UPDATED: The world of Wym - Any Lanning & John Carnell

Those creators of The Sleaze Brothers, Andy Lanning & John Carnell, are also the creators of this obscure kids title from 1990...The world of Wym.

There's a lack of info. about this on t'internet and in fact the only thing I could find about it is this blog link / youtube clip here which is the only evidence that I can prove all 6 issues of this title were actually produced!

Credits are as follows:
Creator / Artists = Andy Lanning
Creator / Writer = John Carnell
Co-creator / Artist = Anthony Williams
Lettering = Bambos Georgiou
Editor = Nancy Hazel
Managing editor = Floron Florenzo
Editorial Director = Etta Saunders

UPDATE (Mar '26) - I've now acquired a copy of issue #3 so I've added that to the covers gallery below.

Issue 1 seems easy to get hold of but all other issues are really hard to get hold of, I've picked up the only issues of issue 2 & 4 that I've ever seen.

I'm after issue 6 only.

The world of Wym, Clearmark publications, issue 1 (March 1990)

The world of Wym, Clearmark publications, issue 2 (April 1990)

The world of Wym, Clearmark publications, issue 3 (May 1990

The world of Wym, Clearmark publications, issue 4 (June 1990)

The world of Wym, Clearmark publications, issue 5 (July 1990)

The world of Wym, Clearmark publications, issue 6 (August 1990)

issue not to hand - can you help? 

UPDATED: Celebrity comics - Rupert

I've occasionally looked at publisher Celebrity / Clearmark comics in the past...

Count Duckula is here

The wisdom of gnomes is here

Wanted is here

Popular fairy tales here

Were Bears here

The world of Wym here

Tom and Jerry here 

Cookie here

Henry's cat here

Summer specials here

Ovide here

And there may be other titles out there just waiting to be discovered. One such title that was new to me was their Rupert comic from 1989/90. There are a LOT of Rupert comics out there so I'm currently parking this in the 'too difficult' to deal with category. I'll return to it at some point I'm sure. In the meantime if you can help with any details do just get in touch.

I recently spotted an auction lot on eBay for these comics - so I've clipped a few images from the listing for my covers gallery below. 

UPDATE: covers for issues 9, 11 & 14 now added

FURTHER UPDATE: I've now added cover for the summer special

UPDATE: We now know that the title lasted 20 issues. All new images highlighted in red. Interestingly issue 10 has the publisher recorded as Celebrity but by issue 12 the publisher has been amended to Clearmark.

Celebrity comic, Rupert, issue 1, 18th October 1989, 50p

Celebrity comic, Rupert, issue 2, 1st November 1989, 50p

Celebrity comic, Rupert, issue 3, 15th November 1989, 50p

Celebrity comic, Rupert, issue 4, 29th November 1989, 50p

Celebrity comic, Rupert, issue 5, 13th December 1989, 50p

Celebrity comic, Rupert, issue 6, 27th December 1989, 50p

Celebrity comic, Rupert, issue 7, 10th January 1990, 50p

Celebrity comic, Rupert, issue 8, 24th January 1990, 50p

Celebrity comic, Rupert, issue 9, 7th February 1990, 50p

Celebrity comic, Rupert, issue 10, 21st February 1990, 50p

Clearmark comic, Rupert, issue 11, 7th March 1990, 50p

Clearmark comic, Rupert, issue 12, 21st March 1990, 50p

Clearmark comic, Rupert, issue 13, 4th April 1990, 50p

Clearmark comic, Rupert monthly, issue 14, 18th April 1990, 80p

Clearmark comic, Rupert monthly, issue 15, May 1990, 80p

Clearmark comic, Rupert monthly, issue 18, August 1990, 80p

Clearmark comic, Rupert monthly, issue 19, September 1990, 80p

Clearmark comic, Rupert monthly, issue 20, October 1990, 80p

A very useful overview of the series here...

Carol Day books

For anyone (like me) who's struggled to keep up with the recent flourish of Carol Day (newspaper strip) reprint books that have been published over the last few years here;s my handy guide to what you've missed so far...

2 hardback books to start with... 

David Wright's Carol Day - Lance Hallam

David Wright's Carol Day - Jack Slingsby

and then there were 3 softcover books...

David Wright's Carol Day - Cousin Hugo

David Wright's Carol Day - Last of the line

David Wright's Carol Day - Riverside racket

These three books were also available in a slipcase edition...

There were also hardcover & softcover editions of this 'taster' volume produced

The best place to get these books seems to be the Book Palace website - search here

Excalibur auctions - 14th Feb 2026 - highlights

Some of the lots in the recent sale by Excalibur auction (here) were truly amazing and I'm recording them here for posterity. Congratulations if you were the winning bidder on any of these.

Action comic cover #1 - at by Carlos Ezquerra, hammer price of £5,000

Hook Jaw art; lot description as follows; hammer price of £400

Believed to have been completed 'pre-ban' and unpublished as notations on the page edge mention 'Action 39' & 'Nov. 6th 1976' - Action was pulled from circulation after the 16th October issue was published and only returned in a more sanitised form on the 4th December 1976. One panel has been removed and replaced with a photo-copy which has been taped underneath. Artwork measures 41.5 cm by 52.5 cm (V)

Hook Jaw art; lot description as follows; hammer price of £3,800

ORIGINAL HOOKJAW SPLASH-PAGE ART FROM ACTION #1 by RAMON SOLA - The very first page of Action's flagship title - the iconic Hookjaw strip. Inspired by 'Jaws', this page highlights its first appearance and how it came to get its name. A notation on the page edge says 'Action76' - The original title for the comic. Pen and ink on paper - Artwork measures 36.5 cm by 51 cm (V)

Evidence of the original comic title - Action 76

Original title - Jaws of the black gold

UPDATED: Nostalgia & Comics

My post the other day about the adverts for Dark they were and golden eyed (here) made me think about comics advertising for other shops...and then boom! this pops up on eBay. 

It's for sale here and is Trevor Goring's original artwork for  Birmingham's Nostalgia & Comics shop. I'd love to see other adverts for the shop.

Update (Mar 2026) I recently came across this advert in Escape #15 (May 1989). I'm assuming the signature 'Ormston' is that of comics artist Dean Ormston.

Update: the last post produced further examples of adverts so I'm just adding them to the post...

Lew Stringer sent me this

this was also c/o Lew

as was this - the first mention of the shop (in Comic Media News)

this was from Mark Warby

Update: friend of the blog Sam Farnworth has provided this image by artist Simon Parkes. Thanks! Plus I've found a Hunt Emerson advert.

this advert is taken from Alter Image #4 (November 1987)

UPDATED: Small press comics - Isabel Greenberg

I've long been a fan of the work of Isabel Greenberg (check out her website here) and I have a number of her longer comics work (The encyclopedia of early Earth, One hundred nights of hero and Glass town) but I don't know enough about her small press work.

These images below are (mainly) from my own collection but I'd love to know what other titles she might have produced. Any help much appreciated.

UPDATE:

Back in 2010 issue 1 of Sea Mouse comic was produced. It was 40 pages long, A5 size, black & white only and contained 2 pages of Isabel's diary comics. As this is from 2010 this predates her winning the Obsever/Cape graphic short story prize and, stylistically at least, looks like her earliest published work identified to date. Cover not by Isabel

A snippet of her work in Sea Mouse...

You can still get copies from here

UPDATE: this is c/o friend of the blog Simon Russell

Rites, customs and histories of the great empire of Migdalbavel - Isabel Greenberg

Love in a very cold climate - Isabel Greenberg

This was the name of the short story that won Isabel the Obsever/Cape graphic short story prize (see here) so I wonder if this came before or after the prize??  

Dreadful wind and rain - Isabel Greenberg

published October 2014

Described here thus...

A short comic based on the traditional folk ballad The Two Sisters. This book was made for an exhibition at Cecil Sharp House with the English Folk Dance and Song Society, and printed with a risograph.

The tale tells of two sisters, seduced by the same lover, and the ruinous consequences that followed. The story can also be found in the graphic novel The One Hundred Nights of Hero.

The river of lost souls - Isabel Greenberg

Described here thus...

A short story commissioned by the Guardian for a series on water, entitled The River of Lost Souls.

Toad, episode one - Isabel Greenberg

Described here thus...
A self-published risographed comic, written by Alexis Deacon and illustrated by Isabel Greenberg.

Confinement - Isabel Greenberg

From 2023 - more details here - this will be published in full in 2028 (!)