Laughter for home & front

I've long been a fan of the work of illustrator Denis McLoughlin (his wikipedia entry is here and his obituary (from The Guardian) is here). Over the course of long career he produced work for a variety of comics (publishers) but all careers have to start somewhere. With that I mind here are some of Denis's earliest (gag) cartoons. These images come from page 29 of David Ashford's "The art of Denis McLoughlin" and shows these three images...

The text (on page 28 referring to these slim booklets) says "...A number of joke books...were done for Kangaroo (cover and about fifty joke drawings for the sum of eighteen pounds)".

Published in 1945 these early examples of the work of Denis McLoughlin must be rare these days. I'd certainly never seen them until recently when I took the opportunity to acquire a copy of Laughter for home & front.

Slightly smaller than A5 size (and with the work credited to David McLoughlin) the booklet is 32 pages long and contains 41 gag cartoons. All the cartoons are signed " d mcloughlin".

Here are some examples...

Good luck tracking these booklets down!

UPDATED: (Carl) Giles calendars

If you're interested in comic calendars then you can check out my previous posts on the subject...

1). Beano & Dandy calendars are here
2). Commando calendars are here
3). Judge Dredd calendars are here
4). Broons calendars are here, here and here
5). Oor Wullie is here
6). Dan Dare calendar is here
7). Miscellaneous calendars are here

8). Viz calendars are here

9). Metal Hurlant here

10). Moebius calendar are here

11). Asterix calendars are here

12). Tintin calendars are here

13). Blacksad calendars are here

And now it's the turn of (Carl) Giles and some calendars that were produced. If you know of any more that were produced do just let me know, thanks! 

Now updated (see below) with calendars for 1995 & 1996

Giles calendar, 1995

Giles calendar, 1996

Giles calendar, 1999

Giles calendar, 2000

Giles calendar, 2001

Giles calendar, 2002

Giles calendar, 2003

Giles calendar, 2004

Giles calendar, 2005

Eric Parker - miscellaneous work, part 3 (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

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

Whizzer and Chips jigsaw letter

Here's a lovely Whizzer and Chips piece of merchandise that ace ebayer Phil-comics (here) that was up for sale recently (sale price of £20.99)

It was described thus,,,

This is a really rare item as it was given away as a prize for having a letter or joke published in Whizzer and Chips sometimes, we believe, in the early 1980s.

The jigsaw measures approx 7.5 x 5 inches and is made of thick cardboard (usual jigsaw type board used). There's a triangular shaped slip to the right side which sits folded round it loosely. The idea was to write a letter or note on the jigsaw, break it up and post it in the envelope to somebody who "will have as much fun putting the jigsaw together as they will reading the message on it". 

All other mentions of Whizzer and Chips on the blog can be found here 

Dan Dare mask

I'm always happy to feature unusual bits of Eagle merchandise on the blog. 

There were...

Dan Dare roller skates here

Dan Dare hairbrush here

Dan Dare tie clip here

Eagle stationery here

Eagle club notebook here

With the compliments of the Eagle club here

Eagle / Girl table tennis medals here

Eagle club cycle pennant here

Dan Dare gyro jeep here

Dan Dare space shooting here

Dan Dare rocket ball here

Dan Dare beach ball here

Dan Dare bagatelle here

Eagle report to members (1951) here

Dan Dare field glasses here

Dan Dare interplanetary dominoes here

Dan Dare space-ship construction game here

Dan Dare draughts here

Dan Dare transfers (1) here

Dan Dare transfers (2) here

Riders of the Range painting book here

Dan Dare models here

Silver Eagler here

Space-cup here

Dan Dare stationery here

Eagle cricket bat here

Dan Dare secret ink here

and now it's the turn of this slightly creepy Dan Dare mask that was up for sale recently (the hammer price was £260 - but that's before fees - and that included other items as well). It's not in great condition and is a rare piece. 

Heroes! The British invasion of American comics - part 7

Recently (ish!) finished at the Cartoon Museum (here) was their exhibition 'Heroes! The British invasion of American comics'. 

For anyone who couldn't make it here's part 7 of my look at what you missed...

Part 1 was here

Part 2 was here

Part 3 was here

Part 4 was here

Part 5 was here

Part 6 was here

Mick Austin - sales on HA

Just recording for posterity this selection of work by artist Mick Austin thta has been sold in the not too distant past on Heritage Auctions.com...

Mick Austin Fantastic Four Invisible Girl Illustration Original Art (Marvel UK, 1982). A large and beautiful portrait of Susan Storm, created in mixed media on a thick illustration board for an issue of the UK edition of Fantastic Four. Image area of 15.75" x 21.25". Light handling and corner/edge wear. Signed and dated. In Very Good condition.

Sold for $50 (or $79 with buyers premium)

Mick Austin Halls Of Horror #27 Cover Original Art (Quality Communications, 1983). This painting, created for the cover of an issue of the horror film and comics magazine Halls of Horror, evokes the films Jaws, Brides of Dracula, and The Night Stalker. It is rendered in mixed media on illustration board, mounted to a rigid backboard with adhesive tape at all four corners. Image area of 13.25" x 18.25". Light handling, corner/ edge wear. Signed and dated. In Very Good condition.

Sold for $380 (or $475 with buyers premium)

Mick Austin Halls of Horror Presents, Dracula Special #1 Cover Original Art (Dez Skinn, 1984). A bone-chilling portrait of Dracula, as portrayed by Christopher Lee in 1958's Horror of Dracula, rendered in mixed media on a thick illustration board with an image area of 12.5" x 17.5". Minor spots of light surface abrasion are present. Signed. Light handling wear. In Very Good condition.

Sold for $850 (or $1062.50 with buyers premium)

UPDATED: Redeye - Accent UK

To call Redeye a 'fanzine' might make you think of something a lot more amateur looking than it was. To call it a 'magazine' might make you think of glossy paper and full colour printing - and it didn't have that either. Instead, it sat someone in between those 2. A4 sized, colour covers, 60-100 pages long, absolutely jam-packed with news, reviews, interviews, retrospectives - with a real focus on British comics. Everything I could love in a magazine really. 

The fact that it was supposed to be quarterly but only came out about twice a year wasn't a problem because it was always full of stuff I wanted to read. It was printed with a really tiny font - thus meaning that it took even longer to get through your 60, 70, 80 pages of content.

All updates highlighted in red and c/o friend of the blog Jeremy Briggs.

Redeye, issue 1, November 2003, cover art by Martin Eden

Redeye, issue 2, May 2004, cover art by Neill Cameron, 68 pages

Key features...interviews with Jason Cobley, Frazer Irving. Also material on David Lloyd, Dan Dare and Dave Gibbons.

Redeye, issue 3, November 2004, cover art by Grant Springford, 64 pages

Key features...interviews with Alan Grant, Paul Cornell. Also material on Brian Bolland, Dan Dare and Bristol 2004 convention report. 

Redeye, issue 4, May 2005, cover art by David Hitchcock, 80 pages

Key features...interviews with Jock, David Hitchcock, Ian Edgington, D'Israeli, Leah Moore, John Reppion & Shane Oakley. Also material on Action and the 2000AD art of Carlos Ezquerra.

 

Redeye, issue 5, Jan 2006, cover art by David Bircham, 96 pages

Key features...interviews with Tharg, Ian Edgington and D'Israeli. Also material on Starlord, Alan Moore in 2000AD and convention reports.

Redeye, issue 6, January 2007, cover art by Tom Gauld, 98 pages

Key features...interviews with Tom Gauld, Steve Yeowell and Lee Kennedy. Also material on the 2000AD art of Mike McMahon, the story of V for Vendetta and the Judge Dredd story 'Origins'. 

Redeye, volume 2.1 [wraparound cover] - pdf copy only

Redeye, volume 2.2 - never published but this is what would have been in it (due September 2009)