find. 

You can find all other example of advertising comics on the blog here

The artist here has now been confirmed as Jeremy Simmonds (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-simmonds-43a70466/details/experience/)

Vintage comic advertising

Just a reminder that these signs are up for auction today - good luck if you bid!

These fantastic vintage advertising signs are currently up for auction (on 6th July) with an opening bid of £25 (auction estimate £40-£70) - the auction can be found here

Size is 9" x 19.5"

Theme week will be...Advertising comics

So comics that have been used to advertise all sorts of toys, games, food, you name it, let's see how many we can find. Feel free to post any comics you have that are advertising based.
Pop back later for the today's post - should be up by about 8:30

Vintage advertising material

I'm always a sucker for vintage advertising aluminium signs. Two such examples are up for auction today (3rd July) here. Bidding opens at £80.

The Captain Flame art in by Septimus Scott (whose signature is just about visible to the right of his belt). 

Tiger Tim art by Herbert Sydney Foxwell (I think! I'm not an expert on early 20th century comics artists).

Sold for a hammer price of £130

Scotty comic #2

I've highlighted all sort of advertising comic on the blog before (check them all out right here) so when I spotted the comic below I knew I just had to snag the images for posterity. 

Anyway, here's a 1963 comic that is advertising Scotch tape (!) - if that sounds unlikely then consider that Denis Gifford records that this was issue 2 (!) Issue one was called 'Tomahawk'. 

Only 8 pages long, good luck hunting down a copy...