Dudley D Watkins mini comics up for sale

There's a rare chance to snag a complete set of Dudley D Watkins comics work for the Salvation Army here - although you'll have to hurry as the auction ends just before 3pm today.

A legendary British comics artists he's best known for his work on Oor Wullie and The Broons - although he also provided work for other DC Thomson titles - and saw some of that work on adventure strips reprinted as a series of hardback books in the series 'Told in pictures'.

Wikipedia (here) notes that... 
He was a devout Christian and an enthusiastic supporter of the Church of Christ in Dundee (where he met his wife). He contributed artwork for mission calendars, and from 1956 he produced (free of charge) the comic strips William the Warrior and Tony & Tina – The Twins for 'The Young Warrior', a children's paper published by the WEC Publications. These strips, filled with quotations from scripture, were collected into a series of booklets

This lot offers the chance to buy the 4 volumes that Watkins illustrated but also the other 4 volumes in the series - a n interesting set for any Dudley D Watkins fans out there - good luck with bidding!

Monster Wrestlers in my pocket #2

Here's a glimpse at issue 2 - it's undated but there's an advert on the back page for issue 3 being on sale on 13th January 1996. So I'll assume this is the December 1995 issue.

Don Wazejewski art

Merchandise

Fan art....

More fan art...

More merchandise...

Second, and final, strip in the comic...

Rare British comic original art up for sale this weekend

Spotted on ebay here's a couple of lovely items on offer from seller d.g100 [not me!]

The first is here and is a Carlos Ezquerra commission re-creating the cover of Battle from October 1976 - bid from £550 or make an offer...bidding closes at Sunday lunchtime.  

Here's a few images...

The seller also has (here) a Charley's War cover from 1980 by Joe Colquhoun - same price as above and, again, bidding ends on Sunday lunchtime. 

A Dave Gibbons signing is announced

A Dave Gibbons signing has been announced...

He'll be at the London Forbidden Planet megastore on Saturday 27th April 3-4pm. He'll be (it says here) signing DC Modern Classics: Watchmen. It's available to pre-order here for £40.

The blurb for the event says...

DC introduces DC Modern Classics, collecting ground-breaking, genre-defining works in new hardcover editions, presented in a beautifully designed slipcase.

In a world where the mere presence of American super-heroes changed history, the U.S. won the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon is still president, and the Cold War is in effect.

WATCHMEN begins as a murder mystery, but it soon unfolds into a planet-altering conspiracy. As the resolution comes to a head, an unlikely group of reunited heroes - Rorschach, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias - must test the limits of their convictions and ask themselves where the true line between good and evil lies.

Dave Gibbons is one of Britain’s finest comic artists, whose most famous work is the multi-award- winning Watchmen. He has also drawn series including Batman, Doctor Who and Give Me Liberty, and has written Batman vs. Predator, Green Lantern and World’s Finest, as well as his own graphic novel The Originals.

Monster Wrestlers in my pocket #1

I've had some comments on the blog recently asking to see a little more of 'Monster Wrestlers in my pocket' comic - so here's a glimpse inside issue 1 (more details on issue 2 tomorrow).

Cover art to #1 (of 3) by Don Wazejewski

There are sort of some credits here...

More Don Wazejewski (interior) art...

Bit of merchandise...

Last strip...

Art quarterly spotlights the Cartoon Musuem

The Spring 2019 issue of Art Quarterly, the quarterly magazine for members of the Art Fund charity, (website here) is now out and contains a focus on comics.

Established over 100 years ago as a sort of Victorian crowd-funding organisation Art Fund helps give grants to help museums do more...from buying works of art and sharing them across the UK, to providing funding and opportunities for curators. 

In this issue, to celebrate the April opening of the new London home of the Cartoon Museum, Steve Marchant and Becky Jefcoate select five of the works that they been able to acquire for the museum's Lottery-funded 'Comic Creators' project (details here). 

Martin Rowson - well-known cartoonist and trustee of the Cartoon Museum - also chooses a piece from the project...

Isabel Greenberg festival appearance

For anyone who's a fan of (comics) illustrator Isabel Greenberg there's the chance to meet here (and Imogen Greenberg) at the Barnes children's literature festival on Sunday 12th May 2019. 

The talk covers her Athena book and is a chance to discover the adventures on the Greek goddess Athena (before getting your own chance to craft your own bit of history).

Tickets are available here

Her website is here - and here's a selection of her artwork and books...

How she "signed" a book for me last year - you can't tell but this A4 sized!

Not yet released - this is coming in 2019 and as she explains...
based on the Brontë Juvilalia, created by all four of the Brontë children over the span of their childhoods and into adulthood. The book covers their real lives - the fascinating story of their childhood on the Yorkshire Moors, but also delves into the complex imaginary worlds they created.

Small press comic

Window painting at Gosh comics for the last Free Comic Book Day (2018)...

All-War monthly - the next 5 issues

Issues 6-11 of All-War monthly...

#7 - September-1981

#8 - October 1981

#9 - November 1981

#10 - December 1981

#11 - January 1982

#12 - not pictured
#13 - not pictured

All-War monthly - the first 5 issues

I featured a Byblos title a few weeks ago (here) so I thought I'd highlight some of their other work this weekend, we'll start off with a cover gallery and then we'll get into the art after that...

A4, 48 pages, black and white art throughout

#1 - it says "now monthly" - I'm not sure that there was a non-monthly version beforehand but whatever, this is from March 1981...

April 1981

May 1981

June 1981

July 1981