While just two items of direct interest to British comic art collectors feature in this week’s Catawiki International Comic Art Auction, which closes this Thursday, 19th May 2022, beyond that weekly event is a Don Lawrence curiosity of note, and other items…
On offer in the Catawiki International Comic Art Auction this week is a page from the 1967 Trigan Empire story “Revolution in Zabriz“, first published in 1967 in Look and Learn, written by Mike Butterworth with art by Don Lawrence.


In a separate Catawiki auction, I came across a curious LP, “Eppo presenteert: Trigië – hoorspel” released in Dutch in 1976, signed by Don Lawrence, adapting two Trian Empire stories for audio. It features music Popgroep Holland, who also worked on a similar Princess magazine-inspired LP, released the same year.

Back at the weekly auction, you may also want to check out another episode of Modesty Blaise, drawn by Enrique Badia Romero, offered at auction by the artist himself.

Or, you may want to ferret though the US Comics & Original Comic Art Auction, where an Italian seller is offering 58 issues of weekly British anthology comic, VULCAN, encompassing its initial run published in Scotland, and its further run as a national title. Postage on top of the lot is cited as £30 to the UK, but bear in mind there may be customs duty to pay on top. It might still be had at a bargain price compared with buying individual copies on eBay!
The project was co-published by Fleetway and Swiss publisher Gevacur from 1975 to 1976, the sister, European title KOBRA, both launched in February 1975 on the same day. KOBRA had a much longer run than VULCAN, both titles printed in Germany.
The same auction also includes a collection of the “Garth – Daily Strips” books published under license by the All Devon Comic Collectors Club – 42 booklets and The Index (Titles Artists Writers Story Codes, etc).
ADCCC was a small membership club with permission to publish Garth stories by Mirror Group, ADCCC was restricted in only passing these to members only.

Potential Additional International Auction Costs
This advice box was last updated on Friday 6th May 2022
The UK’s departure from the European Union means there may be additional import duties on sales.
Prior to Brexit, the effective rate of UK tax on imports of art was 5%, which is lower than most other European countries. An owner could previously import an artwork to the UK from outside the EU and was then free to transport it to other EU countries, where the import tax rates may be higher, without incurring any further import-related tax charges. If the owner then wished to bring the artwork back to the UK, there would also have been no further tax charge.
The Guardian previously reported that online orders up to £135 are now supposed to have the UK’s prevailing VAT rate added at the point of sale by the EU retailer, which has to have registered with HM Revenue & Customs.
While buying from European sellers carries the sting of larger costs, the auction house Catawiki does now endeavour to provide an estimate of those in its lot descriptions.
Unfortunately, many smaller EU-based retailers have decided that the paperwork of collecting UK VAT is not worth the hassle and as a result will no longer supply UK consumers. It has also meant that some British sellers will no longer export to Europe.
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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.
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