Covers for next years D.C Thomson annuals have been released, with the exception of The Beano. Above is the cover of The Dandy annual, priced at £7.99 on Amazon.
There is of course another classic comics collection, this time with an Indiana Jones themed cover. Raiders of the Lost Archive will cost £12.99.
There's a similar Broons and Oor Wullie collection, this one entitled 'Cooking Up Laughs!'. £12.99
Next year will have both a Broons and an Oor Wullie annual. Both are priced at £6.99.
And their respective calendars will each cost £7.
The calendars are due to come out on the 28th July, but the annuals have a slightly later release date of 1st August. But that still gives you plenty of time to get them before Christmas, so there can be no excuses.
Any fans of The Broons, Oor Wullie or Dudley Watkins will surely be interested in reproductions of the first Broons and Oor Wullie annuals. Originally published in 1938 and 1939 and dated for the following years, the originals are worth a considerable sum and it isn't rare to see them fetching £1000 at auction. That makes these two reprints, published in 2007 by D.C Thomson and Aurum Press, a good affordable alternative. They are a high quality reproduction of the original books, bar the covers and Oor Wullie's title page all the artwork has been restored to how it would have looked originally on bright white paper, so it is pleasing to read and Dudley's artwork is nice and clear.
Asides the date for the copyright information the only other change I noticed was that the reprints are hardbacks whereas the originals were softbacks. I suppose the reason for this change is that the books are made to be more durable, and at £20 for the two of them you'd expect them to be of a high standard. D.C Thomson did produce a few hardback versions of each book originally but these went to Robert Duncan Low, possibly Dudley Watkins and their own files, so were never sold to the general public.
My copies come in a combined box set but they were also available in individual sleeves, of which The Broons one is still available from D.C Thomson's website for £6. You can pick up a box set, which I would recommend, from ebay - the lowest price currently is £13.63.
A brand new Compal Comics catalogue has gone online, and there are a lot of goodies in this one! The very first auction is for the very first issue of Comic Cuts, which is apparently very rare with only eight known copies in existence, although I'm sure Compal have sold lots of them! It has an estimate of £200 - £250 and is in VG condition.
At auction #5 is the highest graded copy of Radio Fun issue one known to exist, in very fine condition! With George The Jolly Gee-Gee having fun on the bright front cover, this Beano challenger is expected to sell for anywhere in-between £250 - £300.
And at lot number 7 is some very early original Desperate Dan artwork by Dudley D. Watkins, which appeared in issue four of The Dandy.
Next up is a selection of early Dandy comics, from issue #41 - #47 (1938) in auctions #8 - #14. Each comic is in FN (fine) condition, and each has an estimate of somewhere between £70 - 150.
Between lots 15 and 22 are six front cover printers proofs for The Dandy, and have a signature of approval from Dandy editor Albert Barnes. Here are my two favourites.
At lot number 27 is the very first Beano comic in very rough shape. This exact same comic sold for £786 back in the spring 2012 catalogue (which I covered here). Let's see if it does any better this time.
Two early Beano books are available, the 1942 book in good condition and the 1944 Magic Beano in fair condition.
There are also a few bound volumes of early and war time Beano comics, all of which are extremely scarce and are expected to fetch very high prices, and a selection of bound volumes from the 50's.
At lot #61 is the 1951 Oor Wullie book, which is very collectable, and, in very good condition, is expected to go under the hammer for £200 - £250.
This was followed by some original Oor Wullie artwork by Dudley Watkins.
And there are also some bound volumes of Topper comics, with some comics reaching near mint condition!
This is just a small selection of the comics from the British comics section, and there are lots more in the American section as well, so be sure to check it out - there are 325 lots in total! Even if you're not going to buy, it's still very interesting to look through.
www.compalcomics.com
Here is a close up look at the original Oor Wullie artwork by Dudley Watkins, currently here on ebay for sale by Phil-Comics!
It's great to be able to see so close up to the artwork of such a great artist. Dudley's art is hard to come across and so is very expensive - so it's nice to see a seller show some real close ups!
Click on the images to see them at full-size!
Although there are many fantastic cartoonists in British comics, there are five who are often considered the greats! The first of those is Dudley Dexter Watkins, who drew Desperate Dan, Oor Wullie, Lord Snooty and Biffo the Bear to name a few.
Watkins was born on the 27th Febuary 1907, and his first illustrated work, entitled 'Our Gymnasium Class' appeared in Boots staff magazine called The Beacon, in 1923.
But he quickly entered comics, and in 1925 Watkins was offered a 6 month trial at D.C. Thomson. He accepted of course, and that decision would change his life, as he remained working at DCT for the rest of his life! He was so highly regarded at Thomson, that he and Allan Morely were the only artists allowed to sign their work!
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| The first Oor Wullie! |
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The first Broons!
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His most notable work is as the illustartor of The Broons and Oor Wullie, who both began life in the Fun Section of The Sunday Post on 8th March 1936. He would continue producing weekly strips for these characters until his death, but the strips still run today!
Dudley Watkins passed away on the 20th August 1969, leaving behind thousands of strips, which, like the other comic greats, still live on in memory!
Updating on a recent post about the upcoming 2013 annuals, Waverly Books are producing a Whaur's Oor Wullie? book. A scottish version of Where's Wally?, the book costs £8.99 and can be pre-ordered here, from Amazon.
Over on www.play.com, the covers for D.C Thomson's 2013 annuals have been revealed!
The Beano, this is definatly an improvement on the previous few annuals! Due for release on 6th July 2012 - £6.49
The Beano and The Dandy, Panto Time! I'm glad it's not focused on simply Dennis the Menace this time, and the cover looks very good and eye-catching! It also comes with a CD of Beano pantomine songs and 6 crazy masks! Due for release on 31st August 2012 - £9.39
The Dandy, celebrating it's 75th birthday of course! Lots of retro characters been brought back by new artists this year, I'm very excited to see it! Due for release on 6th July 2012 - £6.49
The Broons and Oor Wullie, Classic strips from the 70's. This could mean no Dudley Watkins, who has of course been the star of previous classic annuals. Due for release on 31st August 2012 - £9.39
Oor Wullie, nothing to say about this one except maybe... a tartan background? Due for release on 6th July 2012 - £6.49
The calender will be released on 1st Spetember, as will a 'Desk Diary'. Neither of the covers have yet been released. It doesn't look like a Dennis the Menace book will be released this year, after rumours that it was just taking a break last year so as to not distract readers from the Beano and Dandy book, which is a shame. With thanks to the people of the comicsUK forum for links to the images!
