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30 October 2026

Comic Cutz - the art of Barrie Mitchell (part 15)

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
12). some of his recent paintings was here
13). some character sketches were here
14). The blues strip was here

The Mildly Interesting Stories...






29 October 2026

Lawless 2026 - part 6

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
Liam Sharp art here
More art by Liam Sharp here
Yet more art by Liam Sharp here

And now a final selection of Liam's artwork...











 

28 October 2026

SSI journal - 1980

I've looked before at all things to do with the SSI (Society of Strip Illustration) here and I like the newsletters they produced BUT these were produced in very low quantities so you stand virtually no chance of collecting a set. 

I've looked at some examples of the SSI journal for... 
1981 here
1982 here
1983 here
1985 here
1986 here
1987 here
1992 here 
and for other years I'm just going to collect images for the covers as and when they come up for sale on ebay. Over time we might end up with a full (??) set. So here's the start of a covers gallery for SSI journal for 1980...

Society of Strip Illustration journal 25 (February 1980)

Society of Strip Illustration journal 31 (August-September 1980)
un-numbered but the September 1980 issue is #32 (see below) so I'm assuming this is #31
un-credited but it does say "Leach INC." so is this a reference to Garry Leach???

Society of Strip Illustration journal 32 (September 1980)
cover art by David Lloyd

Society of Strip Illustration journal 34 (November 1980)

cover art by Brian Platt

27 October 2026

Get along gang weekly - covers gallery, part 8

I'm indebted to friend of the blog (and mad keen Marvel UK collector) Richard Gilham for taking the time to share these covers from his collection. Yes, it's the start of a Get along gang covers gallery! Marvel UK published 93 issues in total from April 1985 to January 1987.

Part 1 (issues 1-8) was here
Part 2 (issues 9-16) was here
Part 3 (issues 17-24) was here
Part 4 (issues 25-32) was here
Part 5 (issues 33-40) was here
Part 6 (issues 41-48) was here
Part 7 (issues 49-56) was here

Get along gang, Marvel UK, issue #57, 30p, 17th May 1986

Get along gang, Marvel UK, issue #58, 30p, 24th May 1986

Get along gang, Marvel UK, issue #59, 30p, 31st May 1986

Get along gang, Marvel UK, issue #60, 30p, 7th June 1986

Get along gang, Marvel UK, issue #61, 30p, 14th June 1986

Get along gang, Marvel UK, issue #62, 30p, 21st June 1986

Get along gang, Marvel UK, issue #63, 30p, 28th June 1986

Get along gang
, Marvel UK, issue #64, 30p, 5th July 1986






26 October 2026

Heroes! The British invasion of American comics - part 15

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 (the final) part 15 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
Part 7 was here
Part 8 was here
Part 9 was here
Part 10 was here
Part 11 was here
Part 12 was here
Part 13 was here
Part 14 was here








25 October 2026

Superman soars to new heights

An astonishing price for a single issue of a British comic was achieved yesterday in the (5th?) auction of the collection of Peter Hansen. £6000 (+fees) was paid for a copy of Triumph issue #772 

TRIUMPH #772 (Amalgamated Press, 5th August 1939) British Story paper that features the first reprinting of Superman outside of the US just a year after he first appeared in Action Comics #1 1938. It includes original cover art by John McCail and could be the first representation of Superman's flying superpower.


another lot (#24) of other early issues sold for £1,700 (plus fees)

TRIUMPH #773, 775-783, 785-786, 789, 791, 792 and 810 (Amalgamated Press, 1939-1940) British comic story paper that includes John McCail cover art of Superman and interior stories of early Superman comic strips (16)

For other mentions of Triumph (including more in depth looks at these early issues) on the blog just click here

24 October 2026

UPDATED: Comics reference books of Martin Hamer

UPDATE 24th October 2026...further examples of those Hamer auction catalogues (all c/o that essential ebay seller philcomics)




New items added to this post highlighted in red...

My look at comic reference books has, to date, covered a number of authors such as...

Lofts & Adley is here
Alan Clark is here 
Dennis Gifford is here 
David Ashford is here
Ray Moore is here

Today's contributor is (Martin) Hamer.

This is what I remember Hamer most for - their comic auctions...




Here are some of the catalogues produced when they auctioned off Denis Gifford's collection...
Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 1

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 2

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 3

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 4

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 8

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 14

Denis Gifford collection auction catalogue, part 15



and here's another example of one of their auction catalogues - this time from Sunday May 19th 2002

and here's another example of one of their auction catalogues - this time from Sunday May 28th 2000

There was also this guide to Beano covers...



and his 2 main reference books are these...