Sir Ian Livingstone at the Cartoon Museum

The Cartoon Museum now have tickets on sale here for their evening with Sir Ian Livingstone talking about his new book 'Magic Realms'

As it says on the website...

Sir Ian Livingstone: The Art of Fighting FantasyWe are happy to announce that Sir Ian Livingstone will be joining us for a very special event and signing of Magic Realms: The Art of Fighting Fantasy at the Cartoon Museum on Tuesday September 10th from 6:30pm-8:30pm, with the talk starting at 7pm.

Magic Realms celebrates the incredible art of the brilliant and highly respected fantasy and science fiction artists who, over the years, worked with the Fighting Fantasy authors to bring their interactive adventures to vivid life.

Each artist is profiled along with select examples of their best work – in vibrant full colour, the astonishing detail on display in all its glory. It features the work some of the world’s best fantasy artists including Chris Achilléos, John Blanche, Jim Burns, Les Edwards, Karl Kopinski, Iain McCaig, Martin McKenna, Ian Miller and Russ Nicholson, among others.

Written by Fighting Fantasy co-creator Ian Livingstone and Fighting Fantasy historian Jonathan Green, Magic Realms is a Who’s Who of fantasy art – an absolutely essential collector’s item for any Fighting Fantasy fan.

Dan Dare bagatelle

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

and today it's the turn of the Dan Dare bagatelle (images swiped from an ebay sale a few months ago - it sold for £100)

which, weirdly, has the Eagle logo the wrong way round on the front of the box!

Good selection of characters featured here - Hank, Dig, Sir Hubert, Dan and Professor Peabody

the rules seem pretty simple

Cartoon Museum event - tonight!

Just a reminder that this is tonight - I'll be there, will you?

The Cartoon Museum have announced at event in August looking at vintage newspaper strips from the 1930s and '40s (so these are likely to be seriously large!) A really great opportunity to see some vanishingly rare material. See you there? 

So, these are newspapers PLUS original artwork by George 'Krazy Kat' Herriman and Jack Davis.

Late Night with Dave Gibbons & Shane Melisse

Tickets are now on sale (here) for a evening of late night entertainment at the Cartoon Museum in mid-October

As it says on the ticket website...

Join us for a 'super' late night opening to celebrate our Heroes exhibition.

Watch! A panel discussion with Shane Melisse and Dave Gibbons.

Drink! At the bar.

Tour! The exhibition with Captain Civilian.

Dress Up! As your favourite superhero or in your go-to Cosplay.

Enjoy! Have a great evening.

Kevin O'Neill Nemesis the Warlock art for sale

Back here I reported recently on Lew Stringer selling a fantastic piece of Kev O'Neill artwork. Well, needs must, and now Lew is parting with an even more amazing piece of O'Neill artwork...this was originally the cover for issue #3 of Lew's fanzine Fantasy Express. At the time of typing bids are up to £850 but if the previous piece can go for £2,050 then this should go much higher. Good luck if you bid!

Bidding ends 9pm GMT on Sunday 31st August 2024 and can be found here

boom! sells for £4,169.69 

Mike Noble - prints

I've started (thanks to friend of the blog Bill Storie) showcasing just some of the art of Mike Noble. I've grouped together the images into a number of 'themes'...

Captain Scarlet was here

Look and Learn was here

Look-in was here

Explorer 12 was here

Explorer 12 - Polar mission was here

and now we have a selection of prints... 

Lawless 2024 - the photos, part 3

Hard to believe it's another 9 months to Lawless, boo! While we're waiting for the time to pass here's part 3 of my photos from Lawless 2024. 

Part 1 (the artists) was here

Part 2 - 2000AD art was here

Here's just some of the amazing 2000AD art that David Roach had on display...

Mick McMahon art

(mainly) Carlos Ezquerra art

Belardinelli art

Belardinelli art (top), Garth by Frank Bellamy (middle), Carol Day by David Wright (bottom)

Brian Bolland art (top) and McMahon (below)

Simon Bisley signing TODAY!

Just a reminder that this is happening today - have fun if you're going!

Forbidden Planet have announced here a signing with Simon Bisley on Saturday 24th August 2024 from 1pm-2pm (at their London megantore) to celebrate the launch of the anniversary edition of Sláine - the horned God.

You can pre-order signed editions here and here

Maxwell the magic cat - in Italian!

I've looked before at Alan Moore's Maxwell the magic cat...

I looked at volume 3 here

I looked at volume 4 here

and now it turns out that there's an Italian (collected?) edition of the Maxwell strips too. Those lucky Italians.

UPDATED: The Real Ghostbusters - Puzzlebuster

I'm indebted to Chris Wing & Philip Boyce for alerting me to the existence of this title. It ran for 6 issues apparently and my covers gallery starts now...

Now updated with a cover for issue #4 - and that's the lot, whoop!

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #1, August / September 1990, £1.35

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #2, October / November 1990, £1.35

image sourced from here

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #3, December 1990/January 1991, £1.35

image sourced from here

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #4

image c/o Stu Bartlett - thanks!

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #5

thanks to Chris Wing for this

The Real Ghostbusters, Puzzlebuster #6

ok so this is a house ad rather than the actual comic but it'll do for now!

thanks to Chris Wing for this

'From the tomb' fanzine

All these images were swiped from an ebay sale last year even though EC comics aren't something that I normally cover on the blog. Anyway, I swiped the images because

a). I've covered plenty of other British comic fanzines

b). It's great to see a complete set of these fanzines

c). I've certainly never seen those really early issues before

Anyway, enjoy & happy collecting! 

Brian Bolland signing at Gosh comics announced

Gosh comics have announced a signing with Brian Bolland on 7th September

They say (on their Facebook page)...

Gosh! is very proud to present a signing for Graphitti Design's Batman: Killing Joke and Other Stories Gallery Edition with Brian Bolland on Saturday 7th September at 1pm. This lavish oversized edition is a must have for fans of Bolland’s art and an essential addition to any Batman collection! We’ll have limited copies of the Diamond Exclusive cover available in store on the day alongside other collections of Brian’s work!

"The art of Brian Bolland has been a high-point for comic fans for over forty years. Scanned at actual-size from the original art, this deluxe, hardcover collection follows Bolland's career featuring his DC Comics work from his early 1980's covers and stories to his current covers.

This will be a 280 page, large-format (13" x 20") hardcover book that will include three 2-page foldouts and seven vellum inserts, with similar paper stock and production values to the previous Graphitti Designs Gallery Editions. Only 500 copies of this special UK Edition are being produced and as such allocations may occur. There will be one printing only of this fantastic special limited edition and it is offered only to retailers with Diamond UK accounts. The UK edition features a full colour cover (from The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told trade paperback) and a unique ISBN. All other contents are identical to the standard edition. Featuring the DC Comics art of Brian Bolland, artist of Rebellion's sold out Judge Dredd by Brian Bolland Apex Edition.

In addition to the complete Batman: The Killing Joke story from 1988, the Brian Bolland-Batman: The Killing Joke and Other Stories & Art Gallery Edition also includes: Afterword by Brian Bolland; Introduction by Richard Starkings; 'An Innocent Guy' from Batman: Black & White #4 (8 pages); 'Certified Safe!' from Mystery In Space #115 (7 pages); 'Freeway of Fun Fear!; from The Outsiders #18 (8 pages); 'The Princess & the Frog' from Heart Throbs #1 (5 pages); 'The Prince & the Witch' from Heart Throbs #1 (1 page); Story pages from Justice League of America #200 (5 pages); Story pages from Batman #400 (9 pages); More than 100 pages of black & white and colour cover art from Wonder Woman, Camelot 3000, Batman, Animal Man, Tank Girl, The Invisibles, and more; Miscellaneous art and pin-ups including the two-page spreads of Camelot 3000 and Green Lantern Corps from DC Comics Who's Who; Gallery of assorted UK, convention, pencil roughs and preliminary artwork; and a new Digital Gallery section showcasing Bolland's current work, annotated by Brian.

This once in a lifetime gathering of Bolland's art comprises the finest presentation and the definitive compilation of his body of work."

Brian will be signing copies of the book and a maximum of three additional items. We will be sticking to this rule quite strictly on the day! ​Pre-order a signed copy from our website for mail-order or collection.

Shiver and Shake - the editor writes

I looked here at a rare example of headed notepaper from a comic (in that case it was Monster Fun), now another example has surfaced (c/o Ian Hare) and my thanks to him for allowing me to share it here...

...if you know of any other examples of these 'letters from the editor' then do get in touch

Brian Bolland for Comicon 76

Images swiped from an ebay sale last year and included here as I hadn't seen them before. Brian Bolland's advert for Comicon (19)76

The images doesn't appear in the actual convention brochure/programme that was produced, so this advert is the only place you'd see this image.

Dave Gibbons & Gerry Finley-Day sign Rogue Trooper

This is today! Have fun if you're going!

To celebrate the release of 'Essential Rogue Trooper - Genetic Infantryman' Forbidden Planet have announced a signing with Dave Gibbons & Gerry Finley-Day on Saturday 17th August (2024), 1-2pm

Can't make it? Then why not pre-order a signed copy of the book right here for £14.99 (plus postage)?

Superkids comic

Not much known about this one I'm afraid. This image was kindly supplied to me by John Dredge. 

He tells me it's shoe shop related (which links to the 'hilarious right foot mob!' advertised on the front page I guess).

Keep an eye out for this one!