It’s rare to see artwork commissioned for The Beano come to auction, but work by Dudley Watkins seems a bit of an exception – but a “Lord Snooty” page on offer in the latest Phil-Comics auction on eBay is a bit of a curiosity!
Although originally drawn for The Beano No. 571, cover dated 27th June 1953, the page featuring a vengeful donkey was repurposed nine years later, published in Beano 1025, cover dated 10th March 1953.
The artwork on offer – the first “Lord Snooty” page to be sold by Phil-Comics – includes an amended final panel. The original single page of artwork was cut up into eight pieces and pasted down onto a new backing page, removing the centre panel in the third row in the original strip (losing an irate policeman, which doesn’t really affect the story). Then, the artwork has been shifted along one panel to make space in the final row for a new panel to be included as a snippet and promotion for “a double helping of The Bash Street Kids” the following week.
It’s an example of a policy of sometimes reprinting material to save costs on artist’s fees for drawing fresh pages.
Here’s how the strips were published in 1953 and 1962, side by side. Click on the images for a larger size…
“This is a fairly unusual page of artwork in that it likely consists of work from two different artists,” auctioneer Phil Shrimpton notes. “It’s hard to say who drew the final panel – it has the Bash Street Kids, so an initial thought was that it could be the work of Leo Baxendale, but also could be a Thomson staff artist or perhaps David Sutherland, who took over the drawing of ‘The Bash Street Kids’ from Leo Baxendale in the summer of 1962 when he left the firm.
“Or, could it have been Dudley Watkins, as Lord Snooty features? Perhaps not, as he presumably had a high work load anyway, it isn’t signed by him and perhaps other artists were more adept at ghosting the Bash Street Kids, if indeed it wasn’t drawn by Baxendale. So the jury’s out on who drew the final panel!”
The latest Phil-Comics full auction also includes a huge range of British comics, many with their original free gifts, and plenty of vintage back issues. The auction starts to draw to a close on Sunday 20th July 2025.
• Check out this Lord Snooty artwork rarity here on eBay
The overall page, when the header is put into position, measures 550 x 385 mm. Part of the first speech bubble in the first panel is missing – these are the words “IN A SECOND-HAND SHOP”. A pencil note to the lower edge says the date 27/6/53 and another note next to it (in pencil and pen) says the strip was reprinted in the 10/3/62 issue. A 3/4 inch tear to the lower edge of the backing card. Pen writing and a white sticker with pen writing to the reverse side, as well as a green sticky tab to the rear of the header piece and lower edge of the main piece. The header panel has detached from the main piece as the glue at the back became unstuck. The header is the original one from 1962 (not a modern photocopy by a collector). On the back of the header panel is an ink stamp bearing the date 24 Jan 1962.
• Check out the current full catalogue here on eBay – bidding starts to close on Sunday 20th July 2025
The Beano, Lord Snooty and The Bash Street Kids © DC Thomson
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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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It’s definitely David Sutherland because that’s how he drew Snooty. It also fits because I believe, although I am open to correction, that Leo did not do any double page Kids strips for the Beano.