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19 September 2026

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

There was also a t-shirt here

There was also a Dutch version of the book here

Then there were more Olympic volumes [see post om 19th June 2026]

Then there was the "white volume, carry case and GOSH cartoon book" here

Then there was another style of carry case here

And now we'll loop back around to the white volume, carry case and GOSH cartoon book and look at the GOSH cartoon book in some more detail...

So the book is 100+ pages, perfect bound, full colour, A4 sized, priced at £3.95 (suggesting that perhaps it was available in shops - and perhaps without the carry case) and ISBN = 0-948836-20-2

The contents are (I think!) all original material. Let's see what's in it...
Miami Mice - untitled
Star Bears - Olympiad
The sugar hiccups - Bullet from a gun
Mafia Mouse - jailbreak caper 
Mafia Mouse - the Mollerelli factor
Mafia Mouse - goes for gold!
Mafia Mouse sepia posters - these look like reprints from somewhere but I'm not sure where I recognise them from
Kop cat - Olympic training! [by Caspar & Mike]
Beastie Bears - don't make a Korea out of it [by Caspar] - this is 64 pages long!
The Penmen [by Freddy Feinlein]
Funny money at the Olympics!
Scare Bears
The Post-Office people
Lemming [by Les Lilley & Dixie]

So, plenty here for you Scare Bears, Scare Bears and Mafia Mouse - all created by George Nicholas (check out all mentions of him on the blog right here)

18 September 2026

DC Thomson picture library compendiums

There's been quite a few volumes published by DC Thomson recently reprinting material from their various picture library titles. I've been trying to keep up with them but it's quite hard! So, this is what has been published so far (I think!) - but please do let me know if I've missed any. Once I've got a complete list I'll add some cover images etc

I've got ones in green; need titles in red
Braddock of bomber command
Cadman - the fighting coward
Codename Warlord - volume 1
Codename Warlord - volume 2
Commandos vs Zombies - volume 1
Commandos vs Zombies - volume 2
The D-Day files - Operation Overlord
The Dunkirk diaries
The fear files
The gurhka files
Ramsey's raiders - volume 1
Ramsey's raiders - volume 2
The sci fi files
Sergeant Rayker
Spellbound
Starblazer - volume 1 [Operation overkill; Jaws of death]
Starblazer - volume 2 [The web of Arcon; The death reaper] 
The tank collection - volume 1
The tank collection - volume 2
The Vietnam collection
Union Jack Jackson


Football picture library - the best of We are United
Football picture library - the best of Stark

17 September 2026

Pop comic - Nigeria

Ages ago (back in 2019 to be precise!) I looked here at a Nigerian comic called Pop that...
a). was a sister title to Powerman
b). contained the work of 2000AD alumni Ron Smith 

Anyway, that finder of wonderful comics things ewan_b has done it  again and found another issue. It's currently for sale here (for £85 or best offer)

and again features Ron working on the Sister Mercy strip.

16 September 2026

UPDATED: Basil Reynolds - Chiswick resident

One for all Basil Reynolds fans out there (!) - this was swiped from a recent ebay listing and I've included it here mainly for the historical record of Reynolds address (and because I have some friends who live just off Dukes Avenue!)


I'm updating this post in light of information passed to me by my comics pal John Wigmans who is THE expert on all things Basil Reynolds related. He says (in red)...
To me it looks more like the artwork of Sidney Basil Reynolds, the father of (Mickey Mouse Weekly comic editor) Basil Hope Reynolds, who signed (most of) his illustrations as Basil Reynolds too. 

From Basil Hope Reynold's autobiography (1982): "Here I must explain that my father, also a Basil Reynolds, was an artist." 

The famous advert for Nugget Boot Polish shows Basil junior as drawn by Basil senior. 
Then there is the entry for the '1939 Register' which shows Basil Hope Reynolds living with his parents in Chiswick (as he did until his marriage to Mollie Bush in March 1940). 

So, in my opinion Sidney Basil Reynolds was the actual Chiswick resident who drew the illustration for the Boys Best of All Annual 1935 (rather than Basil Hope Reynolds) as I originally, erroneously, suggested. Thanks John!


Basil Hope Reynolds (1916-2001) was born in Islington, London. He was educated at Holloway County School and took art classes in the evening before joining the Adams & Fidier Art Agency, which produced comic strips for newspapers, in 1933. Reynolds drew Our Silly Cinema (1933) for the South Wales Echo, Septimus and his Space Ship (1934) for the Scottish Daily Express, and Billy the Baby Beetle (1935) in the Daily Sketch. 

In 1936 he was hired by Wilfred Haughton as a staff artist on Mickey Mouse Weekly, for which he wrote and drew "Skit, Skat and the Captain" (1936-40), "Elmer and Tillie" and "Shuffled Symphonies". 

During the Second World War he served in the army in the Middle East, before returning to Mickey Mouse Weekly as art editor, as well as drawing strips including "Bongo", "Li'l Wolf and Danny the Lamb", "True Life Adventures" and "Peter Puppet". 

Later, Reynolds also became art editor of Jack and Jill, Playhour and Tiny Tots. (UK Comics Wiki)

15 September 2026

Eric Parker - miscellaneous work, part 15 (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
Old soldiers (part 2) is here
Old soldiers (part 3) is here
Sexton Blake is here
More soldiers is here
Miscellaneous is here
Layouts & scenes is here
Letters is here
Finished work (part 1) is here
Finished work (part 2) is here

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









14 September 2026

Comic Cutz - the art of Barrie Mitchell (part 12)

The Barrie Mitchell exhibition that took place in Ryde in February 2026 had many highlights and a LOT of art. I tried to take photos of all the art but there was too much! Anyway, here's the start of a long series of posts all about the art that was there...

1). Harlem Heroes was here
2). paintings of cars was here
3). his work for Red Dwarf was here
4). some football art was here
5). some Dr Who art was here
6). some more Dr Who art was here
7). yet more Dr Who art was here
8). even more Dr Who art was here
9). a final selection of Dr Who art was here
10). some Marks Brothers art was here
11). his work on Scorer was here here

More of his more recent paintings...








13 September 2026

Jim Baikie - Orkney exhibition, part 10

For approximately the umpteenth time I'm indebted to Norman Boyd for his help with this blog. This time he was kind enough to send me some of his holiday photos from a recent trip to the Orkneys. 

Whilst there he was able to visit the exhibition all about the local artist that was on (from 03/05/25 - 21/09/25) at the Orkney museum in Kirkwall. Comics artist Jim Baikie was the focus of the exhibition. Norman took a lot of photos so I'll spread them over a number of posts, enjoy!   

Part 1 was here
Part 2 was here
Part 3 was here
Part 4 was here
Part 5 was here
Part 6 was here
Part 7 was here
Part 8 was here
Part 9 was here












12 September 2026

Lawless 2026 - part 3

As ever there's SO much going on at Lawless convention that it's hard to try and take it all in, however I did manage to take a few photographs this year. I've grouped them together thematically and hopefully they'll bring back pleasant memories or inspire you to go to Lawless 2027 (being held on the 15th and 16th May 2027).

First up is Steve Dillon (t-shirts & art) here
Some of the original comic art that was on sale here

Some of the amazing Liam Sharp artwork that was on display









11 September 2026

UPDATED: The real Ghostbusters - collected comics

Update 11th Sep 2026 - I've added a cover for the Winter Special (from November 1989)

I'm not a collector of Marvel UK's 'The Real Ghostbusters' comic but I've seen that the collected editions seem to be quite expensive so I thought I'd see if I could identify how many there are.

Ideally I'd love to be able to tell you what stories they reprinted (and from which issues) and which issue of the comic the cover has come from but, sadly, I can't. 

Instead if you can help me fill the gaps in the covers gallery below (#8 and #10) and confirm if the series went beyond #11 that would be very helpful!

Enjoy!  

UPDATE: I've now identified that there was an issue 13 - so I've added that to the gallery.

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 1

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 2
from 1989

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 3
from July 1990

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 4
1991 Summer special

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 5
from February 1992

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 6
from May 1992; the cover had been originally used on issue #90

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 7
from December 1992

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 8
image not to hand


The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 9
Holiday special 1993

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 10
image not to hand - can you help?


The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 11
produced in 1994

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 12
image not to hand - can you help?

The real Ghostbusters, Marvel UK - collected comics number 13
image c/o here



and there was this too

There was also a Winter special - no image of that to hand
and here's what that Winter special looks like


10 September 2026

Looney Tunes Travel Time

Following on from the post yesterday about the Cartoon Network comic I thought I'd just highlight the only other Burghley Publishing title that I can find on ebay at the moment 

Looney Tunes Travel Time #1, £1.99

ok so this is a "...great new puzzle magazine" rather than a comic but there was some comic content - Bugs Bunny had a strip for instance.

I know nothing more about this title but if you know how long it lasted or what other titles Burghley Publishing issued then I'd be delighted to know.

At the time of typing this copy is for sale here



Update from a Burghley employee