Comics UK

Got myself two Dandy comics no's 601 & 807 from 1953 & 1957 in VG condition.

I picked up a copy of one of the Beano comic libraries for a few pennies.
Its one of the early Baby Face ones and there were a couple interesting things in it.
The dialogue is bizarrely formal, which sounds unnatural and weird but it's funny.
The plot is disjointed and weird, going on multiple tangents and having an anticlimactic ending (but this is usual for the comic libraries)
A fun read though.
But back to the interesting things. There is a caricute of IR Gray in the comic, which is clearly the Beano Comic library editor Ian Gray.
Plus Baby face name drops the artist, Henry Davies, albeit Finlayson-ised to Henry-Face. I've never seen the characters refer to the artists by name before.
The clashing art styles, of Baby Face and Black Bob, is also quite weird.
Henry Davies is a good ghost artist I almost thought this was a Ron Spencer comic at first.

I didnt want to create a new post but I found another example where a character's name hints at the name of the artist (even though there was no signature or other artist credits given)
This other comic library (a Smudge one) has a character with a name thats clearly a mixture of the artist's, John Geering, as well as a pun on notorious Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering. An odd combination...

I'm a big Ally Sloper fan/collector, and my main aim along with being able to own Half-Holiday #1 from 1884 which I am still looking for, has always been to own Judy volume 1 from 1867, which as any Sloper fan will know contains the first ever appearance of Alexander Sloper F.O.M. in a strip entitled 'Some of the Mysteries of Loan and Discount'. I'm pleased to say that not only have I been able to acquire Judy vol.1, but also vols. 2 to 11. I'm in the process of reading through these volumes and making note of all Sloper appearances. Happy days.

Hawkeye wrote: 01 May 2023, 21:00 I'm a big Ally Sloper fan/collector, and my main aim along with being able to own Half-Holiday #1 from 1884 which I am still looking for, has always been to own Judy volume 1 from 1867, which as any Sloper fan will know contains the first ever appearance of Alexander Sloper F.O.M. in a strip entitled 'Some of the Mysteries of Loan and Discount'. I'm pleased to say that not only have I been able to acquire Judy vol.1, but also vols. 2 to 11. I'm in the process of reading through these volumes and making note of all Sloper appearances. Happy days.

congratulations - always a great feeling when a 'grail' object is acquired

Picked up another Topper annual this one is 1961 for two pound from the same charity shop I bought a Topper annual a couple of weeks ago.It wasn't there then and it maybe because of lack of shelf space and they bring them out when there is room.
They have other D C Thomas annuals but these are mainly 70s and 80s which I am not really interested in plus a number of Blue Peter annuals.



There is one charity shop in town Age UK which used to be really cheap but are now charging £10 for some 70s annuals And in a glass case they have a few american comics including Blackhawk all at £20 each , I don 't think they are that ancient ,one with an original U.S.price of 10c

Bought 2 Dandy comics this week. They were issues no.365 from 1948 VG+ and no.316 from 1946 VG- .

Hawkeye wrote: 01 May 2023, 21:00 I'm a big Ally Sloper fan/collector, and my main aim along with being able to own Half-Holiday #1 from 1884 which I am still looking for, has always been to own Judy volume 1 from 1867, which as any Sloper fan will know contains the first ever appearance of Alexander Sloper F.O.M. in a strip entitled 'Some of the Mysteries of Loan and Discount'. I'm pleased to say that not only have I been able to acquire Judy vol.1, but also vols. 2 to 11. I'm in the process of reading through these volumes and making note of all Sloper appearances. Happy days.

I have this advert for ALLY SLOPER'S HALF HOLIDAY In a 1904 copy of VC and Competitions, had to make a smaller image for it to be accepted here.

Bought myself a Buster comic from the 1st of April 1994. Reasoning being, I secured another page of Lew Stringer Tom Thug on Easter comic art. I even sourced the comic before the art arrived and have been in contact will Lew Stringer himself. Nice man.

Update: Well here they are.

stevezodiac wrote: 21 May 2023, 15:21

Hawkeye wrote: 01 May 2023, 21:00 I'm a big Ally Sloper fan/collector, and my main aim along with being able to own Half-Holiday #1 from 1884 which I am still looking for, has always been to own Judy volume 1 from 1867, which as any Sloper fan will know contains the first ever appearance of Alexander Sloper F.O.M. in a strip entitled 'Some of the Mysteries of Loan and Discount'. I'm pleased to say that not only have I been able to acquire Judy vol.1, but also vols. 2 to 11. I'm in the process of reading through these volumes and making note of all Sloper appearances. Happy days.

I have this advert for ALLY SLOPER'S HALF HOLIDAY In a 1904 copy of VC and Competitions, had to make a smaller image for it to be accepted here.

Never heard of Competitions and V.C. what exactly is it?

My copy is a 36 page Beano sized magazine, humour and showbiz with lots of full page cartoons. Published in Fleet Street. I worked in Fleet Street for a while, my life's ambition. In the days of tinypic I could have added a few images but it's not so easy to add images nowadays.

stevezodiac wrote: 29 May 2023, 16:27 My copy is a 36 page Beano sized magazine, humour and showbiz with lots of full page cartoons. Published in Fleet Street. I worked in Fleet Street for a while, my life's ambition. In the days of tinypic I could have added a few images but it's not so easy to add images nowadays.

Thanks, I'll have to keep a look out for it. I like to collect anything Sloper.

Sourced another two Dandy comics. They were issues 241 from 1943 and 271 from 1944.

Update: Just received them both. Nice too. In VG+ condition.

Hawkeye wrote: 01 May 2023, 21:00 I'm a big Ally Sloper fan/collector, and my main aim along with being able to own Half-Holiday #1 from 1884 which I am still looking for, has always been to own Judy volume 1 from 1867, which as any Sloper fan will know contains the first ever appearance of Alexander Sloper F.O.M. in a strip entitled 'Some of the Mysteries of Loan and Discount'. I'm pleased to say that not only have I been able to acquire Judy vol.1, but also vols. 2 to 11. I'm in the process of reading through these volumes and making note of all Sloper appearances. Happy days.

I presume you have The Sloperian fanzine from 2012? I found issue 1 today but have no idea how many issues it ran for. Glancing through it and Ally Sloper is only a small part of the contents.

stevezodiac wrote: 06 Jun 2023, 15:28

Hawkeye wrote: 01 May 2023, 21:00 I'm a big Ally Sloper fan/collector, and my main aim along with being able to own Half-Holiday #1 from 1884 which I am still looking for, has always been to own Judy volume 1 from 1867, which as any Sloper fan will know contains the first ever appearance of Alexander Sloper F.O.M. in a strip entitled 'Some of the Mysteries of Loan and Discount'. I'm pleased to say that not only have I been able to acquire Judy vol.1, but also vols. 2 to 11. I'm in the process of reading through these volumes and making note of all Sloper appearances. Happy days.

I presume you have The Sloperian fanzine from 2012? I found issue 1 today but have no idea how many issues it ran for. Glancing through it and Ally Sloper is only a small part of the contents.

I haven't got the fanzine, but I recently bought Alan Clarks 'Ally Sloper his Life & Times', what a wonderful book.

Alan Clark did the fanzine too.