ComPalComics August 2020 auction catalogue has just gone live and includes perhaps one of the last ever pieces of Faceache comic art drawn by Ken Reid, Doctor Who comic art by Gerry Haylock, Garth art by Frank Bellamy and, of course, some fantastic vintage comics from both the UK and US.

This auction is chock full of British comics with their scarce free gifts, from the 1900s -1970s. They include Boys’ Friend, Boys’ Magazine, Boys’ Herald, Modern Boy, School-Days, Express Weekly, Roxy, Marilyn, Cherie, Fabulous, Fantastic, Terrific, Hurricane, Joe 90, Ranger, Sparky (but the balloon’s a bit stuck together), Solo, TV Tornado, TV Century 21, Action and Countdown, many of them first issues.

One major rarity is a VIZ photocopy “dummy” No 1 (1984) with four signed letters.

Commissioned from founder Chris Donald in 1984 this prototype ‘No 1’ was sent to a major publisher who wanted to publish VIZ. According to one of the letters signed by Chris, they went all “scared-y-cat”, wanting to tone it down and add their own content. Chris refused – and this 24 page photocopy dummy No 1 remained unpublished.

A further two signed letters confirm Chris Donald’s deal with Virgin Books, “small scale compared to the other rumpus” for VIZ to be published every two months.

The letters were all addressed to Mick Kidd of Biff Productions, whose “Cathedrals of Tomorrow” strip was central to the dummy No 1.

Bulk lots of early issues of VIZ are also included in the auction.

There’s also a super TV Tornado Secret Agent competition prize, a Tommy Buster Repeater Gun, as new, in its original box with Congratulations card.

A good selection of high grade bound volumes is also being offered, including the complete year of Beano 1945 with its propaganda war issues, The Dandy year of 1952, Knockout, complete for 1962 (and including the last issue up to February 1963) and a Paget publications 1948-49 volume that includes the titles Comic Wonder, Funny Cuts, Oh Boy! Wonderman, Premier, Pep and Zest, with 30 odd further single issues.

Magic 10, 11 and 12 are also in the mix, along with L Miller’s Black Knight No 1 and runs of Batman, Superman and Super Adventure Australian reprints. (An Australian copy of Batman No 1 went for £3,050 in ComPalComics June auction with subsequent Batman issues up to No 10 going for hundreds of pounds each).

A copy of the controversial Schoolkids Issue of OZ with Robert Crumb’s strip (sic) of Rupert being jolly naughty in its central pages is also in this auction.

British comics artwork in the auction includes “Garth” and “Thunderbirds” by Frank Bellamy, “Riders of the Range” by Frank Humphris, “Doctor Who” by Gerry Haylock and “The Trigan Empire” by Don Lawrence.

ComPalComics has also introduced a US artwork section.

It includes pieces by Jack Kirby, John Byrne, Dan DeCarlo, Frank Cho, Shelly Moldoff, Joe Quesada and Kirby’s inker and long-time friend, Mike Royer.

The star item of this auction’s US comic collection is Marvel Mystery #74, a Mile High copy CBCS 8.0.

It is followed by a scarce run of Canadian Double ‘A’ titles along with the usual runs of key Marvel and DC issues with Iron Man and Strange Tales in particularly high grades.

I think you’ll agree, there are some amazing items on offer, especially on the artwork front!

• The catalogue is open for bidding now. You can place realtime bids at The Saleroom. Click here to visit the catalogue at The-Saleroom. You can also browse lots at Compalcomics and fill out a fax or mail bidding form. All postal and fax bids need to be with us by Friday 28th August 2020 and the team will enter them on your behalf in thesaleroom.com/Comic Book Auctions website closing on Sunday 30th August from 2.00 pm

John Freeman

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, Comic Art, Doctor Who, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Other Worlds

Tags: Auction News, Chris Donald, Compalcomics, Cover Art, downthetubes News, Frank Bellamy, Frank Humphris, Gerry Haylock, Ken Reid, Riders of the Range, Thunderbirds, Viz