Comics UK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aeronauts - Aeronauts was a TV tie-in. The programme was dubbed from the original French and shown on BBC1 (found out the broadcaster because a copy of the same annual is on Amazon, and it says "as seen on BBC TV"). Can't seem to find much else about it.

Have a look at this then

http://bearalley.blogspot.com/search?q=aeronauts

So despite that annual being released as a TV tie-in, it's actually reprinted from a comic strip which has been printed in France from 1961 until the present day (or 2007 anyway, since that's when that blog entry was done)! And said strip first appeared in the same comic as Asterix. Since Asterix always gets translated and released as books, I'm surprised this annual was the only English translation of the strip. Thanks for the link.

Digifiend wrote:And said strip first appeared in the same comic as Asterix. Since Asterix always gets translated and released as books, I'm surprised this annual was the only English translation of the strip.

Asterix sells. Presumably Aeronauts didn't.

Pilote is an anthology comic that has featured many strips over the years. Not many of which have been translated into English.

Lew

I didn't buy a comic, but yesterday i bought a desperate dan mug and a bash street mug from poundland! They also had a minnie the minx mug but i didn't get it

colcool007 wrote:Well today I received my purchases from Ebay and 26pigs so I am more than happy as it takes me past the 100 issues to go mark for my Victor collection. I won't list all of them here as that could take a while, but suffice to say that the only Victors than I am looking for after 1968 are the Summer Specials! And even then, I am only looking for specials that are post 1985! I haven't read them all yet, but I am sure that I will rectify that situation by the end of the weekend!

I've never bought any comics from 26pigs, I' ve seen 2 on there I need and want to buy, what's people's experienced of buying from them?

Today i found issue 10 of Eagle Picture Library in a charity shop, i had a look around but couldn't see any more. It's from 1985 and carries adverts for "(new)Eagle and Tiger" and also "Battle Action Force", the painful, slow demise of two of Britain's best comics!

The story itself is called "Company of Thieves" and features a sort of vain gentleman crook who carries off big heists simply to get himself in the papers! The first page diplomatically admits the story was "previously published", by the look of the clothes and cars that was some time in the 70's.

The cover is interestingly made up of a few frames from the comic that have been coloured and made into a montage, rather than a specially-done image.

I also bought issue 3 of the Japanese comic Death Note, which is a rather interesting story. On the way back i even noticed a t-shirt stall on the market in Cambridge selling "L" t-shirts (L being a mysterious detective who is playing a cat and mouse game with the 'hero' of the story). I had also bought a Japanese dictionary and wondered if i should make a t-shirt with the kanji for "watashi wa kira" XD.

I went down t'market on Saturday and found - for £8.50 - a great, large-sized 1977 hardback: Tiger Tim's Own Comic Collection. It's edited and compiled by W. Howard Baker who also did all those Gem/Magnet/Billy Bunter facsimilies.

This book contains full reproductions of 16 1930s comics, including The Rainbow, Chips, Tip Top, Butterfly, Puck, Film Fun and The Kinema Comic. Apart from the inevitable horrible racist bits scattered throughout, much of the material is great. Lots of adventure serials, including Get-Your-Man Gilligan, Sherriff of Dynamite City (The Jolly Comic 1938) and a science fiction adventure Into Unknown Worlds (Butterfly, 1939.) Tomba the Jungle Boy in Merry and Bright (1933) rips off Bomba the Jungle Boy who'd been appearing in books since 1926.

Lots of humour strips, plus many Boy's Own-style text strips with lovely illustrations. The 'Editor's chat' type pages are really nice, too.

Interesting to see how many of the strip stars of The Kinema Comic (1930) are now mostly forgotten: Chester Conklin, Ford Sterling, Louise Fazenda, Walter Forde ...

I hadn't previously been aware of this book. If you're interested in 1930s British comics, I'd strongly recommend trying to find a copy. I don't think Baker did any more facsimilie reprint books of comics, rather than story papers in this series.

Good find Raven. That collection was also issued as a set of separate comics in a slipcase, which I have. I don't know if the bound version came first or afterwards but the contents are identical; same size, paper etc.

Lew

I picked up that book many years ago and, forgetting I already had it, bought another copy a couple of years back. What's also nice about it is the fact that each comic is reprinted on its original colour paper (pink, green, blue etc.). On Saturday at Deptford flea market i picked up 27 consecutive issues of Battle dated from 2 May 1981 to 31 October 1981. Not really a fan but i spotted some Ron turner art in them and I really like his work. They were 50p each so not really cheap.

Yes, the Tiger Tim book was such a gorgeous thing it was an absolute must buy. Made me think how rare seeing that 1930s material is, though. I don't think those comics turn up on Ebay too often. Are there many known collectors with decent runs of Puck, Tip Top and the like? It's probably a tad too early material for Bear Alley Books to collect! But would that even be possible? Are there any archives? I'm not sure if Colindale's collection goes back that far. Makes you wonder how much wonderful stuff may have been lost.

Are there any other books or releases covering this kind of thing? I recall a couple of Denis Gifford hardbacks, but seem to remember him focusing much more on the colourful juvenile funny animal strips like The Bruin Boys from Tiger Tim and The Rainbow, more than the adventure serials, which I'd especially like to see more of.

Comics like Puck, Chips, Film Fun, Radio Fun and Comic Cuts ran for a thousand issues or more so very difficult to get long runs, i must have around a thousand assorted large format comics from 1900 to 1950. Big runs of Rainbow, Playbox, Tip Top, Jingles, Chuckles, Tiny Tots and Chicks own plus scores each of most of the other titles. I have about twenty copies of Puck from 1900 ish and they have a single colour drawing on the cover usually adult themed as it was more of a humour paper than a comic when it started. The covers are stunning on some. Picked up a hundred or so Rainbows a few years back for a quid each all from the thirties and many in near mint condition. Almost pure white pages in fact. Some even had leaflets inside for cadburys chocolate and such.

Stop that naughty drooling.

Went to Deptford market today and just picked up these three items. The Clive book is the first in the series. I'm not a fan but do like newspaper strips and as it features the very first cartoon i thought i'd get it as it was only 50p. Will probably put it on ebay at a later date. The Commandos were 50p each as well.

stevezodiac wrote: Picked up a hundred or so Rainbows a few years back for a quid each all from the thirties and many in near mint condition. Almost pure white pages in fact. Some even had leaflets inside for cadburys chocolate and such ...

Good to hear that these do turn up sometimes - and, amazingly enough, in excellent condition.

Raven wrote:

stevezodiac wrote: Picked up a hundred or so Rainbows a few years back for a quid each all from the thirties and many in near mint condition. Almost pure white pages in fact. Some even had leaflets inside for cadburys chocolate and such ...

Good to hear that these do turn up sometimes - and, amazingly enough, in excellent condition.

Proving that age is no excuse for tatty comics. Speaking of which, I just read this disclaimer on someone's eBay listings:

" ALL MY COMICS ARE IN REASONABLY GOOD CONDITION FOR THEIR AGE. SOME MAY HAVE BROWNING OR OTHER MARKS, SOME MAY HAVE DAMAGE, TEARS ETC.
This one has some edge damage with a small tear in the front page. There is slight browning of the pages.
BUT COME ON;-
THEY ARE SOME 50 YEARS OLD OR MORE."

I'm not sure that shouting at the potential buyers is good business sense unless he's selling sprouts on a market stall but good luck to him. Always amuses me how some people blame the passage of time for rips and damage to a comic instead of the careless owners. Why not just say "Second hand condition with a small tear and browning" instead of blaming ol' Father Time?

Lew