Frank Bellamy’s boards continue to dominate our UK artwork sales and this Heros piece was the third we had offered over the last few auctions, selling for £4350. We have one final Heros board from this vendor in next August’s auction and it will be, as expected, action-packed.

Cute Fun No 28 was a more modest artwork offering and this cover by E.H. Banger hooked £310

These 7 local press, low print run, issues were estimated at £30-50 and the bidding soon escalated to a very strong £220. We have been promised some more in August…

The Beezer issues 2-50 from 1956 went bananas, these fresh, flat copies finding a whopping £1220. The second near complete year in the following lot also found a strong £760.

The Dandy full year from 1954 introduced Young Drake, the boyhood adventures of Sir Francis Drake, by Dudley Watkins then Paddy Brennan, My Gang by Ron Smith (later to find iconic status drawing Judge Dredd), and Little Angel Face, Ken Reid’s first work for The Dandy. £660 took them away.

A fresh grade complete year of 1959 Dandys featured Round The World in 80 Days by Paddy Brennan and The Boy with the Iron Hands by Bill Holdroyd, also introducing Robinson and His Dog, Crusoe, who wolfed down £880

The full run of 54 Fan’s Star Library issues fanned £300

Buster’s 1965 year starred Thunderbolt the Avenger, The Toys of Doom and included wonderful free gifts the Zoom-A-Jet and a full-size Guy Fawkes Mask (never seen that one before) Nor had most of our bidders, who took the lot to £720

Alan Class b+w reprints of key US super-heroes create strong bidding competition these days and Creepy Worlds 72, heralding The Fantastic Four #1 cover and story made a hefty £310

Dudley Watkins superb illustration of Oor Wullie’s Hallowe’en adventure grabbed a very tidy £820

Frank Bellamy’s 2 Garth boards from the Spanish Lady story, both signed by the great man, excelled at £840, Ole!

More free gifts abounded with Wizard 1-46 from 1970 reaching £310

Charley’s War illustrations of the Battle of the Somme are harrowing in their graphic realism by master illustrator, Joe Colquhoun. These 3 consecutive pieces from Battle (1984) made a highly significant £1520, a record for these artworks.

 

Our US Silver Age section Age section mainly consisted of a large one-owner Marvel and DC collection where the front cover top-right Comic Code boxes had the ‘A’ filled in in red. We had been a little concerned as to how they might sell, but judging by the following prices, our bidders certainly weren’t.

 

This copy of Amazing Spider-Man #4 in lowly [gd] grade had major Marvel chipping to its RH cover edge but excelled at £580

No Doom-laden value here at £620

Fantastic Four #48, although not that rare, has improved strongly in value over the last few years and this [fn] graded pence copy shot to £1860.

The Black Panther pounced to £680

The Hulk #1 in any condition will demand a strong premium but this well-worn pence copy made £6,600. Incredible.

Here were 3 mid/low grade examples of Journey Into Mystery from 1962 rewarded with £760

A [vfn] cents copy of Tales of Suspense #60 scored a Hawkeye bullseye at £220

 

X-Men #10-15 in mid grades were knocked down for £1000

A fresh cents copy of Batman #141 sold well at £270

 

 

Seeing Dan Dare’s Space Ship Builder No 1 set reminded me of when I was a kid and heavily involved in Lego’s ancient predecessor, Meccano, the 1950s construction set that always managed to make my fingers numb, especially when you couldn’t find that stupid spanner thingy - (Dad, can you help me finish this...).

 

Col. Dan McGregor Dare was, of course, The Eagle Comic’s star spaceman, where, back in the day, a stiff uppercut to the jaw by the colonel was enough to defeat any Venusian Treen or other-worldly foe.

 

Being a passionate Eagle reader, I would be waiting outside Ellington’s newsagents in Maida Vale (London W.9) at 8 am every Thursday to get my copy and devour Dan’s adventures before school. Each comic would then be stored carefully beneath my bed, with No 1 and subsequent issues always moved to the top so back covers wouldn’t get damaged as the pile got higher.

 

This all worked marvellously until I was about fifteen-years-old when, to my horror, I came home from school one day to be presented with a space, not filled by my precious comics cargo, but three old empty suitcases.
My mother had thrown the lot out.

 

Crestfallen, I confronted her for an explanation to be told that I hadn’t read them for years and I was lucky she hadn’t thrown out the small black book that was hidden on top of them. ‘What small black book?’ I remember asking defensively.

 

‘The one that’s now in your bedside drawer, you know, the one with all the girls’ phone numbers in it.’
As I remember, there weren’t that many phone numbers, let alone recipients who would answer favourably, but the lesson in compromise had been well learned.