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9 April 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 (09/04/26); Calman catalogue added

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

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?)


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)

Grin and Blair it! (exhibition 27th October - 18th December 2004)



Mars in their eyes (exhibition dates TBC but thought to be 2006)

"You're Not Art..." A collection of Calmans
believed to be a 2006 exhibition. 38 pages, softback, with dustjacket

A view of Dightons - the Dighton family, their time, caricatures and portraits (2007?)

Heath Robinson's helpful solutions (exhibition 5 July - 7 October 2007)

Eurobollocks! (exhibition 10 October 2007 - 20 January 2008) 

Pont - observing the British at home & abroad (exhibition 23 April - 27 July 2008)




A peep into clubland (exhibition 18th February - 3rd May 2009)

Maggie! Maggie! Maggie! (exhibition 6th May - 26th July 2009)

Ronald Searle - graphic master (exhibition 3rd March - 4th July 2010)


Bell époque - 30 years of Steve Bell (exhibition 25th May - 24th July 2011)


HM Bateman - the man who went mad on paper (exhibition 11th April - 22nd July 2012)


Steadman @ 77, (exhibition 1 May - 8 September 2013)

The Windsor tapestry (exhibition, 16th November 2024 - 30th March 2025

8 April 2026

UPDATED: Scouse Mouse an incomplete guide

UPDATED (08/04/26) - with 2 (of the 4) covers for Whizzer & Chips that include 'with Scouse Mouse' in the title

New comic highlighted in purple...
One of the first comics I ever blogged about was 'Ace' or 'Scouse Mouse presents Ace!' comic to give it it's full title.

I'm still not clear on the chronology of this comic but I know that the last issue was April 1989 (see the Werewolf cover, below). 

Scouse Mouse presents the Ace! comic, fun special

Scouse Mouse presents Ace! comic, issue 1

Scouse Mouse presents Ace! comic, issue 2

Scouse Mouse comic, issue 3


Based on the image from the image on the back of issue 3 (above) we know that the title was then re-named 'Scouse Mouse and the scallywags'...

Scouse Mouse and the scallywags!comic, issue 4
ebay listing dates this to November 1987

This is un-numbered but if issue 4 (above) is from November then this is presumably issue #5 (December 1987) 

It ends up as just being Scouse Mouse by the time it merges into Whizzer & Chips (on 15th April 1989 - the Scouse Mouse logo was dropped from the masthead after precisely 4 weeks, apparently) - so maybe the December date on the above comic means it's from 1988. Again, copyright dates are missing from these comics.

Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags, January 1988

Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags, Smoochy February Edition

Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags, Mad March Edition

S
couse Mouse and the Scallywags, Super Spring Edition
As this has the same price as previous issues I'm assuming it wasn't actually a holiday special type issue (despite the title) so I'd guess this was Spring 1988


Scouse Mouse and the Scallywags, Jolly June Edition
I'm assuming this is from June 1988 - Nigel Parkinson draws the first strip here (and has signed his work).


The comic ends up as just being Scouse Mouse by the time it merges into Whizzer & Chips (on 15th April 1989 - the Scouse Mouse logo was dropped from the masthead after precisely 4 weeks, apparently)...

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 1, November 1988



Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 2, December 1988

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 3, January 1989

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 4, February 1989
image not to hand - can you help?

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 5, March 1989

Scouse Mouse (Fleetway) - issue 6, April 1989


George Nicholas also worked on the Budgie Malone comic - which I looked at here , here and here as well as Were Bears comic (here). All 3 titles are hard to collect - so good luck in your collecting. 
I've tried to piece together all the appearances of Were BearsStar Bears and Scare Bears here 

George has a website here

Friend of the blog Stephen Archer has let me have the following information about the 1989 issues of Whizzer & Chips...
Beginning with 15/4/89, and omitting 22/4, 17/6, 15/7, 16/9, 11/11, 18/11 and 9/12 (as those dates aren’t held by the British Library) and are thus uncheckable, Scouse Mouse appeared continuously until the end of the year with the exceptions of 14/10 and 2/12.

Whizzer and Chips with Scouse Mouse, 15th April 1989

Whizzer and Chips with Scouse Mouse, 22nd April 1989

Whizzer and Chips with Scouse Mouse, 29th April 1989
cover not to hand - can you help?

Whizzer and Chips with Scouse Mouse, 5th May 1989
cover not to hand - can you help?


Here's another 1989 issue of Whizzer and Chips that features Scouse Mouse on the cover

Comics artist Nigel Parkinson has provided this timeline...
a). 2 issues of ACE in 1986;
b). 13 issues of Scouse Mouse (and the Scallywags) published by Modelbrisk, 1987-8; 
c). 6 issues of Scouse Mouse published by Fleetway 1988-9

7 April 2026

UPDATED: Big Value Comic (1995)

Big Value Comic was a short-lived (just 18 issues in total) all reprint comic from 1995 featuring material from BusterWhizzer and Chips, Whoopee and Big Comic Fortnightly

UPDATE (07/04/26); now with covers added for issues 5, 7 & 8. All images taken from here

Here's my (incomplete) covers gallery...

Big Value comic #1, February 24th 1995

Big Value comic #2, March 10th 1995

Big Value comic #3, March 24th 1995

Big Value comic #4, April 7th 1995

Big Value comic #5, April 21st 1995

Big Value comic #6, May 5th 1995



Big Value comic #7, May 19th 1995

Big Value comic #8, June 2nd 1995

Big Value comic #9, June 16th 1995
image not to hand - can you help?

Big Value comic #10, June 30th 1995
image not to hand - can you help?

Big Value comic #11, July 14th 1995


Big Value comic #12, July 28th 1995
image not to hand - can you help?

Big Value comic #13, August 11th 1995

Big Value comic #14, August 25th 1995
image not to hand - can you help?

Big Value comic #15, September 8th 1995
image not to hand - can you help?

Big Value comic #16, September 22nd 1995

Big Value comic #17, October 6th 1995
image not to hand - can you help?

Big Value comic #18, October 20th 1995
image not to hand - can you help?