UPDATED: Smurfs comic from DeVere

From 1996 here's issue 1 (November 1996) of 'The Smurfs' comic from DeVere Entertainment

32 pages in total

It contains the following comic strips by Peyou:

a). The Smurfosaurus (8 pages long)

b). The baby owl (8 pages long)

c). Lazy Smurf sets to work (1 page)

Issue 2, the Smurfs comic (December 1996)

Issue 3, the Smurfs comic (January 1997)

Issue 4, the Smurfs comic (February 1997)

32 pages in total

It contains the following comic strips by Peyou:

a). The little blue bunny (8 pages)

b). The warm-hearted Smurf (text story, 2 pages)

c). The Smurf's little kitten (8 pages)

d). Bloomin' lovely! (1 page)

Issue 5, the Smurfs comic (March 1997)

32 pages in total

It contains the following comic strips by Peyou:

a). All's well (8 pages)

b). The nothing machine (text story, 2 pages)

c). The DIY Smurf (8 pages)

d). That's ice...

Issue 6, the Smurfs comic (April 1997)

cover not to hand

Series 2

The series then appears to have been re-booted / re-numbered (the inside front page refers to this as "volume 2, number 1") - I now know this lasted at least 6 issues...it's from 1997 but is otherwise undated

So this issue 1 is from 1997, but is also published by DeVere (albeit by DeVere House of Fun rather than by DeVere Entertainment), the price had been reduced down to £1.25 (from £1.85) but the page count is down to 24 pages (from 32) and the paper is cheaper.

Stories by Peyou are as follows:

a). Shake and fly! (8 pages)

b). The edelweiss (text story, 2 pages)
c). Food for thought (1 page)

Issue 2, the Smurfs comic

Stories by Peyou are as follows:

a). Musician Smurf's oompah! (8 pages)

b). Rhyme nor reason (text story, 2 pages)

c). Shake 'n' bake! (1 page)

Issue 3, the Smurfs comic

Stories by Peyou are as follows:

a). Puppy and the Smurfs (8 pages)

b). The whitebird (text story, 2 pages)

c). Trumpet trauma (1 page)

Issue 4, the Smurfs comic

Stories by Peyou are as follows:

a). Puppy and the Smurfs (8 pages)*

b). The red stew (text story, 2 pages)

c). Fruity fun (1 page)

*the story title is wrong (Puppy and the Smurfs was from issue 3) - this story is about the Smurf fire brigade 

Issue 5, the Smurfs comic
cover not to hand

Issue 6, the Smurfs comic

Stories by Peyou are as follows:

a). The Smurfs and mother nature (8 pages)

b). Jobs for the Smurfs (text story, 2 pages)

c). The tournament (8 pages)

c). Skating on thin ice (1 page)

Mario Capaldi - Sylvanian Families (part 1)

Following on from recent Marvel UK postings (here, here and here) many of which featured covers by Mario Capaldi I thought I'd pull together a listing of his work on Original Sylvanian Families. 

Why? Well I knew from a few issues that I'd picked up that Mario seemed to have done the cover artwork on plenty of the issues but I didn't know if he'd done all of them. Anyway, there's too many issues to all fit into one blog posting so I've broken it into a few, smaller more manageable chunks...

Original Sylvanian Families, Marvel UK comic, issue 1, 22nd October 1988

Original Sylvanian Families, Marvel UK comic, issue 2, 5th November 1988

Original Sylvanian Families, Marvel UK comic, issue 3, 19th November 1988

Original Sylvanian Families, Marvel UK comic, issue 4, 3rd December 1988

Original Sylvanian Families, Marvel UK comic, issue 5, 17th December 1988

Nick Raven - lost in the Amazon

A while ago (here) I looked at a book that, according to most of the comments that were left, most people seemed to reckon was about the best book people ever found in the school library. Copies of the series seem really hard to track down so I was delighted to spot this copy on ebay and swipe the photos from it.

So without further ado here's more examples of Gerry Embleton's art from the "...with Nick Raven and the S.A.T.A.N. Squad" series, this time we're Lost in the Amazon... 

Impressively the story is written by the leader of the Wallace Expedition to Amazonia (1978) - kudos.

Marvel UK's Madballs comic

Following on from my 'Captain Planet' post yesterday I thought I'd look at another Marvel UK title I've not previously covered. So here's Madballs for your enjoyment, from 1987/8, an 8 issue series. 

I don't own of these issues so I've had to pinch them off the internet. It's hard to tell if the covers are showing you a children's horror comic (covers to issues 1 and 5) or whether it's a kids comic (covers to issues 2, 3, 4 & 7). Anyway, enjoy! 

Madballs comic, Marvel UK, issue 1, October 1987

Madballs comic, Marvel UK, issue 2, November 1987

Madballs comic, Marvel UK, issue 3, December 1987

Madballs comic, Marvel UK, issue 4, January 1988

Madballs comic, Marvel UK, issue 5, February 1988

Madballs comic, Marvel UK, issue 6, March 1988
cover image not to hand

Madballs comic, Marvel UK, issue 7, April 1988

Madballs comic, Marvel UK, issue 8, April 1988

I put the post up on a facebook group and, as you can see from the note below, John Michael Burns (renowned colourist and nephew of artist John M Burns) commented about colouring the cover for #1 

Marvel UK - Captain Planet & the planeteers

Prompted by a question on a facebook group together I've been inspired to look into the 'Captain Planet and the planeteers' comic...I don't have any copies myself so I've scoured t'internet for the images below...Marvel US put out a 12-issue series but for Marvel UK I've only got up to issue 4 so far - were there more? Let me know! 


Captain Planet and the planeteers, Marvel UK, issue 1, cover dated 12th October 1991

Captain Planet and the planeteers, Marvel UK, issue 2, cover dated 26th October 1991

Looks like Mario Capaldi on cover art duties 

Captain Planet and the planeteers, Marvel UK, issue 3, cover dated 9th November 1991
cover not to hand

Captain Planet and the planeteers, Marvel UK, issue 4, cover dated 23rd November 1991

Looks like Mario Capaldi on cover art duties

Captain Planet and the planeteers, Marvel UK, holiday special

Hmmm, where did they get that idea for a cover from?

And Tim Perkins worked on the annual (and he also worked on a colouring book and the colouring & activity book)

I posted the above in a Facebook group and John Michael Burns (renowned colourist and nephew of artist John M Burns) was kind enought to make a comment on the post...

UPDATED: Biker mice from Mars - from Marvel UK

Biker Mice from Mars was a short-lived title from Marvel UK - only 7 issues were produced and it's proving a hard title to collect! When I was looking for cover scans there seemed to be more from the German version of the comic than the British!

More details when I get them - the Wikipedia page about the cartoon TV show that the comics were based on is here

Updates in red

Issue 1 - cover dated 17th Feb 1995

Issue 2 - cover dated 3rd March 1995

Issue 3 - cover dated 17th March 1995

Issue 4 - cover dated 31st March 1995

Issue 5 - cover dated 14th April 1995

Issue 6 - cover dated 28th April 1995

Issue 7 - cover dated 12th May 1995

From the 3 issue I have (1, 2 and 5) Dan Abnett appears to have been the main writer, David Leach has mainly done the colouring, some pencils by Lee Sullivan.  

Comments on who worked on what...