Triumph comics 771-792 (1939) featured the first UK reprints of Superman and No 788 had a reworking of US Action Comics #1 cover, the Man of Steel’s first appearance. On top of this the run had the provenance of being from the Bob Monkhouse Archive so there was no surprise when the estimate of £700-800 accellerated, faster than a speeding bullet, to a winning bid of £1220.

There was a good selection of Beano Xmas issues on offer and the pick of the bunch was No 75 from 1939 at £230 and No 127 from 1940 which had a Xmas present from Lord Haw-Haw to Lord Snooty (which sent Lords-a-leaping) and Pansy Potter pulling crackers with herr Hitler. A £310 banger.

The complete Beano year of 38 issues for 1949 (some printed fortnightly) was taken to a strong £1120 by one of our infinitely patient collectors who had been waiting some 20 years to find them.

A relatively well worn copy of the rare Dandy No 3 with spine and edge tears took £560.

Here is the first fireworks Dandy issue, No 49, sparkling at £260.

The complete year of 1940 Dandys in low to mid grades showed Desperate Dan being bombed by the Luftwaffe but he survived, as did the winning bidder with £920.

Sixteen Batman Australian reprints with Batman annual no1 were actually bought by one of our customers named Alfred for £220. Not many people know that…

A near complete run of Bunty from Nos 1-115 (missing No 2) included free gift, the Bunty Book of Dancing Stars, and they tripped the light fantastic to £450. Girl Power.

This Australian version of Captain America No 1 from 1954 actually reprinted the US Cap America #76. It is the only copy we have come across in 25 years and £290 won the day.

Two more rarities never sold by us before were L.Miller’s Human Torch 1 and 2 which reprinted the US originals #36 and #38 from 1940. £360 and £125 ignited the winning bidder.

The heady mix of Cap Marvel Jr, Nyoka Jungle Girl, Tom Mix and Bulletman drove this 9 issue run of Master Comics to £210.

A complete 32 issue run of Rocket edited by WWII ace, Douglas Bader and starring Captain Falcon by Frank Black soared to £490.

Silver Starr 1, 2 and 3 were a large part of the Giant Comic Annual’s appeal and this 50s compendium took £210.

More scarce issue were lotted here with Star-Rocket 1, 2 and 5 and its eponymous annual featuring art by Ron Embleton and Denis McLoughlan. £145 starred and rocketed.

Here are some Streamline No 1s (and a No 2) which sold for £85.

T Man 1-6 and Police Comics 1-6 by Archer Press had Ken Shannon and Phantom Lady stories and these square bound high grade issues had their collars felt for £140.

 

All 86 issues of POW! Included reprints of Amazing Spider-Man from No 1, Fantastic Four and Nick Fury. POWered to £580.

A great run of TV Century 21 Nos 1-157 included the free gift from No 1 and all six TV 21 Specials and Extras. Thunderbirds were go at £1400.

Lady Penelope’s Summer Extra had Parker’s foot on the accelerator to £80.

From 1984’s Battle-Action comic No 284 Joe Colquhoun’s factual rendition of a Zeppelin raid on a munitions factory near the City of London sees the airship engulfed in St Elmo’s Fire. The two pages raised £940

Here is Don Harley’s 1995 signed artwork, using the same techniques that he employed 40 years earlier at the Frank Hampson studio and created for The Eagle’s latest reincarnation, Spaceships Away! No 1.  Away at £580

The First Minister of Scotland’s original Oor Wullie Christmas card artwork was sent to us to raise money for four local Scots charities and £600 was generously tendered by the winning bidder.

Detective Comics #14 from 1938 is a rare bird and even with two interior pages missing and taped spine it took £390.

Two more well bid Detectives at £240 and £230 respectively.

Miss Victory #3 from 1944 included the origin of Cat Man. £170 took the cream.

A [vfn-] grade copy of Wonder Comics #13 was bid to £330.

Early Spideys 3, 8, 10 and 11 in low grades impressed at £490.

This Avengers #4 had lower cover colour touch and sold for £200

This Avengers #4 was the Golden Record reprint from 1966,CGCd at 9.0. It was accompanied by its Avengers LP and soared to an astonishing £520.

Iron Man #55 and X-Men #2 at £200 and £250 respectively.

This lot of Detective Comics 359-370 contained the first Batgirl appearance and grabbed £580.

An early 70s Batman lot performed strongly with 14 consecutive issues making £310.

 

 

 

 

Triumph did it in 1939, L. Miller, Archer Press and a host of UK publishers followed in the 1940s. As I’m sure you’ve guessed, we’re talking about US super-hero reprints in British comics. The bloke who started it was Clark Kent and his alter-ego, Superman, as illustrated above by Amalgamated Press artist, John McCail, his particular rendition of The Man of Steel looking more worried about a date with Lois than girdling the Earth in sixty seconds.

Australian printer, K.G. Murray, was soon on the sixpenny bandwagon publishing long reprint runs of Batman, Superman and Superboy, Caps Marvel and Marvel Jr. and the most famous captain of them all, Captain America.

Now I know that these well selling, easy on the pocket reprints have been hugely popular and our auctions of these stalwarts are hotly contested, but a sea-change has been taking place over the last year or so.

Value - and L.Miller’s reprints are leading the way. Captain America 1 and 2, Human Torch 1 and 2 and Superman early issues are now changing hands for hundreds of pounds in average condition and it may only be a matter of time before other super-hero reprints muscle in on the act. You don’t have to look far for the reason.

The US Golden Age market in the originals over the last five years has gone stratospheric. Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and in some cases, millions of dollars are exchanged for an individual issue. I say ‘in some cases’ but the fact is that they are all in cases, mainly manufactured by CGC with numbers on the front ascertaining their grade and desirability.

 

Oh, well, I suppose reading them’s out of the question.