British comic collecting circles are buzzing at present with the news that a copy of the 1963 Dandy-Beano Summer Special has sold on eBay for a record figure of £1,371.
According to the description, the 32 page tabloid sized glossy is in "fine unmarked condition" and the photograph (above) would certainly seem to prove it's been well looked after. Summer Specials are notoriously scarce in this condition as many were bought on holiday and were either discarded or at least well-read and dog-eared by the end of the week.
This particular edition is very collectible because it saw The Dandy and The Beano venture into the Summer Special market for the first time. (Although other publishers had created the summer special years earlier.) Hedging their bets, the publishers D.C. Thomson put out this combined issue and saved on expenses by using reprinted material from the weeklies. The special was presumably successful as the following year, 1964, saw individual all-new specials for the two comics which continued annually for decades.
The starting price for the comic on eBay was a mere £1.99 and 27 bids saw it escalate in seven days to £1,371.
The final issue of Crikey! is one of the best issues published, which makes the closure of the magazine even more frustrating.
In the three years since Crikey was launched some features have been stronger than others, and a couple of articles were so riddled with errors they were a complete waste of space, (ie: the features on Smash! and Countdown). However the magazine overcame its teething troubles and was getting better with each issue, gradually moving away from its patchily-memorized rose-tinted nostalgic slant and developing into a reliable solid read.
Which brings us to this final issue, No.16, just published this week. Despite the downbeat cover the contents are full of enthusiasm and positivity about the subjects under study. It kicks off with a new interview with Mick McMahon which was a pleasure to read as Mick rarely attends conventions these days so it was good to catch up with what he's been up to recently and it ends on a very optimistic note.
There's a short item by Shaqui Le Vesconte about the unseen Metal Mickey strip planned for Look-In, and the reasons it never appeared. Although it concerned a tv show that I personally couldn't stand the background information about the strip was a revelation.
Ian Wheeler presents a nice well researched article about the old Action Force strip that appeared in Battle whilst Rab Smith gives us a good retrospective of Les Barton's time on the classic I Spy strip from Sparky. Rab is a big fan of the strip so this was clearly a labour of love. Strangely, although the article is specifically about Les Barton's work, Crikey's editors have used Brian Walker pages as well to illustrate it for some reason. (Walker is a fantastic artist but not relevant to this particular article.) It was always these little niggles that were one of Crikey's drawbacks unfortunately.
Andrew Edwards contributes the history of The Bojeffries Saga. This Warrior comedy strip by Alan Moore and Steve Parkhouse was a real gem and deserves a collected edition. Hopefully this article will stir up fresh interest in the strip.
Glenn B. Fleming takes a look back at the distinguished career of Joe Colquhoun, easily one of the best comic artists the UK ever produced. Sadly the curse of Crikey creeps in again, using John Cooper artwork on page 31 by mistake. Nevertheless, the rest of the feature is excellent. Dez Skinn and Pat Mills also contribute their opinions on the great man.
Adding some variety to the issue Tony Ingram writes a breezy history of Keyhole Kate, the strangely voyeuristic character from The Dandy (and later, Sparky) whilst Jamie Hailstone presents a resumé of Stingray strips from TV Century 21. Tony returns later in the issue for a look back at the Rogue Trooper saga and John Devaney wraps up his mini series on comedy-horror humour strips.
The back cover features Comic Oddments. Uncredited but I think it's devised by Phil Clarke and Mike Higgs. It's actually an ad, but it could have developed into a promising new feature had the magazine continued.
It's sad (and annoying) that more fans didn't support Crikey but Tony Ingram and Glenn B. Fleming should be proud of the three year run of the magazine. (Many comics never even manage that long.) However, all is not lost. In his editorial Tony reveals that a new, digital, magazine is being planned, under the name Comics Unlimited. (Presumably no relation to the 1970's fanzine of the same name.) Available as a PDF download, Comics Unlimited will cost £2.99, which hopefully should please all those people who thought £4.99 was too much to pay for Crikey!
Crikey! No.16. 56 pages for £4.99. Available from Forbidden Planet International, Nostalgia and Comics and other comic shops (not Forbidden Planet due to some odd policy against "fanzines") or by contacting the above website.
From the 1960s to the mid 1980s all the major UK comic publishers used to advertise new comics and free gift issues on television. These snappy ten second ads, usually shown at teatime when children were back from school, were the perfect way to grab the attention of potential readers.
By the 1980s sales of comics had declined too much for such expensive promotions to be economical. Today the internet is a better (and far cheaper) platform for such marketing gimmicks and Titan Magazines are using YouTube to promote their brand new adult comic magazine CLiNT.
Titan aren't the first publisher to advertise comics this way, but it is fairly unique for a British comic from a major company to be promoted like this. What's strange is that other mainstream UK comic publishers haven't already done it, but perhaps now they will.
For those of you who haven't already heard about it, CLiNT is the brainchild of comics writer Mark Millar and the 100 page slick comic mag will feature a mixture of comic strip (some of which has already appeared in America) and articles.
With the involvement of Jonathan Ross and Frankie Boyle the media are already taking notice of the new comic, so expect to see more coverage of it on tv as publication day nears. An interview on BBC Breakfast news is already scheduled.
CLiNT launches on September 2nd and readers in London can attend a special signing of issue one by Jonathan Ross and Mark Millar at 4.30pm at WH Smith at London Victoria Station.
News just in from editor Tony Ingram, the magazine of British comics Crikey! is to fold with the 16th issue, out later this week.
Crikey! was originally launched by Brian Clarke in June 2007 and seemed to be just what UK comics fans had wanted; a regular magazine devoted to the history of British comics. Over the course of the past three years the magazine steadily improved and even made it to High Street newsagents due to a deal with Borders.
Sadly, after distributing just two issues the collapse of Borders dealt a huge blow to the mag. Ironically sales on those two issues had been higher than hoped through that outlet and had the company not gone under Crikey! would still be healthy. Having to depend on subscriptions and limited distribution through comic shops the fortunes of Crikey! declined. No doubt some readers who'd bought it from their newsagents thought the mag had already folded when Borders collapsed and never sought it out elsewhere. Annoyingly, some fans of UK comics simply never supported the magazine anyway. Perhaps they'll now wish they had.
It's a great shame Crikey! has gone, but editors/publishers Tony Ingram and Glenn B. Fleming should be proud of what they accomplished. A review of issue 16 will appear here once I've received my copy.
The August issue of Classics from the Comics (No.173) is on sale this Wednesday (18th Aug.) and it's another good collection of strips from the D.C. Thomson vaults.
Nice to see a comic strip on the cover this time instead of an enlarged interior panel, and it's an edited version of a Dudley Watkins Biffo the Bear cover from an early 1960's Beano. It ties in well with the special feature this issue, which spotlights bears in the comics. The 13 page Bear Essentials section features the first appearance of The Three Bears by Leo Baxendale along with selected later strips by Bob McGrath and Bob Dewar and a snippet of Mike Pearce's more recent version of the characters, proving that it's a strip that's always had quality (and funny) artists.
This month's issue features another text story from the archives. This time it's Nutty the Coal Imp from a 1953 Beano. There are many such stories in the archives so it's good to see them revived for Classics. Material such as text stories, the General Jumbo strip, and the My Home Town feature help to break up the comic, giving a better feeling of variety to it than just 64 relentless pages of funnies.
Speaking of General Jumbo, this issue sees the conclusion of the reprints from Buddy. Next issue Ron Smith's King Cobra from Hotspur replaces it, although with Space Kids currently running which is also by Smith will that be overkill? Time will tell and the regular turnover of strips in Classics may mean that a different adventure strip will be along soon. (Jack Glass' The Stinging Swarm by any chance?)
The rest of this issue is packed with strips from various old comics as usual, with highlights such as a Dudley Watkins Desperate Dan (said to be from 1965 but looks more like a 1950s strip), a 1962 Corporal Clott by Davy Law, a Jonah page by Ken Reid, David Mostyn's Micky the Mouth from 1982 and much more. Classics from the Comics No.173 is £2 from newsagents and supermarkets. If you have difficulty finding it (as distribution is very patchy) you can subscribe here:
