Comics UK

I got that Book of the Beezer off ebay from brywinfred. There aren't illustrations of every strip but there are ilustrations on most pages. Although the quality is not very good. Still an excellent guide to the Beezer though and that's what I bought it for.

Tin Can Tommy wrote:I got that Book of the Beezer off ebay from brywinfred. There aren't illustrations of every strip but there are ilustrations on most pages. Although the quality is not very good. Still an excellent guide to the Beezer though and that's what I bought it for.

Ray did a fantastic job on the research and that in itself makes it worth the money. There seems to be a recurring error regarding page count though. On every entry from 1964 to 1981 it says The Beezer had 20 pages every week. Surely it had 16 pages during that period?

Tin Can Tommy wrote:There aren't illustrations of every strip but there are ilustrations on most pages.

So presumably, reading between the lines, the current version is no different from mine, apart from being A4 rather than A5. Still just the 39 illustrations?

The only other difference (in the recent batch) is cosmetic, the cover having a yellow background



Rab: From Ray's book, the cover art originally came from the 1990 Beezer Book, drawn by Bob Nixon.

Incidentally, if anyone's going to the Memorabilia show at Birmingham's NEC next weekend there's usually a guy there selling Bryon's current versions of these indexes.

- Phil R.

Phil, could you post more details about this show, please.

Lew Stringer wrote:

Tin Can Tommy wrote:I got that Book of the Beezer off ebay from brywinfred. There aren't illustrations of every strip but there are ilustrations on most pages. Although the quality is not very good. Still an excellent guide to the Beezer though and that's what I bought it for.

Ray did a fantastic job on the research and that in itself makes it worth the money. There seems to be a recurring error regarding page count though. On every entry from 1964 to 1981 it says The Beezer had 20 pages every week. Surely it had 16 pages during that period?

The Beano Index in History of the Beano has a similar error, saying that it still had 24 pages even after it increased to 32 in 1998.

Phoenix wrote:Phil, could you post more details about this show, please.

You can find the basic details at this link:

http://www.thenec.co.uk/whatson/thememorabiliashow

In its early days Memorabilia was a fantastic resource for comic collectors with dozens of dealers selling books, comics and original art; and unlike the majority of dedicated comic marts they concentrated mostly on British publications. Since then, unfortunately, the event has become almost totally overtaken by TV, Film and Sports memorabilia, alongside rows of tables on which a bewildering succession of Doctor Whos, Bond Girls and footballers will present you with their autograph - for a price! As a result nearly all of the old comic dealers stopped going.

However, next week's event will be incorporating an offshoot of the London MCM Expo for the first time in the form of a so-called 'Comic Village', thus comics fans (particularly those with an interest in current practitioners) just might find something to interest them after all.

http://www.memorabilia.co.uk/birmingham ... icvillage/

To be honest I really don't know what to expect from this. Did anyone here attend any of the previous MCM Expo events in London?

- Phil Rushton

philcom55 wrote: However, next week's event is supposedly incorporating an offshoot of the London MCM Expo for the first time in the form of a so-called 'Comic Village', so comics fans (particularly those with an interest in current practitioners) just might find something to interest them after all.

http://www.memorabilia.co.uk/birmingham ... icvillage/

- Phil Rushton

'Comic Village' has been running at the Birmingham Memorabilia Shows for a few years now Phil. (Or 'Comic City' as it was called previously.) Here's some photos I took of the 2009 event (one of which was nicked by the Memorabilia site without my permission):
http://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2009/ ... -show.html

It's a shame they've now decided to call it 'The Birmingham Comic Con' when there was already an event trading under that name. (http://www.thecomicsshow.co.uk/uk-comicon/index.html) Because of this, several artists have decided not to attend, including myself.

Lew Stringer wrote:Here's some photos I took of the 2009 event (one of which was nicked by the Memorabilia site without my permission)...

Hmmm, it's also pretty sneaky how they've cropped the photo so you can't see the 'Comic City' sign!

As I understand it there should be a separate hall for the Comics/Anime event this year, but nobody seems entirely sure what to expect. I agree that the 'other' Birmingham con gains by being largely focussed on the one medium, though I'd like to think there'll be sufficient support for both shows to continue.

Incidentally it's worth remembering that Birmingham's association with comic cons goes way back before the NEC, and is at least as impressive as London's (thanks to the redoubtable Phil Clarke).

For example, does anyone else remember this one from 1988?



- Phil Rushton

Thanks for the links, Phil. I've looked at them, and Lew's, but I can't see anything much in my area of interest so I think I'll give the show a miss. £16 to get in seems a bit steep too, on top of the train fare etc.

philcom55 wrote:

Lew Stringer wrote:Here's some photos I took of the 2009 event (one of which was nicked by the Memorabilia site without my permission)...

Hmmm, it's also pretty sneaky how they've cropped the photo so you can't see the 'Comic City' sign!

As I understand it there should be a separate hall for the Comics/Anime event this year, but nobody seems entirely sure what to expect. I agree that the 'other' Birmingham con gains by being largely focussed on the one medium, though I'd like to think there'll be sufficient support for both shows to continue.

- Phil Rushton

No, the original Brum con isn't happening this year unfortunately now that the name's been used by the NEC. Perhaps it'll return in the future under a new name. I hope so, as last year's event (the Birmingham Comiccon, not this NEC thing) was very enjoyable.

That's a shame. I hope it does return in the near future - maybe they could go back to calling it the Birmingham Comic Art Show.

- Phil R.

Phoenix wrote:

Tin Can Tommy wrote:There aren't illustrations of every strip but there are ilustrations on most pages.

So presumably, reading between the lines, the current version is no different from mine, apart from being A4 rather than A5. Still just the 39 illustrations?

The version currently being sold (which I bought) is A5 as well Phoenix. Sounds like it's a second or third generation copy of the one you have. (I say that because the text looks like a copy of a copy, and isn't as sharp as it should be.) Yes, 39 or 40 images in the book.

It's quite expensive for 76 pages. I'm sure there are digital printers who could have done the book for less than £12 a copy so hopefully Ray is getting royalties from it. The information is invaluable though.

I've just noticed the same seller has a Knockout index for sale. I'll never get rich at this rate.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KNOCKOUT-COMP ... 5d32f721e7

Here's the cover to my first edition of the Knockout Index which was also printed A4 and cost £10 in those days. At 120 pages it's a very nice, hefty item with rather more (and, to my mind, better chosen) illustrations than the Beezer one - though I suspect that these will have lost a lot of detail if they've been reduced to A5.



Incidentally I'm rather surprised you didn't get these when they came out Lew - especially as you actually provided the cover for Bryon's Buster Index.

- Phil Rushton