Phil-Comics has some fantastic items on offer on eBay this week, again offering British comics complete with rare free gifts, but a highlight of this auction has to be a page of art from Marvel’s Black Panther #1 by Jack Kirby, which I suspect will sell for more than the £1895 currently bid.

Also on offer from Phil Shrimpton is some 1964 art from the magazine Valentine, artist unidentified, a copy of Worzel Gummidge #1 published in 1981 complete with free flexi-disc gift, and plenty of Gerry Anderson-related comics and books from Supercar onwards, including a rare “Project SWORD” badge.

• Also on eBay, Stafford Books and Comics auction of scarce, mostly small print British comic titles is now live, split over 36 lots. There’s a good range of issues, including a pair of original Denis Gifford Streamline comics, issues of Cor!, game books and more. Check it out here

• If you’d prefer to buy your comic art at a fixed price, then how about a unique original pencil drawing by British artist Basil Reynolds, who wrote and drew the popular “Wonders of the Wild” comic strip for many years for a variety of publications, including Mickey Mouse Weekly, Express Weekly and more? On offer over on Book Palace for £700 is a wonderful complete one page Christmas Special “Skit, Skat and the Captain” story, a strip that was a regular feature in Britain’s first glossy photogravure comic, Mickey Mouse Weekly.

Basil Reynolds, noted as having influenced the great Ken Reid., was one of the youngest nationally syndicated newspaper cartoonists in the 1920s. Given that original pre-World War Two artwork is vanishingly scarce, to have cartooning of this quality surviving is a special treat.

UPDATE Sunday 11th July: The Black Panther art sold for £3855

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. Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Explorer (previously known as Star Trek 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: Auctions, British Comics, Comic Art, downthetubes News, Other Worlds

Tags: Basil Reynolds, Black Panther, Book Palace, eBay, Jack Kirby, Mickey Mouse Weekly, Phil Comics