Vintage comic art for sale from 1960 to 1995!

Art by Richard Elson.

There are some unusual and rare pieces of British comic art in my auctions this week that should hopefully appeal to various collectors.

From 1985 there's one of my earliest characters, Snailman, in a complete strip from Marvel UK's Spider-Man No.648. This is liklely to be the last Snailman strip I'll be selling so if you're interested please bid. Here's the link:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205480143411?itmmeta=01JV325EHYRMDY8MAFS3A2XPW1&hash=item2fd7922a33:g:6SQAAOSw8jVoIMyS

From 1995 here's a very collectable page of Richard Elson's artwork from Sonic the Comic No.64, written by me. It features Sonic and his team plus Commander Brutus, a villain I created who proved to be very popular with the readers. Here's the link...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205480187789?itmmeta=01JV325EHYJ72MQPY7P60QR13H&hash=item2fd792d78d:g:tGsAAOSwHZ9oINMk

Art by Richard Elson

From my collection of comic art here's a page by the late Jimmy Hansen of the popular Ricky Rainbow character from Buster back in 1990. A chance to own a great page by Jimmy, one of the best humour artists of the day.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205480146406?itmmeta=01JV325EHYJ1B7A4GKYEHERK04&hash=item2fd79235e6:g:rccAAOSwNFNoIM20

Art by Jimmy Hansen

Art by Jimmy Hansen.

Finally, something really special. The original artwork of part of a Billy Bunter story that appeared in Knockout comic way back in 1960! Drawn by the wonderful Albert Pease, one of the greatest UK humour artists of the 20th Century. It's very rare to see Mr.Pease's work up for sale. I'm hoping there'll be a lot of interest from British comics afficianados for this one!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205480164898?itmmeta=01JV325EHY1DMVTH1PJ1TG85R0&hash=item2fd7927e22:g:H6sAAOSwCC1oIM9U

Art by Albert Pease.

 

The auctions end on the evening of Sunday 18th May. All bids greatly appreciated. Wishing you all the very best of luck!

Here's the link to the whole listings:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47

 

Art by Albert Pease

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40th Robo-versary!

The very first Robo-Capers from this week in 1985

 

I've just been reminded by Transformers collector Graham Thomson on Bluesky that it's 40 years since my Robo-Capers strips began appearing in Marvel UK's Transformers comic! In fact it was my first ongoing strip for a mainstream comic, thanks to editor Shiela Cranna accepting them.

I had a great deal of enjoyment creating new robots every week; the sillier the better! I know the strip is still fondly remembered by readers of the comic. I can't do a Robo-Capers comic collection because Marvel hold the rights (even though it's unlikely they'll ever reprint it) but I've posted the early ones in previous blog posts here:

https://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2019/07/robo-capers-early-strips.html

...and here:

https://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2024/01/robo-capers-part-2.html 

...and I'll post some more later this week!

Viz! Daleks! Marvel UK and more in this week's art auction

I've put more of my original artwork up for auction for collectors to obtain. This week there's a Suicidal Syd page from Viz comic from 2009, a Macho Man strip I did for Marvel UK's Secret Wars comic back in 1986, a Captain Scarlet parody written by Kev F and drawn by me from the 1990s, a Daft Dimension strip from Doctor Who Magazine featuring Daleks... PLUS a page by the late great Jimmy Hansen that he drew in 1990 for Buster comic featuring the popular Ricky Rainbow character.

All original hand drawn artwork produced for the comics. Not facsimilies, not prints. 

The auctions end on Sunday night (March 16th). All bids are much appreciated. 

Here's the link...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47

Suicidal Syd from VIZ (2009). One of the last Viz pages I have left.

Superghero parody Macho Man, created for Marvel UK in 1986.

Captain Scarlet spoofed as a theatrical luvvie! (1990s)

A recent Dalek strip I did for Doctor Who Magazine (2025)

Stunning artwork drawn by JIMMY HANSEN for Buster (1990)

More 1980s comic artwork up for sale

I'm selling a few more pages of my original comic art from the 1980s and early 1990s. This week there's the Pete's Pimple page from the Oink! Computer Special (1987), two very early strips of mine from Marvel UK's Spider-Man Comic (1985) and a Tom Thug page from Buster (1991).

You'll find the listings at the following link. Good luck with your bids!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47 

Auctions end on Sunday 25th February.

 

 

ROBO-CAPERS Part 2

Robo-Capers was one of my first strips for a professional comic. It ran in Marvel UK's Transformers comic from 1985 to 1988 (when it was replaced by my Combat Colin series, which had moved over from Action Force). 

Marvel still own the rights to Robo-Capers so I can't publish a collection of the strips but I thought I'd post some here on my blog. I showed the first ten a few years ago, which you'll find at this link...

https://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2019/07/robo-capers-early-strips.html

...so now here are a few more, taking us from Transformers No.25 (24th August 1985 to issue 42 (4th January 1986). With issue 26 the strip went to full colour, and all of them were coloured by the Marvel staff using the old method of flat colour overlays. Click on each strip to open it to full readable size.

I'll post more another time!

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Original comic art from the 1980s for sale

 

I've listed more of my original pages for sale. This week there's a Pete and his Pimple page from OINK! No.59 (1988)...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204379625445?hash=item2f95f997e5:g:iPkAAOSwJrRkmz5T 

 

...a Vampire Brats page from Buster (1989)...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204379622602?hash=item2f95f98cca:g:G8wAAOSwVptkmz17 

 

One of my very early strips, an original Captain Wally page from Marvel UK's Spider-Man Comic (1985)...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204379630664?hash=item2f95f9ac48:g:5pIAAOSwz9Jkmz-v 

 

...and from 2016, a Daft Dimension strip featuring the Daleks, as published in Doctor Who Magazine No.498...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204379635183?hash=item2f95f9bdef:g:6ekAAOSwaRVkm0E9 

 

Auctions end on Tuesday 4th July. All bids very much appreciated. Good luck!  

Original art from Viz, Buster, and Marvel in this week's auction

 

I've put a few more pages of my original art up for sale on eBay. This week there's a Tom Thug's Skooldayz page from Buster (1989) with a Christmassy theme...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204264922535?hash=item2f8f235da7:g:s30AAOSwjiZkBLT9

A Captain Wally page from Marvel UK's Spider-Man Comic (1985). This is one of my earliest characters. A suburban superhero who lives with his parents...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204264925752?hash=item2f8f236a38:g:FUUAAOSwpBZkBLbA

 

...and a page from Viz comic (2001). Tommy's Tin Can Telephone was a one-off character I created for Viz and this page is in full colour (water colours)... 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204264930487?hash=item2f8f237cb7:g:L6UAAOSwt1lkBLgL

 

Auctions end on Sunday 12th February. Good luck with your bids!  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?item=203554298786&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562&_ssn=graphite47

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ROBO-CAPERS for New Year 1987!

My thanks to Phil Boyce for reminding me of this episode of Robo-Capers that I did way back in 1986 to celebrate the then-New Year of 1987! It appeared in Marvel UK's Transformers No.94.

Making an unofficial guest appearance in the strip is Tom Thug's cat Satan from IPC's Oink! comic (sitting on the postbox) and in the corner, it's Loose Brayne, Brickman himself holding the sign. All part of the Lewniverse!

The shop sign refers to Marvel editors Richard Starkings and John Tomlinson who sometimes did the colour separations for the strip. (All of my Marvel strips were coloured by the staff.) Jane Hindmarsh was also on staff but I can't recall what else she did apart from colouring. (That's not to say she wasn't an editor or something. I just can't remember.)

You can read Phil's thoughts on the strip over at his piggin' fantastic Oink! Blog at this link:

https://oink.blog/2023/01/01/an-oink-transformers-crossover

...and once again, a HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2023!

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Fifty Years Ago... the birth of Marvel UK!

As you know, I use this blog to promote my business but I hope you'll excuse me going off at a tangent today as this is a significant date for something else, although it does relate to my work as you'll see...

It was FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY when Marvel UK launched their first comic, The Mighty World of Marvel, reprinting classic Marvel strips for a new British audience. This would prove highly significant for many of us as a few years later it would be Marvel UK who gave us our first break in the industry. I sold my very first professional cartoons to Marvel UK in 1983 and they kept me busy for the rest of that decade creating Robo-Capers, Combat Colin, Macho Man and other strips. A very active period for other (then) young creators too. Who knows where we’d be now if the company hadn’t been formed 50 years ago?

I’ve written an article about the first issue of Mighty World of Marvel over on John Freeman’s Down The Tubes blog, which you can read here…
https://downthetubes.net/fifty-year-flashback-the-mighty-world-of-marvel-no-1 

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Blimey! It's SLIMER!

Back in what feels like a lifetime ago now (the 1980s) Marvel UK kept me busy doing comic strips for their range of titles mainly thanks to group editor Richard Starkings. I did Captain Wally and Snail-Man in Spider-Man, Robo-Capers in Transformers, Combat Colin in Action Force (and later Transformers), Macho Man in Secret Wars... and in 1988, Blimey! It's Slimer! in The Real Ghostbusters. 

I didn't draw many episodes of Slimer. I only did 11 in total before bailing out as I was so busy with other material (including my work for Fleetway on Buster). Bambos Georgiou took over the strip and did wonderful work on it. 

In 1989, Marvel UK published a collection of the Slimer strips in a nice A5 landscape format paperback with 68 pages. It was entitled, of course, Blimey! It's Slimer! (Richard Starkings had been inspired by my 1983 comic Blimey! It's Brickman when he came up with the title. It had a ring to it and helped cement the fact that these were British strips not American reprint.)

Over the years I've met some readers who assumed I'd drawn all the book. Far from it. I think the assumption has occurred because the only people credited in the book are writer John Carnell and me, on the first strip. (As you know, I usually write my own material but in the case of the Slimer strip I was only commissioned as an artist.) I always sign my work but in the case of Slimer the signatures were usually removed for some reason. Bambos isn't credited at all!

Anyway, having found the book amongst my stuff the other day (when looking for something else) I thought I'd put the record straight on which pages I did draw: pages 5, 20, 26, 32, 33, 38, 39, 45, 60, 61, and 66. The strips were not reprinted in the order they were originally published which is why it switches between mine and Bambos' strips throughout the book. (They're all self contained stories so it doesn't matter.) The cover was drawn by Brian Williamson.

I don't think John Carnell wrote all the strips. I'm pretty certain John Freeman wrote some too. Perhaps Bambos wrote his own pages but I'm not sure. Colouring was always done in-house by Marvel staff.

Here's a selection of some of the Slimer strips I did. Hope you like them. As always, click / tap on the images to see them full size...

 

 

  

 

 

 

Pretty sure I wrote this one. The Ghostbuster's face was redrawn by another artist.

 

COVER ART BY BRIAN WILLIAMSON.