Boys Adventure Comics

24 October 2026

UPDATED: Comics reference books of Martin Hamer

UPDATE 24th October 2026...further examples of those Hamer auction catalogues (all c/o that essential ebay seller philcomics)

New items added to this post highlighted in red...

My look at comic reference books has, to date, covered a number of authors such as...

Lofts & Adley is here

Alan Clark is here

Dennis Gifford is here

David Ashford is here

Ray Moore is here

Today's contributor is (Martin) Hamer.

This is what I remember Hamer most for - their comic auctions...

Here are some of the catalogues produced when they auctioned off Denis Gifford's collection...

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 1

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 2

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 3

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 4

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 8

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 14

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 15

and here's another example of one of their auction catalogues - this time from Sunday May 19th 2002

and here's another example of one of their auction catalogues - this time from Sunday May 28th 2000

There was also this guide to Beano covers...

and his 2 main reference books are these...

23 October 2026

Red Coat notes

Got =

Ghost Machine #1

Red Coat = 1, 2, 7, 8

To get =

3, 4, 5, 6, 9+

Tarkan - covers gallery, part 5

Tarkan is a well-known Turkish comic character (see his wikipedia entry here). It first appeared in 1967. In 1973 there was a short-lived pan-European comic published in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg and here in England too. Full colour, 16 pages in length.

Here's the start of a covers gallery for this title...

Part 1 was here

Part 2 was here

Part 3 was here

Part 4 was here

Tarkan, weekly, #29, 15th September 1973

Tarkan, weekly, #30, 22nd September 1973

Tarkan, weekly, #31, 29th September 1973

Tarkan, weekly, #32, 6th October 1973

Tarkan, weekly, #33, 13th October 1973

image not to hand - can you help?

Tarkan, weekly, #34, 20th October 1973

image not to hand - can you help?

all images from this ebay seller

22 October 2026

UPDATED: Cartoon museum publications

I've long wanted to catalogue publications that the Cartoon Museum (here) (and its previous incarnation as Cartoon Art Trust) have published. I'm not sure how many there are out there but this is my way of starting to finding out!

UPDATE (22nd Oct 2026); catalogues for 'Cruikshank 200' and 'A taste of Honeysett' added.

UPDATE (03/09/26); now with more details of the 'Flotsam & Jensen' catalogue added in.

UPDATE (09/04/26); Calman catalogue added

Update - Now with some images added for the Phil May centenary catalogue from 2002.

Cruikshank 200

A travelling exhibition from 1992/3 that was organised in association with the Cartoon Art Trust

The art of Laughter - The Ashmolean museum (1992)

Giles - 50 years of work for Express Newspapers (dates unknown)

Lottery laughter - an anthology of Lottery cartoons (20th October - 18th November 1999)

The 100 British Cartoonists of the century (exhibition 26th Feb - 12th April 2000)

Flotsam and Jensen: Celebrating 55 Years of Cartooning, Illustration and Caricature (2002)

A description on abebooks said "...8vo. pp 24....Illustrated in b/w throughout"

The art of leaving out : Phil May 1864-1903, a centenary exhibition (2002)

Cartoon Art Trust Museum/University of Gloucestershire, 2002

24 pages

Mixture of Gin and Buttercups: a Retrospective Exhibition of the Cartoons and Caricatures of Michael Ffolkes at the Cartoon Art Trust Museum : 4 September - 1 November 2003

Thelwell country (exhibition 6th January - 6th February 2004)