UPDATED: Keith Burns covers for Commando

I first came across Keith Burns art when he illustrated the Titan comics Johnny Red series, since then he's just started illustrating Commando covers and the covers are fantastic. Here are the covers he's done so far...

Commando 5209 - American avenger

Commando 5215 - a matter of honour

Commando 5229 - shadow in the storm!

Commando 5241 - steel inferno

Commando 5251 - Radar raiders

Commando 5259 - Braddock

Commando 5267 - Braddock demons

Commando 5289 - the Wombat and the Tiger

Commando 5297 - fog of war

Commando 5299 - Sladen's promise

Commando 5307 - Stealing Stukas

Commando 5315 - Ironhide

Commando 5329 - Blitzkrieg west

Commando 5335 - Durand's Dunkirk

Commando 5337 - Dodger's Dunkirk

This issue is interconnected with issue 5337 Durand's Dunkirk but told from the perspective of the British fighting to stop their retreat.

Commando 5353 - Outgunned!

Commando 5355 - Bullseye Bruno

Commando 5377 - Third time lucky

Commando 5385 - The flying emu

Commando 5395 - HMAS Expendable

Commando 5411 - Ready for Anything!

Commando 5417 - The girls on the guns

Commando 5448 - Die-or walk!

Check out the third of our nine 60th Anniversary specials Issue 5448 Die — or Walk! Former editor Calum Laird's sequel to Commando Issue 1 Walk — or Die! has the table turned with the Brit carrying the Jerry!

Commando 5463 - Target Tomcat

Commando 5481 - Vengeance

Commando 5497 - Pearl Harbor

Commando 5511 - Escape from Java

Commando 5525 - Sink the Shokaku!

published March 15th 2022

Commando 5547 - Stay behind squad

published June 9th 2022

Commando 5559 - Wild weasel!

to be published July 21st 2022

Commando 5607 - Combat air patrol

Commando 5619 - Achtung, destroyer!

in shops from mid-February

Axa special - from Book Palace

The Book Palace have released some teaser images for their upcoming special about newspaper comic strip Axa and its artist Romero. Details of the standard edition (£35) are here 

There'll also be a hardback version - details are here

It's about time - Brian Bolland memoir

The Book Palace have released some new images for the upcoming Bolland memoir...Don't forget that there are 3 different versions available but the cheapest version is here

The Robin comic 1st birthday book

Robin comic was one of the companion titles to the original Eagle comic (along with Girl and Swift) - Robin was aimed at the youngest demographic of the 4 titles. I don't collect Robin material but I thought I should try and record what sort of spin-off ephemera, games etc. exist for Robin.

The main problem with this is that is you google "Robin comic merchandise" you get an awful lot of stuff relating to Batman's young assistant, grrr.

Spin-off books are here

The 2nd birthday book is here

The 3rd birthday book is here

The 4th birthday book is here

The 5th birthday book is here

The 10th birthday book is here

The 13th birthday book is here

Here's my look at the 1st birthday book...

UPDATED: 'The wisdom of gnomes'

One of the first comics I ever blogged about (here, here and here) was a title called 'Wanted' - it was published by 'Celebrity' - a publisher about whom I knew very little (then or now!). It would turn out that Celebrity's most successful title would be their Count Duckula comic (which I covered here), but they had at least one other title published. This was The wisdom of gnomes, an (according to wikipedia) animated series made in Spain and was a spin-off from the series 'David the gnome'.

UPDATED information is highlighted in red

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 1, 28th September 1989 


The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 2, 25th October 1989 

Cover art looks like it is by Mario Capaldi.
24 pages long
Inside you get a single story - Journey to Scotland - which runs to 16 pages - with the rest being a mix of games, puzzles and adverts.
Interior art is unsigned but looks like it could be Capaldi (albeit drawing in quite a simplified style).

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 3, 8th November 1989


Now the question is - were there any more issues? Surely, no comic series stops after 3 issues? Sadly, I can't find any more but if you know differently do let me know.

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 4, 22nd November 1989

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 5, 6th December 1989

no image to hand - can you help?

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 6, 20th December 1989

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 7, 3rd January 1990

no image to hand - can you help?

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 8, 17th January 1990

no image to hand - can you help?

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 9, 31st January 1990

no image to hand - can you help?

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 10, 14th February 1990

no image to hand - can you help?

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 11, 28th February 1990

no image to hand - can you help?

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 12, 14th March 1990

no image to hand - can you help?

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 13, 28th March 1990

no image to hand - can you help?

UPDATE: I've now found the following references in Denis Gifford's old ACE newsletters...

Newsletter #115 (volume 13, issue 3), June 1990, Wisdom goes monthly from the April 1990 issue

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 14, April 1990

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 15, May 1990

image not to hand - can you help?

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 16, June 1990

image not to hand - can you help?

The wisdom of the gnomes, Celebrity, issue 17, July 1990

Newsletter #117 (volume 13, issue 5), September 1990, the July 1990 issue of Wisdom is the final issue - issue #17 - and here it is c/o comics fan, and friend of the blog, Michael Carroll

So that's quite a few more issues than I was expecting and means there's plenty more issues to track down.

There were also (at least) 2 annuals produced - both look like they are sporting covers by Mario Capaldi. 

The 1991 annual

Celebrity Publications postal address was Unit 1, H.Q. 3, Hook Rise South, Surbiton, Surrey, KT6 7NH

Editor is Floron Florenzo
Assistant to editor is Ben Lakofski
Editorial Director is Etta Saunder

Ka-Boom - the art of creating comics (part 1)

Currently running at the Story Museum in Oxford is "Ka-Boom - the art of creating comics" - details here. There's plenty of original art featured in the exhibition, here's an initial selection...

Here's Minnie the minx as drawn by Laura Howell

Here's more Minnie the minx as drawn by Laura Howell

Here are some pages for The Phoneix by Zak Simmonds

Here's Leo Baxendale drawing the Bash Street kids

Here's David Law drawing Dennis the Menace

Gerry Anderson's Century 21 at the Cartoon Museum

Opening on the 3rd March (2023) is this small exhibition at the Cartoon Museum in London. This is NOT their main exhibition. 

As it says on their press release...

This exhibition is a tribute to the man who revolutionised the world of puppetry with his advanced technique of Supermarionation, as well as the wider world of science fiction. While his career began in the 50s, Anderson's Supermarionation success began with Supercar in 1960. Following that, Fireball XL5 was popular across the globe. Which in turn led to the creation of the first colour children's TV show ever made in Britain, Stingray. By 1965 Anderson's team reached the pinnacle of their puppetry productions with Thunderbirds - a show which remains part of the cultural fabric of the UK and beyond.

Anderson's innovation didn't stop there. In the mid 1960s, to capitalise on the nationwide obsession with this new and interesting style of television, the weekly comic in a novel newspaper format TV Century 21 was launched. It updated kids across the country on the adventures of their favourite heroes from the telly. This gave rise to decades more comic tie-ins with Anderson shows. Iconic titles like Countdown, TV Action, Look In, Thunderbirds, Stingray, Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons.

This exhibition at the Cartoon Museum will take visitors back in time to a more magical period of retro-futuristic glitz, glamour and adventure, showcasing classic comic artwork based on the worlds of Gerry Anderson. It's an opportunity to relive the nostalgia of crowding around worn-out comics and dodgy TV sets, and to pay homage to the man who raised generations of children from the 60s to the 2000s on tales of science fiction and intrigue.

The Cartoon Museum can be found at 63 Wells Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1A 3AE. 

Tel: 020 7580 8155

For more information visit www.cartoonmuseum.org / Twitter @cartoonmuseumuk / Facebook @TheCartoonMuseum  / Instagram @thecartoonmuseum / YouTube - The Cartoon Museum