vintage DC Thomson art up for sale soon

Collectors of original illustrations / cartoons /comic art will hopefully find an upcoming auction in Essex has something for them. Lots 125-160 in this sale on 1st October contains art by Dudley D Watkins, Charles Grigg, David Law, James McConnell, Mac, Jak, Larry, Gerald Scarfe and more. Here are just some of the highlights - good luck if you bid!

this lot - art by David Law

this lot - art by Dudley D Watkins

this lot - art by Dudley D Watkins

this lot - art by Charles Henry Chapman

Comic festival 2003+4

I've looked a few different conventions before....

Bristol comic expo (2004-2014) is here

London comic festival 2003 is here
Kev Sutherland festival original art is here
A 'Lawless 2019' miscellany is here
Boys and Girls exhibitions of the 1950s and '60s is here
Glasgow comic art convention is here
Edinburgh art convention is here
Hi-Ex convention is here

UKCAC - part 1 - is here
UKCAC - part 2 - is here

UKCAC - part 3 - is here

BICS convention is here

Glasgow comic con is here

Kapow! comic con is here

British comic conventions 1970-76 is here 

British comic conventions 1977-81 is here 

Comic conventions miscellany is here

Comics 101 is here

Strips 78 is here

Comicon 1972 is here

Eaglecon 80 - part 1 - is here

Comicon 1971 is here

Comicon 1970 is here

Bristol comic expo 2023 is here

ALL the Lawless 2023 posts can be found here

Alexandra Palace in 1992 is here

11th British comic convention (1979) is here

6th British comic convention (1973) is here

Comic fest 2001+2 is here

2003 & 2004 saw Kev Sutherland expand his efforts into producing 2 huge festivals a year...

Here's the May 2003 cover image - again, this was a piece of A2 paper folded into an A5 size leaflet (which included the voting form for the 6th national comics awards). The guest list was, as ever, enormous. Star guests were Jeff Smith, Bryan Talbot & Jim Lee. 

cover art for the one-day festival in London in November  2003, cover art by Mark Buckingham. Usual A2 piece of paper folded up into A5 size.

The last Bristol event, sob! A2 sized piece of paper folded up as usual. Voting form for the awards, loads of guests, panel etc.

The last one! A2 sized piece of paper folded up as usual.

Kapow - the art of making comics & film; original comic art, part 3

Currently on a the Rugby Art Museum & Gallery is Kapow - the art of making comics and film (more details here). If you've not yet been to this free exhibition here are just a few of the pages of original vintage British comics art that's on display...hurry, exhibition ends on 9th September!

I looked at vintage British comic art here

I looked at 2000AD / Dredd art here

Dudley D Watkins art for sale tomorrow

Just spotted this Desperate Dan artwork by Dudley D Watkins going under the hammer tomorrow (Monday 13th March 2023). 

At the time of typing just the one bid has been received (£240) - vs. an auctioneer's estimate of £400-£600

Beano @ Somerset House; Dudley D Watkins

If you've not yet made it to the current exhibition at Somerset House, Beano: The art of breaking the rules, I thought I might try and tempt you with these examples of the original art that's on display...

Previously I looked at the Leo Baxendale art here

And here's the Dudley D Watkins art...

UPDATED: Beano and Dandy calendars

Following on from a previous post (here) about Oor Wullie calendars I realised that there must be other DC Thomson calendars out there so I set off to google Beano calendars - so here's my guide to collecting them...

Don't forget you can review Commando calendars here and Judge Dredd calendars here

New material is highlighted in red but the summary of where I'm up to now is that I have images for calendars for 1986-2020 apart from 2013 and a 'skinny' 2005 calendar (assuming it exists). Of course there could be more out there so if I missed anything just let me know.

Beano calendar 1986

Beano calendar 1987

Beano calendar 1988

Beano calendar 1989

Beano calendar 1990

Beano calendar 1991

Interestingly the 1992 edition has a reference that says "Number 7" in the top right cover - indicating that this is the 7th edition of the calendar...

...hmmm, and the 1993 calendar says "Number 8"...

...hmmm, and the 1994 calendar says "Number 9"...

There was also a Beano and Dandy calendar for 1994

...think the 1995 one says 'number 10' in the top right corner

Finally found an image of the 1996 calendar (number 11 in the top right corner)...

Here's the 1997 calendar - you'll see from the back cover picture that this is (helpfully) number as number 12 so there must have been a calendar for 1996 (to be number 11)

The 1998 calendar

The 1999 calendar (left) and the envelope it came in (right)

The 2000 calendar (right) and the envelope it came in (left)

Finally the 2001 calendars have been identified - yay!

Here's the 2002 calendar

Another 2002 calendar

2003 calendar

Then 2004...

No 2005 calendar (I think!) so here's the 2006 edition... 

Hmmm, so for 2004 and 2006 it seems there were 2 calendars for Beano fans...

Here's a great collection of calendars...

The top row shows (in order) 2015, 2016, 2012 and 2014.

The bottom row shows (in order) Dandy Beano 2013 and then Beano 2017, 2011 and 2010.

So that's 2010-2017 in total

...a slightly better look at the 2012 calendar

The 'skinny' 2013 calendar available from Marks & Spencer...

The 2015 calendar...

The 2016 calendar

The 2017 calendar...

...And then the 2018 calendar...

...and here we are for 2019...

...and here's the offering for 2020...

and now for 2021...

In 2001 Beanobooks put out (at least) 3 calendars related to other characters...

Beano books also produced a Dandy calendar for 2002...

The Minnie the Minx and Dennis the Menace calendars at the bottom of the next image are new to me...