You’ll find nearly 200 listings of vintage comics and related items in the latest Phil-Comics eBay auction, which closes next weekend, including some Doctor Who gems, rare free gifts and original art, too.
This auction includes comic art by Brian Walker and Francisco Solano Lopez, and more carbon copy scripts by David Motton, whose credits span, adventure, humour and girls comics, writing stories featuring Dan Dare and Captain Condor.
There’s the usual fine selection of Beano comics on offer, and a great run of early issues of Commando on offer, too, at Phil’s usual low starting prices, although expect bidding to be fierce as the auction reaches its end.
If you’re a Buster fan, there are four issues on offer, all with their Free Gifts, and if you remember “Bleep and Booster” from Blue Peter, there’s a nice looking copy of the 1969 annual on offer, too.
For those unfamiliar, the adventures of the robot-like alien Bleep and the human boy Booster were created by Austrian artist William Timym (5th October 1902 – 31st May 1990), credited as “Tim”, for the BBC children’s magazine programme Blue Peter.
A total of 44 five-minute episodes comprising 10 separate stories were produced for television, between 3rd February 1964 and 6th November 1969.
As Jeremy Briggs notes in a profile of the artist who fled the Nazis in the 1930s on Bear Alley, in addition to their animated adventures on screen Bleep and Booster also appeared in stories, all credited to Tim, in their own annuals and storybooks as well as the annual Blue Peter books where their adventures outlasted their television appearances by many years. William Timym is perhaps better known as a sculptor, creating the bronze statue of Guy The Gorilla for London Zoo and the bust of the Blue Peter dog Petra originally placed in front of BBC Television Centre in London and later moved to the Blue Peter Garden.
The auction also includes more “carbon copy” scripts by David Motton which have generated significant interest in previous auctions. On offer are a Dandy comic “Desperate Dan” script written in 1984, and his 87-page script for “Operation Crusoe”, a “Dan Dare” strip published in the 1964 Eagle Annual.
These items come from David’s personal collection a former editor and script writer who enjoyed a thirty year career working in comics from 1954 to 1985. We interviewed David back in 2011.
Also Included this time out is one of his “Captain Condor” scripts, for the episode published in Lion, cover dated 31st October 1959.
Captain Condor was a character created for the first issue of Lion, cover dated 22rd February 1952. The comic was launched in an attempt to compete with the huge success of Hulton Press’ Eagle, whilst Captain Condor, a space pilot, was their attempt at emulating the mighty Dan Dare, the cover star of Eagle – the story took the cover spot of the first issue. Whilst it’s fair to say the comic never reached the same popularity as its rival Eagle, Lion and, indeed, Captain Condor were undoubtedly a success (Lion went on to be published for 22 years, versus Eagle‘s 19 years, whilst the strip appeared in the comic for 14 consecutive years, until the issue cover dated 26th February 1966). The strip was created by writer Frank S. Pepper, who also co-created “Roy of the Rovers” with artist Joe Colquhoun, and was thought to have been exclusively written by him but David Motton wrote a ten-issue story for Captain Condor running in issues dated 24th October to 26th December 1959.
Run by Phil Shrimpton, the award-winning Phil-Comics specialises in vintage comics and related items such as annuals, holiday specials, free gifts and original artwork.
• Check out the current full Phil-Comics catalogue here on eBay
Comic Art
Quackers was a comic given away as a gift in the children’s monthly puzzle magazine Quiz Kids, from 1997 to 1999, running for 25 issues. It contained a range of new characters and a few licensed properties. Graffy T was the cover strip.
Brian Walker enjoyed a very rewarding and impressive 50 year career as a cartoonist and illustrator, drawing some 5400 pages in that time. He contributed hugely to British comics, working for both IPC and DC Thomson. His work for IPC included “Scream Inn” in Whoopee, “Three Story Stan” and “Wizards Anonymous” in Shiver and Shake and “Boxatricks”:in Buster, amongst others. For DC Thomson he drew “Smasher” in The Dandy, “I Spy” for Sparky, “Spike” in Spike and “Pop, Dick and Harry” in The Beezer. In the early 2000s he drew “Johnny Fartpants” for VIZ, as well as creating the character and strip”Goldfish Boy” for the adult comic.
Comics With Free Gifts
Other Items of Note
Also in this auction is a copy of TV Comic No. 533 cover dated 3rd March 1962, along with with a rare TV Comic Letterhead for a Joke Prize Winner. A really rare item and Phil-Comics haven’t seen anything similiar for TV Comic, and have only seen a very few examples of such letters for other titles.
“We bought this direct from the original owner of the letter; Colin Tufnell from Hampshire. He had sent in a joke to his weekly TV Comic and it was published in this issue; #533 dated Mar 3 1962. The image shows two ducks on a pond and was had sunk with just his head and neck protruding from the water. “What’s wrong, Don?” to which Don replies “I had a heavy lunch, Sid!”.
• Check out the current full Phil-Comics catalogue here on eBay
- About the Author
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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.
Categories: Art and Illustration, Auctions, British Comics, Comic Art, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds
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