The latest Compal comic auction is live, with, incredibly, another extremely rare Beano No. 1 in the mix of lots on offer, hot on the heels of a record breaking sale of another copy, earlier this year – plus some terrific “Charley’s War” and Eagle “Dan Dare” art, too.
In the auction house’s recent September auction, Compal set a British comic auction record with The Beano No.1, accompanied by its only surviving ‘Whoopee Mask’ free gift, selling for a hammer price of £26,000. This resulted in a further Beano No. 1, prised from hibernation, coming for sale at lot No 8 for your consideration. Although this copy is without the free gift that resulted in such a high hammer price, according to Compal research there are only around thirty in existence. Expect this to sell high, too.
There is also the first Beano Book from 1940 in “impossibly high grade” on offer, along with Beano complete years of 1944, 1945, 1947 and 1951 – the latter, of course, the year that marks the first appearance of “that very naughty boy, “Dennis the Menace”, and No. 452 is included.
The 1950s lots have a further selection of Batman and Superman Australian reprints, along with Champion and Tip Top large format tinplate advertising signs, both in pretty good condition.
The current tranche of the Woodard Archive of British comics for sale includes Top Spot No 1, with its rare free gift, a “Glow Spot Tie Clip”, still retaining a bit of glow after sixty-six years; Radio Fun No 1, plus early issues of The Beezer, Boyfriend, Buster, Hornet, Hurricane, TV Express Weekly and a complete run of the very scare Serenade, which ran to just 21 issues. The Archive’s girls’ comics on offer also include Bunty, Debbie, Jinty and June.
Also in this auction is the complete twenty issue run of Scoops, published in 1934, and, from the more recent past, 2000AD prog 2 in high grade With Free Gift Biotronic Stickers.
Wartime Resistance creator Alfred Mazure’s “Dick Bos” rarity
There’s like to be plenty of interest in a copy of Dick Boss in Texas No 2, published in 1947 by London-based The Literary Press Ltd, an English language comic printed in The Netherlands (English language). “Dick Bos” was created by Alfred Mazure (‘Maz’) in 1940, the Netherlands first comic book hero. A private eye fluent in six languages, Dick was a black belt in Judo, an expert in Jiu-Jitsu and a crack shot. During the German occupation the huge popularity of his adventures came to the attention of the Nazi propaganda machine, who offered Mazure safe status if he transformed Bos into a Nazi spy. Maz refused and his publications were subsequently banned until the end of the war.
Amazingly, the Germans had no idea that Maz (who moved to Britain after the war) was a very active member of the Dutch resistance, even helping create illegal magazines. Today, Dick Bos and his creator have legendary status, and their scarce original 1 and 2 publications are keenly collected. (If you’re interested in learning more about “Dick Bos” and Alfred Mazure, there’s a fascinating Dutch website here with plenty of information on both).
Comic Art
Comic art on offer includes more “Charley’s War“, for Battle-Action 208, 274 and 277, scripted by Pat Mills, art by Joe Colquhoun; “Dan Dare” boards for Eagle, credited to Desmond Walduck, Frank Hampson and Don Harley; a mixed lot of humour pages by George Wakefield (“Laurel and Hardy“, for Film Fun), Hugh McNeill (“Deed-A-Day Danny“, for Knockout) and Harry Parlett (“Frank Randle“, for Film Fun); Joe 90 original artwork by Jim Watson for the Joe 90 Annual 1968; “Adventures with Scalextric” original colour artwork by Ian Kennedy for Page 6 of the Scalextric Model Racing Magazine; and various 1960s covers for Frank Dobson‘s Fantasy Advertiser zine.
Above, presented as a slideshow: Fantasy Advertiser cover art by Steve Moore, Ken Simpson, Martin Asbury, Paul Neary and others, and a copy of the ‘Comicon 69’ convention issue with four US Marvel and DC letters regarding the event, one signed by Carmine Infantino – and one copy artwork of The Thing from the Marvel Bullpen
One particular gem of note has to be twelve original “Treasure Island‘ artworks painted and signed by John Worsley, created for Anglia Television’s 1972 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s swashbuckling classic, directed by Ron Downing, narrated by Paul Honeyman, who also produced the series.
Nostalgia Central, which has more examples of the art featured in the production, notes Worsley and Honeyman first met in a Newcastle pub when Honeyman, who’d just got out of the Gurkhas, was working on his first television job as a continuity announcer and newscaster. Lamenting the dearth of good storytelling on TV, the pair got together to produce Wind In The Willows and A Christmas Carol for Anglia TV. Both were strikingly successful.
John Worsley (16th February 1919 – 3rd October 2000), perhaps best known to comic fans for his work on “The Adventures of P.C. 49” for Eagle, and his work for Girl, also an accomplished portrait artist, served as a war artist during World War Two. Captured by the Germans, he was detained in the infamous prisoner-of-war camp Marlag O, where he documented POW life with supplies provided by the Red Cross. His expertise was employed in the forging of identity papers for escapees and an ingenious escape attempt requiring the construction of a mannequin named Albert RN – later immortalised in a 1953 film of the same name.
American Attractions!
The extensive US collection boasts a strong Golden Age selection including All-New Comics, All-Star, America’s Best, Batman, Black Cat, Black Rider and Black Terror, Blue Beetle, Boy Commandos, Catman, Detective, Dynamic, Punch, Red Seal, and Shield-Wizard, along with the first five Mystery in Space issues, the first 12 Strange Adventures, Suspense, Weird Fantasy, Yankee and bound volumes of Planet Comics #43-64, Fight #49-60, and Wings #97-108.
The Silver Age includes long runs of Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, Journey Into Mystery, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish with key issues on offer: Avengers #4, Fantastic Four #52, FOOM #10, Iron Fist #14, Iron Man #1 and #55, Journey Into Mystery #85, Tales of Suspense #39, Tomb of Dracula #10 and Werewolf By Night #32.
Enjoy some November nostalgia!
• Click here for the main page for the November 2024 Compal catalogue. You can place realtime bids at the-saleroom.com. Click here to place realtime bids at the-saleroom.com
Postal bids need to be with Compal by Friday 22nd November and the team will enter them on your behalf in thesaleroom.com/Comic Book Auctions website closing on Sunday 24th November, from 2.00 pm
- About the Author
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “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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