MACH1 reprint volume - cover reveal

Rebellion have revealed the covers for M.A.C.H. 1 - The John Probe Mission Files....

It's due out in March 2018

Starting out as a rather crude take-off (as many of those early 2000ad were) of the six million dollar man the series eventually became more interesting as John Probe well, probed, his back story to find out how he came to be the Man Activated by Compu Hyperpuncture that he was.

Script is Pat Mills, art is By Enio.

King Solomon's mines - lost Eagle magazine strip

Over on Comic Art Fans (here) there's an opportunity to spend £5k on a comic strip that was never published.
The strip? King Solomon's Mines
The artist? Frank Bellamy
The comic? It was going to appear in the original Eagle magazine

Here's what the seller has to say
Episode # 3, from a total of three unpublished strips completed by artist Frank Bellamy. Intended for EAGLE magazine, as a replacement strip for FRASER OF AFRICA, but aborted when the Editorial team decided not to go with two consecutive African-based series - and replaced by MONTGOMERY OF ALEMEIN. Image size of approximately 20" x 12", artwork in excellent bright condition on heavy CS10 illustration board.

At one point the seller owned episodes 1-3 of this strip. The strip looks fantastic and I'm only sorry that there's only 3 episodes of this strip. The seller is the same one as yesterday's blog posting - selling the Modesty Blaise tryout art by Frank Hampson.

Modesty Blaise - the earliest ever drawing

Over on Comic Art Fans (here) to be precise, the earlist known example of Modesty Blaise art is up for sale and what's better is that it's drawn by that maestro of comic art, Frank Hampson

Here's what the seller has to say...

In 1962 Beaverbrook newspapers asked Peter O'Donnell to suggest a new strip idea. He thought long and hard and came up with MODESTY BLAISE. Kennedy Aitken, who was Beaverbrook's Strip Cartoons Editor, suggested they should invite Frank Hampson (creator of DAN DARE) to interpret O'Donnell's script.

Hampson accepted the offer, but took many weeks to return his strip, giving no reason for the delay. O'Donnell was dismayed at the eventual sequence of dailies, feeling Hampson had, "totally misunderstood the character" and suggested his former partner Jim Holdaway be given the strip to illustrate. O'Donnell and Holdaway had worked together very successfully on a previous newspaper strip, ROMEO BROWN.

Of Hampson's tryout dailies, which pre-date Holdaway's published strip, eight have survived. I owned all eight at one time. This one tryout daily I kept was, to my mind, the best example - and the only one to exist as pure pencils. Of the remaining seven surviving examples, Hampson part-inked those (possibly used for practicing on in later years, as I firmly believe all of Hampson's tryout dailies were submitted for approval in pencil stage).

This daily strip is the earliest MODESTY BLAISE to exist as it was originally illustrated and presented to Beaverbrook newspapers for consideration. I am making this rare gem available for sale for a limited time and am looking for offers at or above $5,000. Image size is about 18" x 5" and the artwork is in excellent condition.

Fisrt ever Commando collectors fair/swapmeet

Saturday 16th September should be a date in the diary fro all Commando collectors as Andy Yates is holding the first ever collectors fair dedicated to all things Commando.

Where is it being held? Stoke-on-Trent....easy access from the M6 at Junction 16

Can you be a bit more precise? The venue is the Harriet Higgins Community Centre, Rotterdam Road, Poolfields, ST5 2PE Newcastle under Lyme.

Time? 10am-2:30pm

Is there a facebook group> Of course there is, just search for First UK Commando Collectors Swapmeet/Fair

Andy has promised to bring along as he puts it I will be selling approximately 2000 doubles from my own collection of Commando, War, Battle, Air Ace, Warlord,V ictor...and other assorted DC THOMSON titles...but there will be bags of space for other people to have stalls- or just turn up have a brew and swop with each other! I will release other details as I think of them....PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH OTHER COLLECTORS.

So go on, why don't you...

Misty - volume 2 coming soon

A cover for the 16th November (paperback, £14.99) release of the 2nd volume of Misty reprints has just emerged...

Again, this is taken from the back of the Leopard from Lime Street volume that Rebellion have just issued. These stories weren't reprinted in the Best of Misty monthly (unlike, say, the 4 faces of Eve story from the first Misty reprint volume), so this volume represents the first chance for many of us to read these stories..

The blurb on Amazon says....

Following up our hit first volume of the ‘horror comic for girls’ with another collection of two stories: The Sentinels and End of The Line.  Misty was a revolutionary concept by 2000 AD’s creator Pat Mills in 1978 and left its mark on a whole generation of young women. The two identical tower blocks, known as  ‘The Sentinels’ to the locals, stand tall over the town of Birdwood – but only one is occupied while the other remains mysteriously empty. When Jan Richards’ family lose their home they decide to hide out in the abandoned block so they can stay together, only to be sent into a parallel world where the Nazis conquered Britain in 1940… In End of the Line, Ann’s father was one of a group of engineers believed to have been killed whilst working on an extension to the London Underground but when she and her mother are invited to the opening of the new train tunnel, Ann discovers a mysterious time portal through which several workers are being kept as slaves by an evil Victorian called Lord Vicary.

Faceache - by Ken Reid

Faceache - the first hundred scrounges (available to pre-order on Amazon here) now has a cover image...

This is taken from the back of the newly published The Leopard from Lime Street and as you can see it promises Faceache strips from Jet (01/05/71 - 25/09/71) and Buster (02/10/71 - 10/03/73). Hardcover, £14.99 says Amazon. I love Ken Reid, I love Faceache, roll on the end of November (publication date is listed at 30/11/17 - not always met but what can you do?)

is an Oor Wullie annual worth this much?

The very earliest Oor Wullie annuals are particularly scarce, especially in high grade but even I was surprised to see one on offer for £25,000! The condition is superb. It's currently listed on ebay here, but if that's too much for, the seller, incredibly, has another copy...

...listed here for half the price

Still too much for you? Ok how about the seller's 3rd (!) copy of the annual, this is listed here for just £6,000

A more worn version of the 2nd book is also for sale c/o the same seller, this volume (here) is yours for £4,500

Comic Book Postal Auctions have sold publishers file copies of these 2 volumes before - in each case, the book sold for less than £5,000

Happy bidding!

Bunny vs. Monkey

The insane battles between a bunny, a monkey and all sorts of other woodland cuties (albeit often armed to the teeth with ridiculous, eye-popping end of the world weaponry) continues in Jamie Smart's Bunny vs. Monkey book 4, which is now out.

All previous volumes are available at the Phoenix comic webshop here where you can buy volumes 1-3 for £25 (here) - Bunny vs Monkey, it 's the most bonkers fun you can have in comics right now.

Judge Dredd partwork to be extended

Rebellion have today announce that the Judge Dredd partwork that Hachette have been publishing for the last 2 years will be extended by another 10 issues.

Full story is here and the link to the back issues for the series is here

The series is available to order via your newsagent or larger comics shops.

Covers below for some of the issues...

Spaceship Away part 42

...is  now out

The latest issue of Des Shaw's ace magazine related to all aspects of the original Dan Dare series has just been published. This issue has 8 pages of Tim Booth's Shakedown Cruise story, Andrew Darlington explores the complex and fascinating history of Jet-Ace Logan. Two new strips, Operation Pintos and The Golden Amazon begin, there are features on the history of early rockets, Ron Turner's Tit-Bits SF comics, a cutaway by Graham Bleathman and an amazing discovery by Jeremy Briggs. Intrigued? By the magazine now to find out more. 

More details from their website here

Rear cover art by Don Harley

Individual issues cost £8.50; email deshaw21219@aol.com; tel. 01793-642568

Summer workshops at the Cartoon Museum

Have you got a young comics creator in your house If so, Beano and Phoenix artists will be at the Cartoon Museum in Bloomsbury (here) this Summer running workshops and courses...


Summer Workshops

Our Summer workshops for children of all ages are now available for booking!

From the 26th of July to the 31st of August we'll be hosting brilliant introductions to animation, manga, comic art, caricature, and more, plus a 'masterclass,' taught by professionals, for beginner and more experienced young artists.

You can book at or
http://www.cartoonmuseumshop.org/museum-events-childrens-workshops.irc
or call us on 020 7580 8155.
Tickets are £12 - £25

For all-day sessions, please supply a packed lunch.

Children attending two half-day sessions on the same day must be collected at lunchtime
so the classroom can be prepared for the afternoon workshop.

Animated films will be viewable on the Cartoon Museum’s Youtube channel within   5-7 working days.

Please note that places are limited and get booked up extremely fast.
Book soon to avoid disappointment!
 

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July

Jul Weds 26
11am - 1pm       Ages 8 – 12  £12
Superheroes
Come and get tips for creating your own mighty heroes and deadly villains from Cartoon Museum tutor Steve Marchant, and then draw them in mortal combat.

2pm – 4pm       Ages 8 – 12  £12
Manga for Beginners
Award-winning Phoenix comic artist Karen Rubins shows you how to create a simple manga story.

                                              
Jul Thurs 27  11am - 1pm      Ages 8 – 12  £12
Make a Mini-Comic with Steve
Everyone will love the little booklet you’ll create featuring your own characters and storyline. It’s specially constructed so that its easy to make printed copies after you take it home!

Jul 27 Thurs 2pm – 4pm       Ages 8 – 12  £12
Design a Beano Cover
Join Beano artist Wilbur Dawbarn and learn how to draw your own Beano front cover featuring some favourite Beano characters.

Jul Fri 28     
11am – 3.30pm    Ages 8-12  £12
The Adventures of YOU!
Wallis Eastes writes and draws autobiographical comics.
She’ll show you how to create a comic in which you arethe star. Are you asuperhero? A zombie? A menace? Let’s  have fun finding out!
Please bring a packed lunch.


Jul Mon 31  
11am - 1pm     Ages 8 – 12  £12
Create A Comic-Strip
Rachael Ball‘s last graphic novel was a ‘Guardian Best Graphic Book’ in 2015. She’ll set you on the road to success by showing you how to create an effective one-page comic-strip.

2pm – 4pm       Ages 8 – 12  £12
Manga for Beginners
Acclaimed manga artist Takayo Akiyama returns to show you how to create a simple manga story.

August

Aug Tues 1  Ages 8-12 11am – 3.30pm  £25
Beano Masterclass
Join Beano artist Wilbur Dawbarn and learn how to draw favourite Beano characters the professional way, and then write and draw a one-page Beano story.

Aug Weds 2
11am – 3.30pm   Ages 8 – 12  £25  
Claymation
Make funny clay characters with professional animator Reza Ben Gajra and create a short animated film that you'll be able to watch next week on the Cartoon Museum's Youtube channel.
Please bring a packed lunch.
PAGE 2

Aug Thurs 3
11am - 1pm   Ages 8 – 12  £12
Manga Ghosts & Monsters
Manga artist & Japanese tutor Gavin Pollock travels down from Cumbria to present this special workshop where you’ll learn how to draw the kind of magical creatures that led to the creation of Pokemon and other favourites.

Aug Thurs 3  2pm – 4pm    Ages 8 – 12  £12
Animal Manga
Takayo Akiyama shows you how to create cute, funny and weird manga animals and
draw them in a one-page manga story.

 

Aug Fri 4     
11am - 1pm   Ages 8 – 12  £12
Manga Ghosts & Monsters
Your last chance to join Manga artist & Japanese tutor Gavin Pollock‘s special workshop where you’ll learn how to draw the kind of magical creatures that led to the creation of Pokemon and other favourites.

2pm – 4pm   Ages 8 – 12  £12
Robot Manga
Takayo Akiyama shows you Japanese robot comics from the 60s to the present day, and then you’ll design your own robot and draw a one-page comic-strip about saving the world… or tidying your room!

Aug Mon 7  
11am - 1pm  Ages 8 – 12  £12
Creating Short Strips
Richy K Chandler, writer/artist of Lucy The Octopus, shows you how to write and draw a series of 3-panel funny comic-strips. Great for beginners!

2pm – 4pm  Ages 8 – 12  £12
Manga Storytelling
Award-winning Phoenix comic artist Karen Rubins shows you how to create a 5-panel page of manga artwork that tells a complete story.

Aug Tues 8
11am – 3.30pm  Ages 8 – 12  £25  
Cut-Out Animation
Spend the day with professional animator Reza Ben Gajra and create a short animated film that you'll be able to watch next week on the Cartoon Museum's Youtube channel.
Please bring a packed lunch.

Aug Weds 9
11am – 3.30pm  Ages 10 – 14  £25   
Comic Art Masterclass with Rachael Ball
NOT FOR BEGINNERS! If you've got the basics under your belt – perhaps you've been
to our workshops before – here's where you'll learn professional methods of working and
secrets behind successful comic-strip storytelling. Suitable for aspiring manga artists, too.
Please bring a packed lunch.

Aug Thurs 10        
11am-1.30pm  Ages 8 – 12  £15

KEV F'S COMIC ART MASTERCLASS
Kev F Sutherland writes and draws for The Beano, Doctor Who and Marvel comics, and now he'll teach you how easy it is. After the end of a Comic Art Masterclass, everyone goes away with a page of their own comic art plus an individual caricature by Kev F. Learn everything he knows, so you could leave school and steal his job!

Thursday 10^th 2.30pm-5pm    Ages 8 – 12  £15
KEV F'S COMIC ART MASTERCLASS  - See details above

Aug Fri 11   
11am – 3.30pm   Ages 8 – 12  £25  
Clayfaces
Make funny clay faces with professional animator Valentina Grasso and create a short animated film that you'll be able to watch next week on the Cartoon Museum's Youtube channel.
Please bring a packed lunch.


Aug Mon 14
11am – 3.30pm   Ages 10-14  £25  
Manga Masterclass with Takayo Akiyama
NOT FOR BEGINNERS! If you've got the basics under your belt – perhaps you've been
to our workshops before – here's where you'll learn professional methods of working and
secrets behind successful manga storytelling. Suitable for aspiring comic artists, too.
Please bring a packed lunch.

Aug Tues 15          
11am - 1pm    Ages 8 – 12  £12
Animal Antics
Richy K Chandler (Wallace & Gromit, Adventure Time, Lucy The Octopus) shows you how to create successful animal characters and put them into a short comic-strip.

Aug Tues 15
2pm – 4pm  Ages 8 – 12  £12
Make a Mini-Comic with Karen Rubins
Karen started her career making mini-comics. She’ll show you how to startle your friends back at school with an
8-page mini-comic featuring your own characters and story.

Aug Weds 16
11am - 1pm  Ages 8 – 12  £12
Create A Comic-Strip
Rachael Ball‘s last graphic novel was a ‘Guardian Best Graphic Book’ in 2015. She’ll set you on the road to success by showing you how to create an effective one-page comic-strip.
        
Wed 16^th  2pm – 4pm  Ages 8 – 12  £12
Manga for Beginners
Award-winning Phoenix comic artist Karen Rubins shows you how to create a simple manga story.

 

 

Aug Thurs 17         11am - 1pm Ages 8 – 12  £12

Pencil Power
Rachael Ball‘s artwork is beautifully rendered with pencil shading. She’ll share some of her work and show you how to achieve amazing shading effects with your own artwork.

2pm – 4pm       Ages 8 – 12  £12
Make a MANGA Mini-Comic
Takayo Akiyama will show you some of her self-published comics and teach you how to make a manga-style
mini-comic of your own

Aug Fri 18   
11am – 3.30pm    Ages 8 – 12  £25  
Cut-Out Animation
Spend the day with professional animator Valentina Grasso and create a short animated film that you'll be able to watch next week on the Cartoon Museum's Youtube channel.
Please bring a packed lunch.


Aug Mon 21
Comic-Strip Masterclass with Richy K Chandler
11am – 3.30pm   Ages 10-14  £25  
NOT FOR BEGINNERS! If you've got the basics under your belt – perhaps you've been
to our workshops before – here's where you'll learn professional methods of working in a series of fun, lively exercises. Suitable for aspiring manga artists, too.
Please bring a packed lunch.

Aug Tues 22          
11am - 1pm  Ages 8 – 12  £12
Creating Characters with Steve
Comic Art curator Steve Marchant will show you around our Comic Creators gallery, and then show you some tips and ideas for creating memorable characters of your own. Great for beginners!

2pm – 4pm   Ages 8 – 12  £12
Create A Comic-Strip
Rachael Ball‘s last graphic novel was a ‘Guardian Best Graphic Book’ in 2015. She’ll set you on the road to success by showing you how to create an effective one-page comic-strip.

Aug Weds 23         
11am – 3.30pm  Ages 8 – 12  £25
Claymation
Make funny clay characters with professional animator Valentina Grasso and create a short animated film that you'll be able to watch next week on the Cartoon Museum's Youtube channel.
Please bring a packed lunch.

Aug Thurs 24        
11am – 3.30pm Ages 10-14  £25  
Manga Masterclass with Takayo Akiyama
NOT FOR BEGINNERS! If you've got the basics under your belt – perhaps you've been
to our workshops before – here's where you'll learn professional methods of working and
secrets behind successful manga storytelling. Suitable for aspiring comic artists, too.
Please bring a packed lunch.

Aug Fri 25   
11am - 1pm Ages 8 – 12  £12
Make a Mini-Comic with Steve
Everyone will love the little booklet you’ll create featuring your own characters and storyline. It’s specially constructed so that its easy to make printed copies after you take it home!


Aug Tues 29          
11am - 1pm  Ages 8 – 12  £12
Superheroes
Come and get tips for creating your own mighty heroes and deadly villains from Cartoon Museum tutor Steve Marchant, and then draw them in mortal combat.

Aug Tues 29   2pm – 4pm    Ages 8 – 12  £12
Design a Beano Cover
Join Beano artist Wilbur Dawbarn and learn how to draw your own Beano front cover featuring some favourite Beano characters.

 

Aug Fri 25 2pm – 4pm   Ages 8 – 12  £12
Joke Time!
Some of the best cartoons are single pictures that make us laugh on postcards or on the internet.
Tell Steve Marchant some of your favourite jokes and learn how to turn them into cartoons.

 

Aug Weds 30         
Comic-Strip Masterclass with Karen Rubins
11am – 3.30pm  Ages 10-14  £25
NOT FOR BEGINNERS! If you've got the basics under your belt – perhaps you've been
to our workshops before – here's where you'll learn professional methods of working in a series of fun, lively exercises for aspiring comics and manga artists.
 Please bring a packed lunch.


Aug Thurs 31        
11am – 1pm  Ages 8 – 12  £12
The Adventures of YOU!
Do you sometimes get stuck for ideas? Wallis Eates shows you how to turn your daily life into a funny comic-strip story.

2pm – 4pm Ages 8 – 12  £12
Create A Comic-Strip with Steve
Using one of our special worksheets, Steve Marchant will teach you how to quickly and easily complete a one-page comic-strip story.

 

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Praise for previous workshops:

"Thank you to the Cartoon Museum and Steve for such a great day yesterday.  My son clearly had an excellent time and came away having learnt new skills and generally had fun too.  Many many thanks!" (Ros, Parent)

"Thank you for the super workshop we had on Saturday. We all really enjoyed it, and the kids have been inspired to work on new characters at home!" (Ghislaine, Parent)

"We wanted to say a BIG thank you for Sunday. Ava and all the kids had a fab time - an experience they will remember! I know plenty of them want to come back soon." (Amber, Parent)

"It was very good and I would come again" (Comic Masterclass, Age 14)

 

"It was a great workshop, I wish I could come again." (Manga Workshop, Age 10)

 

"LET ME DO MORE!" (Claymation, Age 10)

 

"I would like to say that I love the Cartoon Museum! The teacher is awesome, the Cartoon Museum is the BEST!" (Manga and Anime Animals, Age 9)

High Command

High Command by Frank Bellamy features reprints from the original Eagle magazine (the real life, back-page, stories of Winston Churchill and Montgomery of Alamein). 

These stories were reprinted in English (softback the ISBN is 90 6332 901 6; hardback the ISBN is 90 6332 851 6) and in Dutch as well. 

The hardback is hard to get in English and the softback is hard to get in Dutch.

 (

A Denis Gifford selection (2)

Following on from my post last week (here) about 2 of the smaller books he wrote, here are 3 more pocket-sized volumes that he contributed to...

Denis's ITV show. Cover shown (from left to right)...Graeme Garden, Michael Bentine, Bill Tidy [red jumper] and Rolf Harris. The cover is by Chas Sinclair. The book is mainly cartooning tips and drawings By Denis but features artwork form the other cover stars.

It does what is says on the tine this one, a quiz book all about TV, questions by Denis Gifford (presumably) cartoon art throughout is by Terry Wakefield (more details here)

Another legendary comedy duo get the punning treatment from Denis in this small volume. Illustrations this time are by George Parlett (son of Harry Parlett and brother to Reg Parlett)

Go on, collect the set, why not? All should be available relatively cheaply.

uncensored Scream art for sale

Someone (not me) is selling off an original piece of censored piece art from Scream #3 (07/04/54) here.

The first scan, below, shows the published page from Scream. If you looks closely at the face of Kenny (the boy) in the last frame you'll see that it doesn't look like the other images of his face. Turns out, this is because that face wasn't drawn by Redondo at all. Why not? See the 2nd image to see why not...

Yes, Redondo had drawn Uncle Terry attempting to throttle Kenny. Mind you, he'd drawn exactly the same image (only much larger!) in the frame before and that hadn't been censored. Who knows why not. Bids start at £350, good luck!

Paul Temple Library - issues 1-4

In 1964 digest publisher Micron produced 10 issues of the 'Paul Temple library' reprinting newspapers strips from the Evening News. I own issues 1, 2 and 4 and failed, yesterday, on ebay to acquire issue 3. The reprints are very scarce indeed.

 

What was the first British trade paperback?

So, here's a question I don't know the answer to but I thought it might be interesting to turn it over to the hive mind and see if we can come up with an answer...Which was the first British "trade paperback" to be published? I know this (US) definition is usually applied to volumes that typically reprint 4-6 issues of any given title.

I'm differentiating it from the term 'graphic novel' which I'm taking to mean a title published entirely as one volume. Whatever.

I'll open the bidding with this item, this is an overs-sized (and extremely flimsy) softback reprinting of the (original) Eagle magazine back-page strip The Baden-Powell story. It appeared in 1957 and had originally appeared in Eagle volume 5 number 17 (23/04/54) to volume 5 number 45 (05/11/54), written by Geoffrey Bond (under his Alan Jason pseudonym) and is illustrated by Norman Williams.

the Mekon is for sale!

News from Peter Hampson's website (maintained in honour of his artist father, Frank Hampson) is that a number of Mekon sculptures created by the late (fine) artist Pip Warwick have been inherited by ceramicist Catherine Warwick, her website is here.

More details can be found on Peter's website (here), as well as the images there are notes on the extraordinary technical complexity of creating these sculptures (5,000 man-hours; 113 inter-locking parts; £10,000 of [mid-1970s] development money).

Here are some of the amazing images from the site

All images are (c) Peter Hampson are used purely for publicity purposes.

When comic retailers go into publishing...

So, if you run a comic shop it's a pretty safe bet that you love comics, that you see a load of comics fans every day and you (perhaps inevitably) think "...I could produce stuff better than Marvel / DC / Image", so here are some comics where the shop owner thought they could outdo their esteemed rivals...

3 issue mini-series from Krypton Comics (in 2005)...copies of all issues available on Amazon & ebay

and this appears to collect issues 1-3 together...

An AIDS awareness comic from St Albans based Chaos City Comics 

Girl novels - part 2

This second 'set' of Girl novels are all much longer volumes than these but they are all very similar in design (red spine with the Girl emblem on it).

From 1958...Geoffrey Bond also wrote (Luck of the Legion novels) for Eagle. This tells how an amusing, but trivial, incident with a baker's horse leads Claudia to search for the member of an old circus troupe, long since disbanded. No-one is more surprised than Claudia at the strange people and places to which the long and exciting quest leads her.

From 1960...Peter Ling also wrote a character spin-off novel for Eagle (The three J's and the pride of Northbrook). Angela is on the London-New York-Bermuda flight as the story opens, having been previously warned to be on the constant lookout for gold smugglers. Could the quiet, sinister-looking couple be involved, or perhaps handsome Max, who wants to take her out? The story takes many exciting and unforeseen twists which puts Angela to the test, and lead her into some very unusual situations.

First published in 1958 and then reprinted in 1960 (none of the Eagle spin-off novels were ever re-printed). Susan Marsh, the popular young student nurse has a host of problems when a pretty new Sister comes to ST. Bride's Hospital from London - and not the least of them is what to about Rocky, the amiable young man who is nevertheless a deserter from the Army.

First published in 1961. Image taken from here

Girl novels - part 1

Once Hulton Press had launched Eagle, and then Girl, they wasted no time cashing in on their new creations. A vast amount of merchandise (much of which was Dan Dare related) was generated by companies who purchased licences from Hulton Press. Some of the other items, such as the annuals an assorted character spin-off novels, were kept 'in house'.

Here are scans of the covers of the first 4 spin-off novels that Hulton produced for Girl, note the distinctive yellow dust wrapper, this still makes the titles stand out on the shelves even today.

Gala Performance is from 1956, Country holiday is from 1957 - both are by George Beardmore.

The  Dutch stamp mystery was first published in 1956 and then reprinted in 1957; the missing scientist was also from 1957. Both titles are written by Valerie Hastings.

A Denis Gifford selection (1)

Denis Gifford wrote many (large) reference books on the history of British comics, and while more modern day comics were not his forte, our knowledge of the history of British comics would be much poorer without his pioneering efforts. Presented here are the 2 editions of both the (small) books he wrote for Shire Publications. All are still worth searching out...