We offered the complete 26 issue year of 1944 Dandy propaganda war issues where you could ’Be Like Desperate Dan and Collect all the Waste Paper You Can’ whilst still enjoying Black Bob by Allan Morley and ‘The Amazing Mr X (the Mysterious Superman)’ the first super-hero comic strip in British comics. But you needed £2250 to actually enjoy them first-hand.

A well-worn copy of Dandy No 2 (with ‘married’ centre pages from another Dandy No 2) still managed £390.

This near complete year of Dandy 1943 propaganda war comics included some grubby issues but offered the Special 250th Birthday number and the waste paper ad legend: ‘Every British Girl and Boy can put an end to Hitler’s joy!’ £820 took them away.

Even high grade Beano and Dandy annuals do not get the prices of five or ten years ago as many copies have come on to the market since then diluting the rarity aspect. This high grade 1948 issue ‘only’ made £450 which is half its price realised in 2007.

This bound volume of Beano 1947 boasted the first Wavy Davy and his Navy by Dudley Watkins and Alf-Wit the Ancient Brit by Bill Holdroyd. £1080 was paid by a Modern Brit.

Dudley Watkins painted this wonderful 1953 Beano front cover where Biffo is the park-keeper at Dundee’s Victoria Park but his efforts to trap one piece of litter diverts a bus-full of picnickers with mayhem in the park. £720 tidied up.

A 1951 Beano year was missing several issues including Xmas, but not the all-important No 452, the first appearance of Dennis The Menace. A Pansy Potter- strong bid of £1220 prevailed.

Here’s Beano No 452 on its own making a menacing £230

In twenty-five years we have only ever seen one other free gift accompanying Scoops No 1 ‘The UK’s first Science-Fiction Weekly’. Our knowledgeable bidders knew this and fuelled the price to a high-octane £360.

The complete year of Thriller issues with stories by Edgar Wallace and Leslie Charteris provided a saintly £330.

Cowboy Comics 31-50 from 1951 lassoed £280.

In 1959 Frank Hampson’s original artwork of the Eagle’s Dan Dare was one of the last pieces he painted and £940 was happily paid by a German collector.

Paget publication’s Oh Boy! comics are eagerly sought out and 4 issues starring The Tornado and Gail Garrity made a whirlwind £370.

Similarly the only issue comprising Paget’s Oh Boy! and Wonderman flew to an astonishing £470. It starred Steve Storm as The Tornado with story and art by Marvelman creator, Mick Anglo and Stuporman the Titanic Twerp by Robbie. A titanic price, indeed.

The two Giant-size Phantom issues in this lot are particularly scarce and strong interest from Australia as well as the UK elevated this Phantom opera to a standing ovation £370.

Super Detective-Library No 9 is the Island of Fu Manchu story and it is rare. This with the other early numbers 6-12 realised £85.

Early 1960s Beano years are scarce as the title was beginning to run out of steam and its lower distribution was giving way to the newer, more popular large format titles, Beezer and Topper, albeit produced by the same publisher, D C Thomson. Today these Beanos are eagerly collected in complete years and Leo Baxendale’s Little Plum, Minnie the Minx and The Bash Street Kids fought their 1962 way to £430. The following lot with complete year 1963 made a similar £440.

Loads more free gifts here with Champion No 1, Bimbo, TV Comic and Walt Disney Weekly reaching a heady £330.

We were delighted to offer the first three years of Jackie Magazine year by year in 3 lots from No 1-155 starring Elvis, Cliff, The Beatles, The Stones, Hollies, Manfred Mann and more pop group that you could throw a (drum) stick at along with a zooful of Animals. There were plenty of free gifts as well accompanying teen-age problem pages with fashion tips and the fab boutiques covering Swingin’ London in all its Sixties dolly-girl glory. This wonderful collection went to one successful bidder in Italy for a winning total £1500. Ciao grazie mille.

Even more free gifts were offered here with first issues of Girls’ comics including June, Mandy, Sally, Debbie, Emma and Pixie. A small 8 issue collection for a big £490

Here’s SMASH! 1 and 2 wfg Big-Bang Gun and Leo Baxendale’s Nervs , Swots and Blots for a Grimly Feendish £125

With some grey fading to Frank Ballamy’s Pelikan inks this 1968 Thunderbirds board from TV Century 21 realised £1080.

Victor 1-45 from 1961 starred Braddock VC, Wonder Man, The Black Knight and Norman Wisdom. All the free gifts were present including No 1’s elusive Squirt Ring and yellow and orange Sports Wallets full of Arsenal, Celtic and Rangers from the 1930s to Blackpool, Man Utd, Real Madrid and Brazil in 1960.

Three original 1979 artworks of Joe Colquhoun’s Charley’s War charted the horrors of The Somme in 1916 with a hard-fought £1520.

TV Action cover artwork is hard to find and Doctor Who by Gerry Haylock especially so. This board entered into another dimension for £2250. Dalektable.

A scarce six-piece Marvel Super-Hero poster set from 1974 was originally priced at 90 pence which became £270 in 2020.

Garth by Frank Bellamy is gaining in value and these two original ‘Women of Galba’ artworks, published in the Daily Mirror in 1973 reached a record £820.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly No 1’s free gift Spider-Man Mask was only made from a reconstructed paper bag but such is the appreciation for free gifts Peter fought his way out of the paper bag to £155. Much more fun was the Spider-Man Tracer Plane with No 2 which levelled out at £85.

Marvel UK’s 1985 second series of Captain Britain was offered here in its complete 1-14 issue run along with 1981’s Marvel Super-Heroes 378-388 which featured the first Captain Britain strip (not his first burlesque appearance, you understand…) The winning bidder parted with a good £320

Here’s a nice CGC 7.5 copy of Batman #51 at £410 next to a low grade Detective at £350

 

 

The brilliant artistry of Alex Schomburg’s covers will always define the popularity of Marvel Mystery Comics and these two were no exception going to the same collector for £460 and £450 respectively.

 

 

A wonderfully jingoistic 1943 cover of Superman by Jack Burnley did not detract bidders from the mundane fact that it was detached from its lower staple so £520 was patriotically paid.

 

 

Our comprehensive research on The Black Hood un-numbered ‘Canadian White’ by Howard Publications in 1944 did not provide us with any details of previous sales so we did not know whether the Black Hood’s ghoulish hanged man cover, the ad for Hangman comics inside the back cover or the early appearance of Archie contributed to the staggering £860 winning bid for this obviously rare piece.

 

 

Not one but two Avengers #1 low graders in this auction. The first was a CGC Restored grade which had the bottom of its cover trimmed, the second was a pence copy, CGC 1.8. They made £700 and £540 respectively showing the underlying strength of the market for any key Silver Age issues.

 

 

Confirming the Avengers story above, a damaged Fantastic Four first issue CGC 0.5 with multiple defects won through to £1080.

 

 

The only multiple defects in this copy of Viz No 1 were in the comic’s characters, Fat Sod, Skinhead and Victor Pratt the Stupid Twat, their unapologetic toilet humour winning legions of fans from the day they were released on an unsuspecting bunch of drinkers by creator, Chris Donald in a Newcastle pub.

 

Some months later a student at Newcastle Polytechnic bought No 4 from a local punk rocker called Arthur 2 Stroke who, along with his band, The Chart Commandos, had their ad on the front cover. Our student, “Victor” (his name has been changed to protect the guilty) later went on to put together most of the earlier issues but the scarce No 1 eluded him until he spotted it for sale in Book and Magazine Collector in 1995 advertised by North Shield Books for £40.

 

Victor told us they even sent it to him ‘on approval’ so he could check its authenticity. He then ‘reluctantly’ sent them the money as he thought it such a high price in those days.

 

Fast forward twenty-five years and his Viz No1 created a new auction record with £1220. Victor was not such a stupid twat after all.

 

 

Happy hols,

 

Malcolm Phillips
Director
Comic Book Auctions Ltd.