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 (22/04/26):

These are 3 all c/o friend of the blog Simon Russell...

Isabel provided a wraparound cover for issue #5 (Summer 2013) of this magazine (bit larger than A5 sized). Plus a 6 page interview and art. 

Classic US comic book (size). First printed in November 2013.

Simon's copy of  "The river of lost souls" (bottom) is also slightly different from my copy (top). His version is...slightly smaller; the paper stock is different; his is signed and dated 2013 and the inside back cover isn't blank. One for completionists only!

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 (!)

UPDATED: VR Troopers - from Phoenix Press

UPDATE (21/04/26) - now with covers for issues 2 & 3 of the Marvel UK magazine added

I've looked before at independent comics publisher Phoenix Press...

Iznogoud comic here

Phantom 2040 comic here

...and here's another addition to their work, yes it's the "Saban's VR Troopers - official 3D comic" - a tie-in to the populat TV series of the time (1995/6).

The Phoenix Press title is definitely much harder to find than the version that Marvel published. The art (and writing) in these comics is uncredited and might best be described as competent.

Here's what you're looking for...

Saban's VR Troopers - official 3D comic, Phoenix Press, issue 1, September 1995

Saban's VR Troopers - official 3D comic, Phoenix Press, issue 2, October 1995

Saban's VR Troopers - official 3D comic, Phoenix Press, issue 3, November 1995

Saban's VR Troopers - official 3D comic, Phoenix Press, issue 4, December 1995

Saban's VR Troopers - official 3D comic, Phoenix Press, issue 5, January 1996

Saban's VR Troopers - official 3D comic, Phoenix Press, issue 6, February 1996

Saban's VR Troopers - official 3D comic, Phoenix Press, issue 7, March 1996

currently for sale here

The German edition of the comic had the same covers (and presumably the same contents) but they were published a few months after the British version. 

Saban's VR Troopers - official 3D comic, Phoenix Press, issue 8, April 1996

cover not to hand - can you help?

The German edition of the comic had the same covers (and presumably the same contents) but they were published a few months after the British version, so, in the absence of the British edition, here's the German version 

German covers are taken from here

There were also this from Marvel comic - albeit with no comics content. Again I'm unsure how long this lasted.

Saban's VR Troopers magazine, Marvel, issue 2, 13th December 1995

Saban's VR Troopers magazine, Marvel, issue 3, 10th January 1996

UPDATED: Wonder weekly comic from Esso

For anyone who loves, like I do, collecting advertising comics then Wonder weekly from Esso is a must. The exact length of time that it ran for is unclear - the Complete catalogue of British comics (page 220) has it down as running for 52 issues but I've yet to see any issues numbered higher than 25.

Wonder was 16 pages long (4 in full colour) and was professionally produced with high quality artists on each strip. The lead strip is 'Wonder boy and tiger' and the other strip in colour is 'Hovercraft patrol' illustrated by Luis Bermejo. 

As a starter for 10 here's my guide to what Wonder looked like - I've got most of the issues up to issue 25 but not all of them so if you can help fill in any of the gaps just let me know.

Lew Stringer covered Wonder on his old blog here and here   

Today's update is the letter from Esso to Denis Gifford informing him that Wonder ran for 52 issues with the first issue being published on 5th July 1968. The editor was Roberta Leigh.

I've still yet to see any issues numbered higher than 25 but there you go, Esso tell us they're out there.

Today's update is an addition of the cover for issue #6

This now means I'm just missing cover images for issues 19, 22, 23 & 25+

I need issues...1, 19, 22, 23, 25 (and anything higher) 

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 1

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 2

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 3

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 4

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 5

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 6

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 7

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 8

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 9

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 10

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 11

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 12

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 13

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 14

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 15

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 16

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 17

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 18


Wonder comic from Esso, issue 19
cover not to hand

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 20

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 21

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 22
cover not to hand

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 23
cover not to hand

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 24

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 25

UPDATED: Cartoon Aid

I've looked before at publications associated with the Cartoon Aid charity (like Band Aid but with more cartoons and less Bob Geldof) - if you missed them they are as follows...

a). the Olympic book is here
b). Bryan Hitch's work in the Kidz book is here
c). Mike Collin's work in the Kidz book is here
d). Terry & Sheila Bave's work in the Kidz book is here
e). Simon Donald's work in the Kidz book is here
f). Cartoon Aid auction at Sotheby's & a festival in Margate is here

g). Waddington's jigsaw (from the Margate festival is here)

h). Scare Bears monster party book is here 

i). a REALLY big tome called Cartoon Aid here 

j). the 'Loadsa Funnies' telethon book featuring Judge Dredd art by Jim Baikie is here

k). same book but a Dredd strip by John Wagner & Mike Collins is here

l). same book but art by Bryan Hitch and Reg Smythe is here

m). same book but art by Davy Francis is here

n). same book but contributions by humour artists is here

o). same book - contributions by John M Burns, Dave Gibbons and others is here

I've started looking at some of the contents of this big book, so far I've looked at Asterix (here and here) and then I've found that there is some DC Thomson material in there (here) and then I've found some Achille Talon material (here) and some Look-In (here). The Lucky Luke material is here. 

Turns out that there was a t-shirt available too. Art by the legendary John M Burns. At the time of typing this is for sale here on ebay by someone based in Ukraine.

Eric Parker - miscellaneous work, part 6 (of 23)

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

Overseas (part 4) here

Overseas (part 5) here

Overseas (part 6) here

Overseas (part 7) here

Overseas (part 8) here

Overseas (part 9) here

Overseas (part 10) here

UK scenes (part 1) here

UK scenes (part 2) here

UK scenes (part 3) here

UK scenes (part 4) here

Character studies & groups, drafts (part 1) here

Character studies & groups, drafts (part 2) here

Character studies & groups, drafts (part 3) here

Character studies & groups, drafts (part 4) here

Character studies & groups, drafts (part 5) here

Character studies & groups, drafts (part 6) here

Life drawings (part 1) here

Life drawings (part 2) here

Life drawings (part 3) here

Life drawings (part 4) here

Life drawings (part 5) here

Life drawings (part 6) XXXX

Life drawings (part 7) here

Life drawings (part 8) here

Life drawings (part 9) here

Life drawings (part 10) here

Gentlemen is here

Horses (part 1) is here

Horses (part 2) is here

Furniture is here

Old soldiers (part 1) is here

And now we turn our attention to a final (albeit large selection of his work). Next up is his (further) work on "old soldiers". These are a variety of sizes - from the very small to the quite large.