latest Catawiki auction is now open for bids

The latest Catawiki auction of comic art is now open for bids, as ever I've picked out my British comic art highlights...Bidding closes on Thursday night.

Here's a Don Lawrence Trigan Empire page from the 1973 story 'The house of the five moons'

Here's a Ruggero Giovannini Olac the Gladiator page

Here's a Edward Kearon Robot Archie page from a 1967 issue of Lion

Here's another Don Lawrence illustrated Trigan Empire page - this time from the 1968 story "The three princes". 

Best of 2000AD signing at Gosh

Don't forget that this is today! Note that Jamie McKelvie is no longer attending. Also, Adam Sherif has posted to say that they'll be asking folks attending to wear masks. Have a great day everyone!

To celebrate the launch of Best of 2000AD Gosh comics have announced a 2000AD themed signing on 24th September...great looking line-up - especially a rare chance to see Arthur Ranson.

As far as I'm aware Arthur's last signing appearance was at (the much missed) Orbital comics on October 5th 2018.

You can find all other mentions of Arthur on the blog here

Marvel UK - WCW comic

Inspired by Michael Carroll's recent really, really deep dive into Marvel UK in the '90s (check it out here) my interest was piqued by his reference to the World Championship Wrestling comic (from 1993/4). Never having seen these I'vs started scouring the internet to put together a covers gallery...

WCW, Marvel UK, issue 1, dated July 1992

image from

https://wcwworldwide.tumblr.com/search/marvel+uk

WCW, Marvel UK, issue 2, August 1992

image from

https://wcwworldwide.tumblr.com/search/marvel+uk

WCW, Marvel UK, issue 3, dated September 1992

image from  https://wcwworldwide.tumblr.com/post/97702263534/marvel-uks-wcw-world-championship-wrestling-3

WCW, Marvel UK, issue 4, dated October 1992

image from

https://wcwworldwide.tumblr.com/search/marvel+uk

WCW, Marvel UK, issue 5, dated November 1992

image from

https://wcwworldwide.tumblr.com/search/marvel+uk

WCW, Marvel UK, issue 6, dated December 1992

image from

https://wcwworldwide.tumblr.com/search/marvel+uk

WCW, Marvel UK, issue 7, dated January 1993

cover image not to hand - can you help?

WCW, Marvel UK, issue 8, dated February 1993

cover image not to hand - can you help?

WCW, Marvel UK, issue 9, dated March 1993

cover image not to hand - can you help?

WCW, Marvel UK, issue 10, dated April 1993

cover image not to hand - can you help?

UPDATED: Wonder weekly comic from Esso

For anyone who loves, like I do, collecting advertising comics then Wonder weekly from Esso is a must. The exact length of time that it ran for is unclear - the Complete catalogue of British comics (page 220) has it down as running for 52 issues but I've yet to see any issues numbered higher than 25.

Wonder was 16 pages long (4 in full colour) and was professionally produced with high quality artists on each strip. The lead strip is 'Wonder boy and tiger' and the other strip in colour is 'Hovercraft patrol' illustrated by Luis Bermejo. 

As a starter for 10 here's my guide to what Wonder looked like - I've got most of the issues up to issue 25 but not all of them so if you can help fill in any of the gaps just let me know.

Lew Stringer covered Wonder on his old blog here and here   

Today's update is an addition of the cover for issue #6

This now means I'm just missing cover images for issues 19, 22, 23 & 25+

I need issues...1, 19, 22, 23, 25 & 26 (and anything higher) 

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 1

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 2

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 3

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 4

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 5

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 6

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 7

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 8

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 9

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 10

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 11

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 12

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 13

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 14

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 15

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 16

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 17

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 18


Wonder comic from Esso, issue 19
cover not to hand

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 20

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 21

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 22
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Wonder comic from Esso, issue 23
cover not to hand

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 24

Wonder comic from Esso, issue 25

Brain Bolland picto-memoir - 3 versions available

Good news for all Brian Bolland fans out there...the Book Palace have announced 3 different versions of his upcoming picto-memoir..

The standard edition is priced at £39 and details are here

The special edition is priced at £65 and details are here - but basically this is limited to 150 signed & numbered copies AND you get a book plate signed by Brian

The collector's edition is priced at £95 and details are here - but basically this is limited to 100 signed & numbered copies AND you get TWO book plates signed by Brian. And it comes in a slipcase.

The book is due in Spring 2023

UPDATED: rare Captain Condor merchandise not to be sniffed at

A while ago I wrote about some obscure Captain Condor merchandise...a further update has now been added at the bottom of this post - shown thus

Dan Dare really monopolised British comics space-based merchandise but his rival Captain Condor was not above getting in on the merchandise action...First 2 images are small handkerchiefs from my collection (of comic stuff, not handkerchiefs)...

This final image is one that I grabbed from an ebay listing a while back and show that, innovatively, the handkerchief set actually tell a story...

This image also shows that different colour schemes were used on the same image - compare my red-edged handkerchiefs with the ones above. I'm sure that collecting a set of these is hard enough without worrying about getting a blue-edged set, a green-edged set and a red-edged set. Who knows though? If you're a big Captain Condor fan there's not a lot of '50s merchandise out there for you to collect and this may be your Holy Grail. Good luck with it.

...UPDATE and now another two have come to light

This is an ebay swipe and is entitled "Arrival on the moon"

This one is entitled "Martians space ships" and is clearly, unlike the earlier handkerchiefs, not part of a story.

So these two look like they could be part of a 'non-storytelling' set, in which case there's maybe just two more to find.

FURTHER UPDATE...

this handkerchief was recently for sale on ebay...not sure how this one fits into the "chronology" above but it could come before "Arrival on the moon" 

and I've now found this further example - entitled "Captain Condor inspects the defence of London"

For my reference I own the following:

"The SOS brought an immediate response..."

"Captain Condor and Pete land on their space station..."

"Martians space ships"

"Captain Condor inspects the defences of London"

"A helicopter from the space station saves Captain Condor and Pete just in time"

That means I don't own the following:

"SOS Condor calling space station...

"Captain Condor in the luna magnet ship circles to land"

"Arrival on the moon"

UPDATED: Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic

I've looked at a number of different Marvel UK titles before - check out all references to them on the blog here - but I realised the other day that I've not covered the Beavis and Butt-head comic - so without further ado...plenty of gaps to fill in, do let me know if you can help!

All updates are highlighted in red

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 1, 24th August 1994

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 2, 21st September 1994

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 3

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 4, 16th November 1994

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 5

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 6

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 7

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 8, March 1995

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 9

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 10

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 11

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 12, 26th June 1995

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 13

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 14

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 15

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 16, 18th October 1995

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 17

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 18

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 19

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 20, 7th Feb 1996

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 21, 6th March 1996

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 22

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 23

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 24

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 25

image not to hand - can you help?

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 26, 24th July 1996

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head comic, issue 21, 6th March 1996

Marvel UK's Beavis and Butt-head winter special