Swift novels

Swift magazine (the junior companion to the original Eagle magazine) published a number of tie-in books - mainly the 'Swift picture book of..." series. They also published 3 tie-in novels, shown here...

Smiley has an exciting life in the Australian bush with his friend Joey. But until Smiley Roams the Road, he has never seen the sea. When he does visit it, he finds himself in the thick of some of the most exciting adventures he has ever had. In and out of trouble all the time, he rides turtles in the surf, starts a fire, is chased by sharks. And those are just a few of the things he gets up to before he 
sets off on his travels with Old Restless, the tramp, and finishes up finally with a travelling fair. Readers of Swift will know Smiley already, and will enjoy reading this new adventure as much as I did - Marcus Morris.

Here is the first book ever about a character from the pages of Swift - that great favourite, Nicky Nobody. The story tells how Nicky receives a camera as a birthday present. he takes a photograph and, when it is developed, sees something on it which should not be there. Finding the solution to the mystery leads Nicky and his dog chum into an adventure in which the excitement lasts right up to the final page - Marcus Morris

Dixon of Dock Green was just settling down to watch his favourite football team win their first game of the new season at White Hart Lane when word came to him that the team manager's safe had been burgled. Dixon suddenly finds himself involved with a gang of international crooks, and the K plan, a secret football system designed to put nay team into the world-beater class. There is also the kidnap of a famous scientist. This Dixon adventure will thrill everyone who enjoys an exciting story.

Buck Danny - mission 'apocalypse'

Following on from my post the other day about Thorgal before it was published by Cinebook (here) I thought I'd show another volume that had a publishing life before Cinebooks.

The title is "The adventures of Buck Danny - mission 'apocalypse'" and it looks like this...

46 pages (again, just like 'Thorgal - child of the stars'), published in the USA in 1988 by Amusement International Ltd. It's quite a thin volume. As far as I'm aware this is the only (English language) volume of stories that were reprinted before Cinebooks started publishing them.


Plenty of military tech. to feast your eyes on...

Rear cover image of Buck...

Cinebook (here) have, so date, published 7 volume of Buck's adventures. As they say...From the bloody episodes of WWII in the Pacific to the most modern developments in aviation, going from adventure to adventure, the aviator Buck Danny and his colleagues cross a half-century of American and world history. Joining an extraordinarily accurate sense of detail with the inspiration of great epics, Buck Danny’s adventures keep us in suspense and show us the hidden side of global geopolitics. The adventures of Buck Danny are a creation of Georges Troisfontaines, Victor Hubinon and Jean-Michel Charlier. The series was created for the magazine Spirou shortly after World War II, and was first published on January 2, 1947. After Hubinon's death in 1978, the drawing of the series was taken over by Francis Bergèse, who also took over the writing after Charlier passed away 11 years later.

Round the twist

As a kid I loved the TV show Round the twist and the book on which is was based - an age-old concept these are 'twist in the tail' stories, there was one about a magician worrying about passing his exams and a sausage coming to his aid IIRC - that one always stuck in my mind.

I see from the back of this book that the (Australian) TV show lasted 26 episodes. I was therefore delighted to pick up this A4, 46 page, full colour throughout volume up some years ago. What I've never been able to discover is was book 2 ever published - can you help?

Thorgal - child of the stars

For anyone who enjoys collecting the European comics reprints that Cinebook put out (I only collect one series, Blake & Mortimer, - it's all my funds will allow) - it's always worth checking out the excellent European Comics website to look for earlier editions of your favourite title.

This was where I discovered this one-off US reprint (from 1986) of the Thorgal series which Cinebook have been re-printing here

Action - the grail issue

***********************************UPDATE**************************************

FAILS TO SELL

(again)

*********************************************************************************



What happened to the banned issue of Action that was for sale recently?

Action - the banned issue - for sale (yet) again

Previously (here) I reported on the sale in October 2016 of the final issue of Action comic (dated 23rd October 1976). That was sold for £4110.75 (here)

This beat the hammer price of the previous copy (sold in May 2016) for £2555 here

Then another copy turned up, it was originally listed at £2,500...here but failed to sell - on 21st January 2017 for (bids from) £2,500;

It was then listed again ending 27th Feb 2017 for the reduced price of (bids from) £2,250 here

But again failed to sell.

It was then listed yet again, for bids starting from "just" £2,250 here but again failed to sell.

It was then listed again (bidding ending 16th April) - bids were again from £2,250 here and again it failed to sell.

Well now it's been listed AGAIN (ending 8th May 2017) but this time with a price reduction (of £250) so head over here and see if you have £2,000 burning a hole in your pocket. It again failed to sell

Now it's been re-listed yet again - here (ending 6th June) - and it's still yours for opening bids from £2,000 - good luck, you never know when you might get another opportunity like this. Or, maybe you will, next month for instance.

Desmond Walduck art - something a little different

Over here (on that ebay), something a little different is for sale, it's a watercolour of a wildlife scene by renowned Dan Dare artist, Desmond Walduck. Walduck is most well-known for his artwork on the 'Prisoners of space' storyline. I've seen examples of his watercolour scenes fo the natural world before but this is the first one I've seen for a while. The sellers has more pictures. Auction ends mid-afternoon tomorrow (Saturday).

Brett Ewins on politics

ok, so we haven't quite got to 2019 yet, but, in honour of the inconclusive exit poll predictions etc. here's Brett Ewin's take on politics (from the Spitting image  - the giant komic book)

Good night!

Dan Dare exhibition on in Herne Bay this summer

Jason Jay Lowe has flagged up the presence of a Dan Dare exhibition in Herne Bay - it's on at the moment and runs until 1st July (2017), here are some of his images...

Details of the museum can be found here - there are also a number of associated events - including a tour of the exhibition with the curator every Wednesday at noon and an Eagle day on Sunday 18th June noon-3pm

The adventures of John Blake

(from the back cover of this week's issue of the Phoenix - issue 283 (03/06/17)

...has been getting a lot of good coverage recently (here's the link to the review by the Observer's Rachel Cooke) so I thought I'd see what images I could come up with for this tale, by renowned author Philip Pullman, of time travel on the high seas, from the children's weekly comic, the Phoenix...

Here's a teaser poster from the back cover of issue 226 (30/04/16)

Here's a teaser poster from the back cover of issue 227 (07/05/16)

First time on the cover - issue 228 (14/05/16)

Second time on the cover - issue 233 (18/06/16)

My favourite of all the images - front cover to issue 236 (09/07/16)

Last front cover - issue 240 (06/08/16)

English Heritage does comics (sort of)

I remember seeing this book in the shops when it first came out (in 2006) and despite my interest in football and old comics/magazines I decided that the £16.99 price tag was a bit steep for me so I left it.

However, spotting a copy at my local boot fair on Sunday morning I snapped up a (pretty much unread) copy for the princely sum of 50p.

Getting it home I was intrigued to see the English Heritage logo and the "played in Britain" branding. A quick look at the played in Britain website (here) reveals some great books about our sporting past. It also reveals that as well as the 'main' Football monthly book (170+ pages, A4, full colour throughout) there were also 4 spin-off annuals for a number of individual clubs...

Anyway, not strictly comics, but certainly the 'main' book (I don't (yet!) own any of the club specific volumes provides a great comparison to the sport as it stands today.

Action - the Grail issue for sale (yet again)

What happened to the banned issue of Action that was for sale recently?

Action - the banned issue - for sale (yet) again

Previously (here) I reported on the sale in October 2016 of the final issue of Action comic (dated 23rd October 1976). That was sold for £4110.75 (here)

This beat the hammer price of the previous copy (sold in May 2016) for £2555 here

Then another copy turned up, it was originally listed at £2,500...here but failed to sell - on 21st January 2017 for (bids from) £2,500;

It was then listed again ending 27th Feb 2017 for the reduced price of (bids from) £2,250 here

But again failed to sell.

It was then listed yet again, for bids starting from "just" £2,250 here but again failed to sell.

It was then listed again (bidding ending 16th April) - bids were again from £2,250 here and again it failed to sell.

Well now it's been listed AGAIN (ending 8th May 2017) but this time with a price reduction (of £250) so head over here and see if you have £2,000 burning a hole in your pocket. It again failed to sell

Now it's been re-listed yet again - here (ending 6th June) - and it's still yours for opening bids from £2,000 - good luck, you never know when you might get another opportunity like this. Or, maybe you will, next month for instance.

What I found on my holidays...

More about where I've recently been on my holidays (think it wins the award for Britain's geekiest high street!) but until then, this is what I picked up in my week away

Foreign reprints in this obscure title - only 6 issues published and this is #5 in my collection, very pleased to acquire this for £2 

After this issue there isn't another edition on sale until 24th August so savour this one while you can

I love newspaper strips and I love Modesty Blaise butt here are so many reprint volumes out there in this series that I only pick them up when they are cheap, slightly knocked about, £3

I'm an Eagle magazine kind of Guy first and foremost but I've slowly been picking up the spin-off novels published by Girl and Swift - I nearly bought this 12 months ago but put it back on the shelf, 12 months later and I succumb to temptation (for £4.50)  

Leo Baxendale interviewed!

From the pages of Ally Sloper #3 (December 1976)...

comes this interview and exclusive artwork...

This is the same piece but with just the text, in case it's too hard to read the panel above...

Ally Sloper #2

Also from Ally Sloper #2 here's a cavalcade (is that the right collective term) of cartoonists at the Ally Sloper launch party; some still with us, some dearly departed. Anyway, a nostalgic moment.

Ally Sloper #2 - Kev O'Neill & Harry Bishop

From the pages of Ally Sloper magazine #2 (October 1976) comes this early piece of Kev O'Neill artwork...

and here's the issue to Ally Sloper #2 - cover by renowned western artist Harry Bishop

Ally Sloper #4

From the pages of Ally Sloper magazine #4 (January 1977) artwork by two of the American great - Al Williamson and Jack Kirby - both with their take on Ally himself

The adventures of Captain Cosmic

Came across this in a charity shop recently for 99p, hardback annual 48 pages - an independently produced (i.e. not by DC Thomson, Grandreams, Fleetway etc.) annual is always an oddity, so was intrigued enough to pick it up.

Looks good!