Award-winning eBay auction house Phil-Comics is running an auction offering some 300 vintage comic listings, among them a rare first issue of DC Thomson’s Magic, the short-lived companion to The Beano and The Dandy, launched in 1939.
As you can imagine, the opening price on this incredible rarity is high – £999 – but if you’re a fan of early British comics, you may just tempted. For those of us who haven’t had a recent windfall, the auction house has kindly shared some sample pages – and you can see more on eBay.
Magic was the third comic to be published by DC Thomson and was in the same style as The Dandy and The Beano, which launched in 1937 and 1938 respectively. Aimed at a slightly younger audience than its two sister comics, sadly, it was last in, first out when war shortages started to take their toll and Magic lasted just 80 issues before publication ceased in January 1941. (Beano and Dandy, which survived, were published on alternating weeks).
It was very likely the publisher’s intention to relaunch it once the war ended, but that day never came, although the firm did launch another nursery title called Magic in 1976.Although Magic the comic ceased publication, DC Thomson did publish several Magic-Beano books, the first in 1943, and you can find guides to that and those that followed in 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950 on the official Beano site here and here.
Also on offer is a promotional flyer for Magic, that came as a centre page supplement in one of DC Thomson’s Big Fiver story papers (Wizard, Hotspur, Rover, Adventure, and Skipper). It was designed to be folded and cut to form a clever little mini comic which promoted the launch of Magic. Folded up in comic form, it measures approximately 7 x 6 inches and has eight pages. There’s a 3/4 inch circular white sticker stuck to the centre page of this copy, near the lower edge on the centre fold, which may have covered up an ink stamp mark that was stamped there.
This latest Phil-Comics auction also includes an ultra rare page of “The Bash Street Kids” original artwork, drawn by Leo Baxendale, published in The Beano in 1961, and an amazing selection of comics with free gifts, bound volumes aplenty, single issues and many half year batches.
• Check out the current full catalogue here on eBay – bidding starts to close on Sunday 25th May 2025
Beano Annuals, Decade by Decade
• Beano Annual Guide Part 1 – 1940 – 1949
• Beano Annual Guide Part 2 – 1950 – 1959
• Beano Annual Guide Part 3 – 1960 – 1969
• Beano Annual Guide Part 4 – 1970 – 1979
• Beano Annual Guide Part 5 – 1980 – 1989
• Beano Annual Guide Part 6 – 1990 – 1999
• Beano Annuals 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
The following links take you to annuals for sale on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• Beano Annuals 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 (available to preorder)
The Beano, Dandy and “Magic” the comic © DC Thomson Ltd
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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