A turn of the century run of 20 Boy’s Comic first issues included ‘The British Lion No. 1, a story paper of which we were unable to find any info whatsoever, Google or otherwise. They sold for a strong £410.

20 Girl’s comics and magazines first issues from the same era took £240

A bound early volume of The Beano from 1946 showed that Dudley Watkins was finally given permission to sign his own work. So the Lord wasn’t too Snooty to take £500.

A wonderful 6 page artwork by Dudley Watkins had Tom Thumb making the king’s new pipe at a very reasonable £540.

A bound volume of The Dandy from 1956 was in superb [vfn/vfn+] condition and this highest grade year ever offered at auction. It took a corking £880.

78 Roxy comics combined stories of romance and teen-age heart-throbs with several early free gifts. The lot even included an EP entitled ‘Craig Douglas sings for Roxy’. Nicely tuned in at £520.00
Can anyone imagine Charlie XCX singing for The Beano?

The complete 6 issue run of Tit-Bits Science Fiction Comics (1953-54) with most cover and interior art by TV 21’s Daleks artist, Ron Turner sold for just over the upper estimate of £430.

And here was Ron Turner’s 1980s re-creation cover artwork of one of those Tit-Bits titles, ‘The Diemos Deadline’ selling at the opening bid of £360.

A [vg+] No. 1 copy of Commando War Stories in Pictures fought its way to £960.

The complete year of Judy, Nos 1-51, included the Judy Club Membership Card with enamel Judy Badge. This Girl’s comic stalwart from 1960 starring Sandra of the Secret Ballet pirouetted to £520.

The first UK OZ Magazine came out (literally) in 1967 with a spoof Private Eye cover by Gerald Scarfe, Germaine Greer’s In Bed with the English (quite a short article) and a fold-out LBJ Napalm Playmate of the Month calendar by Martin Sharp. This scarce first anti-establishment issue tuned-in and turned-on the winning bidder with £1,020.

We had never seen the Sparky first 49 issues offered before and they were accompanied by the No. 1 Flyer and No 3 Red Racketty free gift. As well as Sparky, The Moonsters, Dreamy Dave and Dozy Dora, the comic borrowed The Dandy’s Keyhole Kate and The Beano’s Pansy Potter. The strong-man’s ‘Dotter’ strong-armed £340 with nae bother.

The complete 1964 year of Tiger comics starred Jet-Ace Logan, Roy of the Rovers, Olac The Gladiator, and Johnny Cougar who wrestled £520 to the ground.

 

Charley’s War artwork by Joe Colquhoun with script by Pat Mills continues to be strongly contested and this 4-page artwork achieved £1,260…
‘October 1916. As the Somme battle raged on, the ruthless Colonel Zeiss and his “Judgement Troopers” prepared for Operation Wotan, he ordered German pioneer troops to be paraded before him…’

We heard a charming story from the winning bidder who now lives in Canada. Thrilling to the apocalyptic antics of Judge Dredd in his UK childhood, he decided that this was his opportunity to get them all back, especially as they were offered here with fresh, flat pages and pristine free gifts - a world away from his dog-eared swaps in the school playground. He also decided to buy the full 20 issues of 2000AD we offered over 4 consecutive lots for a total of £1280. Case closed.

Four Golden Age Green Hornet comics in VG grades were good value at £46 each

A high grade Thing #16 CGC 9.4 at £210 did not frighten Worlds of Fear #3 CBCS 5.0 at £200.

Amazing Fantasy #15 continues to outshine all Marvel Silver Age titles and this UK priced, restored grade, CGC 2.0 example sold well for £8,300.

Amazing Spider-Man #8 (1964) [vg/fn] at £310 and #113 (1972) CGC 9.6 at £310 were worlds and grades apart but very close price points.

The early Hulks are difficult to find, even in mid grades so here was #2 in [vg] at £1300 and #3 in [fn] at £700. Both cents copies.

Followed by #4 in [fn] reaching £350 and a cents #5 in [vg/fn] at £330.

The first appearance of Thor, a UK priced CGC 4.0 example hammered £3360.

Introducing Doctor Strange, Strange Tales #110 is strongly collected and our cents copy CGC 5.0 example did not disappoint with £1520

Here are Tales of Suspense #49 CGC 7.5 and X-Men #52 CGC 9.4 selling at £250 and £350 respectively.

Lower grade CGCs generally do well with Flash #105 CGC 3.5 at £680 and the first Green Lantern CBCS 4.5 at £520, although the contents might have something to do with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 1950s heralded a proliferation of UK romance titles as publishers began to realise that ‘Love Stories In Pictures’ could be combined with teen fashion, beauty tips, pop star interviews and problem pages to boost sales, becoming a printed, innocent Tik-Tok of their day (the only strips in their publications were comic ones).

 

One of the most popular titles was Valentine, which starred Bobby Darin, Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Tony Newley, Frank Sinatra, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Adam, Cliff and Elvis and (of course) Dickie Valentine. Features also included Rock Around the Mailbag, Emergency Ward 10, ‘Disc-Covering’ Pick of the Pops new releases and Dear Stevie’s Problem page. The last of which contained the following letter:

 

‘Dear Stevie, I have a very nice boyfriend but when we go walking he always whistles at other pretty girls, what can I do to stop him?’
‘Put some gravel in his birdseed’ was Stevie’s tart response.